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The madness of Maxine Waters and Joe Biden's imaginary friend Stan

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Special Features — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Sunday, March 11, 2007.
On NBC's Meet the Press, Ambassador Khalilzad told Russert that there were no "were no "direct, bilateral, substantive talks" with the Iranians at Saturday's forum.

On FOX News Sunday, Fred Thompson said he'd jump into the race if he felt the current crop of candidates were not inspiring the American people to move forward. Wallace pointed out that the current crop is raising millions of dollars while Thompson thinks about it, and Thompson countered that they're also spending millions. In a lightning round, he came across as a solid and consistent conservative. [UPDATE: Some internet vid linked with the story, below the fold.]

Next on FNS, Representative Maxine Waters explained that Iraq's Sunnis and Shi'as got along fine before we invaded, so that shouldn't be a factor in withdrawing our forces. When asked if Al Anbar might become a terrorist haven if we left, Maxine explained that we should instead be concentrating on Tora Bora. This is tragic.

On ABC's This Week, Jim Webb said that he favored the latest Murtha-Pelosi legislation setting a timetable/date certain for Iraq but he still opposes a timetable. He said that the White House had attacked Joe Wilson and Val Plame because they were war dissenters.

Also on TW, Bob Dole said that he has been given "free reign" to examine our nation's military medical facilities, not simply Walter Reed, of which he said: "We've beaten that horse pretty much enough."

On CBS' Fact the Nation, Chuckie Schumer said "we Democrats" won't send more troops to Iraq, but will send them to Afghanistan. He added that Attorney Alberto Gonzales should quit. Arlen Specter said that Congress should restrict the Justice Department's powers under the Patriot Act.

Next on FTN, Senator Clair McCaskill demanded the sacking of Army Surgeon General Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley and VA Secretary Jim Nicholson, who she called a Bush cheerleader.

On LE, sub-host asked guest Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi foreign minister, why they don't just ask the Iranians to cut it out. Zebari said that they've been doing this for years. Later on LE, Lindsey Graham called what the Democrats are doing this week, with their insidious legislation which will be vetoed after passage, "political theater of a dangerous nature." Joe Biden has lost it, blathering about the Gelb-Biden Plan for an Iraqi confederation, and at one point, invoking his imaginary friend Stan.

KALILZAD ON MTP. Tim Russert's guest on NBC's Meet the Press this morning was U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad. Tim asked him to cut through the diplomatic nonsense-talk and tell the American people what really happened. Khalilzad replied that the "exchanges were good" at the conference and everyone reached "agreement on practical steps to go forward." He said that they would have to wait to see how it goes on the ground, but they've set up "working groups" comprised of Iraq's neighbors. The U.S. will, he said, help out as necessary.

Russert wanted to know about bilateral negotiating with the Iranians, and Khalilzad said that there were none, that they communicated "across the table." (Actually, through a space between the sides of a three-sided semi-rectangle.) There were no "direct, bilateral, substantive talks" with the Iranian delegation, and Khalilzad underscored the word "substantive" by using it several times, leaving open the possibility that they exchanged jokes or spoke together about vague generalities.

Russert stated that the problems in Iraq have a political solution, and Khalilzad agreed, adding that there must also be "cooperation from the neighbors."

Khalilzad said that we are trying to "incentivize" the Iraqis by reminding them that the American people are running out of patience? Russert asked about the current Pelosi-Murtha surrender legislation – although the term "Pelosi-Murtha" was note used -- and Khalilzad said that the Iraqis follow the situation in America closely, know of the latest Pelosi-Murtha scheme to establish a date certain for withdrawal, and also understand that the President has "certain prerogatives." (That's the veto, did he did not use that term.) He explained to Russert that he sometimes has to explain the political news from America to the Iraqis.

Khalilzad said: "We do admit we have made mistakes" in the past – and Russert didn't pull out his infamous List -- but the Ambassador sees the conference as a positive development.

FRED THOMPSON ON FNS. Chris Wallace's first guest on FOX News Sunday was former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee. Asked if he were running for President in 2008, Thompson replied: "I'm giving some thought to it, and I'm gonna leave the door open." He said it is not a reflection on the current field, adding that some were good friends of his. He said his has to see how the race goes and do some self-examination. He added that it was not pre-ordained that the United States would "remain the strongest and freest nation in the history of the world; we have to do some things well and we have to do some things differently."

