10 Analogies on the Republican Congress.  Actually, 11, because the “Honorable Mention” is the most amusing one.  Arguably the only one worth noting.  Because if you want to make an allusion, what you want is to something of either obscurity or convolution.

There is something in the latest “tiff” between McCain and Cruz.

Now the angry veteran of GOP politics is after Cruz once again. This time, it’s about a reference to appeasement of Adolf Hitler that Cruz made during his epic 21-hour fili-talkathon against Obamacare on the Senate floor.
This came during a long section in which Cruz was talking about times in history when “pundits” said things could not be done, but then they were.
For instance, during the Civil War, there “were a lot of voices who said the Union cannot be saved,” Cruz said, but it was.
Then came the Nazi part.
“If we go to the 1940s, Nazi Germany – look, we saw it in Britain. Neville Chamberlain told the British people: Accept the Nazis. Yes, they will dominate the continent of Europe, but that is not our problem. Let’s appease them. Why? Because it can’t be done. We cannot possibly stand against them,” Cruz said.
At this, McCain took umbrage. Why? Well, for one thing, umbrage and McCain are well acquainted. For another, it’s because this seems like a reference to the GOP Senate establishment, which disdained Cruz’s talkathon against Obamacare as a waste of time. Democrats control the Senate, in this view, and President Obama will veto anything that defunds his signature health law achievement.

Also… um… Hitler?

“I resoundingly reject that allegation. That allegation, in my view, does a great disservice. I do not agree with that comparison. I think it’s wrong,” McCain said on the Senate floor shortly after Cruz’s speech ended.
McCain went on to say that Cruz had told him he was speaking only about talking heads, but McCain wasn’t buying it. “I find that a difference without a distinction. I find that something that I think I have to respond to,” McCain said.

We note… perhaps?  Perhaps not?  We can’t distinguish McCain from the “talking heads”.  He’s got a regular practically weekly shot on the Sunday political talk shows.  But somehow this is neither here nor there, because… um… again… Hitler?

So he continued responding, saying in essence that to compare the two situations was pretty objectionable, considering. Left unsaid was the obvious point that as a war veteran and former POW, whose grandfather commanded US naval air forces at Guadalcanal and whose father captained a World War II sub in the Pacific, McCain does not think comparisons between the legislative process and Hitler should be made too easily.
He did say that the voters had the chance to consider Obamacare in 2012 – and the GOP nominee lost.
“The people spoke: They spoke much to my dismay. But they spoke, and they reelected the president of the United States,” McCain said.
Given that McCain took to the floor shortly after Cruz left it, his words were something of a purposeful slap in the face. Cruz’s conservative supporters replied in kind.
“Beltway barnacle McCain’s longevity is NOT admirable. It’s a bane,” tweeted right-leaning pundit Michelle Malkin.

“Right leaning pundit” Michell Malkin.
Kind of like saying… (wait for it, me… mr. ironist…)
“Right leaning historical figure… Adolf Hi” … oh, never mind.

“It’s fun for Dems when McCain lights into Cruz, but no Republican’s criticism does more to endear Cruz to the base,” tweeted Slate political analyst Dave Weigel.

Yeah, well.  Whatever.

My favorite bit from the latest Hitler bash…

On Wednesday morning, the Anti-Defamation League weighed in. “I wish Senator Cruz would have used another comparison, but his statement does not trivialize the Holocaust,” Abraham Foxman, national director of the ADL, said in a statement sent to Mother Jones.

You know.  If you’re the Anti Defamation League, maybe you have to pick your battles.  Or maybe you get a little tired that every time some politico figure throws out a terrible Hitler analogy, you get a call and are asked for a response.

I suppose Ted Cruz gives a good illustration of the argument for the peeling away of the Senate’s new 60 vote threshold norm over to “If you want to Filibuster, we gotta make it so you’re talking”.  In the gauge of debating the merits of various filibuster reforms, I’d seen the “There’s no shortage of right wing think tank studies these politicos can throw out there”.  True enough, but what we see with Ted Cruz’s adventures is … a now “iconic” “Green Eggs and Ham” reading, political theater that is largely mockable.   Even if it solidifies his fan club — “Ted Cruz Takes His Stand” — and fund-raising — I think Democrats can take Wendy Davis’s filibuster in Texas over Ted Cruz’s in the US Senate.

(There are, of course, other methods of political theater available for political figures.  See the current storyline about David Vitter.  Interesting to note, googling David Vitter brings up a famous photograph of Al Franken — which begs the question of a recurring keyword search to my blog about Senators in Diaper — who is everyone looking for?)

So we get two different sets of tweets and live blog comments.  And a dizzying “bottom half of the Internet” which is best left ignored.

Inevitably historical perspective commenting weighs in to argue that “we’ve been here before”.  Also, we get from some sources a dizzying narrative — see here at Reason — on how this ought be blamed on the Senate Democrats, because… urm?  This is legitimate procedure somehow?  The polls seem to be pretty clear that the public understands the problem of partisan brinkmanship in using this process to undo a legislative accomplishment from the other party, whatever its merits or detriments.  I half wonder if this would be the moment that “Obamacare”‘s poll ratings shift into the favorable

Whether or not this is “new”… and we get this fact check report to judge this.

Democratic Senator Harry Byrd against Dwight Eisenhower on Highway Construction.  I think history vindicates Eisenhower on this one.  Also, it’s worth noting the flavor of “Democratic Party” credentials of Harry Byrd… Harry Byrd didn’t vote for any Democratic Presidential candidate after Roosevelt in 1932… and was this lagging force in the party’s evolution (Eisenhower mocked the two contradictory wings of the party while trying to carve out the meaning of “Modern Republicanism”.)
Democrats against Nixon for Post-Watergate Campaign Finance Reform.  Okay, this was a cheap shot.  But we’re still a ways off from the end-game, and it ends up with a lot of bluster.
Republicans in the Reagan Administration stock-piling conservative social issues — school prayer — to be wiped out by the end.  This is called political grand-standing.  I don’t think History vindicates them much.
And some popular concessions were pulled out against Carter in the midst of the Oil Embargo.

Yeah.  And didn’t John Calhoun do something?

