General, Drop Your Draws, The Country Wants To Thank You ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

Well, since the Congress got down on their knees, during the PetraeusReportPalooza, it wouldn't be out-of-the-question for the Bush Grindhouse to have the expectation for the country to give the Golden Boy a good hummer.

But, alas, the news has advanced far past our latest Garlic Weekly Poll.

AQI is nearly as passe as bell-bottom pants... They're as out as Joe Torre... Gone, Arriverderchi, Addios ...

It's in with the new and that means its all Iran, all the time... Iran is fomenting the violence in Iraq now... Iran is providing the bombs ... Iran is providing the training... And, if you haven't been paying attention, Iran has wrestled that much-heralded impending mushroom cloud out of the cold, dead hands of Saddam Hussein and are proudly waving it in Tehran.

Don't worry, even if the Faux News Networks is running a bit behind in their fear-mongering, it won't take them long to catch up ... I mean, there's less than 60-days for them to put some terror into your holidays (and an Iranian terrorist under every tree) ... I'm sure they're working on it ...

The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll October 15 - October 27, 2007

If Al Qaeda in Iraq is vanquished, President Bush will have to ...

1. Get caught with his microphone still on, saying that "The country owes General Petraeus a blow job" Tally 33%

2. Jump into his flightsuit, fire up the aircraft carrier and hang the Mission Accomplised banners Tally 29%

3. Start invading and occupying Iran Tally 27%

4. Appeal to the Nobel Prize people, to take away the Peace Prize from Al Gore and give it to him Tally 12%

This week’s Poll - Rather than amnesty, for aiding Bush & Co. to spy on Americans, the Telecom Companies should ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote

Hypocrites, The Bunch of Them!

Actually had some other posts planned for today, however, upon opening my eyes early this morning, I soon descried what the day would be - An absolute, merciless hammering, like a Blackwater USA security detail in the a heart of Baghdad, of allergies.

So, instead, I rant.

Why-O-Why do the Democrats, after all the twisted spin, outright lies, hurtful smears, keep buying into the Republican/Rightwing/Freak Show straw-man, talking point hissy fits?

General Betrayus!

How could the Senate Democrats possibly join in with the Rubber-Stamp Republicans, to the tune of a 75-25 vote, to approve a resolution condemning MoveOn.Org for their "General Betrayus" advertisement, the day the PetraeusReportPalooza kicked off.

While The Commander Guy, and the rest of the blathering pinheads wipe away the foam and spittle from their mouths, over this "outrageous insult to our troops", where was your rage when the "Betrayus" line was first used - or, at least uttered before the MoveOn.Org ad?

It occurred on a TimesOnLine (UK) article from 19 August 2007, titled "Americans doubt ‘General Betraeus’ over troop surge".

Here's the money shot;

"AFTER being hailed as King David, the potential saviour of Iraq, the US commander General David Petraeus is facing a backlash in advance of his report to Congress in September on the progress of America’s troop surge.

Critics, including one recently retired general, are privately calling him “General Betraeus” on the grounds that he is too ambitious to deliver a balanced report on the war."

Seems that the the title "General Betraeus" was coined by military people, the same people that The Commander Guy, the Republicans, and more-than-a-handful of Democrats are accusing MoveOn.Org slandering.

I don't have access to Lexus-Nexus to verify when it was first used, but, by way of the above-quoted article, it was used, at least once, prior to MoveOn.Org.

I mean, wake the fuck up!

It wouldn't take a fifth-grade (including one from that Fox show) class clown all that much to figure out the rhyme potential of "Petraeus" and 'Betrayus".

But no, the Harry "Just-Don't-Hurt-Me-When-You-Walk-All-Over-Me" Reid-led Senate Democratic Majority folds like a beer-barrel-song accordion every time.

The Golden Boy General chose to make himself the water carrier for the Bush Grindhouse and it shouldn't be incumbent on the Senate, or anyone else, to try to hid him behind his uniform, free of criticism. He's playing politics just like everyone else, he lobbied, wine-and-dined the dog-and-pony shows in selling this, and because he has a lot of scrambled eggs on his chest, that doesn't give him any free passes.