Wallace pointed out that his potential rivals were already raising millions of dollars, and Thompson reminded that they're also spending millions of dollars (Mitt). He said that he thinks that the October time frame would be too late to jump into the race (Newt). He said that he looks forward to looking at the polls and talking to people, "but the lay of the land will be different in a few months than it is today."

He said that the Presidency has not been his lifelong ambition (Kerry, Gore), so it won't be the end of the world if it doesn't happen.

Lightning round. Thompson said that he is pro-choice and that Roe v. Wade was "bad law and bad medical science." He said that the way to solve these problems is to appoint good judges who won't make social policy from the bench.

Gay rights? Thompson said that we are a tolerant nation, but "we shouldn't set up special categories for anybody." Marriage is between a man and a woman, and judges should not try to change that. He is in favor of allowing the States to decide the matter of "civil unions."

Thompson said that he opposes gun control. On the recent DC ruling that the Second Amendment allows firearms for protection, Thompson agreed: "The court basically said the Constitution means what it says."

On campaign finance reform, Thompson said that he found it strange that people could give politicians huge sums of money then lobby the same politicians to pass legislation for them. He said that in the "real world," you could be thrown in jail for this, so he favors some sort of "reasonable limitations. This position was not a "non-conservative" one, he insisted, as Barry Goldwater said the same thing in the day. (He did not address the specifics of McCain-Feingold and whether or not he would support a repeal.)

Thompson said he favors strong border protection to stop the flow, and he wants policies that will make illegal immigrants return home of their own volition, rather than loading them all into vans and deporting them.

On Iraq, he'd do basically what the President is doing now. We're the leader of the free world, he said, and we have to act like it. We've made mistakes: "We went in there too light, wrong rules of engagement, wrong strategy, placed too much emphasis on just holding things in place while we built up the Iraqi army, took longer than we figured." Thompson said that he has known General Petraeus since the general was at Fort Campbell. The general has convinced him that his plan will work.

Wallace asked Thompson about a gas tax to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and Thompson said he doesn't know, he's studying it. (That should have been a no-brainer NO, but if he's studying it, that indicates an interest in a run.) He referred to oil as "fungible" – we'll get it somewhere – which might anger some of the scare-mongers who said we'd run out of petroleum by 1985.

Would a President Thompson pardon Scooter Libby? "I'd do it now." The "Justice Department and the special counsel knew in the very beginning that the thing that was creating the controversy, who leaked Valerie Plame's name, did not constitute a violation of the law." He said that Libby was Fitzgerald's victim because Fitz "spent the next year drilling in a dry well and finally found some inconsistencies or some failure to remember out of Libby, and made a prosecution out of it, and went to trial on a he-said, she-said perjury case and faulty memory." (Shouldn't that have been part of the closing argument for the defense?)

Will he run? He's mainly waiting to see "whether or not they [Rudy, McCain, Newt, Brownback, Romney, etc.] can reach the American people, inspire the American people to do the tough things that we're going to need to do."

[Update: From Hot Air, here are two clips of Senator Thompson from FOX News Sunday.]

MAXINE WATERS ON FNS. Next, Wallace spoke with Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrats possessed of a different understanding of reality, perhaps born of inter-planar travel. She said that "we've been misled," and she went through the Russert List of "Lies": no WMD, greeted as heroes, oil revenue paying for reconstruction, etc.

She complained about the latest Murtha-Pelosi bill, exasperated as she is that they want to fund the surge after having voted for their meaningless, non-binding resolution in opposition to it. (And the Senate confirmed General Petraeus then voted to protest his plan. You figure it out, Maxine.)

She claims that "all the polls" show that the American people want the troops out of Iraq and the American people voted last November to send people to Washington who would enact legislation demanding a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. (Both statements are bogus, but we're talking about Maxine Waters, here.)

Wallace asked her about the Obey clip, the one in which Obey referred to "idiot liberals." Waters called his choice of language, "unfortunate," and I thought immediately of his obscenity at the end, telling the woman who had accosted him in the hall to "go f* with somebody else." But Maxine was reacting to the term "idiot liberals," and explained that the woman was the mother of a soldier, Maxine said that she hoped Obey wasn't referring to her, and that she wants to use the money in the supplemental to set up a "safe" evacuation of Iraq.

