John Kerry's greatest accomplishment will be removing himself from public view.

From you lips to G-ds ears.

Hopefully, Obama will be just as irrelevant as this fool is four years from now.

Future historians will have a good laugh- also bafflement and disgust- when they look back at the early part of this century as concerns the Democrat Party.

Much like we do in the present day.

He's just trying to get Osama to pick him for VP, at least they both have something in common with respect to their accomplishments!

Maybe he's hoping that when the convention is hopelessly deadlocked, they will turn to him to run again. He's probably thinking that this is HIS year.

"Osamsa to pick him for VP". "something in common" -RAH

Two elistist snobs who are ashamed of their country. I would LOVE to see that Democrat Party ticket!!!

Obama/Kerry '08!

COgirl,

In jOn CaRreY's world... it's always HIS year.

His "year" has come and gone much like Obamas campaign.

It's times like these that barneyG2000 is missed. To watch that asshat get his g-sting in a knot while defending his( fictional) hero kerry (lower case intentional) was priceless.

But alas, the world is a better place without him just as the Senate would be without kerry.

Now someone needs to start a "help-us-retire-fat-boy-ted.com" website.

Whose game?

Kerry's central campaign theme in 2004 was criticizing Bush's handling of the Iraqi war; for example, in September, 2004 when he used General Omar Bradley's line , "It's the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time". I suppose that was a waste of space and energy too.

But there were less than 1,200 American casualties and the war which according to some in the administration was originally going to pay for itself.. from Iraqi oil revenues.

Now the Iraq war, three and half years later, with soaring oil prices, more than four thousand American casualties, and a three trillion dollar price tag because of the wounded veteran health benefits, the Iraq war has become indeed what the National Defense Instute said on Friday, is "a major debacle".

Wizbang's kneejerk response is to shoot the messengers (that may even include now, the NDU -I suppose another waste of space and military intelligence). Wizbang hosts remain silent or as always heap praise on an adminstration that calls the Iraq war (as Cheney recently said ~a successful endeavor~) and continues to urge on neocons (such as Kristol, McCain`s close advisor) that blundered and encouraged us into this war, that still has no forseeable realistic exit or victory stategy.

Of course, readers want to toss out Kerry or hurl others like Obama, the Cassandras who predicted the consequences of this 'dumb war', not the GOP politicians and grandee cheerleaders who gave Americans only what they wanted to hear, and willfully ignored for what could happen in an open ended invasion in the middle of the Arab world.

But I suppose a debacle is a sort of accomplishment (there are alwys silver linings for some )and the war resource and oil companies have certainly profited handsomely. Bush and ~other priorities~ Cheney in revolving door Washington, gave great service to the wide miitary-industial complex, and I`m sure they will receive their just rewards, beginning in 2009 when they leave office.

Are we sure we even want J F Kerry to actually accomplish something in Congress? I'd settle for the complete release of all of his millitary records, which he promised how many year's ago?

The outcome doesn't rest with what Kerry did or didn't do while he was in office everyone KNOWS what he's about, it rests with the voters of mASS.

There are two Republicans Jeff Beatty and Jim Ogonowski who are facing each other to see who gets a chance to knock out the...

These candidates have qualities Kerry couldn't even DREAM about.

The VOTERS of mASS will finally have a choice of quality, that will allow them to throw out the garbage.

But....mASS voters are the same people who keep Teddy gas bag around so....don't get your hopes up....

Hanoi John is a perfect fit in the current congress and the do nothing Hussein O. They have many great accomplishments, for the enemy. In 15 months of democrat control oil prices have doubled and still rising, the stock markey almost collapsed, the housing market collapsed,the unemployment rate is on the rise, and we have an additional 5 million+ criminal Mexicans roaming the streets on welfare killing Americans that Americans won't kill. The only Americans doing their job 100% are the fine young men and women in the war zones. No wonder democrats hate the military and everyone who serves.

Stevie C. doesn't lee lee over at bluie need a comment. I know lee lee need rest from all the
"flood" of comments he gets but "one" more will not hurt.

Leave Steve alone. He's still campaigning for Hanoi John in 2004 and against President Bush in 2008. That is the actions of a typical (brain dead) Hussein supporter.

