After going 7 for 12 last year: My predictions for 2009.

[Mugsy]

Happy New Year All!

It is time again for my annual Predictions for the coming year. After going 7 for 12 in 2008 (and arguably 9 for 12 with "partial credit"), maybe I know what I'm talking about.

via "Mugsy's Rap Sheet":

It may be one of the most self-indulgent things any writer does all year: making predictions based upon a possibly misplaced belief that they have an insight superior to those of mortal men. In the 1977 movie, “Oh, God!”, God himself said, “Sure I know the future! The moment it becomes the past.” Even God it appears can not foresee what the future holds, so what makes me think I can?
(...)

1. Criticism of the GOP as becoming "the Party of racist" will grow in 2009 as Republicans... both elected and non... continue to make conspicuously racist comments about President Obama with increasing frequency. By years end, the GOP will hold "an emergency meeting" to discuss its "identity crisis", but being fundamentally clueless as to what constitutes acceptable behavior and what doesn't, even their "solutions" (talk of appointing more African-Americans like Michael Steele of Ohio to lead the GOP) based more upon skin color than their qualifications, will be criticized as "Conservative Affirmative Action". Talk of increased support for Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, a dark-skinned Conservative of Indian descent, will grow. Yes, the GOP will make racist appointments/endorsements to try and counter accusations of being "racist".



2. President Obama will be criticized for not being "different enough" from George Bush despite signing the Kyoto Treaty, beefing up regulation of Wall Street and the banking industry, and actually removing most troops from Iraq.



3. Osama bin Laden will NOT be caught by the end of 2009. Nor will he release another video. Questions of whether he is even still alive will grow to help facilitate the call for withdrawal from Afghanistan. (side note: questions as to whether OBL is even still alive emerged within days of the assassination of Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto late in 2007, when she seemed to let slip the fact one of her bodyguards may have already killed him.)



4. Once U.S. troops start pulling out of Iraq, a surprising lack of disastrous consequences predicted by the Bushies means withdrawal at a pace faster than anyone predicted. With England expected to have no more than 400 troops in Iraq by June and a full withdrawal by years end, it will become harder and harder for Republicans to justify American troops remaining alone in Iraq in any great number for an additional year. The Iraqi government, which already wants a full withdrawal by mid-2010, will also start pushing for a late 2009 deadline.



5. The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will outnumber the number of U.S. troops in Iraq by October, not so much because the number of troops in Iraq has declined as much as the number of troops in Afghanistan will grow.



6. By years end, the number of U.S. troops in Iraq will still be just over 30,000. (I am torn on this prediction because if things go as I expect, I can also foresee ALL troops out of Iraq by years end as it becomes more and more obvious they can be withdrawn without grave consequences. But Republican obstructionism is likely to slow any withdrawal as they stir up "concern" over what "too quick" a withdrawal might have on the stability of the country. Addressing those concerns will result in a slower redeployment than is possible and part of why Obama will be accused of "not being different enough from Bush" <see #3>.)


(...)

Read my full list of 15 predictions on "Mugsy's Rap Sheet"

[emad]

1. My prediction for 2009 is that the death of the UK's puppet monarch

will result in a military coup d'etat in the UK that will spread worldwide to the arrest of all her blood relatives in the US and elsewhere starting with connections of the Bush/Blair Iraq war dream ticket.

Five dollars on that one.

Oh, and expect a Chevron/ConocoPhilips merger later in the year.

[Mugsy]

2. The Royals

I don't foresee the Royal Family going anywhere anytime soon.

(If there was ever a time to depose them, it was the '90's when just about every member became a punchline.)

[emad]

3. I see 95% of the so called House of Windsor behind bars when

Old Fatty Mountbatten finally pops her clogs.

And 2009 would be the ideal year.

[Soylent Brice]

4. "Old Fatty Mountbatten finally pops her clogs"

is there a class i can take so that i can learn how to say cool stuff like that?

seriously, i would pay greatly. i wallow in my mediocrity. amurikans are drab.

[emad]

5. Never underestimate the art of 'murican deadpan.

The ultimate in verbal poker bluff.

[LeftishBrit]

7. I am sure that even if she dies, there won't be a military coup.

This is 2009. Not 1649 or something. The royals are rich but not powerful in a political or military sense.

[emad]

9. This is a 100% puppet monarchy.

The collective DNA of 95% of the House of Windsor* has no more 'royal' blood than that of a dog on the streets of Kabul.

* Duke of Gloucester and family excepted.

[TygrBright]

6. I dunno where Michael Steele was born & raised, but he was Lite Goob to Bobby Hairspray of MD

Maybe he's living in Ohio now, but most of his political career was in Maryland.

helpfully,
Bright

[Dr.Phool]

8. You're 0-for-1 already!

Michael Steel was Lt. Gov of Maryland.

Kenneth Blackwell is the asshole from Ohio.


NEXT!

[yellowcanine]

10. Michael Steele is from Maryland, not Ohio.