Last week, the New York Times published an interesting piece about the current state of the civil war that has been raging in Sri Lanka for what seems like forever.
The good news (for those of you who have not been following this endless and bloody conflict between the government of that island nation and ethnic Tamil rebels, called the Tamil Tigers) is that the war may soon be over. This is a surprising development since for many years it seemed as if the rebels’ hold on parts of the island was permanent, making the central government’s refusal to give in to the Tigers appear foolish. Had the government listened to the sort of advice that the State of Israel constantly gets from its friends and enemies alike — namely, that military victory over an insurgency is impossible and that force cannot settle such conflicts — they probably would have just given up.
But they didn’t. Instead, they marshaled their forces and have launched what appears to be a devastating offensive. Government forces have routed the Tigers, who are now apparently suing for peace. I take no sides in that war, but it does show that the conventional wisdom we hear so much about these days regarding the futility of force appears to be true only when it is applied to Israel or the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Jerusalem Post columnist Evelyn Gordon has an interesting take on the same theme, writing about the failures of British General Sir William Howe during the American Revolution.
Howe thought that attempting a complete military victory over George Washington and the Continental Army would be a mistake, as it might make peace negotiations more difficult. So after his rout of the Patriots in New York, he held back and allowed Washington and the Continentals to escape to New Jersey and then Pennsylvania in the fall of 1776. The result of Howe’s folly was, thank heaven, that Washington used the respite to recover before launching his Christmas Day attack on Trenton — a small battle that changed the course of history.
The point of all this is that those who counsel Israel to repeat Howe’s mistakes in Gaza aren’t heeding the verdicts of military history. The way to real peace is usually found only after one side in the conflict wins a decisive military victory. But of course they don’t teach much military history in schools anymore, do they?
As for reading on the battle of Trenton, Evelyn Gordon cites David McCullough’s popular 1776, but I prefer David Hackett Fischer’s Washington’s Crossing or John Ferling’s more comprehensive account of the Revolutionary War, Almost a Miracle.
David Frum and his “NewMinority” web site are also big losers in all this. His “OpinionWeek” piece, in which he repeats his graceless personal attacks on Rush Limbaugh, was career damaging.
Sure, DF will continue to have some cachet with the MSM. There does seem to be a stable demand for Gergen-ized ex-conservative eunuchs.
But I can’t imagine any up-and-coming Republican politician seeking out the endorsement of one David Frum–much less adopting any of his “liberal-lite” policies.
In the scheme of things, how much better to be fat and energetic rather than slender and “tired”…
The President is too tired to meet Gordon Brown. When he is feeling more rested, Obama puts his energy into shutting down Rush Limbaugh. Why? Rush is one of the few commentators that lacks any awe of the Messiah. There is not one once of buying into the Obama Salvation narrative. Rush sees the game, he sees the trick, and Obama is terrified of the truth being revealed.
Well, in my opinion, too late, it is becoming so obvious. Yes, the MSM’s shielding of Obama is still powerful. I speak to people around NYC. They never heard of the Chas Freeman pick. It is not being covered. They are shocked to find out the details of Freeman’s funding and Stephen Walt support. I am shocked at their shock!
Yet, I believe when the MSM releases its grip on the flow of information and the New Media mainstreams, the Emperor has new Clothes.
This seems silly- when you throw mud for a living, don’t complain when you get dirty. Rush Limbaugh, the graceless man who hopes the president will fail, does not need any sympathy. The regular media have tiptoed around him for all of the Bush years, so it is not surprising that he has attracted attention again.
That’s all you’ve got to answer Frum? Sad. As long as Republicans are willing to openly root for Obama and America to fail, this issue will continue to haunt you. Maybe if you had a leader who wasn’t a laughingstock — as Palin, Jindal and Steele are — it wouldn’t be so easy to hang Limbaugh around your necks.
Rush who? Ann what?
And obviously, Jennifer Rubin and Mara Liasson don’t know what the term “tongue-in-cheek” means.
Let’s move on to stuff that matters, shall we?
I’ve gotta hand it to Politico. Their story changed the narrative on this. They were pretty fiercely pro-Obama during the election, and they still are overall, of course. But they put out an excellent story about the coordinating between Begala/Carville and Emanuel (although Stephanopoulos was curiously absent).
