Oh, sure, now that I've made it cool to trash St. Andrew of the Sacred "Heart-Ache," everyone's doing it.

However, I do agree with [several NRO writers, like Mark Levin] that Andrew has been consistently, pompously, and annoyingly moralistic and irritatingly unspecific. So if that's the chorus, well yes -- but it's a song that has a lot of notes, most of them struck by Andrew himself. And I'm irritated with him, not for the reason you might think -- because I disagree with Andrew -- but more the contrary, because every time I read one of his preening posts, I find my opposition to torture weakening in response, even though I've been consistently in opposition to torture since 2001 (and before).

St. Andrew is a tough read. His amps definitely go to 11, and they're stuck on 11 90% of the time.

Thanks to JB.

Posted by: Ace at 10:28 PM | Comments (12)
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Which one of the following is NOT on the front page of French Yahoo?

The European Budget for 2013.

Paris Hilton condemned by PETA.

Successful elections in Iraq.

Bingo.

Posted by: Tanker at 03:36 PM | Comments (46)
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All this guy wants is a withdrawal. But he wants a withdrawal with defeat. So, even if the Iraqi Government decides, democratically, that a US presence is no longer necessary, it's still a bad thing because it doesn't give us the "L" he so desperately craves.

I'm not sure how else to read this:

The LA Times probably reflects the thinking of a lot of Americans in hoping that these elections are a milestone on the way to withdrawing US troops from Iraq. I cannot imagine why anyone thinks that. The Iraqi "government" is a failed state. Virtually no order it gives has any likelihood of being implemented. It has no army to speak of and cannot control the country. Its parliamentarians are attacked and sometimes killed with impunity. Its oil pipelines are routinely bombed, depriving it of desperately needed income. It faces a powerful guerrilla movement that is wholly uninterested in the results of elections and just wants to overthrow the new order. Elections are unlikely to change any of this.

The only way in which these elections may lead to a US withdrawal is that they will ensconce parliamentarians who want the US out on a short timetable. Virtually all the Sunnis who come in will push for that result (which is why the US Right is silly to be all agog about Fallujans voting), and so with the members of the Sadr Movement, now a key component of the Shiite religious United Iraqi Alliance. That is, these elections lead to a US withdrawal on terms unfavorable to the Bush administration. Nor is there much hope that a parliament that kicked the US out could turn around and restore order in the country.

Is he actually suggesting that we should remain in Iraq against its legitimate government's wishes? He couldn't possibly mean that. We will stay until the job is done and/or the legitimate government of Iraq requests us to. If they no longer want us there, that may be imprudent, but it's not our responsibility to force them into prudence.

You get the feeling, kinda, that this guy is just going to bitch about everything?

Decision '08 has a different take:

We need not have a free Iraq that is in love with America; we only need a country that loves its freedom. That is victory, and it is within reach.

Of course, an Iraq that loves America is the best outcome. But it is hard to love what is, still, a foreign force in your country, even if they're quite necessary and doing great things. It chafes at a person's sense of self. In time, after withdrawal, those feelings will go away, and it will be more Islamically Correct to express gratitude.

A democracy is permitted to make mistakes. I'm sure that Juan Cole would prefer it if the democratic decisions of the Iraqi government were cleared with a body of Big Daddy Philosopher Kings, like, say, a liberal American appellate court, but then, those on the left have never really grasped the whole idea of democracy.

The people decide. Right or wrong. Right in most cases. And if wrong-- they'll get that right, or close enough to right, eventually too.

A lot of goalpost-moving going on here.

Thanks to the Blogometer.

Posted by: Ace at 02:38 PM | Comments (24)
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Chewbacca sings Silent Night!

Chewbacca. Sings. Silent Night.

Posted by: Ace at 02:08 PM | Comments (8)
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Hmmm... Lion wins?

Despite the first-night box disappointment, the Washington Post reports that giant apes are determined to make this a box-office success:

Then a herd mentality started to sink in, like a giant ape church praying at the altar of "King Kong." There's a countdown on BigMonkey.com ("It's finally here!"), E-vites are landing in in-boxes ("Let's watch it together!"), and blogs are keeping tabs on the film's awards, including yesterday's Golden Globe nominations. The message is: If you're a self-respecting giant ape with a thing for willowy blondes, you had better get in line -- as so many did this past weekend....

"This is our giant-gorilla 'Mighty Joe Young,' " said Might Joe Young, a spokesman for the Giant Rampaging Ape Anti-Defamation League (GRAAD-L)...

Look, I don't care how important this is to Andrew Sullivan, straight males just have a problem with any simian with genitals the size of a beer truck.

Except for Dick Cheney, of course. But that's a given.

Posted by: Ace at 01:04 PM | Comments (32)
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There's me, of course.

But... I initially didn't endorse a photoblog, thinking I didn't know any of them. Turns out, of course, I knew Zombie Time, who posts all those pictures of lefty protestors that the MSM doesn't want you to know about.

Jesus' General, the liberal "humor" blog that is sadly winning its category, is urging readers to vote against Zombie Time. So it might be a good idea to vote for them.

And don't forget Dave From Garfield Ridge, who's neck and neck with someone ("Ellen"?), and of course Wuzzadem. Who needs a lot of help to overtake the liberal "Fire Dog Blog," or whatever the hell it's called.

