Friday Open Thread

Filed in National by on March 26, 2010

Welcome to Friday of what has been both a weird and wonderful week. I hope you have awesome weekend plans! What’s on your mind? Let’s get this open thread spinning.

Before you feel too sorry for the newly-purged conservative David Frum, take a look at this blast from the past (written by Frum in 2003).

You may know the names of these antiwar conservatives. Some are famous: Patrick Buchanan and Robert Novak. Others are not: Llewellyn Rockwell, Samuel Francis, Thomas Fleming, Scott McConnell, Justin Raimondo, Joe Sobran, Charley Reese, Jude Wanniski, Eric Margolis, and Taki Theodoracopulos.

The antiwar conservatives aren’t satisfied merely to question the wisdom of an Iraq war. Questions are perfectly reasonable, indeed valuable. There is more than one way to wage the war on terror, and thoughtful people will naturally disagree about how best to do it, whether to focus on terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda and Hezbollah or on states like Iraq and Iran; and if states, then which state first?

But the antiwar conservatives have gone far, far beyond the advocacy of alternative strategies. They have made common cause with the left-wing and Islamist antiwar movements in this country and in Europe. They deny and excuse terror. They espouse a potentially self-fulfilling defeatism. They publicize wild conspiracy theories. And some of them explicitly yearn for the victory of their nation’s enemies.

He was for purging before he was against it. One thing to remember, Frum is not some George H.W. Bush exile – he was George W. Bush’s speechwriter and wrote the infamous “axis of evil” speech.

President Obama also had good news on the international front this week. He announced that the U.S. and Russia have agreed to a new START treaty:

Shortly after concluding a phone call with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, President Obama made a surprise visit to the White House briefing room to hail the new arms control agreement with Russia, replacing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) treaty that expired on December 5th.

“I’m pleased to announce that after a year of intense negotiations, the United States and Russia have agreed to the most comprehensive arms control agreement in nearly two decades,” the president said from the press podium.

“It cuts – by about a third – the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia will deploy,” Obama said describing the agreement. “It significantly reduces missiles and launchers. It puts in place a strong and effective verification regime. And it maintains the flexibility that we need to protect and advance our national security, and to guarantee our unwavering commitment to the security of our Allies.”

Experts say that domestic policy success also leads to international success. That makes sense because losing makes you look weak and winning makes you look strong. President Obama looked strong, and it will only lead to more success.

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  1. Another Fracture in the GOP Wall : Delaware Liberal | March 26, 2010
  1. anon says:

    Mark the calendar, I got an email from Chris Coons!

  2. Jason330 says:

    Delawarepolitics.nut. Just got love from a big guy: TPM.

    I love anything that helps Christine O’nutbag

  3. anonone says:

    Senate needs to ratify the treaty. That should be interesting.

  4. Yes, TPM quoted delawarepolitics.net in their story.

    The latest GOPers caught in the mix are in Delaware — with candidate Christine O’Donnell (R-DE) challenging Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) to sign on to repeal plans. Castle, like every single Congressional Republican, opposed the legislation. But he said that repealing “is not realistic.”

    The splits are seeming to pop up in some of the bluer states where Democrats have an advantage. In Delaware Castle said it doesn’t make sense to try and repeal the measure while President Obama remains in charge, since he can veto anything Congress sends him. Castle said it’s “not the best use of our efforts.”

    But according to DelawarePolitics.net, O’Donnell charges that by not signing, Castle is “breaking faith with the people of Delaware and America in refusing to support the conservative-led effort to repeal ObamaCare, a totally disastrous and unconstitutional health bill.”

  5. cassandra_m says:

    I listened to a report on this proposed treaty last night on the BBC. Apparently we have wingnuts of the neocon species who think that this treaty doesn’t go far enough in making a commitment to long range ballistic missile defense. Even though it doesn’t work. The reporter noted that a treaty of this magnitude and of this importance doesn’t get done without keeping Republicans in the loop and watching Richard Lugar (who has already signaled that he wants to ratify this treaty).

    This treaty doesn’t agree to any elimination, cuts, or other restrictions on any missile defense programs we have. Even though they don’t work. But expect wingnuts everywhere to claim that it does.

  6. MJ says:

    The RNC has been slapped down from raising unlimited amounts of soft money – http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032602140.html?hpid=topnews

  7. skippertee says:

    When all is said and done, I still get a creepy feeling that there is a post rat-cage Winston Smith somewhere waiting for a tube with instructions to purge David Frum’s name from all Republican databases.

  8. Jason330 says:

    An interesting dynamic is being set up for the R primary. It isthe teabaggers who vote in primaries. Maybe Christine does have a shot in hell.

  9. Today is Nancy Pelosi’s 70th birthday. A group of Kossacks collected money to send roses to the Speaker’s office.

  10. anon says:

    Republican excuse-making FAIL:

    RedState.com cited this video to exonerate their nutjob protesters of a videotaped incident in which Missouri Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver was spat on.

    Their excuse? It was an accident:

    “Well, here it is, and what it shows is a guy cupping his hands around his mouth to form a makeshift megaphone, hollering ” kill the bill!” as the black caucus entourage walked by. The spittle that sprayed on Cleaver was clearly unintentional

    Watch the video if you have any doubt (the spitting is near the end). The guy had no sense of personal space.

  11. I will have to add TPM to our blog roll. I always knew there was a little good taste over there.

  12. P.Schwartz says:

    So much for Dems to be proud of:

    After voting ‘yes’ on health care, ‘Stupak 11′ requested $4.7 billion in earmarks

    Sunlight Foundation ^ | 3/26/10 | Anupama Narayanswamy and Bill Allison

    A day after Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and ten other House members compromised on their pro-life position to deliver the necessary yes-votes to pass health care reform, the “Stupak 11” released their fiscal year 2011 earmark requests, which total more than $4.7 billion–an average of $429 million worth of earmark requests for each lawmaker.

    Of the eight lawmakers whose 2010 requests were available for comparison, five requested more money this week than they did a year ago: Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa., Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Ohio.

    The eleven members were the focus of high level pressure by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats because they threatened to vote against the health care reform bill, which passed the House on Sunday, March 21, by a seven vote margin. Granting earmark requests are one of the ways leadership can encourage members to vote their way.

  13. Jason330 says:

    Two deep thoughts:

    I’ve wanted to crash my car into people, but I never did because I am an adult.

    I giggled to
    myself when I thought “Ron Paul thinks he can be elected President”

  14. That’s funny Jason because I giggle to myself when I think “Mitt Romney thinks he can be elected President.”

  15. Joanne Christian says:

    Geez, Nancy Pelosi 70??? Must be great health care!!!!

  16. Happy Birthday madaam Speaker, I hope the next one will be enjoyed in a well deserved retirement.

    I concur Joanne, she looks younger. I am won’t touch the health care though.