Looloo #5- would you care to print the entire Rush quote? or remain graceless in distorting Rush’s comment?
What nonsense. The Republican’s are tripping all over themelves trying to confirm and then deny that the hypocritical blowhard Limbaugh leads the party.
This couln’t be btter news for the Democrats. A radical like Limbaugh leading the Republicans? At least it out in the open, though it’s been the case for a long, long time.
Oh, come on. At the moment, pasting the Repubs with Limbaugh is a huge win for the Democratic Party, especially when the contrast is President Obama working his butt off to actually fix the huge problems. American elections are won in the middle, a fact that increasingly evades the Repub party.
The real danger is that, if things get bad enough and the political winds turn to extremism as a result, then Limbaugh will be a top contender to turn ugly extremism into actual political power. But if that happens, current tactics will scarcely matter.
That prospect, by the way, is why Limbaugh really does want Obama — and the nation — to fail… dontcha think? How about you?
I don’t think that this was a failed gambit as much as I question the cost of spending so much time on Limbaugh to the detriment of continuing to work on the business of governing the nation.
Face it, this move further destabilized an already troubled Republican party. Steele’s footing is as shaky as ever, and the party has not produced another leader at the national level. This is great for the Democratic party as this Limbaugh kerfuffle exposed this leadership vacuum and further marginalized the opposition (specifically, the moderating forces that will be needed to rescue the R’s). In short, this was a (short-term? long term? we’ll see…) win for Dem strategy to cement their control over the electorate.
From the perspective of governing, we’ll see if it helps the administration get enough momentum to hammer through it’s policy priorities. I think it can, as the R’s will continue to have trouble finding footing, and this event did them no favors in establishing their voice.
Americans really are sick of confrontations like this, since partisanship has retarded the progress of effective, meaningful legislation on vital issues for so long.
I’m also getting the sense that the D’s are hard at work trying to establish the future dominance of their party and marginalization of an effective conservative opposition. And it seems like it’s working for them.
Looloo & David
With our nation fighting 2 wars, most Democrats said they wanted Bush to fail.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/03/09/most-democrats-wanted-bush-fail-2006-poll-will-media-care
@12 – -Lets see. Who were the leaders of the Democrat Party heading into the last Presidential Election? See any of them in the Oval Office now? Thought not. Point being 2 years is a very long time in Presidential Politics. Why are the Democrats concentrating on LImbaugh when they should be concerned with selling their sewer of policy crapola? Because they are deeply afraid of the backlash should the majority of American’s catch on to what they are doing. The last party that thought the other party was completely dead was, um, the Republicans not so far back. We saw how well that worked out.
For the last 8 years, dissent was patriotic and lots of commentators, including those in the “mainstream media” were openly hoping that Bush would fail to implement his policies and achieve his policy goals. Now Rush notes that he does not want Obama to succeed at implementing his policies, and suddenly he’s in favor of “America failing.”
Both Democrats and Republicans need to grow up. There’s nothing wrong with saying that we don’t want policies we oppose to succeed!
By the way, I seem to remember an earlier president with a tangled marital history, and that was treated as strictly private, even when it led to perjury.
Republicans are acting like abused spouses, blaming themselves for the abuse instead of facing down the abuser.
This one’s a keeper, rfm: ‘Gergen-ized ex-conservative eunuchs’ —LOL – So little time, so many targets.
Mmargo, good read. And all the One worshippers, Rassmuson seems to begin to show the emperor has no clothes. His overall good to bad performance spread has fallen to 12 or 13 points from 21 in a week.
Always a mistake to take on an entertainer who knows politics better than you do. What has this event realized the GOP to start to realize? That the One actually bleeds. very dangerous, and very dumb of the current adminsitration to get involved in this. Do you realize what this has done? Rush’s audience has temporarily spike up to 25 million people last week. He can take all the heat for any bad Obama comments – “Its just the crazy rightwing nut job talking”, and if you are a GOP politician, “well Rush is entitled to his opinion just as every American is, but now if I could comment myself on this terrible provision in HB….” What happens when Obama’s polls go negative?