A correction, of sorts.  In a previous post looking into how Congressional Opposition to Syria held together, I referenced something I saw about how the Democratic House caucus, after 2010, was down to its concerted urban core districts.  I neglected to mention the other bit of odd analysis I had drifted over — the 2006 and 2008 Congress critters coming in on a wave of anti-war antipathy.  The contradiction would be that a lot of these seats would be marginal, and more likely to side with the weary “Support the Troops” “bi-partisan” consensus.  But the problem… and it’s worth asking… my sense is that these Democratic seats were almost en total wiped out in 2010.  How many of the Class of 2006 and 2008 Democratic defeated Republican Incumbent seats remain?

But on the matter of the Appropriations Year 2014 “defund Obamacare” front, we have this curious nugget: every Republican Incumbent  up for re-election in 2014 is on board the “Ted Cruz Express”.  Surely, you jest?  One problem with the quick-snot analysis … sure, but this is the 6 year re-election cycle from 2008.  Susan Collins is about the only one who shouldn’t be aligned with it from this political ground.

And in other news…

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, was reacting to a new online ad effort launched earlier in the day by his counterparts at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. With many Republicans in Congress demanding that Democrats and President Barack Obama either defund Obamacare or face a government shutdown, the DSCC is trying to tie GOP candidates to the generally unpopular idea of closing the government.
For Moran, the move looks like rooting for failure.

To which you just scratch your head and say… er… “You Started It”.  Freaks.
The one thing the Republicans have going for them, and what will serve them well in 2014 is the natural tendency of Americans to “blame both sides“.  It’s a bleak prognosis… no one wants to be a party hack, surely.

ITEM NUMBER ONE:  Press TV … and — ???
I can spot Russia TV‘s audience of “the West”.  In our — urm — do I call it a “Cold Cold War”? tensions with Russia, the Russian government’s “see no evil in Russia; see all evils in America” approach gains an audience for people on their pet concerns — both legitimate and paranoid, of what ails America.  And so I see clips linked all the time.  Meantime, Iran’s Press TV… is a different beast.Maybe I’m just closer to Russia TV’s target audience, maybe they’ve found the sweet spot in their assortment of off-key punditry that lends away from the problems of American media’s beltway establishment focus and gives it some occasional attraction — or maybe Press TV is just a little too narrowly focused in on feeding in on International Relations and Israel, but I don’t really see their viral presence.

That being said, we see that latest bunch of appearances by Executive Intelligence Review on Press TV.  All not too interesting, for the most part.  Dutifully we see your Bill Jones on the surveillance state (like, Iran’s government wasn’t tracking protesters’ social media during the “Green Revolution”),  also see him on American soldiers’ in Afghanistan, on mass violence in America,
For Syria — and this is what I knew would get EIR all over Press TV, what with the Syrian Electronic Army finding them handy — Jeffrey Steinberg of the “weekly newsmagazine” EIR, this, Bill Jones again, and again…

But what I tend to look for amongst the debris of these appearances… does Lyndon Larouche get a mention?  Or are they left apart?  And here we see…  Lawrence Freeman!!!
The Russians are very correctly aware, as we are here in the United States, this is an attack on a sovereign country that could escalate very quickly to a general war and, therefore, to nuclear war.
Mr. Laourouche, the head of our magazine, has made very clear that any attempt for the US military involvement in Syria is a step moving us closer to nuclear war, which is an annihilation war if it takes place.
Obama is behaving completely out of control. He’s not functioning as the president of the United States. In fact, he may be setting himself up for early impeachment if he continues this policy because it would violate the US law.
This is a policy not of the British people but it is a policy of the elites of the Brits including the royal family, that we have the right to move in and take out current governments, destabilize countries and reduce their population – actually, kill off a number of people and cause chaos and destruction – so that this financial system, which is run out of the city of London and Wall Street, can try to maintain its power. Powers and Rice are very much behind these attacks in Syria. They benefit no one with this policy of war, destruction, chaos and population reduction. That is unfortunate.
And Michael Billington ups the ante!  From Nuclear War to THERMONUCLEAR War.
So, the War which [founder and contributing editor of the Executive Intelligence Review] Mr. [Lyndon Hermyle] LaRouche warned, would very quickly have become a war with Russia, a thermonuclear war very likely.

The other thing.  It is always interesting how the comments section of Press TV skips to the Zionists and then skips to just the Jews.
The author of this artical forgets to mention who really benefits from this war. The only one who benefits from this war are the Rotchild`s bankster maffia in London and Israhell!
Well that threat is now being carried out by these Zionist SATANIC JEWS of IsraHELL, through its SATANIC minions the US,UK,FR. IsraHELL a […]  But with Crushing destruction of DEMONA and the nuclear fall out will kill these nazis and make them run TO THE SEWERS of EUROPE,but even the Europeans will not let you live in there gutters and will constantly pour RAT POISION INTO THE GUTTERS to get rid of ZIONIST JEWWISH STENCH for EVER!
the oligarchs the zion jew financial jackals lost their chance in dismembering Russia to get their claws into Russia’s natural resources at time Putin came on scene – he kicked em out and they got a good whippin kickin. zionjew jackals will never give up to tear chunks out of Russia it’s their dream – to own planet earth. Russia needs invest in LIKEMINDED PUTIN NATIONALIST STRATEGISTS. zionjew jackal financial cabal needs smashing
I think they do that to the queen of england too. That is highly disgraceful. America was BORN from the revolution against england. During her time, secretary of state Condoleeza Rice played classical piano for the queen of england, and said “it was always a dream of hers to play for the queen”. Some american!

In other “Foreign Reception”, Russia TV gets us… Jeff Steinberg.  And while the comments aren’t nearly as one-sided and one-minded, it is curious to see that “Saud Arabia is not powerful at all. They are totally enslaved to the Anglo-Judaic agenda.”

Point: Your children are going to die in a global thermonuclear war.
Sarcastic repointing:  OH NO NOT A GLOBAL THeRMOMETER WAR!!!
Counterpoint:  No they aren’t.
This is what brought the end of the threat of thermonuclear war.  (Next time, can they please add a few more prefixes to “nuclear”?)  This is the translation of our appeal by Rachel Douglas (LaRouche movement)^ Please send it to whom it may concern.  (More selling to the “Marborough Group” here.)
Patrick Timpone The wrong podcast was posted yesterday for the Lyndon Larouche interview; the new interview has been posted!