The Senate Republicans are a very partisan, even meaner Lucy, and the Senate Democrats seem all-to-content to comply to their Charlie Brown role, but even more gullible, kicking at that football that isn't there.

But Wait, There's More

And in case you have any thoughts of this is part of Reid's grand strategy, or they're fighting the battles they can, get a glove, get in the game

We had a vision yesterday, a sneak preview, rated "N" for nauseating, on how the next year-and-a-half is going to play out.

Better, I guess, to have 130,000 tired, burned-out, over-extended soldiers stationed in Iraq, than, say, 65,000 well-rested and refreshed.

Pretty amazing, with the mantra of the Republicans the past few years, of beating the Democrats over the head with false charges and lies about not wanting to support the troops, "Defeatocrats" and the like ...

Given the opportunity to do something that would truly aid and assist our military troops, the Republicans all raced to shove their heads up The Commander Guys' ass.

And here is, essentially, what the Republicans continue to support, without question or oversight, from Sidney Blumenthal today over at Salon;

"One week after Petraeus flashed his metrics, a whole new set of facts on the ground suddenly emerged: an admission (previously denied) by Petraeus that the United States was arming the Sunnis, who might use those weapons in the next phase of Iraq's civil war; the release of a Pentagon report that there is "an increase in intra-Shi'a violence throughout the South" (a report conveniently withheld as Petraeus was testifying); the Iraqi government's expulsion of Blackwater, a private security firm with close ties to the administration, after a band of its guards gunned down Iraqi civilians; the restriction of all nonmilitary U.S. personnel in Iraq to the Green Zone; a report by the Iraqi Red Crescent that about 1 million people are internal refugees as a result of ethnic cleansing (apart from the more than 2 million refugees who have fled the country); and the announcement by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of an investigation into the State Department's inspector general for quashing scrutiny and embarrassing studies of fraud in the construction of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, among other projects.

As these events played out, Petraeus was detailed as Bush's Willy Loman to preside over the cooling of the special relationship with America's most important ally in the coalition of the willing. The general traveled to London to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the policy from which he is rapidly disengaging, already having withdrawn British forces in Basra to its airport before final evacuation. Such is the face of victory 10 days after Petraeus' march through Capitol Hill. "

Apparently, since they like to rig voting counts, they want to apply the same policy to death counts, and will continue to blindly support the failed policies of a failed president.

Not a big fan of Chris Matthews, but he did have a good point yesterday (apply the "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile" here), noting the Republican actions in not supporting the Webb Bill, by saying "but we now realize that we stay in this war six more months, do the multiplication. Six times 90; 550 some people are going to be dead ..."

Time, sadly, once again, to cue up Que Sera Sera...

More To Wade Through Links

Digby: Make Em Talk

Joan Walsh: When winning is still losing

Glenn Greenwald: Limitless wrongness

Good Post Alert - Launching Brand Petraeus

The PetraeusReportpalooza ... Ready For Your Close-Up, General?

Top Ten Cloves: How President Bush Came Up With New Slogan of "Return On Success"

News Item: Bush hails troop cuts as 'return on success' in Iraq

10. Like any other successful executive - The Magic 8-Ball

9. Part of a new commercial: "Return On Success - Apply Directly To Your Forehead ... Return On Success - Apply Directly To Your Forehead ... Return On Success - Apply Directly To Your Forehead

8. Just a prelude to new nickname - The Success Guy

7. Recycled it from his failed Private Social Security Accounts initiative

6. Thought it sounds, kind of, "Ek-A-Lec-Tic"

5. Throwing one out there to Rumsfield... Sounds like something he would say

4. Fate - Spread a bunch of new slogans on the floor, and "Return On Success" was the one Barney peed on

3. Did some research, looking it up on The Google

2. Got it off the banner that will hang on his next aircraft carrier speech

1. Came in the same package as "The Clear Skies Act"


Bonus Links

Glenn Kessler/Washington Post: The President Asserted Progress on Security and Political Issues. Recent Reports Weren't Often So Upbeat.

Barry Crimmins: Return on success?

