Hillary vs. the Pentagon, Barry Bonds, etc
Hillary vs. the Pentagon When Senator Hillary Clinton sent a letter to the Pentagon requesting information on U.S. plans for a withdrawal from Iraq, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman fired...
...Stay tuned until next week...
...This is a very serious 12-step program...
...Lohan . . . seems committed to finally getting clean" and quotes Promises founder Richard Rogg: "The longer people stay, the better their chances...
...Clinton, for her part, had the gall to label Edelman's response "a political attack...
...Did we mention Mrs...
...That is, we hate ourselves: for our own furtive greed and evasions of fair play and for our very furtive-ness, to which Bonds's arrogance is a rebuke...
...Wade went to the back of the bus...
...Tell us at Parade.com...
...Or maybe "Do you think the Red Sox will ever win a World Series...
...The fact that Bonds is a low life, and a thoroughly unpleasant—not to say contemptible—human being who feasted on (illegal) steroids in middle age to enhance his physique artificially, and surpass Hank Aaron's stellar numbers by cheating, has nothing to do with it...
...So what did the Bush administration do...
...Plus we like CBS's news judgment...
...What Gates saw as an "important discussion," Dick Cheney correctly understood as a political attack...
...Besides making Rogg look like an idiot, Parade then asks its readers, "Do you think celebs get the help they need in rehab...
...No one should be penalized for choosing to do the hard work of recovery in a luxurious setting...
...We were told later that a CBS crew got the tape to Washington in time for Face the Nation, but that Bob Schieffer's reaction was, Not on my program...
...Cave, as usual...
...Why not ask "Do you think O.J...
...Of course, what Edelman actually did was offer a substantive response to Clinton's political attack...
...Late in the week, Clinton, who understands a good fight when she sees one, asked Bush to settle this dispute between his vice president and his Pentagon chief...
...Wealth and privilege and cheating (they're becoming indistinguishable), defiance, getting above one's station—and also unapologetic excellence...
...Clinton is running for president...
...Five days earlier, the 21-year-old actress had a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 (well above the 0.08 limit), failed a field-sobriety test, and was charged by Santa Monica police with a DUI and possession of cocaine...
...Indeed...
...Consider this anecdote from Shrum's dishy new book, No Excuses: At an evening house party [in Iowa, January 2004], [Peter Yarrow] was performing "Puff the Magic Dragon" when Kerry, standing in the back of the room, mimed puffing on a joint...
...Parade, on the other hand, says: "No...
...Osama bin Laden has cited this pattern of American behavior in labeling the United States a "weak horse" that can be defeated by a committed army of jihadists...
...I agreed with the letter Eric Edel-man wrote...
...And last week, he responded...
...It's a good suggestion...
...probably helps explain why Face the Nation blows away its rivals in the ratings each Sunday...
...It was late Saturday night, the camera crews didn't all have it, and most of the network imbeds didn't think it was a big deal...
...He added: "I truly regret that this important discussion went astray and I also regret any misunderstanding of intention...
...Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote to Clinton that he would be "pleased to work with you and the Senate Armed Services Committee to establish a process to keep you apprised of the conceptual thinking, factors, considerations, questions and objectives associated with drawdown planning...
...Pressing the Pentagon to publicize planning for a withdrawal from Iraq helps her do that...
...Oops, They Did It Again_ Parade magazine continues its proud tradition of timely reporting in its July 29 issue: A reader writes, "In June, Lindsay Lohan signed on for extended care at Promises, a luxury rehab center in Malibu...
...Thanks to Newsweek, we now understand that we really hate ourselves and, in watching Barry Bonds flex his store-bought muscles, we are observing our own furtive greed and evasive defiance while resenting the unapologetic excellence of an athlete who rebukes our cheating evasions and privileged station while booing our indistinguishable wealth and arrogant fair play...
...We were lucky, he reported when he returned...
...forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia...
...Isn't that really just an extended vacation...
...Kerry responded that, well, it was just a joke...
...Most of the people there didn't see it— and neither did I; I'd retreated back to the bus to make some calls...
...Clinton is running for president...
...In the race for the Democratic political nomination, she must prove her antiwar bona fides to the far left of her party...
...Of special note here is Kerry's adolescent denial until the aide says his pantomime was caught on tape...
...The collective response from conservatives: Finally...
...Why didn't we think of that...
...To be honest, The Scrapbook was confused by all this until we opened up Newsweek, and there (on page 38) David Gates spelled it out for us: What do we really hate when we boo Bonds...
...I thought it was a good letter," Cheney said on Larry King Live...
...Edelman was right, of course...
...You see, we've been feeling a little ambivalent about Barry Bonds this summer as he closes in on Hank Aaron's home run record...
...Wade said it was on tape...
...Misunderstanding of intention...
...Clinton's intention was clear...
...But of course...
...Simpson will be found guilty...
...In fact, some people we know are positively unhappy about Barry Bonds, and instead of applauding his achievement, have been lustily booing when he steps up to the plate...
...When you get into the business of talking about operational planning by the Department of Defense, you don't share that as a general proposition until you're ready to actually go out and execute those orders, and then you might share it with the Congress at that point...
...Did we mention Mrs...
...As we drove away, Kerry denied it...
...Clinton's own party returned from Iraq to report early progress from the surge...
...When [press aide David] Wade stepped onto the bus and sat down next to me, he was beside himself as he recounted what had just happened...
...plans for a withdrawal from Iraq, Undersecretary of Defense Eric Edelman fired off a statement: "Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S...
...Puff the Magic Kerry The Scrapbook has taken a few swipes over the years at Robert "0-for-8" Shrum, the singularly unsuccessful Democratic campaign strategist, who worked for such legendary losers as McGovern '72, Kennedy '80, and Kerry '04...
...Those around Washington who have been waiting for the Bush administration to fight back against the steady stream of scurrilous political attacks from their opponents took heart in the response...
...The Bonds Market The Scrapbook is always on the lookout for solid analysis and trenchant social criticism and—well, thanks to the August 6 edition of Newsweek, were we ever lucky this week...
...In any case, it was a great fight for the White House, as even members of Mrs...
...To be fair, it's hard to see anyone winning with some of the candidates he's been saddled with...
...Sounds like an extended vacation to us...
Vol. 12 • August 2007 • No. 45
