Posted on 12/16/2006 10:36:08 AM PST by Phsstpok
Preview and Analysis of the Weekend Talk Shows for December 16 and 17, 2006
We've now moved on from the DOA Iraq Survey Group report. Despite the best efforts last week of the dinosaur media (better known in my posts as the DBM) to prop up the rather lame attempt at "peace in our time diplomacy" it just didn't gain any traction at all. The central idea that we are not capable of winning and that we must cede Israel's future to the Jihadists as a blood offering, the way Chamberlain ceded Sudetenland to Hitler, was just too obviously sleazy and low. James Baker and Lee Hamilton are forever tainted by this and everything they ever did will be viewed through the lens of this nasty capitulation to evil. A small sample of what is in store for these men on the broader historical stage was offered up in articles related to Jeane Kirkpatrick's passing mentioning how Baker had leaked (false) information to undermine her during the Reagan years.
The shock of Senator Tim Johnson's stroke (let's actually use the right words*) has finally brought the BS about an "overwhelming Democrat victory" to a crashing halt. They've been whistling past the graveyard and the graveyard has now reached out and touched the Dhimmicrats and the DBM in the very heart of their fantasies. Their failure to come out of last weekend's shows with a triumphant and unanimous cheer for the white flag offered up by the ISG hadn't really registered with them yet when they got hit with this dose of cold water.
Under the most generous of definitions they barely have a majority in either house and are hanging on by their fingernails, despite what Lil Timmah, Bob, George and Wolfie try to sell. The next two years are going to be a problem for the ideologues of the Dhimmicrat party (Kennedy, Leahy, Levin, Pelosi, Reid, Rangel, et al) who think that they can now run wild and fulfill their long suppressed dreams of rape and pillage amongst the evil capitalists and monstrous Republicans. Some of them will likely not survive the strain of failure. The fact that they are mostly older and feebler than Johnson is beginning to be a topic of whispered conversations. But that will only make them more desperate for action now. Witness the guests coming out of hiding for this weeks shows.
NBC Meet the Press brings us the anti-Democrat, but someone who has indicated that he's willing to work with the devil herself if it advances his agenda. In short, the very model of a modern major moderate, and reformed, conservative. Yes, that's right, Newt's back and Timmah's got him. Now, for a man who's not going to decide on his own presidential plans for this election cycle till September, Newt is awfully front and center and pushing for face time. He's said his interest is primarily in driving the debate towards certain topics. If that is his goal and his ideas are as well thought out and presented as they have been in the past then this could be the beginning of a very interesting and productive role for him. The inclusion of Brooks and Friedman from the NY Times should speak volumes about the world view of Timmah's show. I mean, I like some of the things Brooks says, but I view him as I viewed Buchanan and Novak when they worked for Ted Turner. I'm highly suspicious of the "designated conservatives" chosen by folks like that. Friedman is his own bad example and needs no explanation or analysis from me to show you who he is. Of course, the Times now has both of them hidden behind their subscription barrier, so they have a considerably smaller audience. We'll see how long that lasts with egos like they have.
CBS Face The Nation resurrects the only Republican they seem to like anymore, Colin Powell. What's not to like? He will stab Bush in the back at the drop of a hat. Bob Schieffer's kind of guy. Just to prove what a non-partisan and neutral observer Bob is he has this little opening to one of his essays this week: "This marks the end of what may have been the least productive Congress of modern times." And does Bob blame this on Democrats insistance on obstructing, for purely partisan reasons, every move Republicans made, even on things like Republican attempts to raise the minimum wage? Nope. It's because the leadership (all GOP, by the way) didn't make them work hard enough and dared to continue the 50 year old tradition of letting members fly home to their districts on Friday and return on Monday. Mustn't let the politicians actually talk to the voters now. That wouldn't be wise. They have to stay inside the beltway and listen only to the DBM to find out what the people should be are thinking.
