Nancy Astor: “If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee.”
Sir Winston Churchill: “And if I were your husband, I would drink it.”

Perhaps I should have waited until later today and filed this as a Ridiculous Headline post. Here’s the AP/Yahoo! Headline:

Democrats seek tougher action on Iraq

Wouldn’t that be a great thing if the Dems wanted to get tougher? But wait. That’s not what they want at all.

Why, that’s not being tougher. That’s Cut and Run v. 8.0 (codenamed Quagmire).

The headline should read, “Democrats seek tougher action on America”

Here’s an alternative you might want to try Senator, Victory has the best chance of bringing our troops home.

I’m convinced that the real aim is not Iraq, but rather 2008.

It’s all about the nutroots base after all.

I’m not John Boehner’s biggest fan, but he has this exactly right.

Wake me up when the Dems want to get tough on terror instead of America’s interests.

Coffee is a beverage that puts one to sleep when not drank. ~ Alphonse Allais

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2006 — Go read them. While you’re at it be sure to check out (and bookmark/blogroll) the reopened Conservative Grapevine.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) You First — “Kim Jong-Il has rejoined the six-party talks aimed at ending his nuclear-weapons program and opening North Korea for foreign aid and trade. The other parties have promised an end to sanctions and economic assistance if Pyongyang ends its development of nukes, but the Kim regime has challenged them to act first:”

Blue Star Chronicles (Beth) John Kerry Meets Soldiers in Iraq — “But he got his photo op – with some privates who must have drawn the short straws.” [Heh. That was my first thought, too. Jim]

Don Surber Newsweek reporter: ‘Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are’ — “Imagine that. The Iraqis are more optimistic about the future than most Americans are.

But what do these Iraqis know? They are not smart like John Kerry or Ted Kennedy or Michael Moore, are they?”

Ah! How sweet the coffee’s taste is,
Sweeter than a thousand kisses,
Milder than sweet muscatel.
Coffee, coffee, I must have it,
And if someone wants to treat me,
Ah, my cup with coffee fill! ~ Johann Sebastian Bach (Koffee Kantate)

Blogrolling is was down again. Here is an abbreviated First Cup:

Don Surber Thank you, Big Pharma — “It is Christmas. How about those whose lives are made better by prescription drugs writing a research facility to thank them?”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Governor Moonbeam Becomes AG Sunbeam? — “Note that of all the priorities for law-enforcement facing California, Brown selects global warming as the most pressing. I guess issues like gang warfare, insurance fraud, and other crimes that cost Californians their lives and millions of dollars each year come in a distant second to ecopolicy. Californians might have gained the false impression that they elected an Attorney General instead of an environmental lobbyist.”

Blue Crab Boulevard (Gaius) The Magic Hat Loses Its Magic — “It had to happen sooner or later, but the corner it comes from will sting. John Kerry has very publicly lost the support of Ted Kennedy. The swimmer ditched the boater.”

I thought this headline, Kerry: Botched joke won’t affect 2008, was referring to his 2004 run.

My bad.

I never drink coffee at lunch. I find it keeps me awake for the afternoon. ~ Ronald Reagan

Blue Crab Boulevard Full Employment Plan — “A glimpse of what awaits all of us on Tuesday and the days, weeks or months that follow. Swarms of lawyers screaming charge and countercharge at each other and the world in general. Confrontations in the polling places and in courtrooms around the country. The Hotline’s quip may come true sooner rather than later: “We’re waiting for the day that pols can cut out the middleman and settle all elections in court.” ”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Kerry’s Big Dig — “John Kerry has made himself the gift that keeps on giving. After supposedly botching a joke about President Bush and telling a college audience that a lack of education and hard work would get them “stuck in Iraq”, he took criticism from Republicans and some Demicrats for two days. He finally apologized for both screwing up the joke and the fact that no one understood his genius, and the controversy finally started to recede. However, Kerry — who has never learned the First Rule Of Holes — decided to keep right on digging yesterday by posting a Seattle newspaper’s editorial on his campaign web site that says he was right in either interpretation:”

Don Surber Kerry doesn’t accept Kerry’s apology — “Everyone was going to let slide John Kerry’s “apology” for being “misunderstood” when he said, “Education — if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

The man is an idiot. A rich idiot. A powerful iiot. But an idiot nonetheless.”

