I think I am going to be sick.

[beachmom]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198115.php

Getting lost in the media furor over McClellan's memoir is the new autobiography of retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the onetime commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, who is scathing in his assessment that the Bush administration "led America into a strategic blunder of historic proportions."

Among the anecdotes in "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story" is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in Fallujah in 2004, triggering a fierce U.S. response that was reportedly egged on by the president.

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a "confused" pep talk:

"Kick ass!" he quotes the president as saying. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal."

"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

A White House spokesman had no comment.

This from a man too chicken to go to Vietnam???? He loves killing and spilling blood when it is OTHER PEOPLE who must pay the ultimate sacrifice.

[TayTay]

1. I taped him on C-Span's Book TV this weekend

But I haven't yet watched the show. This quote above is unbelievably awful.

The former top operating officer at the Pentagon, a Marine Lieutenant General, said "the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions--or bury the results."

John Kerry, April 22, 2006, Faneuil Hall "Dissent" speech.

[karynnj]

2. His reaction is sick

In many ways it was worse than the Kos diary that caused the Kerry/Edwards blog to delink them, even though they were the biggest liberal blog. They were wrong to imply they deserved it - but Bush, the commander in Chief didn't respond at all to the barbaric, cruel, violent death of people he sent there.

I guess those who say killing animals for fun as a kid - as he did with frogs - often become psychopaths. How could the country after seeing him for 4 years re-elected him?

[MonteLukast]

3. Because psychopaths are often accomplished liars

And charmers, too. And while it's been long since the hole has been poked in W's so-called "charisma", don't forget the power of a whole team of loyal friends behind you to burnish your image. More than that, actually: a team willing to redefine reality itself on your behalf.

[beachmom]

4. Actually, Markos, who used to be in the Army, gave an opinion

shared by many who served in the military while watching people work for war profiteers like Blackwater earning so much more money.

It wasn't "they". It was Markos. And he will forever pay for his remarks. It does seem worth it to check out what he said again, given what we now know was Bush's reaction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markos_Moulitsas_Z%C3%BAniga#Growth_and_controversy

The Daily Kos blog lost some of its political advertisers when Moulitsas published a controversial blog post in April 2004, about the non-US military Blackwater USA employees, whom he described as mercenaries, who were killed and mutilated in Fallujah, saying, "Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly. That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them." <4> John Kerry's website removed a link to Daily Kos. The next day, Moulitsas said he was wrong to make those comments,<5> and over time advertisers returned to Daily Kos. Kerry, Jimmy Carter, Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and many other Democratic senators, congressmen, governors, and candidates now post there regularly.

It was a tone deaf and reprehensible thing to say, but it does indeed reflect the views of many who serve in the military, who also die in the war, while earning far less money. The Kerry blog was right to de link, of course. The men who died were real people with real families. But what Markos said was not a reflection of "lefty blogger" views, but rather many in the military annoyed with the private contractor side of things.

[JI7]

5. Coward

i hate him.