THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
Okay, we all know the figure of 4000 dead in Bush’s war – but it’s actually even worse than thathttp://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4743[Chris Bowers] Whenever one a terrible milestone is reach in Iraq for the number of American soldiers killed, such as 4,000 today, it is necessary to point out that the milestone being focused on was actually reached a long time ago. In addition to the 4,000 dead American soldiers, the following fatalities have also occurred in Iraq over the past five years:
* Journalists: 135 fatalities
* Non-American military coalition forces: 308 fatalities
* Non-military contractors: At least 1,001 fatalities as of June 30th, 2007
* Iraqi Security Forces: At least 8,057
* Iraqi military forces: During the invasion, between 15,000 and 45,000 Iraqi military personnel died.
* Civilians: Between 400,000 and 650,000 as of June 2006, and over 1,000,000 now.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/24/97-of-us-deaths-in-iraq-came-after-mission-accomplished/[AFP] At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after US President George W. Bush announced the end of “major combat” in Iraq on May 1, 2003 . . .
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/24/113116/684[Brandon Friedman] American forces have just experienced the most violent two-week period in Iraq since September 2007. . . .
Alice explains why 4000 isn’t enough:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185319.phpDick:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/24/5-years-4000-dead-dick-cheney-so/"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/24/161545/622[Devilstower] If any one sentence could hold all the contempt that the Republicans feel for the military and for military families, this is the one. Who is this war hardest on? Poor ol' George. . . .
More:
http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/24/monday-late-nite-who-suffers-more-than-george-bush/Victory is near!http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/washington/25policy.htmlTroop levels in Iraq would remain nearly the same through 2008 as at any time during five years of war, under plans presented to President Bush on Monday by the senior American commander and the top American diplomat in Iraq . . .
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/31527.htmlA cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.
Simultaneously, in the strategic southern port city of Basra, where Sadr's Mahdi militia is in control, the Iraqi government launched a crackdown in the face of warnings by Sadr's followers that they'll fight government forces if any Sadrists are detained. By 1 a.m. Arab satellite news channels reported clashes between the Mahdi Army and police in Basra.
The freeze on offensive activity by Sadr's Mahdi Army has been a major factor behind the recent drop in violence in Iraq, and there were fears that the confrontation that's erupted in Baghdad and Basra could end the lull in attacks, assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. . . .
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_301.php"We don't have any Thomas Jeffersons here."
That's a Marine captain in The Washington Post's front page story this morning on the state of affairs in Fallujah. You're not likely to ever read a more sobering narrative about Iraq . . . [read on]
More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301990_pf.html
How we got herehttp://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/the_daily_muck_535.phpDavid Kay, the man who headed the Iraq Survey Group and the Bush administration charged with finding WMD in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, believes that the U.S. intelligence efforts were the biggest “fiasco of my lifetime.” . . .
More:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,542888,00.html
“Bush’s War”http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/bushs-war
The old songs are the best songs, aren’t they?http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14995.html[Karl Rove, in the WSJ] One out of five is not a majority. Democrats should keep that simple fact of political life in mind as they pursue the White House.
For a party whose presidential candidates pledge they’ll remove U.S. troops from Iraq immediately upon taking office — without regard to conditions on the ground or the consequences to America’s security — a late February Gallup Poll was bad news. The Obama/Clinton vow to pull out of Iraq immediately appears to be the position of less than one-fifth of the voters.
Only 18% of those surveyed by Gallup agreed U.S. troops should be withdrawn “on a timetable as soon as possible.” And only 20% felt the surge was making things worse in Iraq. Twice as many respondents felt the surge was making conditions better. . . .
Just a year ago it was almost universally accepted that Iraq would wreck the GOP chances in November. Now the issue may pose a threat to the Democratic efforts to gain power. For while the American people are acknowledging the positive impact of the surge, Democratic leaders are not. . . . [read on]
Worse than Bush?http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2008/03/pr20080324/In 2001, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) opposed the first round of President Bush's tax cuts, saying they were "generous tax relief to the wealthiest individuals of our country at the expense of lower- and middle-income American taxpayers." But now, as he runs for president, McCain openly mocks rhetoric that talks about "who the, quote, 'wealthy' are in America." In fact, McCain has offered massive tax cuts, mostly for corporations, that are as costly as Bush's tax cuts and even more regressive. . . . [read on]
More:
http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/03/the_mccain_plan_really_is_more_wars.htmlWhy We Should Fear a McCain Presidency. . . .
