BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
TO TEST THE VALIDITY OF THAT PREMISE, THESE REPORTERS SURVEYED THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE.
ABC NEWS EXPLAINED, "HE JUST ISN'T TRENDY, YOU KNOW?"
THE CW SPOKE MORE BLUNTLY, "HE'S ABOUT AS RELEVANT TODAY AS EVAN MARRIOTT. HE'S PARIS HILTON TRYING TO LIVE IN A KARDASHIAN WORLD AND THAT JUST AIN'T GONNA' HAPPEN."
NBC NEWS EXPLAINED, "PEOPLE JUST DON'T WANT TO WATCH HIM ANYMORE -- HE'S LIKE SEASON FOUR OF HEROES. WE'RE LOOKING AT HIS RATINGS AND WONDERING, 'WHERE DID THE VIEWERS GO?"
FOX NEWS TOLD US, "IT'S SO BAD, EVEN WE ARE STARTING TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIM."
PBS STATED, "WE'D BE HAPPY TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION IN A JUST A MOMENT AFTER WE COME BACK FROM OUR PLEDGE DRIVE. WOULD YOU LIKE A SUZE ORMAN TALKING ALARM CLOCK FOR A $400 PLEDGE OR POSSIBLY A BERT AND ERNIE PLASTIC CUP FOR A $300 PLEDGE?"
NOTING THAT THEIR VIEWERS TREND OLD, CBS NEWS EXPLAINED, "THEY SEE IN BARRY O THE SON WITH PROMISE WHO TURNED INTO THE EMBARRASSMENT YOU NEVER SPEAK OF."
WHEN THESE RESULTS WERE RELAYED BACK TO BARRY O FOR A COMMENT, HE REPLIED, "YES, BUT WHAT DID UPN SAY?"
THESE REPORTERS DID NOT HAVE THE HEART TO EXPLAIN TO THE FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF THAT UPN WAS NO MORE.
In a [PDF format warning] press release noting that they were now partnering with NBC News and the Wall St. Journal for the 2014 election polling, Annenberg Public Policy Center noted the latest poll found:
71 percent of Americans said that the conflict in Iraq was not worth fighting, and 49 percent said that Washington does not have a responsibility to help the Iraqi government fight off insurgent groups.
49% is a very high number when you consider that they are opposing US President Barack Obama's so-called 'plan' for Iraq. It's not even been a month since Barack drew vague outlines in a June 19th speech. Yet 49% are already opposed to it.
And for good reason, it's not a plan and it backs Nouri al-Maliki -- the man whose destroyed Iraq over two terms and wants a third one.
Josh Rogin (Daily Beast) speaks with Iraq's Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi:
ISIS is only one small part of a larger Sunni revolt in Iraq that sectarian groups have been preparing for years, according to Iraq’s exiled Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi. And defeating ISIS won’t stop the greater battle.
“We shouldn’t look at this development of ISIS as apart from the uprising of the Arab Sunni provinces over two years,” Hashimi told The Daily Beast in an interview from Turkey, where he has been living since the government of Nouri al-Maliki purged him in 2012 by indicting him on murder charges, then convicting him in abstentia.
“The provinces have done a peaceful Sunni revolt against the oppression, the injustice, the inhuman conditions the Arab Sunnis have been suffering for years,” he said.
The issue of 'advisors' came up in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Jen Psaki:
QUESTION: Okay. And let me just follow up on the advisors on the ground. Their first assessment last week was that the Iraqis may be able to defend Baghdad but are unable to sort of retake territory already conquered by the Islamic State. Has there been any update to the situation? Are they doing anything other than assessment and perhaps talking to --
MS. PSAKI: Well, assessing is certainly a part of --
QUESTION: Right.
MS. PSAKI: -- what their mandate is. But I would refer you to DOD for any updates on their work on the ground.
QUESTION: Okay. But the fact that al-Baghdadi so boldly goes to a mosque that is a well-known mosque in Mosul and within – knowing exactly where he is, his location was well known and so on, is the United States or would the United States be willing to engage militarily to ensure that, like they did back in 2004 and ’05 and ’06 when they targeted Zawahiri, that they would actually target al-Baghdadi?
MS. PSAKI: You’re familiar with the options that we always have and the President always has at his disposal, but as has consistently been the case, our focus is on the political process and encouraging that to move forward. And again, we have 300 advisors on the ground. They’re in the process of assessing, but I would refer you to DOD for any more specifics on their work.
Advisors were raised by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. Kristina Wong (The Hill) reports:
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday the Sunni fundamentalist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) poses a threat not just to the government in Baghdad, but to the United States as well.
"This country should not make any mistake on this, nor anyone in Congress — this is a threat to our country," Hagel said while meeting with troops at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia.
"This is a force that is sophisticated. It's dynamic, it's strong, it's organized, it's well-financed, it's competent, [ISIS]. And it is a threat to our allies all over the Middle East. It's a threat to Europe. It's a threat to every stabilized country on Earth, and it's a threat to us," Hagel said.
Ramzy Baroud (Antiwar.com) offers this take:
Not only is Obama failing to accept even a level of moral responsibility over the current plight of Iraqis, but he is haggling to achieve some political gains from Iraq’s misery. Hundreds of US troops have been ordered back to Iraq to "assess" the fighting capabilities of the Iraqi army, and a cautious attempt at intervention is building up slowly in Washington.
Interventionism is once more permeating American foreign policy thinking; this time around, however, it is ‘soft’ intervention, although it is laden with the same kind of language and misleading references. It seems that the American government has learned so very little since the last botched effort, championed by Perle’s neocons at remaking the Middle East to its liking.
Nouri is the problem in Iraq and he cannot bring the country together.
He is inept and he is corrupt.
If you're not grasping it, right now, while Barack's insisting the country needs a "political solution," Nouri's yet again attacking political rivals. Rudaw reports:
Hours after Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused the Kurds of harboring insurgents, the Kurdistan Region decided that Kurdish ministers appointed to the Iraqi cabinet will not be going to Baghdad.
“As a first response to Maliki’s threats, the Kurdish leadership has decided that our ministers will not attend any meetings of the Iraqi cabinet,” said an official from the dominant Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).
The official said that there is a consensus among all Kurdish political parties, including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to boycott Baghdad.
Nouri is begging the US for help and US President Barack Obama has provided him with weapons and now with US troops. And Nouri says "thank you" by attacking the Kurds?
RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"
"Extant"
"Extant"
"Why?"
