Top Ten Cloves: Things Condoleezza Rice Has Threatened Russia With To Honor Cease Fire

News Item: Rice: Military power is "not the way to deal in the 21st century"

10. Pay Rielle Hunter to name one of you the father of the baby

9. Either Putin or Medvedev will have to run as McCain's Vice President

8. If the Russians are going to fly their bombers near Alaska, then they have to put in equal time working on Ted Stevens' house

7. Start rumors that it was the two of you who behind the Manhunt donation to the McCain Campaign

6. Will get the Associated Press, like they did with Joe Lieberman, call the two of you "pricks"

5. Send in Michael Phelps to blind Russian soldiers with the reflections off his 8 Gold Medals

4. Meghan McCain will start writing children's books of the two of you, how her Daddy will kick your asses, if elected

3. Bus in Hillary Clinton's supporters, and have them dish out a "cathartic" cease-fire and withdrawal beating

2. Consequences will be to place Putin and Medvedev in the dreaded "McCain Cone of Silence"

1. Won't bother holding back Joe Biden, from tattooing "NATO" on your foreheads


Bonus Russia-Georgia Links

The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School; Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

The Night The Russians Rolled Into Georgia - McCain's August Anthem

Bob Drogin - Los Angeles Times: John McCain aide's dual roles intersect; Randy Scheunemann is a former lobbyist for Georgia, a country the candidate strongly supports in its crisis

John Perr: Presumptuous McCain Plays President on Georgia Conflict

Josh Marshall: His Grandiosity on Display

Cernig: Crisis? McCain Will Give You Crisis!

Condi Sings Again!

This girl has learned well.

She ain't lettin' no one, nobody, crash her Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School, especially the guy who has crapped all over her boss's "Time Horizon".

We refer to this juicy nugget today;

Night before Obama flies abroad, Rice bars embassies from aiding candidates

The night before presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) left for Afghanistan, Iraq and Western Europe for a tour of US bases overseas, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a cable to US missions forbidding them from holding events for presidential candidates or arrange meetings for them.

Rice issued no such cable prior to foreign excursions by presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

"Provide de minimis assistance to the candidate with logistical arrangements," said the cable, according to the Times. "If the campaign staff wants to rent a bus for press, tell them where they can rent a bus."

Hmmm ... She might have been humming her theme song, while composing this cable, or, perhaps, exercising on her elliptical trainer ...

Whatever the case, she wasn't going to get caught flatfooted.

There's only one Iraq legacy on the table, to be hawked and bought, and good work wife Condi was standing by her man.

So, for such decisive, bold action, we pin another song to Condi's music stand.

Sing along, it's from the Beatles.

Don't Help

Don't Help, He may need somebody,
Don't Help, not just anybody,
Don't Help, he'll need someone, don't help.

When Obama was younger, so much younger than today,
He never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now that Hillary's gone, his nomination all but assured
Now I find I've changed my mind and closed the embassy doors

Don't Help him if you can, just let him down
And I do appreciate he gets the runaround.
Don't Help him, let the media give him a crown,
Won't you please, please not help

And now Obama's life has changed in oh so many ways,
Iraqi's dependence on us seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then the legacy is so insecure,
I know that I just need you not to let him in the door

Don't Help him if you can, just let him down
And I do appreciate he gets the runaround.
Don't Help him, let the media give him a crown,
Won't you please, please not help

When Obama was younger, so much younger than today,
He never needed anybody's help in any way.
But now that Hillary's gone, his nomination all but assured
Now I find I've changed my mind and closed the embassy doors

Don't Help him if you can, just let him down
And I do appreciate he gets the runaround.
Don't Help him, let the media give him a crown,
Won't you please, please not help, not help, not help, not help

Bonus Condi Riffs

Rice Audtioning For New Role of Aricept Spokesperson

New Liz Cheney Op-Ed!

Developing Story - Secretary of State Defends “Mushroom Cloud” Prediction; Rice Touts ‘Axis of Evil’ Program As “Wildly Successful” In Wake Of North Korea Nuke Test; AEL Members Adhering To Program; Allows Bush, World “Swift and Unfettered” Rhetoric” As Precursor To Planting Seeds of Democracy

Top Ten Cloves: Things About Condoleezza Rice Becoming NFL Commissioner

Rice Audtioning For New Role of Aricept Spokesperson

As far as legacies go, I guess, you go with the one ya brung ...

And Condi Rice has a death grip on hers, and her work husband, The Commander Guy

Condoleezza Rice Says She's `Proud' of Decision to Invade Iraq

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she's ``proud'' of the U.S. decision to wage the Iraq war and insisted that the world is not more dangerous than it was when George W. Bush took office.

