What lies? McCain said it and we all understood what his rhetorical meaning was - he wants to be in Iraq for the long, long haul. And many of us disagree with that because we simply don't think that's worth the cost. We understand that his "100 years" remark was symbolic language - we aren't complete morons - we just disagree with what the remark symbolizes.

As for you comparisons to NATO and Korea the difference is that in Europe and Korea, the situation stabilized and the fighting stopped - despite the very occasional clash along the Korean DMZ, there has been nothing like the Iraqi insurgency in either theater of operations. Neither hot war or cold peace involved a guerrilla war.

Also, another flaw in your analogy is that in the '40s and '50s the United States was still the ascendent economic power in the world and we could afford an indefinite occupation to keep the peace AND take care of things at home. That's no longer the case and Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated with incompetent leadership that would prefer to squander our resources abroad instead of spending them here at home.

this is what salon is all about for me...

Honestly. I'm not an anti-Semite or anything, but I just don't care about Israel. It has nothing to do with my life and I don't understand why so many of our tax dollars go to support the place when they could be better spent here at home. I'm not questioning Israel's right to exist - but I wish they would learn to stand on their own two feet. Now Republicans want to create a second middle eastern welfare state in Iraq... no wonder we can't rebuild new orleans - there's no money left!

This story is about Israel, right? So why is Obama standing in the middle of Saudi Arabia? Salon needs to get its art department some geogrpahy lessons, stat!

I'm surprised that Stephanie missed that the Eagle on Smith's hat - the one I see in all the movie posters and flats all over nyc - is from American Eagle Outfitters (then again, Stephanie may not have a clothes-obsessed teenage niece like I do). This has got to be one of the most blatant bits of product placement in years...

more jeff chang please - and jeff, don't be such a modest, third person narrator - i'm just as curious at your own exploits in korea as a korean-american, cross-cultural hip-hop ambassador. you rock, son!

Some decent music writing in Salon... even still, I think Lil Wayne is a punk. Hip Hop has been dead since Pete Rock parted ways with CL Smooth. Everything else is merely rap. Whoever was going on about the paradigm shift between Gen X and Gen Y got it half right - Gen Y has it's own thing going on. But it's an inferior, debased product and shouldn't attempt to call itself hip-hop.

It was called New Orleans. Why should we ever trust them to protect us from anything ever again? Republicans have already demonstrated that all their talk about protecting America is just a bunch of hot air. Fuck Gingrinch, Bush and every Republican alive today.

Your silly post reminded me of exactly why I think Spike Lee is such a valuable and important filmaker: his films and provocations always force the racists to unmask themselves. Way to take the bait, genius. LOL

My guess is that Spike played the plantation card because he knows that there is no stronger illustration of the priveleged, white supremacist racial dynamic that he was trying to illustrate than the plantation. He's no dummy...

I would encourage all Republicans having doubts about McCain to vote for Mr. Perot... err... Mr. Paul... in November.

We need straight up DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM to fix the problems in this country.

Almost makes me want to re-read the book and revist those child-murder themes. Almost. Mostly I just hated that book.

I doubt that Rove will ever be brought to justice in a courtroom. But I suspect that he's going to end up with a bullet in his fat head the day after his secret service detail is removed. At least that's what I've been praying for.

Um, you do realize that the Federal Government almost never asks to Federalize the national guard during a natural disaster. It was an EXTREMELY unusual request underscored by the fact that neither Mississippi or Arkansas - which were also devasted by Katrina - were asked to Federalize their National Guard units. Anyone with half a brain knows that this was just a cynical political ploy by Rove and Bush. And this is the version that history will remember - not the pathetic excuses and disinformation of the Bush apologists.

How many fucking times do we have to tell you uninformed Bush-loving loudmouths that you can't mobilize buses when the bus drivers have already been evacuated? Driving a bus isn't something that just anybody can do - it actually requires training. Your dumb objections are symptomatic of the inadequate, immature and non-reality based response of rage-filled Republican ideologues to real world problems. This is exactly why you Republicans have failed at everything important you've attempted under Bush - the war in Iraq, protecting the homeland, Katrina, etc - you keep confusing political propaganda with real life. Now shut up and sit down and contemplate your disgrace, loser!

Because you're precisely the kind of ignoramous who ought to be banned from voting for life.

Everything you've ever said here is proof of that.

I agree. I read Bayard's piece and came away convinced that Shenkman's ideas were much stronger than Bayard's flaccid, by-the-numbers critique of them.