He disses the UK in a manner that is completely indicative of either one without class or completely overwhelmed. Officials get really thin skinned when they are called out on this mistake, acting just like the One when he doesn’t like to be questioned. His Sec of State is scaring the Europeans with the exception of Hamas/Israel (they like that) – don’t think so, do some reading. The Treasury Secretary we had to have is failing, and the DOW fell 6% last week and now respected publications are openly discussing a DOW at 5000 or lower. That is another 20% plus fall.
Yeah, everything is going his way, right.
I don’t agree. The people conducting this campaign against Rush are political operatives. They would have no place shaping policy on the economy, or the war. Their very purpose is to fight the political battles and it is good that a democratic administration went on the “offensive” against someone like Limbaugh. I’m sorry, whatever your political affilitation, a person who on the record, many times has advocated the execution of drug addicts – while being a drug addict himself has no business having a single shred of credibility whatsoever. He’s exactly the same as all of those anti-homosexual politicians or religious leaders who keep getting caught in embarassing gay sex scandals.
And how can anyone seriously be perturbed by personal attacks against Limbaugh? That is literally all Rush Limbaugh does is personally attack people. You’ve got to be kidding me.
Too funny that you right-wingers are using the incessantly weak-chinned NPR in your columns now. Consensus? Riiiiiiight.
Ah, the power of delusional thinking. The only “gambit” here is sitting back and watching you right wing froot loops self-immolate. Face it, Limbaugh and Coulter love to hog the spotlight, and they ain’t giving it up anytime soon.
Backfired? Are you kidding me?? You wish. Talk about spin, reminiscent of Palin telling the world the trooper investigation cleared her of any wrongdoing. Republicans and their alternate realites….geesh.
“Mara Liasson – hardly a Republican cheerleader”
Only in the twisted world of Fox Noise could that possibly be considered true. Jen, you might want to change the channel and see what the real world thinks.
Consensus, right.
I’m still waiting for the Republican’s ‘Sistah Soulja Moment’.
#13: I have never seen in my lifetime heard a public proclamation by a prominent spokesman for a major political party in American hoping that an American president would fail. It simply has not been done and that is why Mr. Limbaugh attracted such a firestorm of criticism from people in both parties.
Mr. Limbaugh has wondered, probably not seriously, about his problem with women. I first heard him back in the Clinton years and I was irrevocably turned off by a middle aged man picking on Chelsea Clinton who was a teenage girl – calling her a “dog”. It was so mean-spirited and frankly, strange, that a popular radio personality would stoop to attack a kid in such a way that I had to conclude they was a moral bend in the man. It could in no way be erased by the “entertainer” excuse that he and his supporters laugh off responsibility for this kind of low behavior. That he got away with it in the South says he didn’t have my grandmother on the phone to straighten him out.
A Republican cheerleader is exactly what Mara Liasson is, and the “Rush Limbaugh gambit” is a term which hardly describes this multipronged, self-renewing story.
It hardly begins to explain or dispel the public relations disaster of Limbaugh’s nationally defeatist and corporately self-serving pronouncements, or of the abject groveling to him of Republicans in responsible positions who made the dread mistake of telling the objective truth about his position in the Republican world — that he has no actual responsibilities and exercises not the slightest restraint.
The White House Press Secretary’s occasional responses naming Limbaugh in resonse to questions naming Limbaugh cannot credibly be blown up into a conspiracy. The President himself has barely mentioned the man. When have people like Begala or Emmanuel not denounced Limbaugh? This is new?
And if the gambit has indeed backfired, where is the backfire being felt? In Obama’s rising approval ratings? In a Time cover with the word “ENOUGH!” pasted over Rush’s mouth and an article by a Republican like Frum deploring him? In a shoved-off-balance Michael Steele’s ridiculous daily dance? In the miserable approval ratings of the Republican Party and Congressional Republicans and the rising approval ratings of Congressional Democrats? In a clear majority approving the stimulus package?
Stop constructing a parallel world in which Americans are angry at Democrats despite the polls and favor Republican orthodoxies despite the polls. Limbaugh may have personally benefited from all this, but that doesn’t help the party, and the Democrats never thought he wouldn’t.
Americans were told by the Democrats that Limbaugh’s angry obstructionism represents the party. Well doesn’t it? How is it any different from the more politely stated obstructionism of the Congressional Republicans? If it doesn’t represent the party, why was he cheered to the rafters at CPAC? If the party differs from him, then in what respect, and what Republican leader will dare to tell us?
