Desperately Blaming Biden
By Steve Hynd Monday Aug 25, 2008 8:00pm
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The Washington Post yet again manages to produce an op-ed only fit to wrap fish in, as neocon Michael Rubin - ex of the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, the Office of the Secretary of Defense as an advisor to Rummie, political adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority and unpaid hack for propaganda articles produced by the Pentagon's PR firm, the Lincoln Group - blames Joe Biden for eight years of Bush administration foreign policy failure in a desperate attempt to label Biden as "Iran's favorite Senator".
Here's how Rubin's logic works, as explained by Ilan Goldenberg of Democracy Arsenal:
Rubin makes a convoluted and nonsensical argument that A. Joe Biden supported engagement with the reformist Khatami government of Iran during the late 1990s and first half of this decade. That B. During that time trade between Iran and the EU increased. That C. A National Intelligence Estimate found that Iran had stopped working on its nuclear weapons program in 2003. From this he deduces that it's Biden's fault that Iran has moved ahead on its nuclear weapons program because it used increased trade with Europe to fund a nuclear weapons program. What???
... Rubin basically takes a bunch of unrelated facts and uses them to conclude that Iran must have spent 2000 to 2003 working furiously on its nuclear weapons program and that it did it with money from Europe that somehow Joe Biden was responsible for. Yup, putting those rigorous analytical skills that he learned that the Office of Special Plans to work.
Rubin also forgets to mention little details. Like the fact that under this Administration trade with Iran has actually increased ten-fold and is at its highest levels since before the Iranian revolution. Or the fact that the 2007 NIE concluded that Iran did in fact stop working on its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and was still years away from building a bomb.
Rubin then claims that Biden's vote against Kyl-Lieberman was partisan politics because Biden said that he didn't trust this Administration. Ummm.... Trying to prevent war with Iran is not exactly a partisan activity. It's not partisan to fear that an administration that has a track record of escalating conflict and misleading the American public might do it again. That is in fact the exact opposite of partisan if you believe that war with Iran is against America's interests.
But Biden was correct to advocate engagement with Iran's more moderate political elements - as long as it wasn't the Bush administration doing it. They poisoned the well by their bellicose statements. The Wonk Room's Matt Duss takes up the argument:
What could have happened between 2000 and 2005 that might have undermined Iranian moderates, strengthened Iran’s own neoconservatives, and convinced the regime that a greater investment in military and nuclear program was prudent? Well, there was President Bush’s casting of Iran as a member of the “axis of evil,” which came three months after Iran had aided the U.S. against their mutual enemy the Taliban in Afghanistan. According to Ismail Gerami-Moghaddam, a member of Iran’s moderate Reformist Party, “Including Iran in the ‘axis of evil’ led the Iranian people to grow increasingly skeptical of American slogans”:
Our political rivals … attacked us. They said sympathizing with a country that puts us in the “axis of evil” will take you down a dead-end road, and they were actually correct.
And then later, of course, there was that thing where the U.S. invaded and occupied Iran’s neighbor Iraq.
The administrations (and McCain's) bellicose statements are still working against US national interests now. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's utter failure on the Iranian economy, with runaway unemployment and inflation had left him very vulnerable. Despite moderates making serious inroads on his powerbase by attacking him on domestic issues, despite the received wisdom as little as a year ago that he wouldn't manage to get re-elected, Khamenei has now backed him for a second term. And guess what his reasoning was.
Without referring to foreign states by name, the supreme leader accused "some bullying and brazen countries and their worthless followers [of wanting] to impose their will on the Iranian nation".
"The president and the government have stood up to their excessive demands and moved forward," the ayatollah said.
If Bush and his neocon WormTongues had listened to Biden, the US could have been looking forward to a relatively moderate Iranian president in 2009 as Ahmadinejad got buried under a landslide of domestic bad news. Instead, their bad judgement has meant he's very likely to serve a second term. Unless, of course, it wasn't bad judgement at all and their intention was always to help preserve his position. Nothing wins Republicans votes like a little Axis of Evil fearmongering and that would be harder without Ahman-nutjob.
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well it's time for the (R) to smear Biden with convoluted
b.s. so the public and bidenhave to spend time on it. instead of attcking mccain and talking issues that will
effect most americans
Who can argue with that? Trusting this administration is an act of insanity.
Get your John McCain NOPE T-Shirts & Stickers today!
Harry Truman's "the buck stops here" means absolutely nothing to this administration, this party in power. Blame anyone else. Make a strength a weakness, weakness a strength. Up is down, and black is white.
Honest to God, the sheeple that lock step behind this madness are insane as much as the fearless, gutless, chicken-hawk leader they follow.
Idiots. A nation of f*cking morons.
how you have ever seen portrait pictures of Dubya and Ahmanedijad next to each other ? separated at birth, i tell ya.
Bidens Bo's Cheney.
Didn't the Coalition Provisional Authority steal Billions of dollars in cash during the first 12 months of "reconstruction"?