Other great blogs need your votes as well. Like Rightwing Sparkle, Florida Cracker, SondraK., and Joust the Facts. Hey, it only takes five minutes.

If the Iraqis can vote without their cars -- without their cars! -- you can vote from the comfort of your own office, while your boss pays you to dick around on the Internet.

Posted by: Ace at 11:01 AM | Comments (43)
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Big mistake. The moral preeners forced this mistake on Bush, who once again folded in the face of pressure.

There is a tiny bit of wiggle-room added:

Under the emerging deal, the CIA and other civilian interrogators would be given the same legal rights as currently guaranteed members of the military who are accused of breaking interrogation guidelines, these officials added. Those rules say the accused can defend themselves by arguing it was reasonable for them to believe they were obeying a legal order.

But that pretty much ends any useful intelligence from Al Qaeda terrorists. They now know that Americans can't even belly-slap them, let alone put fake blood on them. Which is, as Saint Andrew of the Sacred "Heart-Ache" tells us, torture.

Posted by: Ace at 10:25 AM | Comments (17)
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Make it this giddily-optimistic post about Iraqi voting at Instapundit.

Among other good news, there's this headline:

This is stability, at last

...from the BBC, of all places.

And one embedded reporter who says everything he thought he knew about Iraq was wrong:

More than anything in the last few days IÂ’ve heard from soldiers and commanders that people back home donÂ’t quite get it. They donÂ’t see the real picture. They donÂ’t get the real story. Some of them, like Lt. Col. Gregg Parrish, look seriously pained in the face when he says only a part of the picture is being told; the part of car bombs and explosives and suicide bombers and death. ItÂ’s a necessary part of the picture, but not a complete one, he says.

I’ve listened to the soldiers and Parrish about the missing pieces of the puzzles that don’t reach home. My selfish, journalistic drive immediately thinks “Perfect. A story that hasn’t been told. Let me at it.”

But I have a slight hesitation; I need to keep balanced. I canÂ’t be a cheerleader, even if I have a soft spot for the hometown troops, especially after the welcome theyÂ’ve shown me. I still need to be truthful and walk the centerline and report the good or bad.

But then I realize itÂ’s not a conflict of interest. If I am truly unbiased, then I need to get used to this one simple fact; that the untold story, might in fact, be a positive one. It takes a minute to wrap my mind around it, as a news junkie that became a news writer. The great, career-making, breaking news stories usually donÂ’t have happy endings; they usually revolve around disturbing news, deceit and downfall. Nasty political doings. Gruesome crimes and murders. Revealing secrets.

But IÂ’ve come upon something that is none of those. Not this aspect of it. There are politics to this war and controversies and investigations. But there is another side.

And there's still a link I haven't swiped, describing the atmosphere in Iraq as like a "block party."

And If You Read Two Posts Today... Click the Gateway Pundit link for a big ol' voting round-up.

Posted by: Ace at 10:05 AM | Comments (13)
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Kaus reads Juan Cole so that you don't have to:

The only way the vote will happen at all is that the US military has forbidden all vehicular traffic, so everyone has to walk for the next few days. This tactic prevents carbombings from disrupting the elections, but it is a desperate measure and not a sign of an election that could be certified as free and fair.

Yes, walking a mile or less to a polling place, or having to jump on a bus to get to one if you're in a farther-flung area, certainly makes the voting tainted.

It discriminates against... well, everyone. How can an election be fair if it discriminates against everyone?

It's not that they doubt the war can be won, and democracy brought to Iraq. It's that they're doubting their own doubts, and damnit, that just makes them more determined to force a defeat before victory can be achieved.

Ooops I Did It Again Update: I meant Juan Cole, not John Cole of Balloon-Juice. As the kids say, "My bad."

Thanks for the correction.

Posted by: Ace at 09:43 AM | Comments (15)
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They conceal (sorta-kinda) their political beliefs while running big media organizations. After they're fired, an no longer required to pretend, the truth comes out:

Raines also embraces tacitly the “false consciousness” explanation of the foolish behavior of the masses, an excuse beloved of Marxist intellectuals to explain the failure of the proletariat to embrace their vanguard. Most recently this has been popularized among the vulgar intelligentsia by Thomas Frank in this recent minor bestseller in liberal circles too lazy to read more explicitly Marxist theoretical journals. In this excuse for the stubborn populartity of conservative ideas, the foolish yahoos are being manipulated by Wall Street puppeteers (not Jon Corzine or Robert Rubin or George Soros, of course). The condescension drips:

The Bushes believe in letting the hoi polloi control the social and religious restrictions flowing from Washington, so long as Wall Street gets to say what happens to the nationÂ’s money. The Republican party as a national institution has endorsed this trade-off. What we do not know yet is whether a Republican party without a Bush at the top is seedy enough to keep it going.

“Hoi polloi” is actually the more respectful term he employs for mainstream conservatives. A bit earlier in elucidating the treachery of the Bush-Walker-Daddy Warbucks Crime Family, Raines causally threw out a racial epithet:

He [George W. Bush] adopted the full agenda of redneck America.

The standard response is that while these people have political beliefs (how could they not? they always ask) they are able to compartmentalize their politics from their reportage and editorial decisions.

Nonsense. When your hatred of "redneck America" and the Republicans is that visceral, and there's no one around offering a contrary point of view, it's just not possible to insulate what you write from what you actually believe.

Posted by: Ace at 09:24 AM | Comments (40)
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