And, from Think Progress;

“We tend to forget very quickly what Saddam Hussein meant. … In the post 9/11 environment, you couldn’t let a threat to international peace and stability like that remain.” She added:

Yes, it’s been very, very tough. But I know that great historical events go through difficult phases and often emerge with the world left for the better. And I am proud of the decision of this administration to overthrow Saddam Hussein. I am proud of the liberation of 25 million Iraqis.

You can go over to Think Progress to see how forgetful Rice has become.

How's about that "liberation" ... How's that coming?

Key Iraqi Leaders Deliver Setbacks to U.S.; Premier Rejects Terms of Proposed Pacts; Cleric Reactivates Militia

And the guy that wants to pick up the Court-Appointed President's (h/t Barry Crimmins) third term;

McCain defends '100 years in Iraq' statement

A country in shambles and a guy that wants to keep it in shambles for another century

Yeah, that's some legacy, alright ...


Bonus Condi Gems

Top Ten Cloves: Ways White House Is Thinking About To Help Condoleezza Rice Remember Meetings She Attends

Our Girl Condi Gets A Theme Song - Neocons and Lovers

The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School; Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Embassy

It's getting so that the saga of this is becoming more-and-more comical, perhaps surpassing the Cary Grant-Myrna Loy classic we culled the title from ...

It's been called, due to first, the sprinklers not working, and also having pipes burst from the water pressure, a fire trap.

It' has gone (big surprise) tremendously over-budget.

It has had calls for it to be shut down.

And, there was also the mandatory call by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, issuing an edict, in order to fill vacant positions, to State Department employees, that they would have to render service in Iraq.

We speak of the Bush Grindhouse's Xanadu ("cost: no man can say"), it's Winchester House, or, otherwise known as the U.S Embassy in Iraq.















The latest?

New US Embassy in Iraq Can't House All Its Workers

Baghdad - The new U.S. Embassy complex does not have enough fortified living quarters for hundreds of diplomats and other workers, who must remain temporarily in trailers without special rooftop protection against mortars and rockets, government officials have told The Associated Press.

Sorting out the housing crunch and funding could further delay moving all personnel into the compound until next year and exposes shortcomings in the planning for America's more than $700 million diplomatic hub in Iraq.

Hmmm ... Something tells me this could become a campaign issue ... In the 2012, or 2016 elections ...

Bonus "She's A Brick House" Riffs

The Guardian: One building that's been built on time and on budget in Iraq: America's fortress embassy ...Vatican-sized bomb-proof structure to cost £300m ...· Builders in Green Zone already insurgent targets

Tom Engelhardt: Imperial life in a brand-new city; What plans for a gigantic new U.S. Embassy in Iraq say about the Bush administration, the occupation of Iraq, and Americans themselves

Top Ten Cloves: Ways To Tell Your Newly Constructed Iraq Embassy Is Poorly Built

"He is Iraq's Katrina itself"

Just as New Orleans's Ninth War will still be a moonscape when Bush goes out of office, so will Iraq.

Sadly, it's looking less, and less, likely that we will see him exit the White House, handcuffed, in a perp walk - as he so richly deserves.

Mostly due to a brain-dead, Constitution-blinders-firmly-affixed-Congress (How big an outcry from our elected representatives have you heard about the bombshell news the other day, that the torture program was choreographed directly out of the Bush Grindhouse?), he gets to wear his real, and proverbial, flightsuit and play "The Commander Guy" for a number of dwindling months.

And inhabiting the Unreality Bubble he has ensconced himself in, Lord knows what further havoc he will reek.

Especially when he's running his policy speeches up the Neocon flagpole, before he gives them.

Wants to make sure, I suppose, there's enough warmongering in it.

Juan Cole writes/reports one of the best blogs on what's happening in Iraq (and the policies behind it; Another good one is Abu Aardvark).

Cole nails the Bush Legacy;

War turns Republics into dictatorships. The logic is actually quite simple. The Constitution says that the Congress is responsible for declaring war. But in 2002 Congress turned that responsibility over to Bush, gutting the constitution and allowing the American Right to start referring to him not as president but as 'commander in chief' (that is a function of the civilian presidency, not a title.)

So Congress abdicated to Bush. Bush has abdicated to the generals in the field.

That is not a Republic. That is a military dictatorship achieved not by coup but by moral laziness.

And, as Gene Robinson notes today, the Bush Grindhouse, cluelessly, is going through the motions, to pass this mess on to the next president.

