Thursday, July 24, 2008

When is a surge?

I’m glad that Calamity John has finally cleared up this surge business. As he explains it, it’s pretty easy to follow. His latest version is that the surge actually began before the 30,000 troops arrived. Silly me, I thought the 30,000 troops were the surge. But it seems that, according to McCain, some Colonel actually started surging well before the troops arrived. You see, the surge was a complicated diplomatic, political, and military strategy that seems to have primarily involved taking over a neighborhood and then holding it. McCain says that Colonel so-and-so deserves a lot of credit for this. As this began before the troops even arrived, the troops apparently were sent only to assist him in his ongoing surge. As near as I can make out Colonel so-and-so’s surge differed from what had been going on all the time in that after they cleared a neighborhood they stayed in it to prevent whoever it was they were fighting from moving right back in. The 30,000 troops apparently just assisted in this process. So now after the incredible success of the surge we have more troops in Iraq than we had before the surge. The Sunnis have apparently now agreed to re-join the al-Maliki government. But the Kurds have now walked out. Thus, if the surge was to allow the Iraqi government to work its problems out, you might say it didn’t actually succeed very well. The violence is down, which I guess is related to the task of giving the Iraqis more time, so maybe the surge did work. The MSM, and the McCain campaign are desperate to get Obama to admit the surge worked. Obama rightly points out there were other factors involved in the reduction of violence so whether the surge itself was responsible is not at all clear. Calamity John is absolutely obsessed with the success of the surge and our marvelous victory in Iraq. Even today, when interviewed in a grocery store, where he could have focused on the price of food and the economy, he preferred to emphasize once again, the surge. Better for him to talk about the surge endlessly than have to talk about any one of the almost endless failures of the Bush/Cheney crime syndicate.

Before Obama spoke in Berlin it was estimated that 100,000 people might attend. It turned out to be over 200,000. He wowed them. Obama is the real thing when it comes to charisma and inspiration. I hope our expectations of him do not become so unrealistic he will be seen to have failed before he even begins. Obviously he cannot be all things to all people. But he will have to be perceived as doing his best. You can be sure the Brafia will do everything in their power to ruin his Presidency. These evil people who put their profits and party above the national interest have to be exposed for what they are and shut out of the system.

A few days ago a young woman on a bicycle was attacked by a bear in Alaska. A couple of days ago a bear entered a tent and bit a camper near Yellowstone. Another Grizzly attacked a young woman near a Lodge in Alaska just yesterday. Not only that, in Kamchatka two huge bears have been killing and eating miners. The miners are now refusing to return to work because they fear these enormous hungry animals. While I am not usually a conspiracy buff, I suspect that the animals all over the world have had more than enough of us. Bears, elephants, baboons, monkeys, sharks, and others are more and more rising up in protest against the destruction of their territories and ways of life. Is there a central intelligence behind this animal movement? Naw, I bet it’s just Obama. Even the animals are jumping on his bandwagon. Maybe the violence will subside once hes sworn in as POTUS.

LKBIQ:
We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words.
Anna Sewell

1 comment:

The New Arch Druid's take on the news said...

I find McCain's sound bites as presented by the MSM, especially CNN to be quite hilarious. Does the man really think that "the surge worked" if he also makes the argument that the successes or military achievements are fragile? Either the successes are real or they are not. And McCain can hardly harp at how wrong Obama is if he can't himself manage a message that he doesn't turn around and undermine.

As for McCain's recent claim that he does know how to fight and win wars, well excuse me, but the last time he was in one, he was also a POW. Not to denigrate his service, but it is curious that CNN in particular doesn't actually challenge the man. And you can't fight and win a war when you are a POW. Nor can you fight and win a war if you haven't obtained the status of a General. Basically, McCain is engaging in a lot of hubris. That must be why he remains points behind in the polls.