Oh tish, tish: what are a few campaign finance laws between friends?http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/24/mccain_breaks_spending_limits/John McCain has officially broken the limits imposed by the presidential public financing system, according to spending reports filed last week by the campaign. . . .
More misery for the GOPhttp://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9175.htmlAt a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance. . . . [read on]
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002691761The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which helps fund the campaigns of Democrats who are running for the U.S. House, reported raising $6.2 million in February. That compared to $4.6 million raised by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the partisan counterpart to the DCCC. . .
The DCCC began March with $38 million left to spend and had $763,000 in debts, compared to $5.1 million for the NRCC, which reported $1.9 million in debts.
The NRCC expected to have had a bit more at the end. But the House Republican organization revised its cash-on-hand total downward by about $740,000, following the results of a preliminary investigation that alleged financial mismanagement by former NRCC treasurer Christopher Ward.
Given their money disadvantage, Republican officials also may wish they had taken back some of the $1.1 million they invested in February on the campaign for March 8 special election in Illinois’ 14th District. Democrat Bill Foster went on to win that contest by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent over Republican Jim Oberweis — an outcome widely described as a setback and even an embarrassment to the GOP, as the Republican-leaning district had long been held by Republican J. Dennis Hastert, the former House Speaker, who resigned from Congress last November. . . .
More:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14997.htmlHow they play ithttp://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/republican_majority_committee.php[Paul Kiel] This election is sure to see its share of attack groups like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But while most of the attention will be on the billionaire-backed attack organizations, there are also sure to be a number of smaller groups operating under the radar.
A group called the Republican Majority Campaign is a good example. . . [read on]
Can Obama win a truly realigning election?http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/politics/25obama.html“The Obama Doctrine”
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_obama_doctrineBarack Obama is offering the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we've heard from a serious presidential contender in decades. But will voters buy it? . . .
Clinton’s call to arms on the economyhttp://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_we_need_a_commanderinc.php[Eric Kleefeld] Hillary Clinton gave her big speech on the mortgage crisis today in Philadelphia, laying out various proposals for restructuring debts, an important issue to many blue-collar voters in this key primary — a state where a loss would effectively end her candidacy, and where even no less than a resounding win would be necessary for her to be credible for the nomination.
Beyond that, however, it was in many ways about laying out her establishment credibility with Pennsylvania voters — she was accompanied by such leading Pennsylvania figures as Gov. Ed Rendell and Philly Mayor Michael Nutter — and contrasting herself against Barack Obama on the experience issue, without ever naming him directly.
Key quote:
So we need a president who can restore our confidence, a president who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions, a president who will act at the first signs of trouble, working with experts to identify the problem, with agencies to adapt regulations, with Congress to pass necessary legislation, working to prevent crises rather than just reacting too little too late. We need a president who is ready on day one to be Commander-in-Chief of our economy.
Why the Clinton/Obama fight has gotten so nastyhttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185234.php[Josh Marshall] Perhaps this is obvious. But it seems to me that the real reason the Democratic primary race has gone from heated to vicious (at least among the candidates' supporters, if not the candidates themselves) is precisely because we're in this awkward seven week hiatus in which there are no actual elections being held. Actual voting, rightly, has served as the closest thing to a referee this on-going contest has. So each side would have it at for a week or so. And then we'd have some voting. And despite all the efforts to spin the results on both sides they'd still have an undeniable effect. After South Carolina, Hillary seriously rejiggered her approach. After Ohio and Texas, Obama's camp decided that certain attacks against them had stuck. All the acrimony and spin notwithstanding, the regular input of voters had the effect of keeping the campaigns on something like a common narrative. Without them, we are stuck with the same, unchanging stubborn set of facts: Obama has a relatively narrow lead which, under the DNC's rules, is nevertheless extremely difficult to overcome. And each side is left cycling over into more and more heated iterations of the same arguments, like a cascade into mounting levels of mania, at least among supporters if not always the campaigns themselves. . . . [read on]
More:
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/a_response_to_allen_and_vandeh.phpClinton’s supporters try more and more ways to redefine the rules to fit her situationhttp://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/24/bayh_proposes_another_measure_to_pick_nominee.html[Taegan Goddard] Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), who endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, "proposed another gauge Sunday by which superdelegates might judge whether to support Mrs. Clinton or Senator Barack Obama," the New York Times reports. "He suggested that they consider the electoral votes of the states that each of them has won."