Of course, Bush long ago lost any credibility with Congress and the American people on Iraq. It's understandable that he hides behind Petraeus's breastplate of medals and Crocker's thatch of gray hair, sending these loyal and able public servants to explicate the inexplicable: What realistic goal is the United States trying to achieve in Iraq? And in what parallel universe is this open-ended occupation making our nation safer?

Even the most basic question of any war is undefined: Who is the enemy? It was almost painful listening to Petraeus as he faced reporters yesterday and was asked whether Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army were friend or foe. His tortured answer, translated into English, was yes.

But thanks to Cole today, the Legacy Shopping is over.

Ironically, what officers like Petraeus need from Bush is not deference but vigorous leadership in the political realm. Bush needs to intervene to work for political reconciliation in Iraq if Petraeus's military achievements are to bear fruit. But Bush seems incapable of actually conducting policy, as opposed to starting wars. Bush happened to Iraq just as he happened to New Orleans. He cannot do the hard work of patiently addressing disasters and ameliorating them. He just wants to set people to fighting. Crush the Sadr Movement, perhaps the most popular political movement in Iraq? He's all for it. Risk provoking a wider conflagration in the Middle East by worsening relations with Iran? Sounds like a great idea to him. Bush campaigned on being a 'uniter not a divider' in 2000. In fact, he is the ultimate Divider, and leaves burning buildings, millions of refugees, and hundreds of thousands of cadavers in his wake. He is not Iraq's Brownie. He is Iraq's Katrina itself.

Just as New Orleans's Ninth War will still be a moonscape when Bush goes out of office, so will Iraq.

Phew!

That's a nutshell, alright ... A pretty, darned good nutshell I would say.

Last summer, The Garlic put forth a proposal - and it's still open and viable - that could end this madness.

Please, someone, step up and go for it!

Bonus Links

Amy Goodman: “Iraq Does Not Exist Anymore”: Journalist Nir Rosen on How the U.S. Invasion of Iraq Has Led to Ethnic Cleansing, a Worsening Refugee Crisis and the Destabilization of the Middle East

Bob Herbert: The $2 Trillion Nightmare

12 Former Army Captains: The Real Iraq We Knew

Wanted Dead Or ... Ahh, The Hell With It .. I'll Let The Next President Get'em ...

New Bush Export - Preemptive Horseshit!

Hillary Camp Livid: - "They Look At His Passport, But Not Ours!"

Breaking News: Bias Charged; Hillary Wants Florida and Michigan To See Her Passport

Brushing aside the breaking news, that State Department employees breached the passport file of Senator Barack Obama, opening it., at least, on three, separate occasion, Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, lambasted the media traveling with the candidate, claiming more bias.

"With the big wins in Texas and Ohio, the widening lead in Pennsylvania," Wolfson barked, clearly agitated, "Now, everyone is running off looking at his passport".

"Why wasn't Hillary's passport breached? ... Why wasn't Hillary's passport looked at?"

"They look at his passport, but not hers? ... It's just like the debates... I'd say something fishy is going on here."

Clinton, apparently still out campaigning as the news broke, quickly integrated the news into her stump speech, offering the voters of Florida and Michigan the opportunity to look at her passport.

"I don't want to see these voters, of two of our most largest, and significant states, being left out of seeing my passport ... That's just not fair."

Reports are still breaking, that three contract employees at the State Department opened and looked at the passport file of Barack Obama.

The dates of the breaches are January 9th, February 21st and recently, on March 14th.

Josh Marshall, from TPM, notes that the dates coincide with "the day after the New Hampshire primary, the day of the Democratic debate in Texas and the day the Wright story really hit."

The Senate office of Obama was notified this afternoon of the breaches.

Two of the contract employees were fired, the third suspended.

It's not clear when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became aware of the security infractions.

Sources tell The Garlic that Secretary Rice was exercising on her elliptical trainer when she first learned of the problem.

Another source contacted The Garlic, indicating they worked in the State Department and stated they were surprised this news didn't come out sooner.

"Half the department had his [Obama] passport up as a screensaver," said the State Department source.

"If we worked late, we played drinking games with it ... You had to name the date and country he visited, and if you got it wrong, you chugged."

