I See The Future

Another Dirty Election and a Long Stay in Iraq

It's a lazy Tuesday in the empire. Not much shaking the tree today. Of course, everyone has their eyes on Iraq and Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited from our future colony of Iran. They're not a full fledged client state yet, but you know Connecticut's Joe Lieberman won't rest until that regime is changed. Oh, and Bill O'Reilly is pulling a Jerry McGuire--"I love black pee-pole!"

All of this is in fact, quite riveting--except for the O'Reilly thing, that's just political candy--but in order to stay awake after a long, fitful night (a lingering cold kept me up), I need to look beyond the events of the day. I feel the need to look at the entrails of the news cycle and divine where we, as a society, are going. I'm not talking about long term prognostication, but rather predictions about relatively near-term developments that may shift Jeffersonian Democracy from its stagnant and precarious position on the global stage, or push it off.

I'm talking about the 2008 election.

George W. Bush is talking about it too, by the way. The reason for that is because he knows what the rest of the country recently figured out, like a year or two ago. The troops ain't coming home from Iraq while he's in office. Furthermore, he wants his successor in the White House to keep the war going.

From The Examiner:

President Bush is quietly providing back-channel advice to Hillary Rodham Clinton, urging her to modulate her rhetoric so she can effectively prosecute the war in Iraq if elected president.

In an interview for the new book “The Evangelical President,” White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten said Bush has “been urging candidates: ‘Don’t get yourself too locked in where you stand right now. If you end up sitting where I sit, things could change dramatically.’ ”

(more)

Bush even went so far as to talk a little smack about the 2008 race.

From AFP:

US President George W. Bush, breaking a self-imposed silence on the 2008 race to succeed him, now says Senator Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination, according to a new book.

"She's got a national presence and this is becoming a national primary," Bush said in an interview with political journalist Bill Sammon for his tome "The Evangelical President."

"And therefore the person with the national presence, who has got the ability to raise enough money to sustain an effort in a multiplicity of sites, has got a good chance to be nominated," Bush told Sammon.

(more)

Bush went on to add: "Heh, heh, meh, heh."

He also wouldn't go out on a limb and predict the winner of the GOP's nomination but predicts that any of the candidates would come through and beat Hillary Clinton. They have a good idea of how to do it too--by staying far away from Bush.

That's a good start, but are there other, more nefarious aces up the sleeves of the dirtiest players in the game? Does the GOP plan to steal the 2008 election as they did 2000 and 2004?

Well, Greg Palast has meticulously documented the old tricks of the trade--like egregious tampering with the voter rolls. Bob Herbert of The New York Times updates us on the latest in GOP tricks, the heinous petition drive to launch a ballot initiative that would split the electoral votes of the state of California. A brutally diabolical maneuver that could net them 20 electoral votes, or, as Herbert points out, about the electoral mass of Ohio.

If Bush is right and Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, then it may not matter who wins the election because we may just stay right there in Iraq. It's not that I don't trust Senator Clinton it's just that... Okay, I don't trust Senator Clinton. Figure this one out: She just will not commit to withdrawal while also refusing to fund the war without a withdrawal plan. Huh?

That's enough forward looking. I can't take it. The future looks as bad as the present. I have to get back in the now, for I have more immediate concerns. I'm thirsty, but before I go get my beverage of choice, I have to go consult with Bill O'Reilly on the proper way to ask for an iced tea in a black restaurant.

Cross-posted from: Ice Station Tango

TAGS: Election 2008, Bill O'Reilly, Hillary Clinton, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad