Democrats and Caffine....dangerous combination

After spending some time with some of my favorite local Democrats and consuming WAY TOO MUCH caffine....I thought I'd bring you a smorgosbord of news and comments of the day:

First....Lolo...hope you're feeling better...dental work is never fun and yours was particularly tough....I feel for you lady!

Second...there was the Bush speech last night....here are a few reviews of his speech from the denizens of Left Blogsylvania:

So if freedom isn’t free, is it just another word for nothing left to lose?
I sure am glad the country is being guided by the wisdom of cocktail napkins.

Jane Hamser, firedoglake

The end of a blistering, spot-on Times Editorial
... [Bush's] only real plan is to confuse enough Americans and cow enough members of Congress to let him muddle along and saddle his successor with this war that should never have been started.

Yes.

And the Times can do its small part to ensure that the US doesn't repeat the mistake of wars "that should never have been started."

Digby...citing a NY Times Editorial.

WASHINGTON — Eight months after President Bush made public a plan he hailed as the "New Way Forward" in Iraq, he's announced a new plan, this one called "Return on Success."The new plan was reminiscent of last year's "Operation Together Forward," which called for U.S. troops to secure neighborhoods in Baghdad and hand them over to Iraqi security forces. It bore similarities to an even older plan commonly articulated with the catchphrase "as they stand up, we'll stand down."

Atrios, citing McClatchy Newspapers rehash of the speech.

Strange thing though....I tuned in to CNN this morning and got the impression that Bush "changed the debate" last night with his speech......do I sense a "disconnect" here? Maybe THIS IS THE REASON

All networks shared the same pool video of Bush from the Oval Office. Perhaps in an effort to make its coverage look distinctive, CNN pulled a very questionable stunt during the speech. Bush made reference to a brave soldier, Brandon Stout, who died while serving in Iraq, and CNN, having received a copy of the text in advance, obligingly inserted a photo of Stout into the picture, moving Bush slightly to the left, as it were.

But it's not the job of news organizations to help politicians, even presidents, embellish their speeches or assist them in making a point. If any other network did the same thing, it was a mistake. The president gets to command television time pretty much at his discretion; the networks don't have to give him anything but the space.

From Tom Shales, in the Washington Post

Tom also had a lot to say about the other networks coverage of the speech....so it's well worth it to click on the link. but I just have to post this snippet concerning our all-time favorite bi-polar-pundit, Chris Matthews:

but Chris Matthews, looking more dignified than usual on MSNBC, compared Bush to Lucy in the "Peanuts" comic strip as drawn by the late Charles Schulz. Every autumn Lucy swore to Charlie Brown that she wouldn't pull the football away when he tried to kick it, and every year Charlie Brown fell for it and landed on his posterior. Matthews said Bush had been dealing in "false promises and false arguments again and again and again."

Third...Jane Hamser over at Firedoglake does a great synopsis of a new book by Susan Faludi (authoress of Backlash) that has some incredible insight for us to learn. The Book is named The Terror Dream and touches on what has happened to us (as a nation) since Sept 11,2001. Susan will be Jane's guest at the firedoglake book club in November so if you want to get the book, read it and join in the discussion, here's a good "head's up". Here's a "snippet" (thanks to Jane) from the book:

Throughout the fall of 2001, the media attempted to position the assault on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon as a reprise of pearl harbor, a new “day of infamy” that would reinvigorate our world War II ethic of national unity and sacrifice, a long-awaited crucible in which self-absorbed Americans would at long last, be forged into the twenty-first century’s stoic army of the latest Greatest Generation. But the summons to actual sacrifice never came. No draft ensued, no Rosie the Riveters were called to duty, no ration cards issued, no victory gardens planted. Most of all, no official moral leadership emerged to challenge Americans to think constructively about our place in the world, to redefine civic commitment and public responsibility. There was no man in a wheelchair in the White House urging on us a reassessment of American strength and weakness. What we had was a chest beater in a borrowed flight suit, instructing us to max out our credit cards for the cause.

Sounds like a great book.....

What soaks up caffine? Oh....I get it...you're supposed to "flush it with water"....lots and lots of water....

see you soon