The Left
About that Parenti piece
Yeah, this Parenti piece, because it needs to be said. Parenti writes: The real purpose of these 300,000 [sic] soldiers is to make Obama look tough as he heads toward the next US presidential election. […] There is nothing else to Obama’s Afghan strategy. Actually, there is nothing else to Parenti’s analysis of Obama’s Afghan strategy. And the careless error
Up with liberalism
Suzi Gablik titles this post “Why I’m not a liberal anymore,” and while I wholly share her contempt for this piece of anti-Obama tripe by Christian Parenti, I would point out to Gablik that Parenti is a leftist. Barack Obama is a liberal. And leftists have long regarded liberals as their worst enemies. So stick around, Ms. Gablik. You’re exactly
Scahill’s heyday
[Previous post on Jeremy Scahill here.] Given the troubling involvement of Blackwater in the current Afpak campaign, we’ll probably be hearing a lot more from Jeremy Scahill, described by Spencer Ackerman as Blackwater’s “most dogged journalistic pursuer.” One thing to keep in mind about Scahill is that he’s actually quite sympathetic toward gun-toting, unaccountable thugs who threaten civilians as part
The slander begins
[Cross-posted at Harry’s Place. See Gene’s earlier post on Malalai Joya.] Malalai Joya at Comment Is Free makes valid points about corruption under Karzai but then writes: Like many around the world, I am wondering what kind of “peace” prize can be awarded to a leader who continues the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and starts a new war in
A glitch
I’m getting errors while trying to approve comments — working on it. But my friend Mike takes apart Glenn Greenwald’s Bush analogy so effectively that I need to put it up here: Greenwald’s analogy might make sense, but for one thing: When Bush made all those promises, I didn’t vote for him. Indeed, they were among the very reasons I
Obama’s word
Glenn Greenwald: The most bizarre defense of Obama’s escalation is also one of the most common: since he promised during the campaign to escalate in Afghanistan, it’s unfair to criticize him for it now — as though policies which are advocated during a campaign are subsequently immunized from criticism. For those invoking this defense: in 2004, Bush ran for re-election
Michael Moore, demagogue
If I were President Obama, and I read an open letter from Michael Moore telling me how to honor the memories of my dead mother and dead grandmother, I’d be pretty offended. As I’ve said, I’m deeply ambivalent about a ramped-up Afghanistan deployment. So is nearly every serious commentator on the issue. Moore is far from serious. He describes Afghanistan
Fair-weather friends
TPM’s Nathan Newman: Polls show the Democratic base is unmotivated to turnout in 2010 — and it’s no wonder given all the rhetoric that Obama hasn’t done much with his 2008 victory. Those attacks from the rightwing are understandable from a partisan position, but many progressives seem to oddly be aping similar rhetoric — wallowing in glass half-empty complaints of