Steve Crickmore - 'Now the Iraq war, three and half years later, with soaring oil prices, more than four thousand American casualties, and a three trillion dollar price tag because of the wounded veteran health benefits, the Iraq war has become indeed what the National Defense Instute [sic] said on Friday, is "a major debacle".'

Steve, Steve, Steve you've been reading far too much far-left-wing tripe. In this case the Miami Herald and their complete discombobulation of the truth in regards to the NDI report.

Here, defeatist sycophant Steve, here's 2002-2004 report, yes I said 2002-2004 report, based on the reports AUTHOR Joseph Collins words not the piece of crap Herald:

"his study examines how the United States chose to go to war in Iraq, how its decision-making process functioned, and what can be done to improve that process. The central finding of this study is that U.S. efforts in Iraq were hobbled by a set of faulty assumptions, a flawed planning effort, and a continuing inability to create security conditions in Iraq that could have fostered meaningful advances in stabilization, reconstruction, and governance. With the best of intentions, the United States toppled a vile, dangerous regime but has been unable to replace it with a stable entity. Even allowing for progress under the Surge, the study insists that mistakes in the Iraq operation cry out in the mid- to long-term for improvements in the U.S. decision-making and policy execution systems.

The study recommends the development of a national planning charter, improving the qualifications of national security planners, streamlining policy execution in the field, improving military education, strengthening the Department of State and USAID, and reviewing the tangled legal authorities for complex contingencies. The study ends with a plea to improve alliance relations and to exercise caution in deciding to go to war.

Just to make it clear Defeatist Sycophant Steve the entire report covers a time frame of 4 YEARS AGO!

Nitwit!

ALL THE KINGS HORSES AND ALL THE KINGS MEN COULD NOT PUT CLAYDOUGH FACE RTTOGETHER AGAIN

Thats for all You Kerrion supporters out there? Are there any besides Osama? Some things are worth repeating in life! The above caption and Kerry's ficticious accomplishment's are not among these.

I believe, in hope and change, and I would get me one of them thar huntin licenses but I don't own guns because I am not from Pennsylvania.

Romney for Senate!

"but it's also yet another reason to kick his sorry ass out of Congress and replace him with someone who loves his country, his military, and his fellow Americans, and is more concerned with serving those fellow Americans than furthering his own career."

Even better would be to kick his sorry ass out of Congress and replace him with someone who understands that successfully serving his fellow Americans is furthering his career.

Its still nothing short of astonishing that that useless gigolo got the Democratic nomination ... no less astonishing than the two clowns that are neck and neck for this year's nomination.

I live in Massachusetts now. :(

Funny, but so far it seems that neither John Heinz-Kerry or Edward M. Kennedy (D-Chivas) are very well-liked here. Why do they keep getting elected? Beats the hell outta me.

Crickmore... oh crickmore, where fore art thou crickmore?

Afraid to show your foolish face now that it has been proven to be one?

Marc yes, I realize the report was released privately last fall, when the situation was actally much better than it has become the last month. Sure there is some saving face in the military report. I don't consider it gospel..Most military analysts can't disown the entire effort. They have a vested interest into maintaining some kind of continuity with the Pentagon. "Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air."
-It is very hard for me to criticize the United States Army," said William L. Nash, a retired Army general and ABC analyst. "It is my life.-

But her a more detailed article, that was released today,after I talked about this synergy yesterday, about what most of the military analysts at the Defense Institute and other 'para Pentagon places' really thought of the war and not the stuff they have been churning out on the media in order to keep the morale of the US public and the adminstration up.

In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access.

A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public with propaganda dressed as independent military analysis.

"It was them saying, 'We need to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you,' " Robert S. Bevelacqua, a retired Green Beret and former Fox News analyst, said.

Kenneth Allard, a former NBC military analyst who has taught information warfare at the National Defense University, said the campaign amounted to a sophisticated information operation. "This was a coherent, active policy," he said.

As conditions in Iraq deteriorated, Mr. Allard recalled, he saw a yawning gap between what analysts were told in private briefings and what subsequent inquiries and books later revealed.

"Night and day," Mr. Allard said, "I felt we'd been hosed."

Great, now we find out that these independent military analysts weren't so independent after all. And if they' ve been hosed what about us? These military analysts are basically like the expert witnesses who testify at trials. The adminstration and Pentagon, just as a prosecution or a defense lawyers can always find someone to mouth whatever line they want, especially if they are involved in this whole rich, military industrial complex network.