Joe Gandelman: Bush: Limited Troop Reductions And Longterm Security Commitment To Iraq (ROUNDUP UPDATED)

Breaking News! Giant Search Engine Downed By GOP and RNC Staffers; Google Crashes! Besieged With “I’m Feeling Lucky” Searches From White House, Congress; Amazon, D.C. Novelty Stores Hit With Run On Magic 8-Balls

Garlictorial: Stop The Lies ... Bring The Troops Home

FDR had 'The New Deal" ... JFK was "Camelot" ...

What do we get?

The Commander Guy, an ambitious General and The Surge

Almost as a backdrop to the theatre of The PetraeusReportPalooza this week comes some sad news.

Two of seven soldiers (Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray and Jeremy A. Murphy) who wrote the great Op-Ed, "The War As We Saw It", were killed in action on Monday.

Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray died in a vehicle accident in Baghdad.

"The War As We Saw It" was, more-or-less, a rebuttal to the rose-colored glasses Op-Ed, "A War We Just Might Win" by war cheerleaders-passing-themselves-off-as-war-critics Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack, both from the Brookings Institute.

The Garlic featured "The War As We Saw It" in our post "Three For Today ... The Selling of Iraq", as the timing of the publication came smack in the middle of the selling of Ayad Allawi as the next savior of Iraq.

The tragic loss of these two soldiers, as well as the 3,000+, and the scores-of-thousands of Iraqis, certainly begs answers to the questions General Extraordinaire David Petraeus - as well as the Bush Grindhouse - couldn't answer during his testimony this week.

Asking for more time, another six-months, so that, maybe, possibly, something good will happen, doesn't do anything now, for Sgt Mora or Sgt. Gray.

Instead of listening to Golden Boy Petraeus, or his Robin-like sidekick, Ambassador Ryan Crocker, perhaps the House and Senate should have the five remaining Op-Ed writers come in and testify.

And, rather then offering some bland, boiler-plate response to The Commander Guy this evening, after his televised snow job on announcing a troop pullout - that was already scheduled to occur - the Democratic response should be to read "The War As We Saw It" to the country.

But then again, the country doesn't need to be convinced what a nightmare Iraq is, and how we should be out of there.

Perhaps they should convene for a Joint Session of Congress and read it there.

Update/Must Read Bonus Link

Here's a pretty good assessment "from conditions on the ground", as the Bush Grindhouse likes to say, on the Surge and Anbar Strategy

Abu Aardvark: Abu Risha murdered

The PetraeusReportpalooza ... Ready For Your Close-Up, General?

"I can't go on with the scene. I'm too happy. Do you mind, Mr. DeMille, if I say a few words? Thank you. I just want to tell you how happy I am to be back in the studio making a picture again. You don't know how much I've missed all of you. And I promise you I'll never desert you again, because after "Salome" we'll make another picture, and another and another.

You see, this is my life. It always will be. There's nothing else - just us and the cameras and those wonderful people out there in the dark... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my closeup."

Norma Desmond in 'Sunset Boulevard'

Substitute "President Bush" for "Mr. DeMille" and you, pretty much have the General Extraordinaire David Petraeus?

And instead of making pictures, they're making wars.

The last, worn-out, over-used, broken and tattered shoe drops this evening, when The Petraeus Plan becomes The Bush Plan, and our Commander Guy runs through his infomercial for the continued selling of his invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Today, our good friend Barry Crimmins, in his post, "Pig drippings", writes';

"Unlike the politicians who metaphorically hide behind the grunts, Patraeus literally lives behind a human shield of GI's ... He's an opportunist and after listening to him for two days it's clear he's either delusional or a compulsive liar ..."

Opportunist?

Petraeus makes Eve Harrington, from "All About Eve" fame, look like a patient in a coma compared to his clawing his way to the top.

Try this one on for size;

President Petraeus? Iraqi official recalls the day US general revealed ambition

Apparently the Surge Master has some plans for politics in the not-too-distant future.

With the way things are going in Iraq, likely, we'll be giving the General a "Thank you for playing, and here's some lovely parting gifts to take along with you, including the Home Edition of "Invading and Occupying Iraq".

