But he gets almost no credit for this. On the right, they say he was just following Bush’s timeline and we should still have troops there to prevent a civil war. On the left, they say he was just following Bush’s timeline and we still have thousands of contractors in a giant embassy.
Both sides forget history. As Barack Obama was winning the 2008 election on the issue of the Iraq War, he changed the debate and forced the timeline that Bush adopted.
From July 18, 2008:
"In a stunning diplomatic breakthrough for Barack Obama, Iraq’s prime minister yesterday endorsed the Democratic candidate’s 16-month timeline for withdrawing combat troops from Iraq."
The timeline Bush adopted was never Bush’s timeline. It was Obama’s. (That’s why he won the Nobel Peace Prize, in case you’re wondering.) The privatization of the military as described in Rachel Maddow’s Drift made getting out a bit easier. But ending this war was a mission this man adopted as a State Senator and achieved as President. Denying that only reveals your bias.
You know what pisses me off? That even I had started to adopt the talking point that all Obama did was to follow Bush's timeline.
It just goes to show how insidious the Republican talking points can be, and how quickly they become ingrained in out political discourse.
I should have remembered this fact, but I didn't. Did you?
We have to do a better job my friends. Not only are the facts sometimes elusive, but apparently the Republicans are attempting to coat them in some kind of political KY Jelly.
Just a head's up: Your link works fine but citation is incorrectly spelled.@LOLGOP wrote the piece for @Eclectablog (c)Glad to see you read the best MI blog we have. Chris Savage hosts the blog & is authority on emergency managers now part of our reality.
ReplyDeleteThis is what makes me soooooooooooo angry:
ReplyDeleteForget liberal bias. A new study reveals that the press covered Romney twice as favorably as Obama during the primaries – and declared the GOP race over weeks ago.
During the bruising Republican primaries, there was one candidate whose coverage was more relentlessly negative than the rest. In fact, he did not enjoy a single week where positive treatment by the media outweighed the negative.
His name is Barack Obama.
That is among the findings of a study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a Washington nonprofit that examined 52 key newspaper, television, radio, and Web outlets...
more:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/04/23/rise-and-shine-162/
Let's channel our anger by making sure every Dem we know is registered and ready to vote in November, for Pres Obama.
DeleteThink of it this way. How would you feel if a foreign army conducted war right here in the United States?
ReplyDeleteThe man kept his word. He pulled the troops out of a war and a country we shouldn't have been in.
Liz Cheney and John Bolton Rewrite Bush Years, Claim Torture Caught Bin Laden
ReplyDeletehttp://crooksandliars.com/karoli/liz-cheney-and-john-bolton-rewrite-bush-yea
Great job!
ReplyDeleteNow can we move on from Afghanistan? How safe does being there as it is now make us?
On This Week, Much Pearl Clutching Over Secret Service Men Behaving Badly
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/week-much-pearl-clutching-over-secret
Granted, asking for the two-for-one special is pretty lame, but this whole Colombia thing is too funny. When Reagan visited Guam in 1985 at least 15-20 members of his SS detail hit up Club Yobo strip club. Are they really gonna have an investigation because SS and TDY [temporary duty] military patronize strip clubs and hookers?
There have been a few "interesting" articles on Yahoo! News from a contributor, Mark Whittington. He is obviously a fan of $P.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read the headline, I thought WOW, someone gets it but it was not to be. The first article and my favorite quote:
http://news.yahoo.com/sarah-palin-screaming-demonic-barbeque-pit-202900463.html
"Sarah Palin, besides being the most powerful female politician on the planet, has been the inspiration for art. The bad news is that some of the art in question is nasty and is meant to be unflattering."
This second one is really funny! I don't really have a favorite quote since the whole article is full of favorites. This guy is serious. He actually thinks Romney should pick $P as his running mate. I kid you not.
http://news.yahoo.com/sarah-palin-vice-president-again-205900862.html
Enjoy!
InSF
THAT is hilarious!! Thanks for sharing. The comments are priceless :)
DeleteI loved this part
Delete"Unfortunately, the sculpture in question, executed in metal by artist J. Taylor Wallace, depicts the former governor as a wide-eyed, screaming harridan, which might be an accurate depiction of how the far left views her. The sculpture was used to roast an entire, pear stuffed pig at a recent art festival. It is said the fire made the eyes glow and the mouth shoot flames, in a sort of parody of a female demon."
The eyes glow and the mouth shoots flames?
Now I REALLY want one!
Thanks for the laughs!
They're declaring all out war on our wonderful president.
ReplyDeleteMedia Covered Romney Twice As Favorably As Obama During GOP Primary, Study Says
http://www.mediaite.com/online/media-covered-romney-twice-as-favorably-as-obama-during-gop-primary-study-says/
http://www.mediaite.com/online/in-2008-ny-times-basked-in-warm-glow-of-obamas-election-now-takes-a-hard-look-at-the-president/
My husband and I just dropped out of our local Mensa club because of this same thing. It had devolved into a bunch of Tea Party-ish folks constantly nattering Republican talking points. And these people are supposed to be SMART?! In truth, most of them are white and getting older (less effort in thinking), but I won’t put up with that garbage!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I just dropped out of our local Mensa club because of this same thing. It had devolved …
DeleteThe whole local group? Or just the people who generally showed up for events?
From the American Mensa web site, or from your LocSec, you should be able to get an estimate of the number of members in your area. Chances are, you'll find that only about 20% of those who could attend events, actually do. So… can't stand the people who come to the existing events? Start your own event! Go after the other 80%.
This year the American Mensa Annual Gathering is again in the West, in Reno. With 2000+ attendees, it should give you lots of opportunity to meet friendly people, and perhaps inspire you to make the effort to make things better in your home area.
