The Respectfully Republican Conversation

vivre · January 2009

Good points Hope.

Love the KoolAid tax idea. There are so many people drinking the stuff these days, the tax rolls will explode.

I am beginning to think BO really is going to be a uniter. He is going to unite the 75% of people in this country who did not vote for him to start a taxpayers revolt. They will be dumping Coke and Pepsi in Boston Harbor!

Am I just being cynical or does the prez look like a deer caught in the headlights. I wonder if he has a big headache yet from all this.

Fred Barnes was commenting that Obama really things he is going to be able to go abroad and talk other countries into taking back their murdering thugs at Gitmo. He is calling bama naiive. I think bama figures he has been able to sell his hope and change on millions of Americans so foreigners should be no problem

Anonymous · January 2009

Rosemary - I love that cartoon! Perfect residence!

vivre · January 2009

Thought this was a good article from the National Review on the high expectations for bama:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Mzg2N2E5YTRhNmNjMTlmZTc4YjdmMGE4MWQ0MjU0NGQ=

Anonymous · January 2009

Yes ..... tax the Kool Aid ....... !!

I see there has been some fireworks ..

rat snax ..... Medusa gone wild prass and sybil a-go-go

jader · January 2009

just wanted to tell u ladies that i support u.

i have been calm and waiting to see what the prez would do but i don't c him doing anything different than other pols!!!! he is just a dim-witted demoncrat as far as i can c!!!

Daffodil · January 2009

The entertainment shows continue to gush, but they do have the Oscars to talk about now. I noticed this ad: http://pledge5.starbucks.com/ . Who is orchestrating this? Or is business just heeding the call to service, as if this is a new concept.

Remember Bush 41's 1000 Points of Light? Most of the First Ladies have also promoted volunteerism in one area or the other. Mrs. O seems to have several platforms in mind.

Rosemary44 · January 2009

I think Paterson just blew his chance for re-election by not keeping his mouth shut. By telling the world he wasn't going to appoint Kennedy anyway, didn't do him much good. He should have been gracious, said something nice, and ended it. I think every politician needs a political handler, especially when they aren't up to the task of leading.

I see this again to be a woman's issue. Are they going to slice and dice her for doing the exact same thing Greithner has done? Greithner will be our next head of Treasury even though he's above paying taxes. Let's all just apologize for not paying ours. When I don't pay mine, I want a high position in government as my reward.

Kennedy will be roasted and Greithner will walk into the Treasury Dept. unnoticed because the world in now fixated on a woman who didn't pay taxes for her nanny, or whatever. Two wrongs don't make a right, but see how they treat her, and not him. It's so tiring.

Paulette531 · January 2009

I don't think she was told to withdraw (Kennedy) by anyone, I think she did it on her own because maybe she doesn't want her faux pas in the media anyomre than it is.I don't think Kennedy will be roasted by the current administration.

I did hear some of the transcripts of Greithner's grilling, I don't know, I don't know if he will get in or not. If he does, it surely sends a great message to everyone, do what ever you want to do and if you have friends in certain places you can still advance. Great message to send to kids...but whatever! And the really cool thing about appointing him will be that if he attempts to fix the economy the way he fixed his mess on his last job he will fail and then for sure everyone can say "nanny nanny boo boo"!

Paterson probably ended his political career by acting like a seventh grader saying he wasn't even considering her, saying he was, saying he was holding off letting anyone know for the drama and his 15 minutes of fame. And this is the governor? What a joke!

vivre · January 2009

Rosemary, did you see Mary Matalin going nuts over the double standard last night on FOX? It really is amazing how they tear up republicans but dems are above the law. They get approved and reelected because they make "mistakes" but republicans are crooks. It is just so maddening that people do not see past this! The only reason Blago is in trouble because he got caught red handed. Blago is saying he wants to call Jarrett and Rhambo in for witnesses to his trial. Wow, I can't wait to see that. Maybe he will expose the ONE while he is at it. Blago is telling us that HE is going to expose the crooks in government. He is saying he is the good guy up against the establishment in a Frank Capra movie. It is hilarious. Hey, I am beginning to like this guy. If he actually exposes the powers that be, he may just be the hero he thinks he is. LOL

I am glad that Kennedy is out. She has been exposed for the demwit that she is. How did she expect that just because she had a famous father, she was entitled to be given a public office? The Kennedys have no clue what it is like in the real world. They run around telling us to stop driving our SUV's while they fly around it their jets and putter in their gas hog boats, and heat their mansions. I am sick of people like that telling us they know what is best for us. If all those Hollywood types and dem tycoons who flew in for the balls had given a bit of their billions to charity, they could have helped a lot more people than showing up for the big party. More hypocracy. Why can't people see through this? It is mindblowing.

abinneb · January 2009

Morning everyone! It is my 50th birthday today and as a big gift to myself - I'm going to control my blood pressure and at least TRY not to watch any more adoration coverage !!! It makes me gag in the morning and that is just not good for a body!!!