ITEM NUMBER TWO:  OBAMA HITLER CREW PUT HEAT ON CARD TABLE TEAM
Is this true?  The Barack Obama Administration has gotten so terrified by the work of the Lyndon Larouche Movement, that they’ve now… urm… brought local law enforcement to follow up on citizen complaints and enforce standard and minor code infractions in some municipalities that shut down their card table placements, where other municipalities have more lenient codes or interpret and enforce them less stringently and let them pass?  Is there a strategic idea on how Obama is enforcing this crack-down, or are some local government police agencies rebelling against the Obama Tyranny?

Dateline Porterville:
“There are city ordinances in place regarding public meetings, protests, and putting up booths (tables) that obstruct public right of ways (sidewalks),” Sgt. Dominic Barteau, spokesperson for the police department, said as a possible reason for the group being asked to leave the area.
“We do these book tables all over the nation, but no, we can’t do it here,” Sylvia said. “Obama is freaking out because he’s on his way out. He’s on his way out!” […]
In one of the documents being handed out, entitled “Obama may go out soon — we must shape the new presidency!” the verbiage is very blunt.
“The policies laid out in this report are the only alternative to the imperial drive for World War III and human extinction, and Obama must be impeached this week for even threatening such a war. Patriotic networks in Congress are now preparing articles of impeachment, and this war must not be authorized. Obama, John Kerry, and the rest of this treasonous Anglo-Saudi administration (historical note: the Larouchies backed Kerry for President in 2004.)  must be thrown out and relegated to the dustbin of history; and the Glass-Steagall policy implemented as a single act of congress, preparing the way for a real American Presidency for the twenty-first century.”
“As a mater of fact, the projection of all trends is that the human species is being reduced, by the order of the Queen of England, to a rapid reduction of the human population from 7 billion persons to less than 1!” […]
“We stopped the plan of war in Syria, our organization played an important role,” Sylvia told an observer.
Key music from “The Twilight Zone”.
John Coffee key music from the Wizard of Oz “Somewhere Over The Rainbow….
Y’all should learn who Lyndon LaRouche is before you go defending him and his Stepford Children 🙂
As for the arrest, PPD arrested God Hates Fag dude at least once, maybe more, for the same thing, and they ask us to move off the sidewalk when we protest the goings on of City Council outside as well. And they gave us no such courtesy when we spoke up inside of City Hall.
I know in our case, and I suspect in the God Hates Fags case, the courts were not especially impressed with the evidence PPD put forward.
Anyways, when these folks were here a year or so ago, I got a video of their behavior. It was interesting, having encountered them in the early 80s 3000 miles from here. There positions change with the wind, they are always against everything no matter who is President, and have been for many decades.

Dateline Madison Heights Food Lion!!
The LaRouche Political Action Committee set up shop by the Food Lion. Their signs clearly stated their mission of wanting to impeach President Obama.
“We’ve got teams out in all 50 states. People need to see a fight on the streets, we want this President out, we want this policy changed” said Robert Baker, a member of the PAC.
In my opinion, Lyndon LaRouche is about as strong politically as a wet noodle. He and his nuthouse ideas have been laughed at for years. The news must really be slow for WSET to give this joker any attention. Let’s move on to some real news. Thank you.
LaRouche is a bigmouth trying to be a bully & pertinent. Right place to chase bears; his PAC is classless & wasting time & money. Glad it’s not mine. Has-beens, bad losers that don’t know how to just go away.
Another thing….how is this news? There wasn’t hundreds of people out there or anything. In fact, the clip only shows one guy in a blue pickup truck. Not exactly record-breaking attendance. The next time I see the Boy Scouts selling popcorn at Lowes, I’ll have to remember to call WSET to run a story about it. You know it’s a slow news day when THIS makes the 6 o’clock news.

Personally, I don’t think “all 50 states” is good enough.  I want all 57 governing bodies, as pronounced by candidate Obama’s famous “57 state” mis-speak.  Once they get there, then maybe then I’ll be able to take this effort seriously.

Datleine Shelter Island:
The Larouche Political Action Committee, a political fringe organization, set up shop Tuesday morning on the sidewalk between the Center Post Office and Schmidt’s Market. […]
Ms. Scialdone compared President Obama to Roman Emperor Nero, saying the president’s administration is “far worse. We’re experiencing the greatest economic collapse in world history.” […]
Asked if a LPAC poster that pictured the president with a toothbrush moustache was comparing Mr. Obama to Adolf Hitler, Ms. Scialdone said, “Absolutely.”

Dateline Boston:  “The main thing we’re out here to do is get support, and for people to stop driving and impeach Obama,” Rachel Brown of Quincy told The Times. “And people are glad to find out that there’s a movement that’s doing something, and actually has a policy to organize around.”
“Impeach Obama!” one man yelled out as he drove through the intersection and turned on to Lagoon Pond Road.
The protest comes less than two weeks after the president’s Martha’s Vineyard visit.
LaRouche is a nut case. He has a cult following. I went to school with Lou DuPont who’s parents kidnapped him from the LaRouche cult. They were practically crucified.

Dateline Red Lion.  Some photo or other.

Dateline … Randi Rhodes listenership.
While driving down town this morning, I saw a guy setting up a table on the side of the road, with anti-Obama slogans. I assumed this was a typical Teabagger demo, so I went home and got my camera. It turns out this was a LaRouche Pac demo (are they still around?).
When I got close for photos, the guy asked me “Are you with us or against us?” I asked him how he could have both Fascist and Communist references in a single anti-Obama poster. He told me that Fascism and Communism were the same thing. And by the way, Obama was nothing more than another Bush/Cheney. It must be comforting to be against EVERYONE.
If you remember Barney Frank and the infamous (and hilarious!) “dining room table” incident, it involved Rachel Brown, another Larouchie idiot/perpetual candidate.
My introduction to Lyndon Larouchites.

Dateline Out there:
Oh look, it’s LaRouche. Next time I see his wife I´ll ask her how that trans atlantic monorail train is coming along. And the trans euro-african highway system. Or any of the other woo Ideas he has that get swallowed up by his “movement”.
I´ve talked to members of their german outgrow party, who are also running for our equivalent of the house of representatives. The thing they address about the banks there is what they want to fix, however, the nature of their movement makes me highly suspicious of them. They’re not as crazy as the Zeitgeist people, but they’re also not completely balanced in the head either.

Dateline sighting of this stuff
I bet they’re Larouchies.  Not that they have the wrong idea, just that uh, I think they’re Larouchies.
IMO, too many of them are smiling for them to be Larouchies. Just my gut impression.
“Ich bin ein Berliner”  “Ich bin ein Larouchie”?
Huh. Is that still a thing? Why do you think that?