You’re becoming a party of Norma Desmonds, believing the public wants you back because you’re receiving fan letters forged by other Republicans. Don’t look too closely at the postmarks, because they were never mailed — just passed hand to hand.
One thinks that one can anticpate the extent of the derangel, delusional lunacy of the left. One is generally wrong.
“Mara Liasson – hardly a Republican cheerleader”
On what planet was that written? A self-admitted-I-was-once-a-registered-Republican-now-I-work-for-FOX News-when-I-not-serving-on-boards-of-Richard-Schaif-funded-organizations pundit is “hardly a Republican cheerleader?” C’Mon. Liasson’s a right-wing corporatist propagandist.
It’s no wonder she’s protecting her own.
24
ducdebrabant Says:
March 9th, 2009 at 11:24 AM
“A Republican cheerleader is exactly what Mara Liasson is . . . ”
What? Mara Liason is a card-carrying member of WNYC, virtually the heart of pointy-headed East Coast do-gooderism. Republican cheerleaders are screened at the door of all NPR facilities (with your hard-earned tax dollars).
Seriously, could you please support the amazing statement with something other than your opinion? Is she a sleeper agent infiltrating NPR for the RNC?
Do you even know who she is?
I’ve been looking for a source of intelligent commentary on conservative blogs. Still looking. If the debate here is whether Rush’s views should be considered anything beyond blather by informed observers, it’s not a debate for me. Enjoy your echo chamber.
MY echo chamber? It’s hysterical that Mara Liasson’s reliably right wing commentary can be transmuted into left wing commentary in your mind just because she’s on NPR. She’s also on Fox News Sunday.
She was also Clinton’s press scretary for 8 years. She must’ve had some credibility with Democrats.
I have no idea what she might say on Fox News because I had that channel surgically removed from my TV. I am happy to listen to opposing views, but O’Reilly actually makes Rush seem poised and insightful. I can’t believe any network employing him, nor believe anyone actually watches him.
23 looloo-
can you produce the quote or not? When you do, we will see the distortion that you have created. Another example of lack of transparency on the Left.
You do not deal in facts, only attacks. When you have the gracefulness and intellectual honesty to put up Rush’s quote, you have my attention.
until then…
I appreciate seeing quotes and facts to back up opinions as well, Jonas. But using the word “grace” in the same sentence mentioning Rush? Get real. The man is as graceful as a stork on a bicycle. Citation: his review of Micheal J. Fox’s medical condition. That the bloviating scare monger is taken seriously by anyone is a testament to the dumbing down of America.
Funny how the RWM consider the White House calling Rush the leader of the Republican Party to be an attack. They should know better what a real attack is since that’s their specialty and only reason for being. Oh, I forgot — they also specialize in trying to make their every mistake look like some sort of a victory, to wit, Bobby Jindal’s address, Sarah Palin’s campaign, the Republican “goose-egg” for the stimulus package, and now the universal slavering all over the absurd Rush Limbaugh. If this is the Republican Party’s idea of victories, keep ‘em coming.
“Republican cheerleaders are screened at the door of all NPR facilities (with your hard-earned tax dollars).”
You’re kidding, right? NPR sourced Republicans 3-to-2 versus Democrats (61% to 31%) when the GOP was in power in the administration and Congress and 57% to 42% when Democrats held the administration and Congress (i.e. under Clinton).
There’s absolutely no evidence of liberal bias at NPR, much less that “Republican cheerleaders are screened at the door” (unless by screened, you mean let in). And NPR has been a host to a number of Republican reporters, including Liasson and Cokie Roberts for example.
“Summary: After claiming that National Public Radio (NPR) “does not lean on the so-called conservative think tanks as many in the audience seem to think,” NPR ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin presented a tally of think tank experts featured in NPR stories that showed a sizable majority of experts quoted in the past year did, in fact, come from conservative institutions.” (239 to 141)
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512150013
How did it backfire? Everyone can see now that Republicans will cringe and prostrate themselves before a bloated, pill-popping sex tourist.
