Couric: Senator McCain, Senator Obama says, while the increased number of US troops contributed to increased security in Iraq, he also credits the Sunni awakening and the Shiite government going after militias. And says that there might have been improved security even without the surge. What's your response to that?
McCain: I don't know how you respond to something that is as-- such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarlane [phonetic] was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheiks. Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others.

Waitawhataminute? Because of the surge we what? Oh, you mean this guy? Yeah, we did a great job protecting him.

Let's get the facts straight. First, one of the primary generators of the "Anbar Awakening" was that they were pissed off about the Al-Q in Iraq types not caring who they blew up, Sunni, Shiite, US troops, didn't matter. Part two was us giving them cash, guns and ammo without strings to police their own area, and we cut our actions in the area down to going after the Al-Q in Iraq types. That had ZERO to do with the surge.

Second, if anything the surge has HURT that movement by redirecting the money and troops out of Anbar and into Baghdad.

Third, the point of the surge was to buy time and improve stability for the Iraqi government to get their shit together and take over their own immediate security. On that level, the surge has been a complete failure. The casualty rates hit a marked decline in October of last year, but those are US casualties, not Iraqi casualties for which we can't get numbers. In the meantime, there has been little to no motion from the Iraqi government, except for some no-bid contracts given to Exxon, Shell etc. for maintenance on oil facilities that aren't safe to go to. In the meantime, we can't get agreement on what happens after the end of the year when the UN mandate we used to go in expires.

In the meantime, we're losing the war in Afghanistan. Casualty numbers there are up, the Taliban is in resurgence, and the real Al-Qaeda is in full swing.

Between this, the Irag-Parkistan border comment the other day, Czechoslovakia, the repeated lack of knowledge on who is supporting whom in Iraq (then getting corrected and screwing it up again), getting pretty much everything backwards on the economy, the gas tax holiday, drilling expansion that won't change the price of diddly squat, the birth control/Viagra thing, and god only knows what else, I'm starting to wonder if we're looking at Alzheimer's. He gets told one thing and something else comes out.

This is not an "age" question. This is someone who no longer appears to have command of his mental faculties.

Marc Ambinder (July 22, 2008) - McCain Disputes Obama Account Of The Surge

Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican who has long led the conservative forces of his state, has been denied his customary position as a voting delegate to the Republican National Convention -- and it's being done by an even more conservative bunch.

Just wow...

Conservative Senator Denied Delegate Slot For Not Being Right-Wing Enough

The United States fell from 15th to last among 19 industrialized nations on this measure from 2006 to 2008. The report estimated the U.S. health care system could save 100,000 lives if it matched Japan or France, the top performers.

This is what the current health care system has gotten us. The highest rates in the entire world and the absolute worst results in the industrialized world. The "insurance" system is a failure.

ABC News: U.S. Flunks Health Care Test -- Again

Republican Senator Dole introduced an amendment to name an HIV/AIDS relief bill after the recently deceased Jesse Helms. Helms, of course, was a strident foe of HIV/AIDS prevention, research and treatment.

Why don't we rename the Holocaust Museum after Adolf Eichmann while we're at it Liddy?

Elizabeth Dole Tries To Name AIDS Bill After Jesse Helms

Every year, after the AL manager addresses his team, Ichiro bursts from his locker, a bundle of kinetic energy, and proceeds, in English, to disparage the National League with an H-bomb of F-bombs, stunning first-timers who had no idea Ichiro speaks the queen’s language fluently and making returnees happy that they had played well enough to see the pep talk again.

Now this, I'd like to see, probably more than the game.

Update! Ichiro 8! National League 0!

Ichiro's speech to All-Stars revealed - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Because the starting materials are affordable, relatively easy to scale up beyond a laboratory setting, and easy to retrofit to existing solar panels, the researchers believe the technology could find its way to the marketplace within three years. That, in turn, would substantially reduce the cost of solar electricity.

Cool.

Science Centric | News | Dye-coated glass to channel energy into solar cells

Bond prices fell sharply as investors worried a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could dent the government's credit rating.

(emphasis mine)

That's an AP report. The GOVERNMENT'S credit rating??? This whole thing looks about one to two steps from 1929 free fall. Buckle up.

Paulson: No Bailout For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

One said that Rosen asked at one meeting if carbon dioxide emissions from a tailpipe could be treated differently than those from a power plant, wondering if the molecules are different.

THIS is who is running the government. Fine, he's an economist, not a chemist, but good lord, my high school daughter knows more than these morons.

EPA Won't Act on Emissions This Year

This may come as a shock, but a prominent anti-homosexual Republican attorney general has apparently been caught having homosexual sex intercourse with his homosexual gay male assistant. Bonus: The dude’s wife caught him, in their bed. This is the rumor that the AG’s office has officially denied, so now of course everybody is spilling the sordid details.

I can't wait to see how this one finishes. (or to put this another way, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip » Anti-Gay Alabama A.G. Caught Being Gay

Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001.

As of January 20, W & co never get to leave the country again. There is no statute of limitations on war crimes.

Book Cites Secret Red Cross Report of C.I.A. Torture of Qaeda Captives - NYTimes.com