Clipmarks | enbar's Political news collection

Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) on the Democrats' gains

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:51:51 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Lincoln Chafee recalls Cheney's offhanded dismissal of bipartisan tactics after the 2000 election and deplores the viciousness of partisan politics since 1994. He's right; it wasn't always this way. Kind of sorry to see him go.

Clip Source: www.amhersttimes.com

HOLDING TO THE CENTER, LOSING MY SEAT

Written by LINCOLN D. CHAFEE

Back in December 2000, after one of the closest elections in our nation’s history, Vice President-elect Dick Cheney was the guest at a weekly lunch meeting of a small group of centrist Republicans. Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and I were honored to have the opportunity to visit with him on the eve of a session of Congress in which, because of Republican defeats, the Senate would be evenly divided at 50-50.

As we sat in Senator Specter’s cozy hideaway office and discussed the coming session, I was startled to hear the vice president dismiss suggestions of compromise and instead emphasize an aggressively partisan agenda that included significant tax cuts, the abandonment of international agreements and a muscular, unilateral foreign policy.

I was incredulous. Instead of a new atmosphere of cooperation and civility which, after all, had been the promise of the Bush-Cheney campaign, we seemed ready to return to the poisonous partisanship that marked the Republican-Congress — Clinton White House years.

Do I have any regrets about Tuesday’s outcome? Yes. I regret that I will not be able to participate in the difficult, but critical, healing process that must take place in our government if Democrats and Republicans are going to solve the serious problems facing this great nation.

I hope the new Congress and the administration that received, in the president’s words, “a thumping,” can find common ground for the common good.

Lincoln D. Chafee is a Republican senator from Rhode Island.

Tags: politics, commentary

New Pottery Barn Rule

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 05:40:20 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: As a Democrat, I fear this may be all too true ... (Alt. image URL)

Clip Source: www.daytondailynews.com

Tags: politics, humor, cartoon

Iraqi response to Rumsfeld resignation: good riddance

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 15:39:33 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: According to this report, ordinary Iraqis are happy at Rumsfeld's departure, holding him responsible for their country's current devastation. Some feel he should be investigated for war crimes.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Iraqis cheer Rumsfeld departure

By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer

Thu Nov 9, 6:33 AM ET

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraqis on Thursday cheered the resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, blaming him for policy failures and scandals they say helped spawn the daily sectarian carnage wracking their nation.

"Rumsfeld's resignation shows the scale of the mess the U.S. has made in Iraq," said Ibrahim Ali, 44, who works at the Oil Ministry. "The efforts by American politicians to hide their failure are no longer working."

Many in Baghdad said they expect changes in the U.S. approach under Rumsfeld's expected replacement, former CIA director Robert Gates.

"I think that there will a shift in the U.S. policy in Iraq after his resignation," said Osama Ahmed, 50, a civil servant.

Whatever suggestions are put forward, however, Iraqis said Rumsfeld's departure was a positive move.

"Rumsfeld's resignation is a good step because he failed to keep security in Iraq," said Saad Jawad, 45, a former army officer who also works at the Oil Ministry.

Many Iraqis blamed Rumsfeld for spurring the emergence of Sunni insurgents and Shiite militias by disbanding the former Iraqi army following the April 2003 toppling of the former government of Saddam Hussein.

"I am happy with Rumsfeld's resignation because he played a major role in disbanding the former Iraqi army. He participated in building the new army on a sectarian basis," said Louai Abdel-Hussein, 48, a Shiite who owns a small grocery in Baghdad.

Ahmed, the civil servant, said Rumsfeld should also be held responsible for crimes by American forces in Iraq, particularly the abuse of Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison that became known in 2004.

"Rumsfeld's resignation is not enough," Ahmed said. "He should be put under investigation for his responsibility in the crimes committed in Abu Ghraib and the killings and rapes carried out by U.S. soldiers against Iraqi citizens, he said.

Tags: rumsfeld, iraq, war, military, politics, news, international

Ding, dong... (Santorum concession video)

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:39:21 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: Video of Santorum concession speech. Yippee! That sanctimonious, smarmy S.O.B. is no longer representing me.

Clip Source: video.msn.com

Clip Source: img120.imageshack.us

Tags: politics, video

Santorum concedes; World Magazine responds

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:01:38 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: According to this hard-right Christian publication, Santorum lost because he was not conservative enough.