Marc, I don't understand why you are others haven't been more sceptical of our efforts in Iraq from the get go?

At this point all the reports in the world, no matter the source, won't change what most Americans, most of those around the world, and any with the faintest degree of objectivity can see, namely that Iraq, from planning to the present, has been a colossally mismanaged blunder, perhaps the biggest in our history.

The second paragraph quoted by marc tells the story. Just not turning the corner on quelling that insurgency (that was created by our ignorance and hubris) after FIVE years? Just streamline policy execution in the field! Still no functioning democracy, no WMDs? Hey, I got it, let's improve military education! 4039 Americans killed, 29,780 wounded? and counting? Let's see, why don't we, um, I know, we'll review the tangled legal authorities for complex contingencies. OK gentlemen, now that we've dealt with the war, let's move on to reviewing this year's first quarter profits. Hmmmm...very impressive. Now that's what I call a winning front.

So the guy that four years ago saw this and tried to do something about it was wrong? Say what? No one knows how different things would have been had Kerry been elected, only that they would have been; the only factual record we have to deal with at this point are the three years since, with continued death and destruction and little, if any, progress in lifting the Iraqi people out of the hell we chose to make of their country.

Four more years?

I meant symbiotic relationship not synergy and further on the linked NY Times piece "the administration has demonstrated that there is a price for sustained criticism, many analysts said. "You'll lose all access," Dr. McCausland said."

If only the administration was as adept at managing the actual military operation and defining the mission as it apparently has been at the ongoing disinformation campaign on the home front.

Groucho..We've probably lost them at this point, and got off topic a little, but I recommend this blogging heads tv interview. It focuses on the future in Iraq, which is where the emphasis should be.

I would think the future of USA is paramount? The hell with Iraq...and political meandering.. those true Americans need to come home to their loved ones!

And when there is a further threat to our way of life..which will be realized, nuke em. worked in WW2 and is inevitable.

crickmore - "Marc, I don't understand why you are others haven't been more sceptical of our efforts in Iraq from the get go?"

How do you know I haven't, just because you may or may not have read it here? That's a pretty wild assumption and based on thin air. Not surprising by your standards.

What I don't understand is why you choose to launch into a long comment and never once addressed my point, that you and the Miami Herald completely misstated what the study was about and the time frame it covered.

Actually, let me rephrase that I DO understand, you were made a complete fool of but don't have the common sense to leave it be and disappear in the ozone someplace, you just had to reappear and compound the problem.

groucho - "The second paragraph quoted by marc tells the story. Just not turning the corner on quelling that insurgency (that was created by our ignorance and hubris) after FIVE years?"]

Yeah, it tells a story, one of 4 YEARS ago. Something you, crickmore and the Miami Heralds are proud to spew all over the internet as if were applicable today.

Marc...I take your point that the Defense study was written or completed last fall, and the Herald sensationalized the worst parts and Collins was talking mainly about the period from 2002-2004.

The worst of the fighting and most depressing time however was in 2006, as Bush acknowledged last week in an ABC interview, where he disclosed that he was even more worried than he had let on previously. By his own admission, he was acting as cheerleader-in-chief for much of the summer and fall of 2006.

RADDATZ: But the overall thing -- when you say, "We're winning," you know what the American people hear. You know how that will play.

BUSH: Well, yes. I think we -- and I wanted -- that's as much trying to bolster the spirits of the people in the field as well as -- look, you can't have the commander in chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing either, "It's not worth it," or, "You're losing." I mean, what does that do for morale?

I'm the commander in chief of the military as well, obviously, as, you know, somebody who speaks to the country. And if you look at my remarks, they were balanced. They weren't Pollyannaish.

RADDATZ: But you weren't talking about a new strategy. I mean, I remember going to some strategy tactic things with you. You weren't talking about a new strategy publicly.

It's one thing for the troops and boosting morale. I totally understand that. But do you think you lost credibility with the American people? Do you think that's one...

BUSH: Yes.

Kerry of course in his campaign for the presidency was referring to the period in 2003-2004, so I'm not sure it takes much away from my argument that his pronouncements about the the war were more accurate and reality-based than Bush's.

Marc, your link didn't come through on your comment but I found it anyway. I imagine Collins goes as close to being as critical of the war effort and planning as possible, without losing all his access to the Pentagon as the New York Times piece explains today.