More as this story develops


Bonus Links

Attytood - UPDATED: Breaking Obama passport scandal

Pale Rider - Blue Girl/Red State: Obama's Passport File ALREADY Searched by GOP

Hilzoy - Obsidian Wings: This, On The Other Hand, Is Serious

Jeff Fecke/Shakesville: I am So Surprised...Not

Brilliant at Breakfast: You aren't paranoid if they really are out to get you

Hillary's Smelling Burning Rubber! Or: The Garlic Was Right - Hillary Has Built Her "Field of Voices"

Retro Garlic ... Maybe The Next President Needs To Pull Out The Contractors First

It's truly appalling that this situation has occurred, and continues to exist.

Jamie Leigh Jones, the former Halliburton/KBR employee who was gang-raped in Iraq - by her fellow coworkers and contractors - testified yesterday in Congress, as she pursues justice in the case.

Jones told the committee "that she was not aware that when she signed her employment contract, she was effectively signing away her right to bring a lawsuit."

The New York Times has noticed the story today, offering;

"KBR and other companies, meanwhile, have required Iraq-bound employees to agree to take personnel disputes to private arbitration rather than sue the companies in American courts. The companies have repeatedly challenged arbitration claims of sexual assault or harassment brought by women who served in Iraq, raising fears among some women about going public with their claims."

And dday, over on Hullabaloo has Raped And In Legal Limbo, telling the story of Mary Beth Kineston and her sexual harassment and assault, as well as Jones' case;

"Mary Beth Kineston is not the only woman. According to former Halliburton employee and gang-rape victim Jennifer Leigh Jones, 38 women have told their stories of rape and assault to her, but none can come forward due to arbitration agreements"

The Retro Part

Last December, The Garlic took note of the story, in "Along With Shooting Innocent Civilians, We've, Apparently, Outsourced Rape, As Well";

As reported by ABC's Brian Ross (along with Maddy Sauer and Justin Rood), Jamie Leigh Jones, of Houston, was a KBR employee, at the time KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton, working in Iraq - in the Green Zone - when she was gang-raped by her own co-workers.

And before you think that was the only horrible incident that occurred;

"...The company put her under guard in a shipping container with a bed and warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she'd be out of a job.

"Don't plan on working back in Iraq. There won't be a position here, and there won't be a position in Houston," Jones says she was told.

With this situation languishing, and woman being abused and assaulted, where is the outrage from our government, and in particular Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice?

And I do not frame this in a gender box.

Rice, and her State Department saw to it, and pretty quickly, that other contractors - Blackwater - got legal immunity, after their employees shot and killed 17 innocent Iraqi civilians.

If Rice can protect the hired guns, why isn't she moving heaven-and-earth to see to it that the female contractors are not abused and assaulted?

Maybe some enterprising journalist can ask the Secretary this in her next press conference.

And, perhaps, the first thing Barack Obama, or Hillary Clinton, if and when they are elected President, should make pulling all the contractors out of Iraq first - or, at minimum, see to it that the female contractors can perform their jobs and earn their livings without being subjected to horrifying abuse.


















No Madam Secretary, it's thumbs down for you, until you begin protecting the female contractors working in Iraq!

The Buzzards Are Picking At Each Other ...

Leave it to the Bush Grindhouse, the Neocon Nitwits and the freakshow dittoheads.

Right Wing Attacks Khalilzad For Not Defending Bolton’s Honor: ‘A Lack Of Testicular Fortitude’

Last Saturday, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, participated in a panel discussion on Iranian foreign policy with two high-ranking Iranian officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The New York Times reports that the White House and Condoleezza Rice were “angered” by Khalilzad’s move because he did not receive explicit authorization.

The moderator of the forum joked that Khalilzad has a “really formidable advantage of having a name that is not John Bolton.” Because Khalilzad let that comment stand without repudiating it, right-wing bloggers have erupted in full rage that Khalilzad did not jump to defend Bolton’s honor (as they surely would have). Thus, Khalilzad’s behavior was “disgusting,” “an insult to the United States” and showed “a lack of testicular fortitude”:

Bolton was a joke, so, the moderators' comment was spot on, more of an observation and compliment, than anything else.

But what am I saying? ... OMG! ... Someone in the administration talked to an Iranian!

From The L.A. Times;

"Khalilzad did not veer from the U.S. position, but broke rules that permit Bush administration officials to discuss issues with Iranians only under limited circumstances and with advance approval.

"Ambassador Khalilzad's appearance with the Iranian foreign minister and presidential advisor was not authorized," said a State Department spokesman, who declined to be identified while discussing a personnel issue. He said officials would speak to Khalilzad about the infraction."

No doubt, Khalilzad must have been put through a Karen Silkwood scrubdown soon after the meeting.

Hmmm ... I wonder, if they're more pissed off, because they got caught with their fearmongering-warmongering pants down last month ...

Who knows, maybe Khalilzad was buttering them up, trying to find out who the "Filipino Monkey" is?


Bonus Reads

Cernig: Khalilzad Goes Off The Reservation

Kevin Drum: US AND THEM....

NYT: White House Criticizes Envoy Over Iran

Bolton: Card Had White House In Coma; White House Shake-Up Causes Bolton Snafu; Fiery UN Ambassador Thought Bush Reaching Out To Him; Lambastes Card and “that little bean-counting pansy”

Breaking News! Zidane Signals New Era of “Hooligan Diplomacy”; Have Head-Butt, Will Travel - Mr. Zizou Goes To Washington; World Cup Golden Ball Winner Wooed By Bush Team; Likely Will Be Assigned To Bolton at U.N.


"I will not have members of my administration talking to Iranians!"

Does He Get A New Girlfriend With This Job Too? ... Does The Job "Pay For Itself?

Maybe it's the clarion call of his old colleague, Donald Rumsfeld, that tugs at his heartstrings of public service.

Wolfowitz Returns to U.S. Government as Adviser

As we said when the job offer was reported in December, the board meets quarterly to provide advice to the secretary of state and one of her deputies based on classified intelligence on some of the most important issues in United States foreign policy today, from Iran to North Korea."

Egad!

The Wolf Man, back, prowling the corridors of State.

Hmmm, Rumsfeld calling for a new Propaganda Agency... Wolfowitz, back at the State Department, advising, among other things, on Iran ...

Do we smell a build-up here? ... Get the old team together, for the final run down the stretch, putting their considerable prevarication skills to use for a push into Iran?

Does the girlfriend get a gig too?

Are we gearing up to go after the Filipino Monkey?

Will we soon here the rhetoric, from the Wolf Man, or, perhaps the Madam Secretary herself, that a preemptive, offensive entry into Iran will "pay for itself"?

From The Lede, back in December;

"Another official called the reported appointment “amazing.” That comment alluded to Mr. Wolfowitz’s staunch support for the Iraq War when he was deputy secretary of defense under President George W. Bush. He hasn’t won much good will since then, either during a relatively quick rise and fall as World Bank president, or in his current post at a conservative think tank in Washington.

But if nothing else, Mr. Wolfowitz really needs no introduction, especially to his detractors on the blogs, who are a puzzled, angry lot today:

The Next Hurrah: “Condi, is it a coincidence that so many people responsible for gaming the intelligence to get us into Iraq are on your advisory board?”

The Brad Blog: “In Bushworld, incompetence must be rewarded.”

Arms Control Wonk: “Andrew Sullivan has a better line than I can muster.”

Andrew Sullivan: “He’s advising Condi on WMDs. Curveball wasn’t available?”

So far, The Lede has not turned up any bloggers weighing in to support Mr. Wolfowitz."

On the downside, with the protracted, ugly, almost never-ending saga of his resignation from The World Bank, will the next President be able to get him out of this position?

Stay tuned Wolf Fans, this one is surely to be a ever-giving gift!


Bonus Wolfie Whoppers

Yes, Wolfie, People Will Be Talking, For Years, About You ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll

Larisa Alexandrovna - Scott Ritter: Neocons as Parasites

"Hillary 1984" Video Blogger Takes On Wolfowitz

Andrew Cockburn: The Puppet Who Cleared the Way for Iraq's Destruction

Developing Story! White House Giving World Bank, Wolfowitz Green Light To Blame McNulty; New Strategy Of Leveraging Scandals; Cheney Says Embattled Hero "Definitely In Final Throes" At World Bank















Yeah, it's a head-scratcher to us, too, Wolfie ...

Top Most Read/Popular Garlic Posts of 2007

Just catching up on some housekeeping business with this post today.

After the week we had here at The Garlic, we are late with our annual offering, our lazy attempt at a "year-in-review" kind of thing ... Rather than toil for days, piecing together a cleverly-laid-out narrative, tying in all the major (and minor) happenings, with a pithy edge, and esoteric cultural references, we throw on the leisure suit and sneakers via, what else, a list of links!

Monitored by the esteemed firm of Dewey, Cheethem and Howe, we cull from our site traffic, RSS Feeder traffic, links, rumors, WOM, random phone calls and emails, and a guy named "Randy" from Baltimore, to come up with the most popular offerings on The Garlic this past year.

So, have at it, and if you see something you like, spread it around ...