Dems (convention) are pretty damn boring. They used to be the life of the party what happened?
Mike @ 6:
Probably more like a half a trillion by now.
L.A. Confidential @ 7:
Bushwhacked over the head I suppose.
L.A. Confidential @ 8:
No doubt, but I was thinking of the tales of bundles of C-notes being tossed around and then about 80 million of 'em disappearing. Was this Rubin guy part of that?
"a deperate attempt to label Biden "
Please fix that. Thanks
Unfortunately, there are so many legitimate lines of attack on Biden (some of which may be off-limits to the GOP, because, as we all know, they are never hypocritical) they hardly need to make stuff up. It is a sign of the profound decadence of the Republican Party that they are incapable of making their case on the basis of the positive things they will do as the governing party.
The GOP doesn't represent big government or small government. They represent BAD government, pure and simple.
Sadly, this is the United States where being thoroughly dishonest, corrupt, and incompetent doesn't disqualify a political candidate or party.
Mike @ 10:
I don't know. The cons are so good at stealing, laundering, sheltering, and keeping their cash liquid and out of the hands of everyone else it's ludicrous.
Mike @ 6:
Nooo...9 billion WENT missing in the first 12 months. Evendently it was collected by Halliburton, shipped by Halliburton, and stored by Halliburton...but when the warehouse where the pallets of unmarked 20-dollar bills were SUPPOSEDLY to be was opened, they were gone. So obviously stolen "in Iraq", wasn't it?
Anyone else have trouble download videos from C&L today? Every one I try comes down as a 39k BS file. Is it my machine? Any ideas??
Maybe my friends it's time to change our foreign policy so there won't be other wars. Maybe we should end our oil addiction so there won't be other wars. And maybe, just maybe my friends, we should elect a non-defeatist president who doesn't give up and throw in the towel that there is nothing we can do about there being more wars.
If just sayin my friends.
Damn Liberal Media.
Nixon is looking up from Hell saying "now THOSE are some crooks"
Buck Fush @ 14:
The very first damn thing we did was loot-take control of Iraq's wealth, art, and assets.
Buck Fush @ 14:
How does it go?... "Wake up America!"
Given that the people who are likely to be persuaded by such pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook are either yearning for something -- anything -- to confirm their faith-based, neo-con world view or among the stupid thirty-percenter crowd, one wonders why the argument needs to be so convoluted.
Why not just say, "Biden rhymes with Diden. The first syllable of Diden is Di. Joe Biden wants you to die."
How much more bullshit can we take? I tell you I just want to scream. The press and the McMedia are running this election and truth be told they make me totally understand being a terrorist. The convention coverage is the biggest joke of the decade. Nothing but windbags putting down the convention and Obama 24/7. They say yesterday was a flop because they didn't attack McMedia. Well if you watched their coverage you wouldn't know it if they did. They don't show ANY of the speeches. They showed Kennedy and Michele and that's it. Today is the same thing. What is the point of them covering it when they aren't actually covering it? Do any of you think the R convention coverage will be the same? Will they say McCain is not doing this and needs to do that or will they be gushing about how strong he sounds and what a hero he is? Hillary better bust her ass tonight and get her bitter bitches under control. I've seen enough of them on tv this week saying they will vote for McMedia. What exactly were they voting for Hillary for if they can switch to the other party so easily? They are willing to fuck us all with this temper tantrum and Hillary needs to rein them in, NOW!
BTW yes I know CSPAN doesn't have the bullshit but you have to remember that only a small percentage of the country have CSPAN. They are only seeing the crap.
I must add, since it has been a few minutes, that John McCain was a prisoner of war.
What this post does not mention is that Biden chaired the powerful Senate Foreign Relations committee in August 2002 and did not allow Scott Ritter, who knew more about WMD capability than anyone to testify, did not allow any antiwar scholars to testify and did not allow any dissenting voices in the State Department and the Pentagon to testify about going to war against a third world country like Iraq. The post also does not mention that as far back as 1998 Biden was calling for the U.S. to invade the oil rich nation of Iraq. Perhaps it is fitting that a hawk like Biden should be the running mate for a candidate who is advocating that more, not less, troops should be added to Afghanistan, where they can continue to kill innocent civilians and children.
Since the Neocon fairies were wrong about everything, I imagine their shelf life will expire quicker than a Larry Craig rendevous in a men's room. Of course Fux Noise is a good place for them to go to die.
Expect the Post to give discredited neocons increasingly more column inches as Broder slides deeper into his McCain man-crush. The media knows that McCain's money is going to be limited under public financing, so they're going to give him as much free advertising as they can in the form of op-eds and selective reporting.
Buck Fush @ 14:
dude, they were C-notes, not 20s.
"we'll never surrender"....
Under this logic then is quitting anything allowed? Even if it is in everyone's best interest? If you can quit a marriage or a job because it is a bad idea, then why not a war? John McCain needs a gold grill with POW bedazzled on it in diamonds.
