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Thursday, December 18, 2003

Reactions to McDermott

Idiot congressman-for-life Jim McDermott shot off his mouth again, and this time, people are reacting negatively, including some of his constituents. (Registration required for article; user name timekeeper password time.)

In an interview Monday with KIRO radio station, McDermott said the U.S. military could have found the former Iraqi dictator "a long time ago if they wanted."
Asked if he thought the weekend capture was timed to help Bush, McDermott chuckled and said, "Yeah. Oh, yeah."
McDermott went on to say, "There's too much by happenstance for it to be just a coincidental thing."
When interviewer Dave Ross asked again if he meant to imply the Bush administration timed the capture for political reasons, McDermott said: "I don't know that it was definitely planned on this weekend, but I know they've been in contact with people all along who knew basically where he was. It was just a matter of time till they'd find him.
"It's funny," McDermott added, "when they're having all this trouble, suddenly they have to roll out something."

McDermott, you may recall, was the most vocal of the "Baghdad three", the group that went to Iraq, met with Saddam Hussein, and blasted Bush's foreign policy on CNN, while standing in front of a poster of Hussein.

Norm Dicks, McDermott's Democratic congressional colleague, was not pleased:

"With all due respect to my colleague, that is a fantasy," Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said of McDermott's comments. "That just is not right. ... It's one thing to criticize this administration for having done this war. I mean, that's a fair question. But to criticize them on the capture of Saddam, when it's such a big thing to our troops, is just ridiculous."

The letters page of the Seattle Times has a number of responses, all but one strongly condemnatory of McDermott's intemperate remarks. It's unlikely that McDermott will ever lose an election (the Seattle District he represents is a one-party stranglehold), but if he makes enough stupid comments, the Democratic Party will be forced to either shut him up or suffer as moderates leave the party, disgusted by such rhetoric. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has such a letter (the fourth one on this page), and a couple more condemnatory letters here.

posted at 01:45 AM |

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McDermott is an embarrassment, but you know, it seems that essentially none of the more prominent Democrats can keep their feet out of their mouths just now. Did you catch the story on Fox where Howard Dean is calling Bush's 2001 tax rate reductions a tax HIKE?

The evidence is accumulating that the Democrats are losing their minds, both individually and collectively. In the near term, that's not a tragedy, but in the long term, the country will need another majority party.

posted by Francis W. Porretto on December 18, 2003 07:40 AM

I've heard that "just when things are going poorly" deal several times now from different people and I don't get it. Things have not only been going well, but have been improving all the way around week by week. Bush has only been getting stronger, politically (and much to Terrorcrats dismay). So what exactly is it that's going so tragically wrong that inspired Dubya to catch Saddam just now? Oh wait, they're all Terrocrats. Things don't have to make sense or even be true for them to make outrageous statements as if they were God's own truth.

posted by Tom on December 24, 2003 06:07 PM

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Confirmation

I'm listening to the Press Conference on CNN radio right now.

There is a video (which I cannot view) up at CNN. They show the bunker in which he was captured, and his medical examination. He was uninjured and healthy.

This is so good.

posted at 04:24 AM |

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WooHOOO!

Saddam Hussein has been captured, ALIVE, in Tikrit by coalition forces.

Read about it here. This CNN link is a bit more circumspect, saying that his identity has not been confirmed. Iraqi council member Dara Noor al-Din and IRNA, the Iranian news bureau were quoted in the FOX/AP news piece, which appears to be more recent than the CNN article.

This is GREAT news for the people of Iraq, great news for the coalition forces on the ground in Iraq, and great news for the Bush administration. Congressional Democrats and the Nine Dwarfs (with the notable exception of Joe Lieberman) will have to scramble for a new issue.

The people in Iraq are ecstatic.

"We are celebrating like it's a wedding," said Mustapha Sheriff, a resident of Kirkuk. "We are finally rid of that criminal."
"This is the joy of a lifetime," said Ali Al-Bashiri, another Kirkuk resident. "I am speaking on behalf of all the people that suffered under his rule."

Capturing him alive is better than killing him because we can now hold him responsible for all of the atrocities he committed, and to shame those (France, Russia) who openly supported him.

I wonder if the New York Times will attempt to bury this as they did the pro-Democracy marches of last week. Somehow, I doubt it, although it will be interesting to see how the Beeb and Al-Jazeera (and Al-Jazeera on the Husdon) will try to spin this, which will surely dismay them mightily.

As I write this, it is still a bit early for the news conference (to be held at Noon London time, an hour behind me), but I will add another post as soon as I find out (about 40 minutes).

UPDATE: Ananova is reporting that Tony Blair has confirmed his capture and arrest. Here is another Ananova story. (Thanks to Samizdata for the link to Ananova.)

posted at 03:13 AM |

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