Top Most Read/Popular Garlic Posts of 2007

Honorable Mentions
(Or, an official-sounding way to squeeze in three additional posts)

Breaking News! Hagel Speech Causes Havoc; Payless Shoes Flooded With Job Seekers, Resumes; Applicants Looking For " The Safe Jobs Senator Hagel Talked About"; Tancredo Offers Threats

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems With Suing God

Wag The FEMA


10: "What If Spartacus Had To Account For 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols ..."

9: Bill O'Reilly Exclusive! Black People Go To Restaurants ... And They Eat!

8: Breaking News! Another Bombshell - Craig To Enter Rehab; Cites Suffering From 'Restroom Leg Syndrome'

7: Where's Ernest Borgnine when you need him?

6: "They will have flies walking across their eyeballs"

5: Libby Trial Update - The Scooter and Cheney Show Theme Song

4: Vatican Discounts "Bonfire Pope"; Says Flames "Not Hunched Over Enough"; Late Pontiff's Bend Was Measured "Religiously"; Never Used Contingency "Roller Skate Gloves"

3: Jeff Gannon Speaks! ... To The Garlic!

2: The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School; Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

(Much to our pleasant surprise, the Condi piece got picked up by Reuters)

1: Swedish Film Icon Ingmar Bergman Dead at 89 ; Police Depressed, Working Through Emptiness, Not Ruling Out Foul Play

New Bush Export - Preemptive Horseshit!

Maybe this is the secret weapon to to steady the faltering economy.

It seems the Bush Grindhouse, led by The Commander Guy himself, are launching a new policy export - Preemptive Horseshit.

The first client buying, or, certainly help shoveling, the horseshit, is Fouad Ajami, who Eric Boehlert called, in Salon, "The media's favorite Arab expert".

If you were wondering what a blow job looks like in the Wall Street Journal, you'll have to read Ajami's "Bush of Arabia", were he offers the hummer of "But Mr. Bush is traveling into the landscape and setting of his own legacy. He is arguably the most consequential leader in the long history of America's encounter with those lands."

It's as wet, to Bush, and Scooter Libby, as his "Fallen Soldier" wet kiss last June.

And, here we have Bush, in a series of interviews with Arab journalists, in preperation of his Legacy Shopping Trip to the Middle East this week, waxing, without a shred of reality present, on his potential legacy, heaping praise upon himself without a hint of modesty.

Here's a gem, a passage, from Dan Froomkin's "Bush's Messiah Complex", in which he says "As it turns out, the president sees himself as quite the heroic figure";

"I can predict that the historians will say that George W. Bush recognized the threats of the 21st century, clearly defined them, and had great faith in the capacity of liberty to transform hopelessness to hope, and laid the foundation for peace by making some awfully difficult decisions," Bush told Yonit Levi of Israel's Channel 2 News. Bush held several interviews with Middle Eastern journalists last week in anticipation of his trip to the region, which starts tomorrow.

"When he needed to be tough, he acted strong, and when he needed to have vision he understood the power of freedom to be transformative," Bush said of himself to Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer of the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot.

As for the people of the Middle East, Bush told Hisham Bourar of al-Hurra Television: "I would hope that they would say President Bush respects my religion and has great love for the human -- human being, and believes in human dignity."

The Bush record, the president told Nadia Bilbassy-Charters of al-Arabiya Television, is one of liberation -- "liberation, by the way, not only from dictatorship, but from disease around the world, like HIV/AIDS or malaria."

Got that?

In the same article, a different view;

"As for real-time views of Bush's legacy, Abramowitz and Knickmeyer write: "In Arab streets, many blame Washington for the plight of Iraqis and Palestinians. Bush's presidency has been 'disastrous,' said Hisham Kassem, an Egyptian journalist who received a National Endowment for Democracy award from him last fall. 'America's neither feared nor loved. It's neither feared by the regimes anymore, and it's hated by the people of the Middle East. . . . That's the Bush legacy.'"

Froomkin wraps it up, most appropriately;

"Bush's view of himself is particularly delusional as he heads to a region that remains traumatized, angry and distrustful on account of Bush's disastrous war in Iraq, his antagonism of Iran and his perceived crusade against Islam."

Go to Froomkin's "Bush's Messiah Complex", it's chock-full of these type of delusions.

And, regarding his Mideast trip, the victory-less, victory-lap, Warren P. Strobel, of the McClatchy Newspapers, has in his report;

"The official Arab view of Bush was summed up inadvertently by a diplomat from a major Arab state, who indicated disbelief that the president will use the trip to renew his drive for Middle East democracy.

"Is that still on?" the Arab official replied sarcastically. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of diplomatic sensitivities.