Dateline Wawa

Yesterday afternoon (around 4:45pm), I drove by the Wawa in California, Md and noticed a tent set up on the sidewalk. They had protest signs set up around the stand. Does anybody know what group was protesting? I swear it said LaRouche, but I’m not certain.
I hope it takes, and their protests are successful.
they were protesting Wawa being out of pumpkin spice coffee.
I saw them there around 6PM too. I am all for getting rid of Obama but people need to face reality. He is NOT going to get impeached. Can you imagine what it would be like if he was? You haven’t seen any protests until that happens. Congress doesn’t have the balls to do it anyway. Oh and don’t forget, get rid of Obama and you get Biden.
Well, one could fire two shotgun blasts from the porch, and maybe that would scare Biden away……
Could only hope..
The house doesn’t have the balls and the senate is in his pocket – controlled by his commie pal Harry Reid.

Dateline Horsham:
Political organizer Joe Billington, of Upper Darby, said he and fellow representatives of the LaRouche Political Action Committee are out every day “educating people on what’s going on.”
The group, which he described as being “Lincoln Republicans” and “FDR Democrats,” is in “serious disagreement” with the president in issues ranging from foreign policy to the financial state of the country.
To prove his point, Billington had stacks of fliers and booklets to give away and poster boards attached to his table which called for Obama to be impeached.
Billington said he’d be in Hatboro until 4:30 or 5 p.m. Wednesday, but said his group would be out meeting and talking to people until “Obama’s forced to resign.”
These guys can say whatever they want at the corner of Wawa’s as is their right, It’s also my right to keep laughing that this group that keeps calling EVERY modern president, Hilter. When are they going to learn that that kind of talk is not effective. It just makes them look like a joke.

Dateline bunch o’ sites:

The hell is it with the LaRouchies? They take the standard concept of dead-enders and make them seem like an interstate.
Last ones I saw were at a teaparty wankfest. They kinda fit in there.
@trollhattan: I can’t believe the larouchies are still unembarrassed to identify publicly as larouchies.
Years ago I went to the courthouse for something and when I exited there was a larouchie table right outside. I asked the person if I could have one of their newspapers and she said, “Really? You’re serious?”
And I said yes, went home and then proceeded to fall into crazytown next time I went to potty and started reading it.

Dateline 2004,  retro goodness.

In online fighting, we see them again Surfacing onto Thom Hartmann forum.  (Interestingly, his show is broadcast on Russia TV…)

ITEM NUMBER THREE:  WEBSTER TARPLEY REPORT
Hm.  The good news with Webster Tarpley is that he never backed Kerry, so this isn’t weirdly jarring.  Though he did back Hillary Clinton, for reasons that never made a lick of sense to me.

Also, while I at first want to fault Tarpley for saying the Saudis gave a gift to influence Hillary Clinton on voting, it appears to be the Serbian news site’s flub.

Stimson, Lovett, Harrison, Bundy, Harriman, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., and Now Kerry: The Skull & Bones Death Cult and the Genesis of US National Catastrophes  —  Webster G. Tarpley on The Jeff Rense Program
Obama’s Coalition Reduced to US and Weakened France as Kerry’s Skull and Bones Diplomacy Falters; Turn the Imperialist War Into a Revolutionary Mass Strike
White House Kosovo ’99 Model for Syria Attack A Suicidal Fallacy; Unlike Then: Russia Has Strong Committed Leadership with Putin, Syria Can Defend Herself, American People Sick of War, GOP Waiting to Impeach After Attack

Say.  When was the last time Tarpley made Alex Jones, and has he ever bothered to tackle the problem of the Larouche cult as disinformationalists on either program?

In other news… I don’t know if the bid of the “Tax Wall Street Party” is but an opportunistic hub ub for the barncale that is Webster Tarpley to attach himself to — but he is championing Randy Credico’s mayoral bid.  There is some nexus here with the party and the Tarpley front “United Front Against Austerity” — currently seen encouraging people to hashtag Tarpley for Fed Chair.

Supported by the fast-growing United Front Against Austerity (UFAA), a nationally-organized group founded by historian Webster G. Tarpley…

Oh, mercy me.

I remember an ad for Randy Credico’s Senate primary bid against Chuck Schumer, a thing that I don’t disapprove of — even if it’s a bit more of a protest/symbolic show than anything else, in The Nation.  It turned me off of him.  He described his bid as “like Jon Stewart’s Daily Show on Steroids”.  This slides into the “if you like _a__, you’ll love _b__” territory, where … b ends up being a without a’s charms or restraints, and so… the whole thing sounds horrible.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR:  Historical purview….

This is a pretty cool random article generation:

 But whether you call it the Fascism of Franz von Papen, or the opposite of Kurt von Schleicher, the Oligarchism of Britain or the modern nation-state of Franklin, Washington, Hamilton, Quincy Adams, Lincoln, Garfield, Mc – Kinley, FDR, Kennedy, and La – Rouche, the “Rule of Law” or “Natural Law,” one very basic thing always remains dismally the same: By whatever name, and under whatever language as well as principle of general, abstract rules, it all comes down to the interpretation of whoever has the authority; etc etc.

All right.  Time to note his birthday, and after noting how longwinded he is, go about this  in the only way that makes sense.
In honor of Lyndon LaRouche, perhaps the 20th Century’s greatest politician, and his 91st birthday (Sept. 8, 1922), iONdom is launching its saunter into the Android Meme’s political bullshit with the formation of the Wyndham Lewis Party as we approach the centenary of Wyndham Lewis, the world’s first media ecologist and SubDeanie, and his arrival at the leading edge of London’s cultural vortex (1914):

Bob Dreyfuss gets hit.
The Science Team’s Animations prove useful to someone.