The trolls may be delusional, ignorant, genocidal, lefty fanatics but they sure are sensitive to the poll numbers. Having no jobs or assets they might care little about the destruction being brought to the economy by their ideological accolytes. However, seeing the slight, slow but unmistakable trend erosion in The One’s poll numbers sure sets them out on a howling expedition.
It must have been the staggering percentage of folks who now view Republicats favorably that led the “consensus” to coalesce around the term- backfire. If their numbers “rebound” even lower, will the consensus deem the Chicago gambit a full-blown, election changing disaster?
LOL! The amount of absolute nonsense in the original post should be in a museum devoted to fantasy.
Firstly, Mara Liasson is a FOX News stooge and hardly missed an opportunity to cheerlead GW Bush. I always find it amazing that the extremist right winger sin America seem to believe that as a country we cannot remember even a few years ago.
“Republicans occupy high ground” – WTF! Are you kidding me? Really?
The Michael Steele episode dispelled any doubt as to who has the juice in the GOP. Rush Limbaugh and the gargantuan right wing media, complicit mainstream media and corporately funded right wing think tanks have not gone away people. They are as active as ever trying to protect the more deserving ultra-wealthy class in America by desperately trying to tear down President Obama. UNfortunately for them, the cold, hard reality of severe economic pressure on average Americans acts as an antidote to much of their propaganda and lies.
Stupid FDR copycat idea of the day:
“Martin, Barton & Fish worked for FDR, QED, “Limbaugh, Hannity, & Ingraham” will work for us.
I enjoy the leftoids piling on. Enjoy it immensely. Keep playing with Rush, dumb, dumb, dumb. He is just a commentator. Look at the number of individuals beginning to go after your guy – the Wash Post editorial page, Warren Buffett, Jim Cramer, see a trend? You see it isn’t just us right wing nut jobs anymore. Enjoy it while you can. AT this rate in a month Obama is plus on the negative trend. Then what happens when all the dems in red state seats start realizing they are on a ship to no where.
Go ahead, call the names, point fingers, etc. Do everything but acknowledge a fact – the people who lead business in this country, many of whom backed your guy, think he is making a bunch of mistakes. Leaks are coming out saying he is exhausted and the job is harder than he thought. He was too pre-occupied by domestic concerns in order to make sure he didn’t embarrass an ally, whose leader is of a similar persuasion to himself whose party is about to get creamed in that country’s national elections. Some are wondering aloud if the One is up to it. These are your guys, your politcal comrades, not mine. If Rush had the insight to see it coming when the rest of you didn’t, go ahead, call him some more names. He is laughing all the way to bank.
#12
——————–
“Americans really are sick of confrontations like this, since partisanship has retarded the progress of effective, meaningful legislation on vital issues for so long.”
——————–
You guys are always pasting up poll numbers, where are they for this speculation? And there sure hasn’t been any partisanship in bringing Bush judicial nominees up for approval, has there?
The Chicago Way? Having lived in Chicago AND Washington, DC, I believe that this is the National Capital Way. Mara Liasson et al have a vested interest in keeping this kind of stuff alive as long as it serves their ability to bloviate on TV (making them more money than their print or NPR or blogging day jobs).
And I have yet to see any real backlash against the Obama Administration out here where it counts: everywhere OUTSIDE of that circular Mid-Atlantic highway, I-495.
As far as I can see, the Administration just took advantage of the power-vacuum in the GOP to define that party as extremely angry right-wingers (which when you look at the party’s leaders isn’t far off base- a threat to run a primary-challenger against Olympia Snowe????). And the DC punditry took it up for a while til they saw that they were being played.
The real truth here is that the DC punditry is, with a few exceptions, a bunch of big egos with big mouths who, again, are deathly afraid of losing their TV gravy train. Hello Cokie? Campbell? Hannity?
Cavelier, you said:
“The trolls may be delusional, ignorant, genocidal, lefty fanatics but they sure are sensitive to the poll numbers. Having no jobs or assets they might care little about the destruction being brought to the economy by their ideological accolytes. However, seeing the slight, slow but unmistakable trend erosion in The One’s poll numbers sure sets them out on a howling expedition.”