That is, if the Bush Grindhouse doesn't bury him like they have the generals before him.

And does the General play nice with others?

U.S.-IRAQ: Fallon Derided Petraeus, Opposed the Surge

To quote from the article, Admiral William Fallon, chief of the Central Command (CENTCOM) thought of Golden Boy Petraeus as "an ass-kissing little chickenshit".

And that close-up?

That came Tuesday evening, when the General, with his sidekick Robin, went on Faux News, to be sucked off by Britt Hume;

Brit Hume and the Bush administration take propaganda to a new level

So, to sum up the PetraeusReportpalooza, we have a President who just wants to hand-off this Iraq fiasco to the next President, and the military man he has put in charge of this task has aspirations to become a President, not necessarily the next one.

As always, in situations like this, time to cue up Que Sera Sera ...

The PetraeusReportpalooza: "After two days, no answer to 'how this ends'"

Well, Well, Well ...

For all the build-up... All the hype... The sprinkling of the Pixie Dust... The months of "Wait For Petraeus" ... "Wait For September" ... The Photo-Ops... The Dog-and-Pony shows...

It all boiled down to this;

McClatchy Newspapers: After two days, no answer to 'how this ends'

And the money shot;

The Nation - Petraeus: I "Don't Know" If Iraq War Makes U.S. Safer

Doesn't it just want to make you scream "Help Me Mr. Wizard?"


Drizzle, drazzle, dradle, drone ... The highlights


Sniff ... Sniff ... Can You Smell A Turd Blossom?

Think Progress: Is Petraeus’ Drawdown Part Of The White House’s 2008 Political Strategy?


You'll Want To Get In Line For The Time-Shares

TPMmuckraker: How Does the Anbar Shift Relate to Reconciliation?


They Kicked Him In The Gut, and Then Knocked His Teeth Out For Mumbling About it

Washington Post: Senators Take Petraeus, Crocker to Task


Now, Joe, Did You Come Up With That All By Yourself, or Did You Pull It Out of the Water Bucket Your Carrying?

TalkLeft: Lieberman Asks For War With Iran; Petraeus Turns Him Down


And Here's A Shout-Out To The Vice-President

Andrew Sullivan: The Surge's Real Target: Iran?


Hey, You're Stepping On Friedman's Turf, With That There, Buster

'Eugene Robinson: Six Months' Without End


Who Can I Turn To ... When Nobody Needs Me

Ezra Klein - The Dispensable Man: David Petraeus has admitted David Petraeus doesn't matter. Will anyone believe him?


Bonus Links

The PetraeusReportpalooza

"And Now We Come To The Sanity Clause ..."

GIVE ME A "P" ... GIVE ME A "E" ... GIVE ME A "T" ... GIVE ME A "R" ... GIVE ME A "A" ... GIVE ME A "E" ... GIVE ME A "U" ... GIVE ME A "S" ...

Top Ten Cloves: Since Petraeus Can't Say That We Are Safe, The President Will Have To Change His Slogan To ...

News Item: Petraeus: 'I Don't Know' if Iraq Victory Will Make U.S. Safer

10. New intelligence shows that, even if we fail, the terrorists won't follow us home, so we don't have to worry about fighting them here

9. Operation Iraqi Freedom has many facets, not just fighting them over there, instead of here

8. You know, my advisers tell me, fighting isn't the only way to deny the terrorists a safe haven in Iraq...

7. Advancing the ideal of democracy and self-government can be achieved in other ways, not just fighting

6. We'll fight whoever we can fight ... Wherever we can fight'em!

5. We don't have to fight them ... We can "Surge'em"... And we'll Surge'em over there, not over here

4. Forget what I said before ... We'll fight them there, instead of over here ...

3. We'll "Progress" them ... Progressing them is even better then fighting them ... We can show Progress all the time ... Never get tired ... Fighting them all the time, we'll get tired ...

2. We'll fight the mushroom cloud... See, it's a cloud ... A cloud shaped like a mushroom ... And we need to fight it before it becomes the form of a mushroom cloud ... Before it takes the shape of a mushroom cloud ...

