So.

Here we are, in the near-aftermath, where the smoke has to some extent lifted on the legacy of our descent headlong into imperial madness.

We have now come to the point where those who bear the burden for enabling this lunacy are coming forward to prostrate themselves before us, and beg for mercy from those of us who knew the depths of their sociopathic zeal from day one.

One particularly sad example of those swept into the tide of bolstering aggressive war is supposed ‘liberal intellectual’ Christopher Hitchens; who emerged from a cocoon of rage and self-perceived emasculation following 9/11, reborn into a freshly-winged neo-con.

A man so indoctrinated with loathsome contempt for religion; he saw in his unlikely allies on the right an opportunity to wield his angry sword against those branded as fanatics.  Yet, the ultimate irony finds him in bed with the very same monotheist ‘fascists’ he so desired to rid the world of at any cost.

(A little note before diving into the body of the diary: I wrote this on an old blog I published in May of '07.  This was before the constant supplemental capitulations, and before the divisive primary we have so mercifully concluded.  What strikes me is how my optimism has diminished to the extent that it has.  I'm publishing this here tonight in an attempt to reclaim it.  We're so close to booting the crooks and liars out for a generation, and if we can make the points listed here as clear and prevalent now as they were a year ago, we will do it.)

       2008 might go down in history as the collapse of the Republican Party as a primary organization in American politics.  While this would certainly be celebrated by many (my hat and noisemaker are sitting in wait); the remarkable nature of the near-epic disintegration of popular support for the GOP is its self-infliction.  This isn't an attempt in any way to marginalize the work done by many who have toiled (often at great personal detriment) in opposition to some of the more debased acts of the Republican-controlled government; but facts are what they are.

I've spent too much of this primary season worried.  I'm done with it.

Attempts to placate Hillary Clinton and her supporters will never end.  Her attempts today to force Obama to offer her the VP nod only proves it.  She lost a campaign where she started with every conceivable advantage, flung far more mud than her opponent; and yet it is his obligation to give her the nod?  Okay...

I understand that the supporters of Hillary Clinton are dejected right now.  I understand that women throughout the country were inspired by the opportunity to elect their first fellow woman President.  I know this because I was fortunate enough to be able to support a candidate who was not only somewhat aligned with my policy positions; but also a fellow African American.  I can understand that this connection was enough to spur many of her supporters to advocate her so strongly against all other candidates.

But if you vote for John McCain, you are not only a fucking moron; but also indelibly stained as a co-conspirator to the worst crimes committed by the Republican establishment.

John McCain is a truly transformative politician in American history.  I know many in this community may scream ‘heresy’ at me for noting this; however, in the face of recent evidence, I have found myself captivated by his powers, and his potentially staggering impact on both America, and its position in the world.

Case in point: Iran.

Recently when confronted by a precocious journalist (who obviously has yet to be instructed by his peers on how to question His Eminency) on the issue of President Ahmadinejad and his power as opposed to Supreme Leader Khamenei, he stated with confidence:

I mean, the fact is [Ahmadinejad’s] the acknowledged leader of that country and you may disagree, but that’s a uh, that’s your right to do so, but I think if you asked any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they’d know.

I'm a bleeding-heart liberal; the type of guy who tips too much, and gives money to panhandlers on the subway because I just can't help it.

From that perspective, and because I care so much; I would like to offer some helpful advice to the GOP in this upcoming general election cycle.

While most were speculating about David Archuletta's father over the past week; President Bush spoke in front of the Israeli parliament (the Knesset) in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the nation’s inception.  Ever so subtly, Mr. Bush used the opportunity to draw distinctions between himself, and ‘others:’

Hillary Clinton wants is willing to destroy the world in order to make herself more appealing to ultra-nationalist American empiricists imperialists.

I don't lob charges like this out lightly; especially against politicians I have worked on behalf of electing to the senate (we can only be naive and eighteen once in our lives, thankfully).

