It would be sufficient to find out exactly what happened after 9/11. I would be willing to leave what happened before 9/11 to historians if we can restore our constitional protections now.

Why does this matter at the mid- to high- level management? Those guys are the pros, and probably pretty much the same crew no matter how the grunts get selected.

In that quote, replace the word "Iraq" with "Vietnam". It still works, but in a somewhat different way. A lot of things have changed in forty-five years. I do not think that draft vs. vol. is a big driver.

No one is purposely misunderstanding what you are saying. Please think about what that might mean. I will not reply to any response you have to my statement; so it is not necessary that you reply to this.

The torture issue is too serious to be swept aside. The AG must not condone torture, and the nominee's staements are equivalent to that.

once the US straightens out its internal issues, if it can, the real problems are global in nature, and require international agreements on a level well beyond anything in place now. Would a consistent Ron Paul would have to handle global warming by making it part of national defense?

Human civilization will die off if the most powerful country in the world behaves accordingly. In 2000, nearly a majority voted against their own best interests. It happened again in 2004. In 2008, it is necessary that people vote according to the best interests of the world.

If you vote republican in 2008, you can do it without voting for Bush 43. That alone is worth several percentage points. A bit of good news from the war is worth some more. Smearing the dem is always a strong plus. Pretty soon it is a close elction again. Memories are short; repubs are oragnized, dems are not.

all over again might be the factor that kills the repubs. But the election is a long way off.

You can see I need my tea from the way I type in morning.

You have given me the "t", and a friendly warning.

Mike

Then the dems need to start a "Lifestyles of the rich and famous", and make sure the house tours includes all the attic rooms, the basement dungeons, and the the garden sheds where the bodies are stored.

I would take it a bit farther than my understanding of Glenn's reply. Leadership attracts and holds public support. Thus leadership makes it unnecessary to take a position that allows for a shift in public opinion; it prevents the shift. That is the difference between a mere politician and a leader. Which one is Clinton?

If you listened to the whole "chat", Mr. Goldberg says why he might really be against torture:

It seems that societies need lots of taboos. It makes them strong. And there is no reason why torture should not be one of these taboos. Furthermore, waterboarding could even be called torture, as long as we are yet again ready to reclassify it if necessary.

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This gentleman seems only remotely attached to reality.

"The problem with "taking a small crappy country and throwing it against the wall" is that in the process of asserting ourselves, thousands of innocent civilians are going to be killed in the process."

It is still a probem even if no one were killed, injured, displaced, or affected by one or more of a long list of of other evils.

It is just plain wrong to try to bend people to your will.

"Giuliani has no real beliefs. He's just saying what the jingoes and yahoos want to hear. One would think the rubes that make-up the GOP base would be more skeptical of so many election-year conversions."

I think Glenn got it pretty much right. His foreign policy advisor is Norman P., who reflects his beliefs. We can see what his policy would be as president. He considers himself competent and believes he could succeed where the current administration has failed. But he can only make things much worse.

And that applies to the mayor also. I think what best characterizes the candidates Glenn has discussed recently is how they would lead the US in its interaction with the world. Both the mayor and the missionary are for dominating it. The libertarian would apply his fundamental principle to deny that there is any need for the government to interact beyond defending the borders.

Perhaps there is somebody with a better grasp of how to handle the global problems that the US, as the declining superpower, should at least recognize. Would contributing to the solutions, or even leaading the pack, be too much to ask?

Glenn,

Would it be reasonable to put the time on updates when they are numerous and follow events in real time?

"Tonight the President will give a speech warning of the evils of torture; tomorrow night he will speak out against the immorality of deficit spending; and on Sunday he will vigorously condemn those who preemptively attack other countries."

Perhaps those "speeches" should be spaced out over several months to allow the disturbances in the force to die out in between.

Oh, you mean the one that former attorney general (what was his name?) covered up?

Christmas is coming, and we all know that christmas is under attack. But it is not yet thanksgiving, and so we have to see what else is under attack. It sets the mood.

Honest, I am serious.

the ultimate subjective experience with objective reality.

The dissemination of biased or misleading information as a political strategy: propaganda. We are used to it at some level, but now we see attempts to insert the goals of the administration into each person's ideas about the normal things in life.