Said Bayh: "So who carried the states with the most Electoral College votes is an important factor to consider because ultimately, that’s how we choose the president of the United States."
Clinton supporters like this metric because it's the only one proposed so far that currently shows her ahead. . . [read on]
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185225.php[Josh Marshall] There were other options that seemed to go even further down the rabbit hole. But it did lead me to have a kind of epiphany about just where the Clinton side is at this point -- gaming out different retroactive rule changes to see who would have won the popular vote if the nomination process were operating under a different set of rules. I imagine playing poker around a table with friends. Player A has a Straight Flush; Player B has four of a kind. Then B says well, sure, if you're counting straights, but if we were adding up the numbers rather than going by straights winning, I'd have won. . . . [read on]
It’s getting kind of silly:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185389.php"And also remember that pledged delegates in most states are not pledged," said Clinton. "You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody. They’re just like super-delegates." . . . [read on]
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_pledged_delegates_just.php[Eric Kleefeld] Hillary previously hinted at such a strategy about two weeks ago, while over a month ago the campaign had to deny reports that they would attempt such a thing.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/25/012/39464
Five Ways Clinton Leads Obama . . .[Cameron Fredman] Average Highest Elevation . . . [read on!]
More:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14992.htmlhttp://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/24/134327/431http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/24/132651/184Clinton says she “misspoke” in characterizing her Bosnia visit in 1996 as an act of heroism. Fair enough, people make mistakes – but there’s one little problem: she’s done it repeatedly, and she’s done it in printhttp://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_campaign_she_misspoke.phphttp://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/24/clinton_bosnia/index.html[Tommy Vietor, Obama spokesman] “The Clinton campaign claimed today that Senator Clinton 'misspoke' when she described a supposedly harrowing landing in Tuzla, Bosnia as First Lady in 1996 -- despite the fact that the claim appeared in her prepared remarks. . . .
Senator Clinton said that a planned welcoming ceremony was cancelled because they needed to avoid sniper fire, but news footage shows that she was met by a small child who read her a poem. Contrary to the latest spin from the Clinton campaign, when you make a false claim that's in your prepared remarks, it's not misspeaking, it's misleading, and it's part of a troubling pattern of Senator Clinton inflating her foreign policy experience." . . .
More:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/well-clinton-brought-this-on-herself.htmlhttp://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/outrages_of_the_day.phphttp://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/misspoke.phpIt gets worsehttp://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185322.php[Josh Marshall] And there's even more. Sen. Clinton has said on a number of occasions that she was "the first, you know, high- profile American to go into Bosnia after the peace accords were signed because we wanted to show that the United States was 100 percent behind the agreement."
But this also seems to incorrect. . . [read on]
Hillary’s Bill problem (again)http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/bill_clinton_reemerges_as_majo.phpBonus item: The socialists are coming, the socialists are coming!http://www.charlotte.com/630/story/540430.htmlRep. Virginia Foxx says she believes God will judge people for sins of omission as well as commission. . .
"You should fear for your country," Foxx told a gathering of members of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.
The Democratic majority in Congress has become "bolder and bolder" . . .
"I am trying to scare you to death," she said. . . .
"I think what the Democrats are doing in terms of raising taxes and adopting the budget they are adopting should scare people in this country," said Foxx. . . . "We are going down the wrong road. We are spending money we don't have. We are raising taxes on hard-working Americans, and I'm very concerned about the direction they are taking this country." . . .
"I believe they are socialists, and if you look at their platforms you will see their plan is to take money from part of the population and give it to other people in the population," she said later, referring to their universal health care plans.
"I don't know the dictionary definition of socialism, but most people would see that as socialism." . . .
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Bonus item: McSame