Sister Toldjah (Brian – Iowa Voice – Guest blogging) Cheney Autographs “Stuck In Irak” Poster See the pic.

Our concern for missing dem “leaders” isn’t limited to speaker wannabe Pelosi. “Dingey” Harry appears to be in hiding until next Wednesday as well.

Making coffee has become the great compromise of the decade. It’s the only thing “real” men do that doesn’t seem to threaten their masculinity. ~ Erma Bombeck

Blue Crab Boulevard Apology Not Accepted — “The people who think about our armed forces in the way John Kerry does, or the editorial writer for the Tennessean that I posted about yesterday simply do not understand the offense that was given. They are incapable of understanding how deeply those words struck, botched joke or no. They cannot comprehend the level of pain that those words inflict. Because they cannot understand, they ascribe the outrage being expressed to political spin. They do not understand.”

Confederate Yankee NY Times Justifies 2003 Invasion of Iraq — “The breaking article seems to be an attempt to attack the Bush Administration for releasing potentially classified information (yes, the ironymeter is pegged), but what they actually prove is that Saddam’s nuclear weapons program was indeed a significant threat.”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) So I Guess The FMSO Documents Are Legit — “The Times wanted readers to cluck their tongues at the Bush administration for releasing the documents, although Congress actually did that. However, the net result should be a complete re-evaluation of the threat Saddam posed by critics of the war. Let’s see if the Times figures this out for themselves.”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) NYT: Saddam One Year Away from Building Nuke — “It was a Pentagon error to have posted documents detailing how to build a nuclear weapon, but it is also an error not to point out the obvious; that these documents represent actual intelligence rather than what non-Iraqi intelligence officials believed with respect to Saddam Hussein and a nuclear program. From both these documents and the Deulfer Report, there can be no other conclusion than Iraq was intent on building a nuclear weapon in the future had Saddam Hussein not be deposed.”

Flopping Aces (Curt) The Grey Lady Discovers Saddam Had Nuclear Aspirations — “You see, the story isn’t that Saddam had documents that showed them how to build a nuclear bomb and also tells us how close they were to building that same bomb….no, the story in their minds is that the Bush government put them on the web.

Will they now complain about all those documents that showed us the ties Saddam has with Al-Qaeda?”

We’ve come to expect nothing less from the open maw of Howard Dean, the poster boy of Leftourettes Syndrome. The headline, Dean defends Kerry, attacks Bush in Vt., is a pretty good setup to the more-of-the-same that is Dean’s stock in trade.

The chairman of the Democratic National Committee leaped to the defense of the party’s 2004 presidential nominee Wednesday against charges that he was insulting American troops serving in Iraq.

Howard Dean, in comments to reporters in his home state, said Sen. John Kerry had committed “a blooper,” but the reaction had given Democrats an opportunity to highlight what they describe as the Republicans’ weaknesses on the Iraq war.

“Kerry made a blooper. Bloopers happen,” Dean said at the state party’s campaign headquarters.

“I think we want to focus on the president’s intemperate rhetoric in saying to vote for a Democrat is a vote to help the terrorists win,” Dean said. “That’s clearly untrue and that’s exactly the reason why President Bush is a failed president.”

In light of the Kerry news over the last few day,this will receive the most coverage. However, I don’t think it is the most outrageous thing that he said. That would be this:

“I think there’s a lot of similarities between Nixon and Agnew and Bush and Cheney,” Dean said. “They’re both using the IRS for political purposes. They’re both spying on people they don’t like and not just terrorists, but also American citizens. Neither one of them particularly believes in judicial rights. They’ve both been dishonest with the American people.”

WTF?? Why is this man still opening his mouth in public?

It’s obviously a Rovian plot. Sure is a good one.

Coffee makes us severe, and grave, and philosophical. ~ Jonathan Swift

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Polling Right-Of-Center Bloggers On The 2006 Election — “Right Wing News emailed more than 230 right-of-center bloggers to ask them about the 2006 election.” [See the responses from the 62 who responded. Jim]

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) North Korea Bowed by Financial Sanctions and U.S. ‘Nuke Threat’ — “[W]hether anything comes of the six-party talks when the rogue state is so obviously run by a bunch of loons is yet to be seen. The derangement has trickled down to the North Korean people, as evidenced in how they celebrated the nuclear test in a nation that is starving its own peoples.”