Fox News Sunday once again ventures into what everyone thinks is a meeting with the enemy, despite all the evidence of Chris Wallace's leftward tilt on the show. Chris sits down one of one with the swimmer himself, Teddy Kennedy. Teddy has declared his willingness to be offensive... no wait, that's "go on the offensive," but with Teddy how will you tell the difference? I think Teddy wants to pull his own Clinton temper tantrum on Chris and get back in the spot light. He's confident that he's way smarter than Jon F'n Carry and won't fail anywhere near as miserably in his shot at Chris. Of course, a rock is smarter than Jon F'n Carry, so on this one item Teddy the K is right. FedEx's Fred Smith and retired Marine Corps comandant General P.X. Kelley then present a plan for a new national energy policy that they and other non-government players have been working on. Fred's a local boy for Memphians so we get to see and hear a lot about most of his doings, but this one has been below the radar. Knowing what I know about Fred I think it will be worth listening to. The roundtable is all regulars and it will be interesting to see if there's any fall out from Juan's little melt down last week. I linked to two views of that event, one from the right which frames it as a double team smack down by Brit and Bill on Juan, and one from the left that applauds Juan's tirade against those evil fascists who won't accept defeat as a forgone conclusion. Does Juan read his clippings?
CNN Late Edition turns to their increasingly interesting and fanatically diverse stable of lesser known figures to fill their two hours. We all complain that the Sunday shows always invite on the same limited number of guests, well that's increasingly not true for CNN. Bravo, even if I don't like the messages they try to push. My reading of their guests this week is that they are tackling the question of defeat in Iraq and it's aftermath. I wonder if they'll try to squelch or simply ridicule any dissenting views? Conversely I wonder if they'll explore what I think is the emerging Bush plan: get the dominant Shiite group, The Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq (whose leader, Abdul Aziz al-Hakimm, was interviewed by CNN last Sunday) to dump Sadr's rival militia from the government coalition and accept an alliance with an emerging group of Sunni leaders who want to see stability return to Iraq. This was explored in a piece in this FR thread this week. It looks really interesting and could actually lead somewhere positive. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head for Nazi Pelosi?
ABC This Week offers up Harry Reid. No doubt he was going to lay out the brilliant agenda that the Democrats had planned following their huge and overwhelming victory. However I doubt they'll get much beyond how weak and perilous their position is now that Tim Johnson had his little mishap. If Tim Johnson is clinically brain dead you can bet that Harry will describe him as "calm and stable." There'll be no question of Johnson ever being treated as Terry Schiavo was, at least not until a suitable (Democrat) replacement is at hand. Dingy Harry is followed by one of those pesky people who just insist in believing that it's still possible to win in Iraq. Steponallofus will no doubt be very skeptical of the whole notion. Perhaps questions of retired General Keane's mental stability will be on Steffi's list. We then get treated to the man that defeated Representative Curt Weldon, Joe Sestak. You wonder if Joe will be asked about the admission by the FBI that some of their own improperly interfered on his behalf during the final days of the election? The shadow government of Clinton left overs in the bureaucracy got one of their harshest critics. Was Joe one of their adherents, or simply the beneficiary of their animus for Weldon over his refusal to let Able Danger die? Joe is one of the Clinton class of '93 of senior Pentagon officers elevated to replace the Reagan team that was summarily dismissed. He participated in the process, even if simply by not objecting, that turned the Pentagon into a place for Bill and Hill's social experiments instead of war fighting, so I have my suspicions. The fact that much of his support came from sources largely controlled by Hillary's people, such as John Podesta, is a big indicator for me.