Wallace asked her if she thinks Iraq will turn into a bloodbath if we leave. She explained that we could leave some troops in Kuwait (and Okinawa, I assume) for an emergency. Wallace asked her if she were concerned that the violence between Iraq's Sunnis and Shi'as would spiral out of control of we left. Maxine replied that the Sunnis and Shi'as got along fine before we got there, so they would go back to how they were before we got there. Wallace explained that the Sunni's and Shi'as had a brutal dictator there to prevent the fighting, and Maxine said that they would have to find a way to get along after we left. (Perhaps a new dictator?)

I will not here insult posts.

Wallace asked her about al Qaeda setting up safe havens in Al Anbar if we fled, and Maxine explained that we had to find Osama bin Laden and concentrate on cleaning out Tora Bora if we want to stop the terrorists.

No, posts have their intellectual acts better together, in relative terms.

JIM WEBB ON TW. On ABC's This Week, Steph opened by talking to Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, who claimed that he was "encouraged" by the talks with Iraq's neighbors. He called them a "confidence builder," though it wasn't clear whose confidence was being strengthened in what.

Jim Webb heaped praise on the Pelosi-Murtha timetable legislation, and Steph reminded him that he had told the Time infotainment glossy last September that he opposed timetables. Webb talked about the weak central government in Iraq.

Jim Webb said that he is counting Purple Hearts because the "Administration has undercounted the wounded."

Jim Webb stated calmly and with a straight face that the Administration had attacked Joe Wilson and his wife (Val Plame) for speaking out against the war. (It is, after all, why Val sent him to Niger: to claim cause for noisy dissent.)

Steph told Jim Webb that the blogosphere was "burning up" with talk about Jim Webb for Veep. I haven't seen anything, but it sounds like it might be a decent symposium. Jim Webb said he is having fun being in the Senate.

BOB DOLE ON TW. Steph had Bob Dole on his show, in a taped interview. Steph asked and Bob Dole affirmed that Bob Dole had been given "free reign" to examine the nation's military hospitals. He said, "Not just Walter Reed – we've beaten that horse pretty much enough." He did not elaborate beyond that statement, but: the breathless reports, the Congressional hearings, the blaming, the foaming at the mouth, etc. Bob Dole says that we're flogging a dead horse at this point.

Bob Dole said that he's received e-mail from people volunteering to sit on the commission investigating the hospitals and suggesting facilities at which he should look.

Asked by Steph why no one had brought up the situation at Walter Reed sooner, what with everyone visiting there apace, Bob Dole replied: "I can't believe it." He said that because the problems were confined to Building 18, which used to be a hotel, it might have been a case of: "Out of sight, out of mind." He's onto something. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the facility itself, is evidently in fine shape. Building 18 has problems.

SCHUMER AND SPECTER ON FTN. Bob Schieffer first spoke with Chuckie Schumer (from New York) and Snarlin' Arlen Specter (in Philadelphia) on CBS' Face the Nation. He asked about the President's request for an even larger surge. Chuck said he's sure that they have to "divide it" between Iraq and Afghanistan. The Dems will support more troops for Afghanistan, but "we Democrats" believe that we should not "police a civil war" in Iraq. He called for a "deadline" for when the mission has to be changed. That is the Dems' mission.

Specter said he wants to know what has happened with the troops we've already sent. He wants to know how the new Baghdad plan is going, how the conference went, the whole thing. He's going to hold hearings. He called Murtha's plan "excessive micromanaging." Specter was not surprised by the request for additional troops for Afghanistan and he though the President would need more than the initial request of 21,000 for Iraq.

Schieffer said that the FBI was abusing its power under the Patriot Act and suggested to Specter that the Attorney General should resign. Specter said that this is up to the President and Gonzalez, but he's concerned about the situation in New Mexico, the firing of the U.S. attorney, and the one in Baltimore.

Schumer said that the Attorney General's office has an obligation to the Constitution and the rule of law, while Gonzalez is political, acting as the President's lawyer. He demanded that Gonzales step down.

Schieffer declared that the FBI was abusing its powers but asked Chuckie why we should care about it. What happened? Schumer said that they sent too many letters and didn't get warrants: "This is serious stuff."

Schieffer asked Specter if Congress should take away the FBI's power under the Patriot Act. Specter said he had proposed this scheme last Friday. Schumer agreed. He said he found that the Justice Department didn't respect the rule of law or the separation of powers.

Schieffer asked about a Presidential pardon of Scooter Libby. Schumer thinks Libby was a fall guy, but the "fall guy is not allowed to break the law." Schumer respect Fitz, and if Fitz says Libby's broken the law, he should pay. He said that the President misused intelligence, and that Karl Rove leaked Val Plame's name but didn't meet Fitz's standard. Specter said that Fitz knew early-on that the leaker was Dick Armitage, and the investigation should have ended there. He pointed out that Joe Wilson himself had been discredited.