Impeachment gains traction…
He won’t be impeached because first he’ll be charged with document fraud pertaining to his birth certificate making him, not the president, but a normal everyday criminal/usurper. THEN every bit of legislation he’s signed under false pretenses will be NULL and VOID. A much happier scenario than impeachment which will KEEP all those laws in place
Obamas not going to get impeached…lol…the racist couldnt beat him in an election so now they are talking impeach…sorry mother fuckers…it wont work.
There’s been some commentary as of late about a bunch of the “anti-Obama” efforts which liken it to essentially money-making scams off, not really leading anywhere.  (See here, for instance.  And on a recent new anti-Affordable Care Act Implementation Act ad campaign, see here.)
Yeah, there’s opportunism, then there’s what the opportunism feeds.  And onto the paranoia of the old “Culling the Population” front (thank you, Louie Gohmert, who “must be the editor of the Larouche newsfeed“.) — from 6 billion to less than 1.  Oh, and “Stop Thermonuclear War”… which everything is leading toward.
See:  A group I have sometimes sneered at, the Lyndon LaRouche organization, nonetheless at least now has a sense of the immense crisis which could be coalescing. Lyndon LaRouche is now warning of “thermonuclear danger” if King Barack Obama is allowed to continue with his singular edict against Syria. “Any U.S. attack on Syria has the potential to trigger a larger war, which could lead to a thermonuclear war and extinction.” You would only be safe if you lived “under the dome.”
So, on that score of “repeating cycles”, it’s an ironic headline title this, which includes your “The Rise of Fascism in United States Politics” clip.
See the money suck from:  If that doesn’t count as statism, I’m right with you probably, I’m not hoping for LyndonLaRouche to take charge and get it fixed, I just value his blah blah.

Ayn Rand followers defending against the charges of Larouche:  I’ve seen ‘documentaries’ and conspiracy yarns (often from the Lyndon LaRouche camp) that portray her as some sort of sadist and a cartoon caricature of a ‘social Darwinist’ (a nebulius anti-concept invented to attack anything smacking of inegalitarianism).

How to overthrow the Illuminati:  In this respect, I think, Lyndon LaRouche was far more of a realist than Lisa Fithian.
Moon colonies, both real and facetious commentary.

Maybe the CIA is running ads in Muslim media so thay can get copies of all the Al Qaeda resumes?
Yup. That’s what the government did to get Scientology cultists and members of the LaRouche campaign.

We see someone come out for the quarantine of AIDs patients, political correctness be damned, and Larouche is mentioned.

And then there’s this analysis from a former non-member but supporter:  The LaRouche Movement has failed. Look at it’s history. Look at LaRouche. The problem lies not only with outside opponents and foes, but with the very internal organization itself. I do not oppose the Movement, but wish it would revolutionize itself to be more effective. It has too many internal flaws. As for Diane, I wish her the best; but the fact is the movement needs a statesman….with an emphasis on MAN. It needs someone who engenders great respect. Someone people will stop and listen to.

RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT 2012! LETS RESTORE AMERICA PLEASE!
ALL DOMESTIC TERRORISTS SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR TREASON AND TYRANNY PERIOD WORLDWIDE. PEACE! NO MORE ILLUMINATI! NO NWO! MORE PEACE!
Jesus is coming soon.
My apologies, but I fear that the ability to take meaningful action has passed. The people are not waking from the two party paradigm fast enough to act cohesively and the media, political and business classes have gone insane and fiddling as Rome burns. We are all screwed on an epic if not an evolutionary scale.

Tom should give up on shilling for Lyndon LaRouche and his Fusion Energy Foundation type ‘projects’.  (Tom Whipple)

ITEM NUMBER FIVE:  WHY HE LEFT
Leaving aside the problems inherent in Henry Makow…
Into the comment section, to see how this readership views Larouche.:
I briefly supported Larouche but was turned off by the constant telephone solicitations from an intense NYC Jew always connected with an imminent hyped up “crisis” ; and the naivety of Larouche and his followers in regard to FDR.  I recall this Larouche booklet “Satan’s Children” ;  so it shows there is a disconnect between having an awareness of evil and personifying goodness.
Pre- and post-imprisonment LaRouche are two very different things. What I am told consistently is that after LaRouche got out of prison, nothing was the same. Either he made a dirty deal for his freedom, went nuts or some combination of the two. Typical of this is blaming 9/11 on the Saudis, campaigning against Gaddafi, or focusing intensely on the relatively minor evils of Obamacare, while neglecting other more pressing issues. There’s an article called “why we left” by a group of recent ex-LaRouchies that displays some of the nuttiness of the organization in its current form.
G.H.W.Bush had no patience for LaRouche’s potential antics for Bush’s presidential run in 1988, so he got LaRouche raided and hauled off in chains by 400 law enforcement officers.  He convicted of 11 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy, etc. etc.  He was actually locked up in prison from 1988 to 1994 – that’s eight years.  He was sentenced to much longer, but none other the HILARY CLINTON used her clout as First Lady (and Illuminati ‘Dark Mother’) to spring him.  That’s how the great LaRouche became beholden to the Clinton – Bush crime family.  So he’s really not to be trusted anymore, if he ever was trustworthy.
What a weird conspiracy theory that is, and … contradictory.

Also interesting… asking for your prayers upon leaving the cult.

And note from factnet:  if $ isn’t drying up they’re certainly having their ranks depleted. I’m having more current members than ever contacting me on a regular basis. No one is saying much about the current state of affairs and I don’t ask, but they ask plenty about the process of leaving.

ITEM NUMBER SIX:  Electoral shortcomings.
Some final analysis on the outcome of the CEC in Australia’s most recent elections:
 On the other end of the spectrum, Fremantle Citizens Electoral Council candidate Ron Rowlands suffered the ignominious honour of receiving the least primary votes of any candidate for the lower house. Rowlands was nominated only 96 times as of Thursday morning, receiving 10 fewer votes than Melbourne Rise Up Australia candidate Joyce Mei Lin Khoo and Forde Citizens Electoral Council candidate Jan Pukallus, who each received 106 as of Thursday morning. Both considered fringe Right parties, the anti-multiculturalism Rise Up Australia received 40,176 primary votes across 77 federal electorates, whereas conspiracy theorists the Citizens Electoral Council received 8799 votes across 24 electorates.
A defense of the system by pooh poohing the CEC effect.

AND… Election Resultat for Bavaria are available: Total of votes 11814594. thereof Büso: 1719…. nothing more to be said!

Meantime, Diane Sare is framing the issues for her Gubernatorial bid.  This November is 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The great question before is: do we plunge into thermonuclear war, or embark on a thermonuclear NAWAPA? Join the Sare for Governor campaign in ending the last 50 years of degeneration and decline, and, instead, let us usher in the era of a thermonuclear renaissance, thus restoring the state of New Jersey to her rightful place in civilization.’