It takes a particular kind of neanderthal righty to think, not only that his ideological opponents have no jobs or assets, but to think that PEOPLE WITH NOT JOBS OR ASSETS CARE LITTLE ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE ECONOMY!!!! Apathy (and self-delusion) about the economy are more the province of the comfortable. But if I were on the right, I’d think twice before complaining that the other side’s “ideological acolytes” are destroying the economy. That’s speaking of rope in a house of the hanged. The ideological acolytes who put this economy in the toilet weren’t on the left.
Robert, you said:
“She was also Clinton’s press scretary for 8 years. She must’ve had some credibility with Democrats.”
Mara Liasson was the White House correspondent for NPR for all 8 years of the Clinton administration. It would have been a rather full plate if she’d also had to function as his press secretary.
WHO CARES? Who cares who leads the Republican party right now when the election was over and the new president has been “working” although very tired for less than 50 days?
He needs to get his ducks in line and start thinking before he speaks, would be nice if done without a teleprompter.
Can we then say that Pelosi is the president? She is running the show while Obama messes up even with our close ally -Great Britain.
What a joke! This is change we can believe in? All they do is blame Bush, still!
Well, if you think the GOP is on high moral ground then …well, I think you are very very wrong. Eventually, Limbaugh will cross a line even main stream America won’t tolerate. He is a sad little man who has his base but few others who take the time to listen. It hurts my heart and my ears to know a man is such a mean spirited person who hates his country and proves it every day to millions. Hope over Hate any day.
For the Republican proganda machine to lay the blame for the Rush Limbaugh et. al. problem at the foot of the Obama White House is a piece of brilliant absurdity which only diehard Republican dittoheads will believe. RL bobbing up and down is pure comedy. His very presence as an object of interest in the news does little else than illustrate the bankrupcy of Republican ideology. That bankrupcy of thought is beginning to dawn on whatever intelligentsia remains in the GOP, a party whose leadership has long ago lost touch with the majority of Americans. Now that they’re out of office, the books are opening and the leadership, its boosters and cheerleaders are being exposed as the crooks they are and the disasters they’ve caused.
It’s going to take a brilliant politician to save this country and the Limbaugh attack by the Whitehouse was brilliant indeed. All the Carville/Begalla report did was confirm that Obama isn’t so naive as to go to the bargaining table with the republicans without a back-up plan. It seems clear that his first strategy was an earnest attempt to bring moderate republicans to his side with concessions on taxes. Once he was given the back of Boehner’s hand he went to the backup, divide the republicans along harsh ideological lines using Limbaugh as the wedge, and it has worked beautifully. The party chair has been effectively crippled by the enterprise, and even the likes of Frum and Gingrich have to disavow the Limbaugh wing of the party. This won’t bring republican votes to Obama’s plans, but after the stimulus votes it is clear that they are neither needed nor to be expected from this pack. This has set the stage for a monumental battle in 2010, the republicans will destroy themselves with primary challenges for every moderate that sides against Limbaugh and the Democrats will likely extend their dominance of the house and pick up a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Check and mate, so much fun to watch.
exactly who constitutes this “consensus?” the white house seems to have stepped back from this a while ago. it is you delusional right wingers, plus the charlatans in the corporate media, who have kept this going.
obama’s stellar approval approval ratings would seem to contradict the ridiculous notion that anything has “backfired” on his white house. so–you need to sit back, take a deep breath, and rack your brain to come up with some other, more credible way to criticize our president.
Mara Liasson – hardly a Republican cheerleader?
There’s your first mistake. I’ve listened to the right wing stylings of Liasson for years, shaking my head in wonder at the so-called “liberal media” of NPR.
“Nice Polite Republicans,” NPR is now called by a lot of progressives. Liasson stands out however as a particularly right wing voice, even at the increasingly conservative NPR.
How on earth did the “gambit” “backfire on the White House”? In what way does the White House come out badly on this? They pointed out that a divisive, hate-filled voice of negativity and failure is not the most admirable leader for a party already wandering in the wilderness. Whether anyone pays attention to this or not, having pointed it out is hardly a mistake, and the administration takes no hit for it.
Perhaps you ought to look up the definition of “backfire” in a dictionary. It is not the same as “didn’t work.”
I must say, I can not agree with you in 100%, but that’s just my opinion, which could be very wrong.
p.s. You have an awesome template for your blog. Where did you find it?