My wife and I have attended all the Reno Regional Gatherings (we drive there from Vancouver BC) and will be there for the AG. You should go. You can ask Ken or Anna to introduce us.
And these people are supposed to be SMART?!
You need to remember that people often form opinions for emotional reasons, and then use their intellect to construct rationalizations for having done so.
Oops, I forgot the article that applied to this post. Starts out "Without any actual accomplishments to tout for President Barack Obama and with attacks on his rival, Mitt Romney, backfiring, the dwindling group of supporters of the president is starting to come up with bizarre reasons to re-election him." Crazy!
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/support-obama-turning-bizarre-200400863.html
InSF
That's just bizarre! None of the people I know who supported President Obama in 2008 have fallen by the wayside. We are all just as committed as we were in 2008. And I don't think that the Republicans are reaping too many votes from independent women. The "liberal media" is a lie; it is one of the fundamental lies of the last generation. Most people believe it and it just is not true. Corporations own the media and corporations do not like liberal policies.
DeleteSounds like a lie tailor-made for Sequoia and Diebold, if you know what I mean. In the mean-time, they're trying to 'soften-up' the public consciousness and propel us all into amnesia. JMO.
DeleteI can't believe you fell for the GOP BS, Gryphen.
ReplyDeleteSugar Daddies
ReplyDeleteThe old, white, rich men who are buying this election
http://nymag.com/news/frank-rich/conservative-donors-2012-4/
They can buy it if the Dems VOTE! Don't be so pessimistic. VOTE!
DeleteI have quit golf leauges and I have had to make careful choices about friends that I have had for 30 years due to their unbridled racism and hatred for our president. I guess the hate had been there and I ignored it. I can no longer ignore it. I want our country to survive and the right is so wrong I can't believe it is not obvious to all.
ReplyDeleteYes, ending the war is a GREAT accomplishment, for which I am v grateful. And there are many other accomplishments of great importance. But the biggest one, for me, is that Obama has proved himself a decent and honorable man in this era when such characteristics are almost unheard of in successful politicians.
ReplyDeleteNo scandal to disillusion me. None expected. My friends are pro Obama in a big way.
I fear dirty tricks and voter fraud, funded by limitless money, which is the GOP's best hope to defeat this fine man.
2 bad he couldn't end the occupation of aghanistan while he was at it
ReplyDeleteThis is no accomplishment at all. The Iraqi people have been defeated and are living under the will of the US. Backed up by mercenaries (contractors) who continue to murder with impunity. Shame on you for trying to represent it as anything else. And shame on your country for attempting to do the exact same thing in Syria now by representing it as a liberation of the protest movement. If not for Russia's vioce in the UN you would have your next war already. Shame!
ReplyDeleteluv from Canada.
Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteI, too, had been repeating this talking point. Not not disparagingly of our president, but certainly getting it wrong.
Here's an example of what's wrong with US media. They have hundreds of journalists covering the (now) meaningless Presidential race (which is important to the country, but everything between now and after the conventions [i.e., Labor Day] is just noise).
ReplyDeleteLast year 1 contractor (Lockheed Martin) was paid $42 billion dollars, which was twice the $22 billion paid to the next-highest paid contractor (Boeing).
http://battleland.blogs.time.com/2012/04/23/top-pentagon-contractor-paid-42-billion-last-year/
There is a grand total of ONE comment on this blog post, which states:
"Forty two billion is more than twice the GDP of Afghanistan and more than the GDP of a hundred countries including Lebanon, Costa Rica and Ghana."
I think we spend about $30 billion a year on foreign aid, so we paid ONE COMPANY a third again as much as we do to help the truly starving and desperate.
I wish the national media would re-assign political reporters between now and Labor Day to identify the waste/fraud associated with our taxpayer dollars. Even if the media is stonewalled, its important that voters are aware of these mind-boggling figures and start demanding answers to why the hell one company is paid more than the GDP of many countries.
Dems need a way to get through to those well-meaning GOP voters WHO VOTE AGAINST THEIR OWN INTERESTS because of GOP talking points/propaganda.
David Rothkopf, CEO of Foreign Policy Magazine, was on Morning Joe today and also provided mind-blowing stats:
> Goldman Sachs has more assets than the European Central Bank
> All our founding fathers through Roosevelt in the 20th century warned that "too much concentration of power in too few people will UNDO democracy."
The GOP has lulled their base in not understanding the risk to democracy their policies have, and the media stand by and let it happen. Galling.
Here's Rothkopf on Morning Joe:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/ns/msnbc_tv-morning_joe/#47141871
I think you're right. It's the nature of the 24 hour news cycle and the irresponsible news readers who need to spin things to fill in time while ignoring the real news. Yes, President Obama did, indeed end the war in Iraq, but there were no "winners".
ReplyDeleteI wonder if he would be treated with more respect if he tried Bush/Cheyney for war crimes and starting an unjust war of revenge?
OT, I think we all need a little levity. The White House Correspondence dinner is Saturday. ;o) The President MUST have a ton of material!
Too much the cheerleader, Gryph. The whole Bush wind down negotiations in Iraq during the last half of the election and after Obama's win in November, were highly complicated. They just were. You fail to mention that Obama modified his campaign timeline, rather drastically, after he was elected and became privy to presidential intelligence. Intelligence that was conversant with the troubled treaty that Bush caved into -- the whole issue was legal immunization for the horrible things the contractors, the military and "terrorists" did. . .you do not recognize this. Honestly, I think this should be recognized as a shared Bush-Obama victory in the end. Sorry, I love Obama, but. . .
ReplyDeleteMicMac