It’s enough to win the endorsement of “Frelinghuysen Municipal Chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee”, Mark Quick.  Who, last we saw, had been kicked out of the state’s fledgling Reform Party.  Hm.  Kinda tapped off in the low single points there.
Hm.  I guess he’s slunk back to the Republican Party somewhat, but… has a rather… odd relationship with it.
The email, which features several uses of profanity, ends with what Qarmout deems a threatening reference to death by hanging.
“Treason can be solved with a good old oak tree but today it’s not condoned lucky for you,” Quick wrote in the email.
Quick said Tuesday he fully stands by the email and in no way sees it as threatening. He called Qarmout’s plans of forwarding it to police an “absolute joke.”
“It’s just words,” Quick told The Express-Times. “You can read anything you want into words.”

And Hm… edit the wikipedia page if you shall.

Anyway… Diane Sare wants to know... Who stopped this ad? Was it Governor Christie? Or just someone like him? What exactly is he eating these days anyway?
‘Cause you see… the guy’s fat.  (Actually that was a line used by the cult against Al Gore.  Weirdest thing I’d heard from them.  “Al Gore’s fat”.  To which you can only say “okay.  and?”

Join Brett & Jon Rappaport on The Final Say each Monday to Friday from 3 to 4 PM EST, as we discuss and analyze current news, politics, policy, issues, and world events.
Our guest today is Diane Sare, who is challenging Chris Christie for governor in New Jersey.  She will be discussing some important issues which not only impact this race, but need to be debated all 50 states, 57+ if you are Barry Obama.
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.
Ironically, that quotes come from Ronald Reagan, and alluded not just to President Johnson but to President Kennedy.  (And don’t forget to see Diane Sare’s piano recital to celebrate JFK and her candidacy… because … Bach?)

ITEM NUMBER SEVEN:  INSULTAPALOOZA
Every time I listen to Larouche, I always feel a lot more comfortable with the thieves running things. What would Amerika look like if Larouche were in control? I wouldn’t want to find out.
Figuring out the West Wing Presidential Secession and where it diverges from our history.  Interesting history — apparently a new election came after Nixon’s resignation, though may not be consistent.  And then the mark of “Who Knows?”:  The identity of Newman’s predecessor was never canonically established as far as I recall. It could have been Reagan, it could have been Lyndon LaRouche, it could have been another ficitional president we never heard of.
Mr. Weiner is not without stiff competition. Mr. de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, has run a spirited campaign appealing to a demographic that largely stopped following politics after the imprisonment of Lyndon LaRouche. His campaign emblem, the trademark de Blasio “hammer and sickle,” can be found displayed proudly in the underrepresented barrios, jam-band concerts, and UFO conventions that Mr. Bloomberg’s administration attracted bad vibes for ignoring.
Incidentally this combination of an obsessive believe that nuclear power is the cure all and a plain out there belief in Space Colonisation damn the practicalities all held back by certain forces is starting to sound a little LaRouchy…
che guevera quotes larouche.
Ron Paul is a ‘Lyndon Larouche’ Libertarian.
I’m a quasi-LaRouchie which means I’m an FDR/JFK democrat. So rare I’m labeled both radical right wing and radical leftist. chuckle.
I’ll take that ouasi-ladouche means confused right wingnut.
Hell, I have more respect for Lyn Marcus (Lyndon La Rouche) at this point. ‘Seeking out specialized political profs’… lol. I’ll bet. Only a lib can .
I mean, who the hell knows what the Queen and that LaRouche asshole are up to? And… is there something not quite right with that whole 9/11.
Controversial Larouche; Controversial Limbaugh.  Saudi-British plants.
Abraham Lincoln versus the British Empire.  I knew it would be LaRouche, as soon as I saw historical US figure referenced in opposition to the ‘British Empire’.
They’re as bad as Larouche. And why do you think I boycott my favorite beer, Coors? For political reasons.
LaRouche has diagnosed Obama as clinically insane?? Er, OK ….. but he does have a point on this one.
Intelligent debate ? Not with you and the other delusional posters, now that is funny !!! Larouche and the Bircher people having and intelligent debate, oh come now.
OMG Larouche as credible evidence. Now that is funny ! 
You might want to note that this is a US States Senate hearing, you can look that up yourself if you get past your blinders.
Larouche is a criminal. Get over yourself, too funny.
Larouche has nothing to do with anything other than a name on a link.
It’s the insane conspiracy theory people….Larouche, maybe you want to post the information you get from the Bircher Society as well. Too funny, always funny to come here and see the posters who follow this stuff…..
A conspiracy theory is like the second gunman, or like saying Bush organized 9/11 to appease Israel.
Not even the LaRouchies are as vile as NAMBLA.
This guy sounds like a particularly dumb LaRouchie! I am sure these imbeciles are not aware that they would have been disappeared by now if they leveled this kind of criticism on Hitler.
So he gets so much right, including the Venetians and the Frankfurt School and yet it is mixed in with all this other guff.   Thus to quote the Schiller Institute on anything is like quoting Alex Jones or Jesse Ventura, even though Jones or Ventura might actually have got onto something.   Many people stumble on the truth and then go off the rails in following it.
Ron Paul is a 100% Lyndon LaRouche Libertarian, the most right wing of all political ideologies both economically and socially.
But then there’s this association with LarouchePAC, an organisation I hadn’t heard of before, which a little googling reveals to be puzzling. Mind you, any group that’s anti-AGW and loves the music of J.S. Bach can’t be wholly bad. But I suppose it could be a political cult of some sort.
infrastructure can suck my dick. It’s a fancy word for “most efficiently ringing sweat from the poor to spice the wine of the ruling class.”  (As opposed to Lawerence Freeman. Below you will find Lyndon LaRouche’s response to a question from me regarding the creation of credit for development of infrastructure in Africa. I believe you will find Mr. LaRouche’s answer provocative. )
A pro-comment for a change:  “Smartest Person on Greenie Environmentalism”.
larouche and birch had a baby named alex… Alex Jones: Globalist conspiracy created Navy Yard ‘patsy’ shooter to ‘discredit’ me.
Paging Lyndon LaRouche… Damn, you got me.
Who cares what “science” says, I know my ears! I wonder what the audio world’s Lyndon Larouche or L Ron Hubbard would be.
On Rand Paul:  His dad went from Perot/Nader spoiler candidate floor to LaRouche joke candidate by dint of his racist background. So he doesn’t want to repeat the same mistakes, and is doing his best to be about equality.
LaRouche needs to be supported because only he can protect us from the joint-conspiracy of the communists and the Queen of England!
David Icke?  Poor man’s Lyndon LaRouche.