Blue Crab Boulevard New Theme Song — “I wouldn’t bet the farm that this didn’t impact any races. As I pointed out, it likely will increase turnout for the Republicans and may very well suppress independents who can’t stomach voting for a party that doesn’t sufficiently support the troops. We’ll know in less than a week. But one thing for sure, there is a large supply of antacids and aspirin needed at Democratic headquarters.”

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Kerry’s Schedule Starts To Lighten Up (Updated) — “John Kerry may have some spare time to spend with the family. After his ridiculous comments on Monday and the equally ridiculous explanation on Tuesday, Iowa Congressional candidate Bruce Braley has asked Kerry to stay away from their scheduled campaign appearance this week:”

From the mind of Scott Ott at ScrappleFace

. . .his defense of the statement is even worse. First, here is the statement made by Kerry at a campaign event for California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides:

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

The quote and the video are all over the blogosphere, including Hot Air. John McCain had this response:

Senator Kerry owes an apology to the many thousands of Americans serving in Iraq, who answered their country’s call because they are patriots and not because of any deficiencies in their education. Americans from all backgrounds, well off and less fortunate, with high school diplomas and graduate degrees, take seriously their duty to our country, and risk their lives today to defend the rest of us in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

They all deserve our respect and deepest gratitude for their service. The suggestion that only the least educated Americans would agree to serve in the military and fight in Iraq, is an insult to every soldier serving in combat, and should deeply offend any American with an ounce of appreciation for what they suffer and risk so that the rest of us can sleep more comfortably at night. Without them, we wouldn’t live in a country where people securely possess all their God-given rights, including the right to express insensitive, ill-considered and uninformed remarks. (h/t Confederate Yankee)

But Kerry’s own reaction to this is incredibly bad, stupid and disgusting, starting with the title of the press release: Statement of John Kerry Responding to Republican Distortions, Pathetic Tony Snow Diversions and Distractions

Here is the statement with my emphasis:

Washington – Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerry’s comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record:

“If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they’re crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we’re going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq.”

Pathetic. A classic case of Leftourettes syndrome.

John F’n Kerry recently said,

“They had money behind the lies, and we did not have sufficient money behind the truth,” Kerry laments.

Asked if he dreads the prospect of being “Swift-Boated” all over again, Kerry counters that he would relish such a fight.

“I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other,” he declares. “I am so confident of my abilities to address that and to demolish it and to even turn it into a positive.”

Is that so? Why not start here?

Coffee is a beverage that puts one to sleep when not drank. ~ Alphonse Allais

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Kerry Couldn’t Find Mainstream With Both Hands And A Flashlight — “In case Kerry doesn’t recognize it, and there’s no particular reason why he would considering his own legislative track record, that’s the mainstream in Connecticut. And unless the state has suddenly turned into Texas, Connecticut voters see little resemblance between Lieberman and Cheney. Maybe Kerry needs to reconsider his own relationship to the mainstream instead.”

Blue Crab Boulevard Court Jester — “John “Magic Hat” Kerry continues to show that he deserved to lose in the 2004 election. Today, he began excavating an even lower position for himself. The man who voted for the war in Iraq, then voted against funding the troops used his moral low ground to attack Joe Lieberman.”

Wizbang (Jay Tea) Jay and the giant imPeachment — “You know, I could almost go along with this impeachment silliness. The thought of the left devoting all that time and effort into removing Bush, then realizing that they’ve just handed the Oval Office to Dick Cheney, warms the cockles of my heart.”

Danny Carlton — Alias “Jack Lewis” My (lay) analysis of the NSA ruling — “She takes seriously the plaintiffs obsessive worries that the government is listening to their calls. What about my “well founded belief” that idiot judges are delivering us to violent terrorists like a well wrapped Christmas gift?”

Ankle Biting Pundits (Bull Dog Pundit) Hey Kofi-Shut Up About Israeli Raid Until UN Does Its Job — “If we pointed out every stupid thing Kofi Annan ever said, we’d have time to write about nothing else. But when he makes such galling statements, it deserves mention.”