Steve, what I find objectionable in your assertion that Bolton has "some" strengths and could find a job he'd be good at in government is that you are lowering the bar to the point where it's almost on the floor.

Do you really believe that any position you would support for Bolton couldn't be filled far better by someone else, that no one else in government service has better qualifications, better skills, is smarter, more, shall we say, "diplomatic?"

Is there really something so special about Bolton over anyone else who could fill these jobs that you would support him? I truly find that hard to believe.

After so many years of Bush's Administration throwing out qualified civil servants or otherwise demoting them, for you to be touting good qualities of John Bolton is, to me, not credible.

Posted at September 26, 2006 3:52 PM in response to BIG NEWS: Bolton Confirmation Is Really, Really Dead

Mary has been posting this nonsense on every thread and has also posted it at The Daily Kos. She is beyond trolling at this point, imo.

Posted at August 10, 2006 5:25 PM in response to Extremists

Well Stirling, psifighter has a picture of you up at Daily Kos (which has crashed for the moment, 2,000 hits per minute, yeesh). Nice gray suit ya got on! Wish I was there, and I'm sure I'm not the only one! Lamont's lead is narrowing, and I've got my fingers crossed, which makes it kind of hard to type ...

Posted at August 8, 2006 7:13 PM in response to At the Epicenter

Excellent response. I think another valuable, if small, contribution from the blogsphere is the interactivity involved. For a kind of goofy example, there was a congressman (Kosigian, I think) who posted a picture of his visit to Iraq, saying this was proof things were going well there, people were having a great time, the news media was as usual only telling bad stories about the situation.

At Daily Kos, around a dozen commenters were able to debunk the story, finally finding from an acquaintance in Turkey an exact picture of the site the congressman showed proving it was not taken in Baghdad or even in Iraq, but was from Turkey. It was fascinating to see the process of this interactivity and what it produced. And I don't think for a moment any of the participants thought of themselves as "journalists." They were just happy to be allowed into the room to find out the truth of the situation. I know this story was on Josh's site as well and he had much to do with disseminating it, and he attributed credit to those bloggers.

I also think many bloggers are happy to be researchers as opposed to "reporters." It's the sense of participation that I find valuable which is something newspapers do not provide, even those with online blogs.

I will say one thing though. This post is excruciating to read -- requires a level of concentration that is responsible and serious and I really resent you for that!!!

Posted at August 6, 2006 7:14 PM in response to The New Yorker Endorses Bushism

I believe Valdron's comment was meant to be snark, though reading below thread I can't be sure. I don't know, I think there are too many pontificators on this thread and not enough real discussion. Feels like I'm at a bloviator convention.

Posted at August 6, 2006 5:19 PM in response to An Early Lesson from the Latest Mid-East War

Eh, not a helpful comment. Using your reasoning, the entire middle east was "created" by the superpowers after World War II. Doesn't at all help solve what is going on the present situation.

Right now the neocons in power are not only making things worse for Israel, but for the whole region. I wholeheartedly agree with Dan Levy's assessment and thank him for once again clarifying a very confusing situation.

Posted at August 6, 2006 10:42 AM in response to An Early Lesson from the Latest Mid-East War

As for the behavior of the original settlers and subsequently the US state against the Native Americans, while true, it is not a justification for more recent implementations of the same policies.

Do you really believe I am trying to justify anything here? The situation is a big mess. But the comments on this thread show no new solutions to the problem, just the same old condemnation rhetoric on both sides and from Larry a fantasy plan (UN peacekeepers with "muscle") that isn't going to happen.

As for your comments about oil, I'm not even going to argue this with you, just too much opinion going on there. I am no expert on the subject and something tells me you aren't either.

Posted at July 21, 2006 6:29 PM in response to Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave

Okey dokey.

Posted at July 21, 2006 6:21 PM in response to Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave

Oil. Yes, we have wonderful control of the oil now, don't we? Not to mention that is a bogus sentiment at best -- that it is in America's interests to "control the oil." Your opinion, perhaps. Hardly a fact.

As far as your rhetoric on immorality, you would have to be in a place of moral high ground to make that charge. Nothing you've written thus far has shown that to be the case.

Posted at July 21, 2006 5:51 PM in response to Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave

It is in America's interest to have a war with Iraq, we want control of the oil.

Yes, and we certainly are getting a lot of oil out of Iraq now, aren't we? I see virtually nothing that helps America's interests in going to war with Iraq, and the results of that war are becoming increasingly apparent to prove that point.

The rest of your post is not worth arguing, it's the same old rhetoric that goes back and forth and leads nowhere. Suffice to say there were people living on this land before the Europeans came over -- not so many of them now.

Posted at July 21, 2006 5:05 PM in response to Lebanon--The Rut Becomes A Grave