Does Obama Get It With Afghanistan?

He looks good, he sounds good, but still, Obama just sent 4,000 troops over there in addition to the original 17,000 slated for duty this year. The only thing I find comforting is that at least he claims to understand that throwing more troops at a problem does not necessarily solve the crisis you are dealing with. Hopefully he means what he says.

Wes Clark Rakes McCain Over The Coals With His Biggest Supposed Strength

John McCain has been doing something this year that he hasn't done in almost every campaign in his career, that is talking about his past as a POW. Now he is using it to gain the high ground on national security and experience. Well General Wesley Clark has just the right amount of words for that:

Lieberman Fearmongers For McCain

Joe Lieberman continues to be a huge disgrace to himself and our country. He clearly shows he has no shame when promoting John McCain.

Charlie Rangel Slams George Tenet

Congressman Charlie Rangel called out the obvious on George Tenet yesterday with Bob Schieffer. He said the former CIA chief has no credibility and should be investigated. I couldn't agree more. Tenet takes no responsibility for his actions in the book, and the stuff he does mention about the Bush Administration.....why the hell didn't he say something before we went into Iraq? That makes him complicit with George Bush and Dick Cheney et al. crime of starting an illegal war. So go get em' Charlie!

From RawStory:

On CBS' Face The Nation Sunday morning, after a discussion of the impasse between the Democratic controlled Congress and president over the war funding bill, host Bob Schieffer asked the House Ways and Means Committee chairman if he could "switch to George Tenet, the former CIA director whose book came out this week."

"Sometime back, he got the Medal of Freedom," Schieffer continued. "I believe you were quoted somewhere along the way as saying that rather than the Medal of Freedom, he should be looked at by the Justice Department. What do you think about these allegations that he's making now that he was misunderstood when he said it was a slam dunk, that the administration had already made up its mind to go to war? Does he have credibility with you, Mr. Chairman?"

"No," Rangel responded, "I don't think he has credibility with anyone in the United States."

Rangel continued, "For him to have had the information that he had and to tell the president that it was a slam dunk. For the president to mislead the people in the United States in believing that there was weapons of mass destruction, that Saddam Hussein was involved in the attack in 9/11, that he was part of al Qaeda. And for him to have done what he did to my friend, Colin Powell, to have him sitting in the United Nations proclaiming the connection between the two, knowing in his heart that the evidence did not go in that direction. And to accept a medal and then to put out a book -- God knows what he got in terms of an advance -- to me, this warrants an investigation."

If you know that a murder is going to take place and you do nothing to stop it, you are essentially an accessory to murder. If you know that a disastrous war is about to take place, costing thousands upon thousands of lives and the pretenses for it are blatantly false....well then you are guilty of a lot more than just one murder.

As Rangel calls for an investigation, Congressman Henry Waxman has already invited the ex-CIA chief over to the Hill to appear before the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform later this week. As Tenet sells books and makes his trip around the country promoting it, it is more than fair for him to pay a visit to Congress and answer a few important questions.

Cheney Has Issues

If I had the time I could probably write a novel on all the issues that Dick Cheney faces. Whether he deals with them or simply ignores the facts, the list is enormous. So for this post we will stick to what came up during his interview on 60 Minutes with Bob Schieffer earlier today. Although any televised conversation with the Vice-President will never yield any hard facts, we can at least get a little humor out of it. Trust me, you won't leave empty handed.

From Crooks and Liars:

Download (556) | Play (495) Download (319) | Play (356)

Schieffer: Does this administration have a credibility problem?

Cheney: I don't think so Bob, ummm…I think obviously we've got issues we need to work through. You do the best you can with what you've got obviously and I think on reflection that indeed the record of the President and his administration will stand up well to scrutiny…

Bob also tried to ask him about the aftermath of the Scooter Libby trial. Cheney stood steadfast in saying anything substantive, even going so far as to say that he hasn't spoken to his close friend and former Chief of Staff since the trial. Damn, I wouldn't want to be friends with a guy that wouldn't call me after I got sent to jail for the crimes I committed. Since Cheney has no credibility on answering questions about the Administration's credibility, there really is no point in even trying to talk to the guy. You might as well just leave him to the sycophants at Fox to give him time to bash Democrats for his own failures.

And of course, once a liar gets going there is no way to know where they'll stop. For a man with the power that Dick Cheney holds, there must be outside action to force him to tell the truth or have it told for him and for him to suffer the consequences because of it.

John Edwards Faces The Nation

Bob's interview with Senator Edwards yesterday on CBS: