Danny Bubp was the guy Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt talked about when she said, “A few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny Bubp, Ohio Representative from the 88th district in the House of Representatives. [...] He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.” Now Bubp is saying the comment was incorrect. He’s also saying that “the whole thing has been blown out of proportion.” While that may be true, it’s...

The un-representative Representative, Jean Schmidt, may have put her foot in her mouth in more ways than one! Where is that graphic Joe uses? Hey Jean! Is that foot tasty?

On November 9 and 17 of this year, I addressed the use of white phosphorus, an incendiary weapon, by U.S. forces in Iraq. Reaction from readers was, well, intense. You can find those posts here and here. No one thinks that WP is a humane weapon, and no one denies that it was used in Iraq, specifically in Fallujah, but one of the central questions of the discussion, both here and elsewhere, has revolved around whether or not it’s a chemical weapon. The answer, I thought, was no. But now Think...

CNN: Bush tries mare’s milk but avoids camels’ spit Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (AP) — The scene was straight out of a Genghis Khan movie. There were Mongol warriors clad in armor and helmets, armed with swords and mounted on the short, stout horses unique to Mongolia. The warriors hoisted colorful battle flags on spears. Dancers in colorful costumes and elaborate masks that resembled the heads of animals performed traditional routines. Others banged on gongs or played horns….Cows,...

At Newsweek, Howard Fineman reports on the past week’s drama in the House, with passions on both sides raising the political temperature to dangerously high levels. But here’s what really happened, what it was all about: The drama on the floor was a shabby — at times, farcical — finale to a season that nevertheless had produced something serious: a transformation of the politics of the war in Washington. Some of the change had little to do with the war per se. From the bungling...

Breaking News – General Motors to cut 30,000 jobs, shut five plants.

The Washington Post, in an editorial, argues that there’s plenty of irresponsibility to go around the controversy surrounding Jack Murtha, the Congress, the White House and Iraq policy. Highlights: It sounds like the final days of a bitter, mud-slinging political campaign. But what is at stake is not an election but a war in which American soldiers are being killed and wounded almost every day and in which one possible outcome is a major victory for the Islamic extremist movement that carried...

Our occasional linkfest offering you a guidemap to good reading from DIFFERING viewpoints. Links do not necessarily reflect the opinions of TMV. What FactCheck Says About President George W. Bush And WMD via The Astute Blogger. Reaction To Murtha/House Uproar from The Boston Progressive, who was not pleased with what he saw. The Race For $$$ For The Senate and how both parties are doing is explored by our co-blogger Jonathan Singer here in his new weekend co-blogging role on a major liberal website....

We wrote a lot already about the controversy surrounding Jack Murtha, the GOP and the Democrats and the fireworks in the House. But here are two more MUST-READS from Oxblog’s David Adesnik on this controversy. Adesnik does balance out some of the points in this story that have gotten lost amid the media coverage, the ‘vilify-him’ comments from the right and the ‘deify-him’ comments from the left: (1) READ THIS by Adesnik on Murtha’s appearance on MSNBC’s...

Legal history has repeated itself: actor Robert Blake, found not guilty of the murder of his wife in a criminal trial, has now lost a civil case — most likely putting on hold for a long time any hopes he had of returning to the show biz mainstream and perhaps the latest person to experience “celebrity justice.” It’s an interesting phenomenon: a high-profile gets acquitted who is the subject of slews of jokes on late night television implying that he’s guilty gets off...

….are also apparently within the U.S. military: WASHINGTON (CNN) — The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official. Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades — usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each — begin pulling out of Iraq early next year. The proposal comes as tension grows in both...

Reuters pretty much confirms what we’ve felt watching the White House and top GOPers turn what polls show is growing widespread across-the-boards disapproval of the war in Iraq into a sheer partisan issue — accusing Democratic critics of being terrorist sympathizers versus the old, out-dated standby, communist sympathizers: WASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Fighting a decline in public support for the Iraq war and his own leadership, U.S. President George W. Bush and Republican allies...

Administering the military oath. Read SMASH here.

So now the pivotal question becomes: will the dramatic anti-war comments of the top Democrat on military spending — a long-respected, decorated Vietnam veteran — prove to be a turning point in Congressional and public opinion on the Iraq war, or just another rhetorical blip on the media-saturated U.S. screen? At issue are the comments of Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), hardly the kind of person that can be accused of being unpatriotic….although that suggestion came later yesterday...

An intriguing look at a still-simmering crisis that is being derailed in the U.S. media as it turns (as always) to the latest controversy can be found in THIS POST by Donklephant‘s Cicero. A small part of it 4 U: France’s reaction to the unrest in its cites — amounting to more methadone for the addicts — has lead me to conclude that social democracy cannot fundamentally tackle militant Islamicism. It just can’t. Social democracy provides too many loopholes and gotchas...

Talkers Magazine has published a ratings-based list of the top talk show hosts. As expected, at the top of the heap is conservative talker Rush Limbaugh. The top progressive host is Ed Schultz. See the list HERE.

Last week, I posted on the story of the possible use of white phosphorus as a weapon by U.S. forces in Iraq, specifically in Fallujah. Essentially, the story originated with a documentary broadcast by Italy’s RAI TV network. It was then picked up by the BBC, The Independent, and The Christian Science Monitor. That post elicited some excellent comments from readers and I invite you to check it out — see here. Phosphorus may or may not be classified as a chemical weapon, and it may or may...

Vice President Dick Cheney is now so far down in the polls that he should beware of sniffing dogs. But that hasn’t stopped the administration from sending him out as the attack dog to go after Democrats for allegedly “rewriting history” on Iraq: “Some of the most irresponsible comments have, of course, come from politicians who actually voted in favor of authorizing force against Saddam Hussein,” Cheney said in remarks prepared for a GOP fundraiser. Cheney’s attack...

SurveyUSA has released its November polling (accidentally perhaps — you must click each state’s tracking graph to see the new numbers), and once again, the situation looks grim for the President. A majority of voters in only three states — Utah, Idaho and Wyoming — approve of the President, with Bush scoring exactly a 50 percent approval rating in Mississippi. Voters in Nebraska and Oklahoma are divided on the President, a plurality of Alabamans disapprove of President Bush...

A new mini-firestorm is raging over the Los Angeles Times’ decision to show liberal columnist Robert Scheer the door. Here’s part of the newspaper’s explanation: Assessing the merits of a column, like assessing the merits of a movie, is a subjective exercise, so readers can agree to disagree over the wisdom of our decision. It’s inaccurate, however, to ascribe ideological motives to our decision to stop running Scheer’s column. Some readers have complained that The Times...