1. Maybe we can live with all of Iraq not being free... It's not written in stone all of Iraq has to be free ... We can fight for a partially-free Iraq here, just as well as over there ...

Bonus Links

The Ever Changing Definition of ‘Mission’ In Iraq

Iraq No Longer Exists

The PetraeusReportpalooza

Perhaps I was bleary-eyed, and beaten down by the PetraeusReportpalooza, or over-anxious at having to ignore the daily, back-to-back 'Family Feud' viewing ritual, in an effort not to miss one surge-pulsing moment of the hearing today ...

But I could have sworn that General Extraordinaire David Petraeus turned the committee members' glasses of water into wine ...

You missed it?

How's about nearly seven-hours of "things are improving", "need more time" and the touting of a troop withdrawal next spring, one that would be taking place anyway (unless the Pentagon was taking the bold step of classifying soldiers as indentured servants), as if the Bush Grindhouse was actually listening to the country as to ending this nightmare.

We turn the floor over to the voices of others ...

Let's Take Controversy, for $100, Alex ...

The Swamp: Petraeus 'Betray Us' ad is group's 'shock and awe'


CNN Political Ticker: Dems join GOP in slamming ad attacking Petraeus


Kevin Drum: COOKING THE BOOKS....


Joe Gandelman: With Enemies Like This, General Petraeus Gets New Friends


But Let's Not Give MoveOn.Org All The Credit

TimesOnLine: Americans doubt ‘General Betraeus’ over troop surge

(h/t to Jane Hamsher over on Firedoglake.com)


Flack ... Flak ... Rhymes With ... Political Hack

Think Progress: Petraeus Falsely Claims That Six Months Ago, ‘No One Would Have Forecast’ Anbar’s Success


Big Tent Democrat: On Petraeus: The Manufacturing Of A Storyline


Think Progress - REPORT: Petraeus Spent At Least 17 Days In August Flacking For Bush’s Escalation


Jane Hamsher: No More Flack for Iraq


You Want Charts?

Kevin Drum: PETRAEUS'S DRAWDOWN...


David Kurtz: Running the Numbers


John Cole: Look At All the Pretty Colors


Tell'em What They Won, Johnny ...


Michael Abramowitz: Petraeus Leaves Large Questions Unanswered


I See ... Dead Policies ...

Glenn Greenwald: Stop the DC Establishment



I've got the world on a string ... I'm sitting on a rainbow ... Got the string around my finger ...

"And Now We Come To The Sanity Clause ..."

Now, The Garlic has long known the Bush Grindhouse's affinity to the Marx Brothers as the inspiration for their breathtaking polices, but this is really, really stretching it ...

We've heard - for months, on end - the expected manna from heaven that would fall in Washington this September ... The great warrior, General David Petraeus, would speak his words, sprinkling the ground with golden wisdom ...So hushed would the nation's capital become, it could be mistaken for the shooting of a remake of 'The Day The Earth Stood Still'.

But then, a ripple in this militarized Norman Rockwell moment ...

Petraeus wouldn't be writing the report, the Bush Grindhouse will pen the way forward ...

And we've endured now, the whizzing of reports, flying overhead like a food fight in a middle school cafeteria ... The GAO... The NIE, pundits on the right, pundits on the left... A Former Secretary of State... Embassy Reports...

And today - drumroll please...

Think Progress: New Twist In Saga Over ‘Petraeus Report’: There Will Be No Report

Joe Gandelman: Shifting Goalposts Dept: Now Petraeus Report Won’t Be Written Report

John Cole: Report? What Report?

As Keith Olbermann said the other evening, of The Commander Guy; "You have no remaining credibility about Iraq".

Now, if we can get a Congressional Democrat, or two, to morph into Klaatu, and his gigantic robot, Gort, and toss around a few "Klaatu barada niktos", maybe something can get done to end this madness.

Bonus Links

Juan Cole: A surge of phony spin on Iraq; Bush's backers are peddling a sunny view of the president's strategy -- despite Iraq's political chaos and soaring death counts

Nir Rosen, in conversation with Amy Goodman: Iraq No Longer Exists

Sidney Blumenthal: Bush knew Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction


A Night at the Opera (1935) - The Contract