The Saturday shows seem not to have developed a coherent idea of what they're supposed to be doing following the election, with the usual exception of the Journal Editorial Report, which brings in one of the strongest voices for victory in Iraq for a discussion which should be worthwhile. This guy, Fred Kagan, must be effective because the left side of the web seems intent on claiming he's mentally unfit. Probably someone I'll like. Both the Beltway Boys and Fox News Watch examine the issue and possible impact of Tim Johnson's illness. Watch them all deplore everyone else speculating about the topic as part of their speculations on the topic. And Tim Russert celebrates the 55th anniversary of the Today Show by having the current crop of faces from that show. It must be real disappointing to the folks on Today that Tim's CNBC show is where they get to celebrate their anniversary this time. You wonder if they'll get bitchy and say things about Katie?
So, the triumphalism that dominated the last few weeks appears to be gone. The failure to command the country to adopt the ISG report by acclimation followed by the shock of possibly losing control of the Senate before they ever actually hold it has stunned the Dhimmicrats and the DBM. They are not yet reorganized and haven't coalesced around a theme and, I think, are in danger of allowing their loopier instincts and partisans prevail. Teddy's performance may well be telling, as will the attitudes of the interviewers and the implications of their questions.
The theme this week, if there is one, is "huh?" They don't know where they are or what's happening and they're groping about for a stance they can get behind. I wonder if anyone will ask if they might have misunderestimated the President, yet again?
This should be cross posted to my blog at Wizards.townhall.com a little later today. This post exists primarily as a heads up for who is on the weekend talks shows, what they've been invited on to push (based on their recent pronouncements) and the spin (meme) the DBM is likely trying to push based on that information. All of this is prep work for the weekly Sunday Morning Talk Show thread posted by Alas Babylon!. That thread provides a live commentary and analysis of the Sunday talking head shows, with rare insight and exceptional fact checking. we are the Jedi Council of FreeRepublic, at least in regards to these DBM gabfests. You wanna know what was said and what it meant, as well as where they messed up? Read that thread!
I will post a link to Mark Kilmer's excellent preview thread over at RedState.COM when it is up.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.
* When I was driving an ambulance years ago this was referred to as a cardiovascular accident, CVA, and covered both heart attacks and strokes. Any attempts to say the Tim Johnson suffered neither a "heart attack" nor a "stroke" could conceivably be technically correct, but have much more to do with Clinton's definition of what "is" is than with reality. My mother passed away from precisely this type of event with precisely the underlying condition and had exactly the same surgery just over a year ago. She never woke back up and passed away two weeks later. Johnson had a stroke.
CNN has the BEST Republican of any show...Jon Kyl.
I saw him on Neil Cavuto's show last week...the day that Sen. Bill Nelson was visiting with Assad in Syria.
Kyl didn't mince any words at how disgusted he was.
I hope that he is MORE angry tomorrow..considering the list of MORE Senators doing the exact same thing...and the Syrian newspaper saying that Nelson lied about the Assad said to him.
Good Lord, will the propagandists ever stop?
Did you wipe your shoes off when you left that site??
I listened to an interview with Lincoln Chafee on NPR last week...
He really opened up about how liberal he really is...and his distaste for Pres. Bush and the war.
He was mayor of some city at one time, and felt that one of his duties was to make sure that those with a "lot" helped those with "little"....
BUT, the most amazing thing he said, was that he went to college at Montana State to get his degree in "Horseshoeing"....and was a blacksmith for awhile...until his father had him go back to Rhode Island...
ROFL!!!
He has an interesting take in the guest lineup in this excerpt
Okay, the scenario is pretty clear. First, present Gingrich as the face of the Republican Party (MTP), then bring in Colin Powell to demonstrate principled dissent (FTN). Harry Reid gives us the positive message from the Democrats (TW), and Steph gives us Hashimi, the most prominent Iraqi to demand a TIMETABLE. (He avoids the notion of a date certain, however.)
O'HANLON'S BOSNIAN MODEL FOR IRAQ -- AND IRAQ'S OWN "PLAN B" [Mario Loyola]
In his column today, Cliff suggests that "We ought to consider what Brookings scholar Michael O'Hanlon calls the Bosnian model: Each of Iraq's ethno-religious groups would establish autonomy within a unitary Iraqi state. Oil wealth would be shared by all cooperating and stabilized areas of the country."
The difference between Iraq and Bosnia is that the Bosnian model was instituted after a terrifying campaign of ethnic cleansing had largely run its course, and after the break-up-in-fact of the state and all its institutions along ethnic lines.
Neither of these have occurred in Iraq yet, and if either ever does, we're going to remember 2006 fondly indeed. In Iraq you still have a population that is highly mixed and a central government that still represents a broad national coalition.
A "Plan B" now being floated by Iraqis themselves seems to me a better idea, and has the virtue of presuming (unlike most ideas these days) that we can still largely succeed in Iraq. The idea is to form a coalition of national unity that includes the the largest faction from each of Iraq's three main communities—the Shiite SCIRI (Supreme Council for the Revolution in Iraq), the Sunni Islamic Party, and the two main Kurdish parties—even if the resulting coalition rests on a parliamentary minority. The idea is to "deputize" the strongest player in each community, and make them a primary political vehicle for laying down the central authority of the state within each community. This will immediately pit SCIRI against the Sadr Organization, on the one hand, and the Islamic Party against the Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda, on the the other.
Timed to coincide with the transfer of administrative control of the Iraqi Army to the central government (set to occur by early summer), this could really change things on the ground in Iraq. The violence might continue, but you would have achieved several vital things: (1) the leading party within each community would have declared its first loyalty to the central government; and (2) the central government will finally have a professional force with which to impose its authority; (3) the logic of sectarian conflict now threatening to tear the country apart would be replaced with the logic of intramural conflict (within the Shiite and Sunni communities) between those who support the state's authority and those who oppose it.
This idea seems the better one to me because it maintains the goal of a strong central government, while the Bosnian model presumes that the central government has collapsed and cannot be reconstituted except in name.Posted at 9:58 PM
The plan B stuff is the things I've been hearing about the last couple of days and would be the reason for a temporary surge of US forces to help this new coalition make this stick. But they'd be helping the Sunni members of the coalition against the Sunni insurgents and Al Qaeda, the Shiite SCIRI folks against Sadr's Shiite militia, etc. If this is what Bush is working on with the Iraqis, including the head of SCIRI who he met at the White House last week, and they pull it off... hoo boy!
The anti-war / anti-American left and the old school Realpolitik Republican "business as usual" foreign policy crowd have each bet everything on convincing the American people that we've already lost and there's nothing we can do but leave. But if we succeed....
Did Chaffee also disucss his cocaine use, etc.?
Yes he did...he said that he admitted it because "why not?"
He is definitely a naive politician.
He was very naive sounding..and just sounded SO democrat.
I have NO idea why he ever considers himself a Republican, unless his Daddy told him that was what he was...and he is so wimpy he never disagreed.
Another thing that surprised me was his admission that losing the election really bothered him...
One thing that didn't surprise me...he is very proud of not capitulating on Bolton...but, he couldn't give a reason other than he wants the US to rethink it policy re: the Palestinians..
That would mean a great success for the US, but it would also mean a great success for President Bush and we just can't have that, so there will have to be a massive, all out push by the media and the dems to see to it that we fail. This could be very ugly.
So he stopped short of admitting he is anti-semite as well as not a real Republican?
LOL...yes, he did. I got the distinct impression that he really didn't care what the GOP felt about him, but he also acted like he just doesn't understand why people don't understand him...
He sounded just like a little child, actually.
Sounds like another Al Gore. Inherited his next in line position in the Senate, so he feels everything is owed him instead of earned.. like Casey in PA, wins on the daddys name.
Yes, his Dad was republican. Chaffee got his seat when Dad died.
Shhhhhh... you're dating yourself!
I din't get a chance to reply, but I did see the last few minutes of the senior baffoon on FNS before I headed for Church. He was and idiot, and I am ashamed that the people from Taxachutstes keep electing him and Skerry.
I couldn't bear to watch...
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