This is interesting.  Someone puts up one of the more common “ha ha.  Look at the ‘Tea Bagger’ pictures — the “Get a Brain, Moran” man.  Here’s the response… just deny it…
Probably another democrat plant like have been at rallys. There were some imposters in Annapolis last session.
democrat photo ops or LYNDON LAROUCHE freaks.

If I was a Democrat social media internet operative, I would go on conservative sites and try and convince people to vote third party.
If I was a raving paranoid party hack, I would attempt to subtly imply everyone that displeased or disagreed with me was a social media internet operative of a leftist persuasion.  […]  Don’t worry, I’m really a plant sent here by the Larouche Democrats to cause the downfall of both parties, at which time Charles will be elected and we will bring about a new America.

These guys are on every street corner with Obama, Bush, the Queen, and everyone in a Sh*tler mustache. What does JTF think of them? By their page, they seem to be Jew haters obsessed that everything Israel has ever done is starting WW3.
This is the website that belongs to Lyndon Larouche, a neo-Nazi conspiracy theorist.
Larouche is a Dukist who believes that the so-called “zionists” control the media and the U.S. government. He blames Israel for the war in Iraq and claims that the American military have responsibility in September 11 terrorist attack because he believes they attempted to overthrow the government.

ITEM NUMBER EIGHT:  The Stormfront Corner, and its ilk

Larouche “syrian war must be stopped, its likely an extinction event”Ahhhhh shut this old sociolist FDR loving windbag the hell up.  There WONT be Thermo nuclear war.
the term “anglo”, is “British Anglo”, which is like a code for the Israeli/Zionist movement
its not used often,
check out the editorial board for “Exec. Intelligence Review”  (counting Jews.  To the end here…
Anton Chaitkin = big time Jewish Israel supporter.  claims father sat on the Nuremberg tribunal etc., also a major Holohoax pusher.
Debate finale: No WWIII anytime soon. Have a good weekend fellow doomtards.

Into the Laconics forum with this.
Egypt is confusing to me, it seems like trying to boil beans at 10,000 ft: lots of turbulence but nothing really happens. If the Jews don’t like Muslim Brotherhood, does that mean they didn’t work to dump Mubarak? Mubarak was fairly subservient to Israelis, not sure why they would have dumped him. Perhaps the idea is just to weaken Egypt thru chaos & the Jews don’t ‘specially care who “runs” it since they know they can cow most any leader.LaRouche says the Muslim Bros are bad eggs, part of the long-time scheme to install incompetent fundy Muslims in Arab countries, & that the generals’ takeover was a legit & popular move to get rid of MB crooks.

Looking down this House vote for — erm — “Making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes“, the other purposes being to “defund Obamacare”.

2 Democrats voted aye; 1 Republican voted nay.  Your Jim Matheson of Utah and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina.

Your Democrats voting nay.  It is interesting to note their reasoning, beyond the real reasoning of being the two most vulnerable Incumbent Democrats up for re-election in heavily Republican districts.  

McIntyre ends up being to the right of Matheson.  Kind of.

The Republican aye voter’s (Scott Rigell) reasoning is … about where the Chamber of Commerce’s worries of where this “continuing resolution” train is getting us.    I see that Americans for Tax Reform is playing the game of policing this.  The Red State blog, in its question of “What’s up with him?” immediately tacks up the “Does he want a Primary fight?” — and the first question asked by the free republic.

And I suppose if we get this “primary” thing, we have an “Obama hugging” in there…

Just after President Barack Obama won re-election, the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted how the president carried strong support in Rigell’s district, holding a net advantage of 101,000 votes in the Hampton Roads section of Virginia. The duo also gathered on Air Force One in February, discussing the impacts of sequestration before the March 1 deadline broke. Politico noted at the time that Rigell was the first Republican to travel on Air Force One since at least the formal start of Obama’s run for a second term.

The story of the Democrats get the quick comment of “Now it’s bi-partisan.  Why won’t the MSM mention it’s bi-partisan?”

Which, I suppose if it did we’d have to shell out the bi-partisan nature of the original “Obamacare” Act, due to its lone Republican aye.  And they can lose the angle of it being passed right over the heads of the Republicans — so why should they feel obliged to aid its enactment on the state level, and “boo” to your talk of petty partisan “Sabotage”.

Enter Ted Cruz.

“Today, the House of Representatives did what Washington pundits only a few weeks ago said was impossible: a strong bipartisan majority voted to defund Obamacare. This is a victory for House conservatives, and it is a victory for Speaker Boehner and Republican leadership.

Yeah.  Well.  Start putting out the ads.  One last opportunity to defeat the spectre of this:

Could be worse.

Urm…

Cue Bill Maher commentary.

Though, this one’s interesting.  Because… aren’t they the ones running around in Uncle Sam costumes?

…  As for the other bill that passed the House — food stamps begone — hm.

Many ways to skin a cat.

A piece by Klayman published Monday in Renew America serves as a gold mine of conservative fringe fantasies.
Citing “Benghazi-gate” and “Fast and Furious-gate,” Klayman lamented that Congress is unlikely to “to remove the mullah-in-chief from office.” And with the courts taking a pass on Obama’s “phony birth certificate,” that leaves only one option, according to Klayman.
“I therefore call upon all American patriots, once we obtain this conviction, which we will shortly, to converge on Washington,” Klayman wrote. “Millions should stand in front of the White House and other national treasures and demand that Barack Hussein Obama leave. If the Egyptians can do this with regard to another radical Muslim, former president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, then can’t we Americans do it with Obama?”
He added: “And, when we do converge on and ‘Occupy Washington’ in the millions on a date to be announced for the week before Thanksgiving, the people may think about chanting: ‘Mr. President (to use the term loosely), put the Quran down, get up off your knees and come out with your hands up!'”

Actually this reminds me of how war protesters converged to levitate the Pentagon to, you know, Stop the Vietnam War.  And while I suppose if we go with stereotypes, some  were on drugs and might have half or three quarters believed they were doing so, I do believe most thought this a symbolic exercise.Notably Noam Chomsky was in the convergence.

This goes back to a 2009 Newsmax article suggesting a coup might be in the offing.  Here we just need to work out the details.