Clip Source: www.worldmag.com

Santorum concedes

Election '06: Pennsylvania incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum has called his challenger, State Treasurer Bob Casey, to concede

Pennsylvania incumbent Sen. Rick Santorum has called his challenger, State Treasurer Bob Casey, to concede. Casey, in toppling the upper chamber's No. 3 man, is poised to become the first state Democrat elected to a full term in the U.S. Senate since 1962.

Casey, the Catholic son of a former pro-life governor, has tried to siphon values voters away from his Republican opponent by positioning himself as a moderate but faith-friendly alternative to Santorum's alleged far-right extremism. But if the Christian conservative base has failed to rally behind Santorum, the decision may have had less to do with Casey -- who favors same-sex civil unions and the morning-after pill -- than with a grudge against Santorum. In the 2004 primary, Christian conservatives felt betrayed when Santorum, an outspoken champion of conservative social issues, endorsed liberal Sen. Arlen Specter over conservative Pat Toomey.

But one Philadelphia Democrat, Urban Family Council founder Bill Devlin, organized election day prayer and fasting and urged values voters from both parties to re-elect Santorum because of his solid pro-family record.

"Do you understand the Christian concept of forgiveness? Let's move on and let's work together for Rick Santorum's re-election." Devlin said. "Unfortunately, the hard-boiled conservatives ... are very acidic, acerbic, and caustic."

An Associated Press exit poll revealed that, of those who voted for Casey, only a slight majority did so to show their support of Casey as opposed to their dislike of Santorum.

Tags: religion, politics, conservatives, christianity

The War God That Failed

Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:23:58 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Latest article of Justin Raimondo

Clip Source: www.antiwar.com

The War God That Failed
The neocons turn on their 'leader'

The war they wanted has gone badly – very badly – and now they're looking for someone to blame other than its intellectual authors, i.e., themselves. For the past six months or so their chosen scapegoat has been Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, subject of a hagiography by Midge Decter, now the target of Bill Kristol and Andrew Sullivan for not endorsing the neocons' demand to escalate the war. These former supporters of the Rumsfeldian "transformation" of the U.S. military into a lean, mean, imperialist machine – centered around light deployments of highly trained and very high-tech warriors, rather than the massive Powellesque strategy of overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers – are perfectly willing to turn on their old friend and supporter in order to escape slings and arrows rightly directed at them.

Tags: iraq, war, gop, bush administration, neocons

Leaked Military Chart Shows Iraq Bordering on "Chaos"

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:16:27 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks:

The conclusions the Central Command has drawn from these trends are not encouraging, according to a copy of the slide that was obtained by The New York Times. The slide shows Iraq as moving sharply away from “peace,” an ideal on the far left side of the chart, to a point much closer to the right side of the spectrum, a red zone marked “chaos.” As depicted in the command’s chart, the needle has been moving steadily toward the far right of the chart.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Military Charts Movement of Conflict in Iraq Toward Chaos

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 — A classified briefing prepared two weeks ago by the United States Central Command portrays Iraq as edging toward chaos, in a chart that the military is using as a barometer of civil conflict.

A one-page slide shown at the Oct. 18 briefing provides a rare glimpse into how the military command that oversees the war is trying to track its trajectory, particularly in terms of sectarian fighting.

The slide includes a color-coded bar chart that is used to illustrate an “Index of Civil Conflict.” It shows a sharp escalation in sectarian violence since the bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra in February, and tracks a further worsening this month despite a concerted American push to tamp down the violence in Baghdad.

In fashioning the index, the military is weighing factors like the ineffectual Iraqi police and the dwindling influence of moderate religious and political figures, rather than more traditional military measures such as the enemy’s fighting strength and the control of territory.

An intelligence summary at the bottom of the slide reads “urban areas experiencing ‘ethnic cleansing’ campaigns to consolidate control” and “violence at all-time high, spreading geographically.” According to a Central Command official, the index on civil strife has been a staple of internal command briefings for most of this year. The analysis was prepared by the command’s intelligence directorate, which is overseen by Brig. Gen. John M. Custer.

Tags: chart, slide, iraq, military, intelligence, central command, classified, secret, conflict, chaos, violence, war