Bonus Bush Delusional Links

Maha: Welcome to the Asylum

BraveNewFilms: Quote of the week, Bush: "I'll be dead..."

PrairieWeather: Wanking with #43, poor chap

Libby - The Newshoggers: Bush on Bush

Kagro X - The Libby Letters: Fouad Ajami

The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School - Or: Shopping For A Legacy on Cyber Monday

The Garlic's Weekly Poll Is Back!

Well, Well, Well ... We have our Garlic Poll back up-and-running ...

Lo siento for the delay ... While there has been (and continue to be) some minor technical glitches, and my non-blogging time has been a bit burdened lately, that's still no excuse for being so remiss in letting it lag ... Again, my apologies ...

We're back with a good one this week.

While other events take center stage, the Bush Grindhouse is out legacy shopping again, so weigh in with your vote.

And, for the handful of diehard poll fans, here are the results of the last two polls.

This years' National Thanksgiving Turkey should ...

1. Look up at the President and ask who really is the turkey in the room Tally 65%

2. Make sure it gets a pardon, and not a commutation Tally 21%

3. Stay as far away from Dick Cheney as possible Tally 7%

4. Run around, making a lot of noise, claiming its been tortured Tally 7%


If Condi Rice is having trouble managing the Dept. of State, she should ...

1. See about ordering the book ''State Department for Dummies'' Tally 59%

2. Ask the President if she can talk to his Higher Father for some advice Tally 21%

3. Volunteer herself for one of the posts in Iraq Tally 10%

4. Sell rights to Donald Trump for new show ''State Department Apprentice'' Tally 10%


This week’s Poll - President Bush's sudden attention to a Middle East Peace Plan likely has to do with ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote

Top Ten Cloves: Other New Years Resolutions President Bush Is Planning On Making

News Item: Bush Pledges to Keep U.S. Economy Growing in 2008


10. Come up with new nickname(The Commander Guy is getting stale)

9. Get President Musharaff to call me first, instead of Dick Cheney

8. Gotta do something ... Even I have Bush Fatigue

7. For staff, pardons, not commutations (Remember: Got one to make-up for Scooter)

6. I'm puttin' it down again this year ... This is the year! ... Get inside Dick Cheney's office

5. Not be so dependent on "The Google"... Start using "The Yahoo" more

4. If I can only succeed with one New Years' Resolution, it's gotta be getting the Telcoms Amnesty

3. Attend those weekly History briefings, with Dana Perino

2. Start, right on January 1st, a new "Ek-A-Lec-Tic" Reading List

1. Stop saying "Hello, Mama!" everytime Condi comes into the office

As Goes Pakistan, So Goes Iowa ... But I'm Still Putting My Money On Colonel Mustard and Ms. Scarlet ...

Renault: By the way Monsieur, last night, you evinced an interest in Signor Ugarte
Laszlo: Yes
Renault: I believe you have a message for him
Laszlo: Nothing important, but may I speak to him now?
Strasser: You would find the conversation a trifle one-sided. Signor Ugarte is dead
Ilsa: Oh ...
Renault: I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape.

From the movie, 'Casablanca'

Boy, and we all thought that it was just Iraq that the Bush Grindhouse & Regime was going to leave the next President - and us - as a pile of shit.

Iraq may end up looking like Main Street USA, on July 4th, with what goes down in Pakistan.

And now, The Little Dictator Who Could, and his Pakistani Government, is giving its' citizens their own, and what will be just as enduring, conspiracy, along the lines of Oswald's Magic Bullet, on how Bhutto died.

It wasn't from being shot.

It wasn't from the bomb.

Drum roll, please ... It was from Bhutto ducking down through the sunroof and hitting her head on the sunroof lever.

Got that?

Perhaps, they are looking to avoid being dragged into court, and giving Bhutto's family an out, to sue the manufacturer of the vehicle she was in, for faulty design.

The lever of a sunroof? ... That makes William Holden's death look absolutely dignified!

Along with funding The Little Dictator Who Could, they must be giving the Pakistanis PR lessons - Blame The Victim.

Just as it was the people of New Orleans suffered for up to five-days, stranded on rooftops, and going without food or water, wasn't due to an obtuse government, they just didn't get out of the way when they were told to ... Bhutto, trying to get out of the way, dies because she ducked, as if to say, if she didn't duck, she would still be alive today ...

Ohhh boy! ...

One thing not going ducking or going down, is The Little Dictator Who Could, Pervez Musharraf.

He is the poster boy for Bush Grindhouse brand of democracy.