(It’s interesting to look back in these archives.  Lamar Alexander’s rhetorical slinging has not discounted him from getting a primary fight.  Today’s goofy Republican rhetorical bombast has the Party as “winning” like “Charlie Sheen“… ’tis Rand Paul… and this makes for an interesting matrix of Alex Jones guests.)

Well, it’ll be interesting to see how many protesters Klayman can smash together.  Over / under if he actually announces date and time… erm… 50?

March off from this possible solution to the problem that the nation elected Obama a couple of times, and into the weeds of “Secession Mania”…

Freaking Maryland.
A snarky snipe at Obama’s mis-speaks.  (Not quite accurate: the 57 state gaffe was done a remark of where he had campaigned before being a president.)  A belittling of the one statehood campaign that actually has some legitimacy.   (District of Columbia: Taxation without Representation!)   They bristle largely at the current not terribly interesting technocratic governor… and…

You know… the Colorado secessionists?  I would like to think the recent Recall (whatever I may think of it — I’m not big on recalls) would “chill” them out — like, a law you don’t like passes in this democratic republic… you have republican and democratic recourses to pursue.

And the Northern Californians have to sit by while the current governor — Jerry Brown — is hailed as the Greatest Governor Evah.  Whether they like it or not.

Eventually this “final straw” boiling over will dissolve and find its outlets.  Maybe they can run of these guys for their governors or presidents?

Lunatics on Parade.

Cruz, a tea party favorite, is one of the most vocal proponents of defunding the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s health care reform law. He’s spent months championing the cause. But on Wednesday, as House Republican leaders unveiled their latest plan for sinking Obamacare — tying a measure to defund the law to a must-pass resolution that keeps the government running — Cruz thanked House Republicans for their fight, and said they’re on their own.
“[Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid will no doubt try to strip the defund language from the continuing resolution, and right now he likely has the votes to do so,” Cruz said in a statement. “At that point, House Republicans must stand firm, hold their ground, and continue to listen to the American people.”
Aides to top Republicans in the House, where GOP leadership has already been struggling to keep the party together on the measure, were beside themselves. And once granted anonymity, they didn’t mince their words.
“We haven’t even taken up the bill and Ted Cruz is admitting defeat?” fumed one senior GOP aide. “Some people came here to govern and make things better for their constituents. Ted Cruz came here to throw bombs and fundraise off of attacks on fellow Republicans. He’s a joke, plain and simple.”
Another aide said Cruz’s comment “exposes how [Senate conservatives] have deliberately misled their constituents and the grassroots for eight weeks. This isn’t leadership, it’s hypocrisy.”

The basic problem is two fold.  One: the electorate in mid term election years is different from the electorate in presidential election years.  If the 2008 electorate had shown up in 2010, the Democrats would have surely lost the House, and had a good wipe-out state-side, particularly in the South, but it would be more manageable, and not quite as dramatic an effect in redistricting — the other problem: I don’t much care that one election brings in the crazy, because there’s another election coming up — the problem with the 2010 election is that it happened in 2010, whereby redistricting would cement a lagging House Republican majority and a whole slew of state-houses no matter how things move in 2012 and beyond.

I like the idea that there are now Republicans criticizing Ted Cruz from the right as “a joke”.  But they may have a point.  He hyped up a futile and nihilistic procedure for political and fundraising purposes, and now that its come to some fruition …

Meanwhile… in North Carolina.

Jim Duncan, the chairman of the Chatham County Republican Party, said Wednesday that he is beginning an exploratory effort to challenge 2nd District Republican Renee Ellmers in a primary next year.
Duncan, a retired computer industry leasing executive, didn’t offer any direct criticism of Ellmers, but he said there was “a craving for leadership.”

The question of how Congressional opposition to military strikes in Syria held together is something worth a meandering look.  I mean — Speaker Boehner came out for it, and even in his weakened state this — with a Pelosi whipping Democratic loyalists in shape — would’ve been enough.  Note that Rand Paul, in Senate testimony, had said that “You probably have the votes”.  No, as it turned out, they didn’t.

But, starting with the broad opposition from public opinion…

There is, I guess, a renewed isolationist or non interventionist bloc in the Republican Party.  We will see how it holds under a Republican Presidency, and it’s curious as my guise of the local “Tea Party” gatherings in 2010 was that this was the same crowd backed by the same figureheads as the “Support Our Troops” counter-war protester protests of 2002.  It is possible that conglomerating alongside that sort of Ron Paul contingency to shake up some of this worldview.  We’ll see how much of this holds in a Republican Administration.
Next we have an implacable instant opposition to President Barack Obama as a matter of course.  It is a little weird to me that Health Care has become the party and movement conservative’s “red line” and point of permanent battle — “all traces of this must be eradicated” — but as the party gears up to do more on this score, we have an attempt to cement a prophesy into fulfillment — “Syria has weakened Obama”.  Whatever hurts Obama!
Which probably leaves Republican supporters room to wiggle, to refine to one of opposition because it’s too limited.  So we have the waffling of John McCain.  Curiously enough, we now have that odd spot where Rand Paul has quite literally come out in support of Assad, and your McCain and Lindsey Graham for the rebels (which we’re openly secretly clandestinely supporting)– an interesting split in the Republican Party I don’t think exists in the Democratic Party, which holds along the lines of “Er… no and no.”

On the Democratic side… there is a bit of a curious commentary I spotted, and wish I had clipped, had it that Democratic opposition held tightly due to redistricting following the manner the 2010 election cut off all the party’s “marginal” purple and red district held seats, bringing the party caucus down to its liberal anti-war core.  Maybe.  But maybe the added seats around suburbia and rural America would also want to find another point of departure to argue that they’re not Obama’s lackeys, and popular opposition to war in Syria works.

As everything has gone down… the question of “Who Won?” with its stated answer “Putin and Russia’s prestige is shown and US power is shown to be shaky” — becomes a bit of a  “Who Cares?”     If we go ahead and take Obama’s objectives at face value, we got what we wanted… limited though it may be.  And John Kerry — well, looking at his approval rating — Hey!  There’s still time to run for President again.  (And I guess we assume that the Kerry “thinking out loud” was purely accidental — and I personally wouldn’t be surprised if it weren’t retractable if needed signals being thrown out from prior discussions with Russia — which is not to say “Obama pre-gamed this shit” but … it’s the way of International Politics… but even assuming that gets him to new heights, he’d be caught up in a misfired “Troops are Stupid” joke before long to upend the bid.)