I had the Biden man-crush workin for me until I heard he sponsored that bullshit bankruptcy law on behalf of MBNA. Say it aint so, Joe. They still have my vote, but Damn, how'd I miss that?
When McSongbird sings, the enemy listen.
Mike @ 10:
Yup... he was and also worked for the Pentagon in their propaganda campaign and a hard line Zionist publication, The Middle East Quaterly:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Rubin
So its a pretty fair bet that he's got PNAC undies on and Neocon jammies!
New York Governor David Patterson on John McCain: "If he's the answer then the question must be ridiculous"
Buck Fush @ 14:
Up to TWENTY TWO billion dollars went missing or misappropriated, according to Congressional investigators.
which is big money, but small change compared to the 2.3 Trillion Dollars Missing (over ten years) reported on 9/10/01 from the Pentagons budget.
The biggest corporation in the world (the DoD) which has had the reputation of being composed of bean counters, yet the money went missing or just shoddy accounting.
But its only just taxpayers or other peoples money, and as the IRS boasts 'plenty more where that came from'
L.A. Confidential @ 7:
Lighten up. Night one is biography. Hillary is going to light the place up, and you're not helping. What the hell.
Guardian's detailed 2005 account of what happened in Iraq to the missing money,
details that prob havent been reported by the US's MSM.
So, Mr Bremer, where did all the money go?
Everyone forgot the one key point to why this is wrong, Iran is about as close to having a nuke as I am. The IAEA and the NIE have already stated this is false and who are you going to listen to, the guys who got Iraq right or Bill Kristol. Iran is about as threatening as an affectionate housecat and I wish the Democrats would mention this on occasion instead of taking the neocon piss on the subject.
"An op-ed only fit to wrap fish in" my ass!
This would make an excellent birdcage or cat box liner- might even come in handy if you're trying to paper-train a puppy or start the fireplace, but it's damn sure not touching my food.
The video montage of McCain cavalierly smiling and talking about more wars is extremely chilling. That, and the way he invokes his standard POW blah, blah, blah answer for any tough question that he is asked, troubles me greatly. He is seriously deranged.
Dire Lobo @ 15:
I switched to Firefox and like it a lot but after I got an update notice for some add-on and let it install my video has begun to lock-up from time to time. I have to reboot when that happens to get videos to play in Firefox. However, I discovered with the video locked-up in Firefox they would still play in IE.
so what, you thought that Iran made money from selling oil or something ???
wake up
trade with Europe is the most lucrative thing outside of owning a Swiss Bank
all those oil reserves are just for show
you could make a lot of money selling rugs and dried dates to France
javing the second largest petroleum reserves on the planet doesn;t do much to help the bank account
what planet is this guy on ???
well then Biden must be one bad mutherfucker
if he could have such an effect on world affairs
and to think he did all of this without the benifit of the executive branch powers
and in defiance of george and dead-eye dick
hot damn
is Biden superman or what ???
can't wait to see how Biden destroys the repuglitard agenda once he is the Veep
this is just another GOOD REASON to vote Obama-Biden
they're more competent and powerful than the impotent and incompetent presnits we have now
Are you all aware that a fool named Phil Berg has filed a lawsuit, in of all places, Philadelphia, challenging Obama's candidacy?
Philadelphia is located in the southeast part of the state of Pennsylvania which considers Wilmington, Delaware (Joe Biden's city and state) a suburb.
Do you see why Phil Berg is a fool? It would be entirely different if he had filed his lawsuit against Obama in Montana.
Most voters would never take the time to work all this out in their heads, even if there were a grain of truth in it. The McCainers are going to have to do better than this. Americans are sick of war, rumors of war, attempts at chest-bumping with other powers, etc. Most would like to concentrate on matters here at home. This one won't go far.
L.A. Confidential @ 5:
nope
When the only solution you have in your toolbox is a hammer every problem looks like a nail.
If being tortured for 5+ years qualifies McCain for president then there are more than 250 current and former Gitmo detainees from Afganistan who are qualified to be the next Afgan president.
MZ
Michael Rubin is currently a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and has been a strong proponent of bombing Iran. Prior to returning to the doles of the AEI, Rubin was in the Bush administration's Office of Special Plans (OSP) at the Pentagon, - remember the OSP???
The OSP was the office headed up by Douglas ("the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth") Feith. This was the new "intelligence" office wholly created by the Bush Administration in 2002 and the primary source of faulty U.S. intelligence used to support the invasion of Iraq.
KEY Words: Leo Strauss, American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Project For A New American Century (PNAC), Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney, 'Scooter' Libby, Douglas Feith, Richard Perle.
It was Biden all along!
BIIIIIIIIIIDENNNNNNNNNNN!!!!
I love seeing Holy Joe ready to coach his mentally retarded republican colleague in the first clip, it's just amazing to me that the guy has not been tarred and feathered yet. Harry Reid, Blinky Pelosi? Those two should go before Joe!
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