With The Commander Guy, holding on tightly to his Democracy blankee, calling for the continuation of planned elections, despite the leading opposition candidate being murdered, and the other party indicating they will boycott, in protest, said election, that's democracy folks.

Well ... You don't, necessarily, need to have banana trees to be a banana republic ...

The Condoleezza Rice Ballroom Dancing & Charm School surely didn't have this in their lesson plan. Perhaps, all those countries that came to Annapolis, they should be inquiring about refunds

And I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall the next time Condi makes one her "Democracy Calls". Perhaps the Bush Grindhouse will have to add body armor - and safer sunroofs - to their all-in-one Democracy-In-A-Box kits.

As has been the hallmark of the Bush Grindhouse, it comes down to the "appearance" of doing something, not actually doing it that counts.

Condi pushed Bhutto to come back to Pakistan, to "balance out" the phony democracy thing, all the while her boss has continued to fund Musharraf (and when we say fund, we mean directly - payments of all those billions have gone directly to The Little Dictator Who Could, not to the Pakistan government or treasury).

The Bush Grindhouse Foreign Policy in all its resplendent living color.

And, if you happen to be following this story via the American MSM and Cable News, you can only come away with this is the worst disaster in our history - and they've turned to the absolute, top Pakistan experts to draw this position - the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds running for President.

It was been playing out more like a reality TV game show, with the money question being "What would you do if you were President?" ... Answer it correctly to get a big bounce into the final round, being next weeks' Iowa caucus ...

I'm sure all the depressed and bereaved Pakistanis have dollops of hope filling their hearts, knowing that next weeks' Iowa voting will aid moving their country forward, solve all its' problems and, by George, institute all that democracy like it was an episode of Extreme Makeover.

About the only thing the Talking Heads on Cable News didn't indulge in, if it was Colonial Mustard, or Miss Scarlet, who killed Benizar Bhutto ... But the time is young, and it there's still plenty of on-air hours to fill, at least before they drop the story to roll into their canned, New Years' Eve specials.

What a boon for Cable Television ... The lazy, slumbering days between Christmas and New Years, with all those nauseating "Best Lists" and montages who kicked the bucket this year could be shuttered aside - We have HOT News!

It wasn't their standard "missing white woman" but the did apply the "Anna Nicole Smith" principles, so they could roll out all the heavy equipment just the same, to go wall-to-wall with its' coverage.

And with such the controversy over how Bhutto died, it will only be a matter of time, before we see a big, SUV in-studio, on either Wolf Blitzer's monitor-laden set (is he moonlighting for Circuit City?), or MSNBC (we should see a new Doc-Bloc Special, probably, within a month - "Sunroof Deaths"), complete with a Bhutto-sized rally crowd of experts, to dismantle the SUV's sunroof, and roll out a bushel of theories on how it all happened, the angle and speed in which she would have fell, the confusion if the sunroof lever was metal, metal alloy or plastic, only extending the exercise to bring in even more Talking Heads.

For now, we'll just have to wait and see how bad it gets - in Pakistan - and, on our television sets, as to just how far over-the-top they take this.

All those glamor boys, like Anderson Cooper and Matt Lauer, to dispatch to Pakistan ... Brian Williams, all decked out in his best L.L.Bean khakis, doing stand-ups "from the scene, where democracy was attacked" ... Katie Couric's grinning puff pieces, probably getting all her content directly from The Little Dictator Who Could, so we'll know she has the connections, to get the dirt, like a good little tough anchorwoman.

So, for all those expert Presidential candidates, here's some advise, despite what happened to Bhutto, if someone comes running at you while campaigning, wearing a bomb belt and firing a gun, for God's Sake, duck!

Meantime, The Little Dictator Who Could has given the order; "Round up the usual suspects."


Bonus - And Some Must-Read - Links

Juan Cole: Pakistan's 2007 Crises Come to a Crescendo; Benazir Assassinated; Implications for US Security

Larisa Alexandrovna: Now about Pervez Musharraf (and his ISI handlers)...

Digby: Pakistan Crisis For Dummies

emptywheel: Dick Blows Pakistan

Ahmed Rashid: THE GENERAL IN HIS LABYRINTH - America's Bad Deal With Musharraf, Going Down in Flames

Christopher Hitchens: Daughter of Destiny Benazir Bhutto, 1953-2007

Scarecrow: Did Bush Risk Bhutto To Save Musharraf?

emptywheel: Does this Sound Familiar?

Matthew Yglesias: Don't Cry for Me, Pakistan?

Steve Clemons: Implications of the Zbigniew Brzezinski-Anthony Lake Divide