CLAIRE MCCASKILL ON FTN. Freshman Senator Claire McCaskill [lyrics], a Missouri Dem, was up next. She's introduced legislation to fix Walter Reed, Schieffer explained. Claire explained that everyone is wasting time by forming commissions. It is time to clear the "morass of paperwork," she said. She explained that the McCaskill-Obama legislation contains a lot of things which do not need legislation to do. She complained of bureaucracy and paper work, delays. "A change in the culture of command," and she called for Army Surgeon General Lieutenant General Kevin Kiley to be sacked. She called VA Secretary Jim Nicholson a Bush cheerleader and demanded that he be fired.

Schieffer complained about poor Congressional oversight, and Claire said that those problems were solved in January of '06, when the Democrats seized power.

JOHN ROBERTS AND MINISTER ZEBARI ON LE. 'T was on CNN's Late Edition that sub-host John Roberts spoke to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, describing the conference as "a lot of bickering." Zebari disagreed, calling Saturday's conference a "victory for Iraq" and "very constructive." He thinks that the "achievements were reasonable," that they made 'tangible steps."

Roberts read a quote from Zebari praising Iran and asked him if he were serious or just being diplomatic. Zebari told him the quote was from an Iranian news agency and not something he actually said. He said that they'll work with Iran and respect each other.

Roberts played a clip of Khalilzad talking about IEDs coming from Iran. He asked Zebari if they really were coming from Iran, and Zebari said that there is intelligence which indicates this and they have confronted Iran with the intelligence. Zebari said that the Iranians claim that this destruction is not there government's policy, but "actions speak louder than world."

He said that the Iranians "have a role, you can't deny that, John."

Roberts said that he doesn't understand why Zebari doesn't just tell Iran to stop. Zebari corrected him that they had, repeatedly, asked Iran not to interfere and pointed out the danger of the spillover of violence to them.

Roberts quoted the Iranian foreign minister as saying that the presence of the Americans in Iraq was the problem, and Zebari explained that the U.S. was there with the U.N.'s approval and at the request of the Iraqi government. If the U.S. left now, it would be disastrous.

Zebari said that Iraq could handle some provinces by itself, but U.S. presence was "much needed" in "Baghdad and some central provinces."

JOE BIDEN AND LINDSEY GRAHAM ON LE. Delaware Democratic Senator Joe Biden and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina were Roberts's next guests on LE. He asked Biden if he had any hopes that would lead to any progress. Biden said that he's glad it took place, but they need the Gelb-Biden plan for "federalism" in Iraq.

Roberts quoted the Iranian foreign minister as blaming the United States for all problems in Iraq. Graham would like to see the international community would focus on and act regarding Iran's nuclear program. He doesn't believe Iran "shares our goal of creating a stable democracy in Iraq."

Roberts asked Graham how they deal with a country as "recalcitrant as Iran." Graham explained that we don't have common interests with Iran and Syria, as they do not want democracy in the region. He said that talking about Iran and Iraq threatens to distract from Iran's nuclear program.

Joe Biden said that even if Iran became a "perfect neighbor," Iraq would still be a quagmire of "self-sustaining sectarian violence." The bottom line is, Joe Biden said, is that we'll never have peace in Iraq unless we implement the Gelb-Biden Plan. He said that "a lot of people are adopting" the Gelb-Biden Plan, which has become the "plan of default."

Graham explained that what the Dems are doing this week is "political theater of a dangerous nature." He said that Iraq cannot have a political solution until they "end the violence." He added that a date certain would let the enemy know how long it had to wait.

Roberts described the Democrats' resolutions introduced last week as "convoluted at best." He played a clip of David Obey and Nancy Pelosi at a press conference trying to explain what they were doing. He chuckled and asked Biden how they can implement something they can't even explain. Joe Biden said that we should be out by March of '08, and the President wants to send more troops and stay longer: "What is the plan, Stan?" (Stan, his imaginary friend, was not there to answer.) He called for fewer troops, demanding that they come up with "accommodations." (There are the Al Rasheed and the Hotel Palestine in the Green Zone, anyway.)

Joe Biden has lost his edge and perhaps his marbles, what with his semi-madness regarding the Gelb-Biden confederation plan.
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Well, lots of stuff this weekend. What do you think of all this?

Have at it.