But in the face of her unrepented Iraq Vote, her belligerent provocation of Iran in commentary, and her vote to support the Kyl-Lieberman amendment naming the military of Iran as a terrorist organization (offering her fellow neo-cons cover in case they want to drop nukes on Iran as a parting salvo from the Bush administration); she has made her perspective clear: as her friend and fellow Presidential Threshhold qualifier John McCain said, if either one of them win, there will be more wars.

On November 8th, 2006; basking in the luminous afterglow of a wave election that returned the Democratic Party to the seat of legislative power for the first time in a decade; a palpable sensation was felt throughout much of America.

Reverberating loudly through the heads of the Democratic constituency were the words that many had waited nearly six full years to one day hear: We were going to have subpoena power; George Bush would have a Congress to answer to.

There is a famous quote from an article in the New York Times Magazine that illustrates the times in which we exist better than anything I could ever hope to delineate:

Update So as things proceed, it's starting to look more and more like this is the actions of a disturbed individual.  While that certainly changes the tone of the situation, I don't believe it invalidates my point of contrasting the distinction between how the media covered this case versus other instances either involving international suspected terrorists, or even dark-skinned American citizens.  At this point, this is all immaterial.  Hopefully this will all end without any needless suffering.*

Original Post I am not here to speculate as to the identity of the individual currently holding hostages in Rochester, NH.  Hillary Clinton certainly inspires passion from both supporters and detractors along all ideological lines; and  it is a disservice to those currently in danger to attempt to read any specific partisan political motivations behind this action at this early hour.

What inspired me to produce this diary at this time was a statement by a political reporter that explicated the extent to which our current manipulation of terrorism into a foreign policy doctrine has been indoctrinated into society.

So, over in Ankara, the Turkish parlament authorized launching military operations against Kurdish national groups within the borders of northern Iraq by a vote of 507-19.

On the verge of this expansion of conflict in the region, one would expect the President to attempt to ratchet down tensions in order to avoid the Great Middle East War that looms ever so ominously.

Instead, he used his press conference today to threaten that Iran's continued development of nuclear technology would bring about World War III.

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: a left-wing partisan interest group garners publicity for statements or actions that are manipulated into controversy by Republican operatives in the punditry; usually under the pretenses of ‘not supporting the troops,’ or general ‘Anti-Americanism’ (a right-wing term synonymous for observing non-jingoistic truths).

The 24-hour news cycle, under the belief that furor, conjecture and passion retains greater viewership than careful analysis, pounces on the story; pressuring supposed ‘moderates’ in the Democratic establishment into distancing themselves from their base in a reflexive flinch developed during years of conservative control of American politics.

Though in a perfect world, politics wouldn’t operate in such a banal fashion; it’s about time that the Democrats show the other side that two can play at this game.

More, after the Jump.

Though I realize that the Sunday morning talk shows often offer nothing more substantive than an insight into the insular world of beltway punditry; I still find myself recording them each week, and watching them on quiet Sunday evenings.  Having watched 'The McLaughlin Group' just prior to the first entry in Ken Burns' new documentary series 'The War,' afterward I found myself fixated on a remark by Tony Blankley that I had earlier allowed to pass without second thought.  More after the jump.

In the world of sports journalism, it often seems that the sole motivation lies in creating controversy and moral outrage to sell newspapers and attract viewers.  In this vein, their most recent endeavor has been the public flogging of Barry Bonds and his (still alleged) use of steroids in his pursuit of Hank Aaron's all-time career home run mark of seven-hundred and fifty-five.

While in comparison to the other matters of the day, the level of public vitriol seems somewhat trivial; the extent of the outrage has led to possible prosecution of Bonds due to evidence that contradicts his leaked grand jury statements regarding his involvement in the Federal probe of illegal steroid distribution by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative.

The hope of many who believe that Bonds is corrupting the legitimacy of baseball history by passing Aaron is that an indictment for perjury (a trivial crime, just ask Scooter /snark) would allow Commissioner Bud Selig to suspend Bonds indefinitely, possibly even rendering his attempt at passing Aaron futile.

While I reserve making any judgment on whether Bonds' (once again alleged) activities were indeed abhorrent or criminal; the question remains: what the hell does this have to do with the Bush Administration?  More, after the jump.