Imagine that the US policy, while misdirected, is not stupid.

Ideally, we'd have a friendly, corrupted government in Iraq that would do "our" bidding. Well, that didn't work out.

The next best thing is that nobody else has control, either. That means leaning hard on Iran, the most likely local power.

The Iraqis? All that infighting is A-OK for the USA. Sooner or later somebody will cozy up to the superpower.

Maybe even Iran- who can tell?

No doubt editors are a wonderful and necessary for some kinds of writing. That's great.

I don't want an editor for my grocery list. If I can hand my list to somebody and have it understood then my writing skills are fine.

I don't want an editor for my blog. A good post pushes back against the pleasing but misleading conventions of writing for publication.

Your piece succinctly makes the point that published writing generally says very little, very pleasantly.

Like a grocery list, a good blog is about real things. The focus is not on the writer, or the writing, but on the absurd world we find ourselves in.

And- if you don't get that point- maybe you're part of the absurdity.

Or willingly enabling? Who do they really represent, after all?

Are you listening, oh my Senator?

...I believe in the power of rationality and persuasion. The fact that Democrats have been so bad at those things for so long has trained people to accept defeatism as the inevitable state of affairs:

No matter what we do, the Republicans will always win. The pro-war message will always triumph. It's hopeless. There's nothing we can do.

I don't believe that.

-- GlennGreenwald

Ah, but that all depends on what your definition of "win" is. As has been demonstrated, if you can control the message you can announce and repeat that you have won no matter what the real outcome. About 20% will believe this outright just because they believe anything from on high. 30-40% won't care enough to actually look into the matter, either because it's all bullshit to them anyway or because they haven't got the chops to steer through the smoke and mirrors. Some percentage, oh maybe 5-10% will see through the deception but support it for their own reasons. That leaves 30-45% saying "But wait a minute- just saying you've won doesn't make it so!"

I agree that rationality and persuasion are our best weapons- but we're up against very long odds. Not only do we have to actually win, we have to do so in a way that takes the propaganda machine out of the equation. We have to win, not only against the Republican party, but also against the Democrats. Sadly, we need to use a Democrat to do it. I wonder who could fill that role?

...every day of the week. And if it's too ridiculous to believe the first time, why, they'll just keep on repeating it like a three year old child until it becomes common knowledge.

I think you are too kind to old Joe. I think he's well aware of his role.

The evening was charged with drama. Who could imagine that Edwards would NOT withdraw from the race after finishing in second place?

I thought we had pretty well decided that it wasn't telecom immunity that was so important here, but the avoidance of discovery.

Could Dems be caving, not for the craven New Republic Syndrome reasons, but for fear of what the discovery phase of the lawsuits might reveal about them?

Or, it that's too far-fetched, maybe they feel it's better in principal to uphold the fiction of Bush's legitimacy. Maybe it's better for politicians everywhere to pretend that the war isn't a crime.

Yeah, Cheney will bring gravitas to the Bush presidency. Sounds like the same source of wisdom providing us with the "flaming left whining about Obama" and the "qualifications, not ideology" stories.

Keep pushing back.

and doing so without there being much of a political benefit

Obama's actions prompted the first signs of acceptance from one of my most bull-headed co-workers, a guy who mistrusts government completely.

Upholding the rule of law might have a wider appeal than you imagine.

Now, beyond the facts about who owns and runs this place...

Is there a dime's worth of difference? And if so, how and why?

Where (if anywhere) can we have an effect, knowing what we know?

If we refuse the insistence that we use a left/right analysis and instead use an up/down analysis surprisingly we find ourselves in the same grouping as the tea baggers and the like. Which in fact we are...

More seriously, we shouldn't let the nearly bogus right/left analysis separate us from folks who are suffering the same damn thing at the hands of the same damn people as we are. It is the Ups who are causing the problems not the other Downs no matter the state of deception and confusion. When you see fellow Downs acting like jerks you should think, "Why are WE acting like jerks?"

-- Hopeciates

That's it exactly. I work with a 100K plus a year engineer who constantly bitches about unions and illegals and such, and he gets a puzzled look on his face when I point out that he has much more in common with these people than with the ones who own the country.

After all, he's actually worked for his bread...