Amy

Paulette531 · January 2009

Well, well, well!

Freed by U.S., Saudi Becomes a Qaeda Chief

By ROBERT F. WORTH

Published: January 22, 2009

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.

"They're one and the same guy," said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. "He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear."

The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.

Almost half the camp's remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program - partly financed by the United States - similar to the Saudi one. Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.

"The lesson here is, whoever receives former Guantánamo detainees needs to keep a close eye on them," the American official said.

Although the Pentagon has said that dozens of released Guantánamo detainees have "returned to the fight," its claim is difficult to document, and has been met with skepticism. In any case, few of the former detainees, if any, are thought to have become leaders of a major terrorist organization like Al Qaeda in Yemen, a mostly homegrown group that experts say has been reinforced by foreign fighters.

Long considered a haven for jihadists, Yemen, a desperately poor country in the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has witnessed a rising number of attacks over the past year. American officials say they suspect that Mr. Shihri may have been involved in the car bombings outside the American Embassy in Sana last September that killed 16 people, including six attackers.

In the Internet statement, Al Qaeda in Yemen identified its new deputy leader as Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri, saying he returned from Guantánamo to his native Saudi Arabia and then traveled to Yemen "more than 10 months ago." That corresponds roughly to the return of Mr. Shihri, a Saudi who was released from Guantánamo in November 2007. Abu Sayyaf is a nom de guerre, commonly used by jihadists in place of their real name or first name.

A Saudi security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Mr. Shihri had disappeared from his home in Saudi Arabia last year after finishing the rehabilitation program.

A Yemeni journalist who interviewed Al Qaeda's leaders in Yemen last year, Abdulela Shaya, confirmed Thursday that the deputy leader was indeed Mr. Shihri, the former Guantánamo detainee. Mr. Shaya, in a phone interview, said Mr. Shihri had described to him his journey from Cuba to Yemen and supplied his Guantánamo detention number, 372. That is the correct number, Pentagon documents show.

"It seems certain from all the sources we have that this is the same individual who was released from Guantánamo in 2007," said Gregory Johnsen, a terrorism analyst and the editor of a forthcoming book, "Islam and Insurgency in Yemen."

Mr. Shihri, 35, trained in urban warfare tactics at a camp north of Kabul, Afghanistan, according to documents released by the Pentagon as part of his Guantánamo dossier. Two weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he traveled to Afghanistan via Bahrain and Pakistan, and he later told American investigators that his intention was to do relief work, the documents say. He was wounded in an airstrike and spent a month and a half recovering in a hospital in Pakistan.

The documents state that Mr. Shihri met with a group of "extremists" in Iran and helped them get into Afghanistan. They also say he was accused of trying to arrange the assassination of a writer, in accordance with a fatwa, or religious order, issued by an extremist cleric.

However, under a heading describing reasons for Mr. Shihri's possible release from Guantánamo, the documents say he claimed that he traveled to Iran "to purchase carpets for his store" in Saudi Arabia. They also say that he denied knowledge of any terrorists or terrorist activities, and that he "related that if released, he would like to return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, wherein he would reunite with his family."

"The detainee stated he would attempt to work at his family's furniture store if it is still in business," the documents say.

The Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda has carried out a number of terrorist attacks over the past year, culminating in the assault on the American Embassy in Sana on Sept. 16. In that assault, the attackers disguised themselves as Yemeni policemen and detonated two car bombs. The group has also begun releasing sophisticated Internet material, in what appears to be a bid to gain more recruits.

Yemen began cooperating with the United States on counterterrorism activities in late 2001. But the partnership has been a troubled one, with American officials accusing Yemen of paroling dangerous terrorists, including some who were wanted in the United States. Some high-level terrorism suspects have also mysteriously escaped from Yemeni jails. The disagreements and security lapses have complicated efforts to repatriate the 100 or so Yemenis remaining in Guantánamo.

Despite some notable Yemeni successes in fighting terrorist groups, Al Qaeda in Yemen appears to be gaining strength.

"They are bringing Saudi fighters in, and they want to start to use Yemen as a base for attacks throughout region, including Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa," said Mr. Johnsen, an expert on Al Qaeda in Yemen.

Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington; Khalid al-Hammadi from Sana, Yemen; and Muhammad al-Milfy from Beirut.

McCain Isn’t Swooning

Jennifer Rubin - 01.23.2009 - 1:00 PM

John McCain may be a maverick but he is no push-over. He gets to the nub of President Obama’s grandstanding on Guantanamo:

“I think that it’s a wise move,” McCain said about closing Guantanamo Bay. “But I also think that we should have addressed this whole issue completely, because it did not address the issue of those who we have in custody and can’t — and no country will take them back. We should have addressed the issue of those who we know would pose a threat to the United States, but we don’t have sufficient evidence to move forward.”

McCain said instead of closing Guantanamo Bay outright, he would have first continued the military commissions, which “after years of delay and obfuscation” were finally moving toward trials.

“So, the easy part, in all due respect, is to say we’re going to close Guantanamo,” McCain said. “Then I think I would have said where they were going to be taken. Because you’re going to run into a NIMBY [not in my backyard] problem here in the United States of America.”

There is something quite odd about freezing the military trials after years of complaining that detainees were being held without legal recourse. And declaring that Guantanamo is closing is the sort of PR stunt one might expect from a candidate, but not from a President intent on setting aside “childish things.”

McCain is equally skeptical about the spend-a-thon “stimulus” bill:

“I hope we can work together to, frankly, be a real stimulus package and not just a spending package that has every cat and dog and pet project that people have,” he said. “Because the object of a stimulus package is to stimulate the economy, not to just spend more and run up the debt to our kids and our grandkids.”

In addition to a real stimulus package, McCain said he believes the government should work to cut or eliminate payroll taxes.

“I think we should spend the money that we can immediately, but at the same time if we have a couple of quarters of positive GDP growth, then let’s start reducing and eliminating the huge, massive, unprecedented deficits that are going to accrue from these actions,” he said.

McCain is of course the Democrats’ favorite Republican — so long as he is taking positions contrary to his own party. Whenever he injects a dose of reality into the national security debate or fiscal conservative ideas into the economic debate, he is simply another Republican to be ignored in their eyes. But if the President is serious about working with Republicans and not simply humoring them, he might take some of his former rival’s words to heart.

Rosemary44 · January 2009

Susie,

Mail me that drug, I want to sleep through the next 4 years.

Sherri,

I hope there aren't any babies who will no longer be with us who might have found the cure for cancer.

Paulette531 · January 2009

Yes Sherri I too am glad to know that my tax dollars are going to pay for international abortions...maybe now Europeans will "like" us again, cause in the scheme of things that's a fair exchange, kill babies/Europeans like us.

sahalie · January 2009

Happy Birthday abinneb *

Many Happy Returns of this day. Congrats.

Anonymous · January 2009

I'm sorry ... I just feel that in view of our economy, funding MORE things is not a smart move. What about sending LESS money out of the country? Less money abroad for aid, loans and energy ... buy American, reduce spending!

Did anybody see/read Sarah Palin's speech .. her State of the State Address? It's too bad people don't see who she really is. Two years ago she had legislators tighten up the belts, now they have a savings, they are cutting more spending this year. She is not raising taxes and the state of Alaska is in good shape.

Anonymous · January 2009

Oh, this is sad ........ drug dealers will do anything:

They're calling it "The Audacity of Dope", while we think it's all cutting a little too close to home for the comfort of those in the Kool-Aid Gang.

Sort of like Liza Minnelli coming out with her own line of vodka (Liquid Liza!).

Or Oprah marketing the most-calorie-packed, fattening marshmallows ever invented (Marsh-mo-prahs!).

Police in upstate New York have started seizing heroin stamped with the Obama brand, appealing to his followers who want to get high while toking on hopium (and not bothering to pick up their own litter, like they did in Washington on Wednesday).

We thought his followers would start demanding his name and face on our national currency ("Who was Alexander Hamilton anyway? It's racist not to put Obama on the ten dollar bill! Benjamin Franklin was a lousy president - the hundred should be "The Obama"!") - we never dreamed they'd stamp his brand on heroin.

Sure explains a lot, though

vivre · January 2009

Sherri, Everyone thinks Illinois has one party, the dems. There are actually several parties. There is the Blago party, led not by him, but his FIL who made him gov. There is the Daley Party, or da machine ya no. There is a party that calls themselves republicans, but are the definition of RINOS, and there is a downstate party led by the attorney generals old man,Mike Madigan. And there is the Jesse Jackson wingnuts who try to stay relevent by signing on to the group who has the most pull at the moment- or is it the group that has the most pull is the group that kowtows to the JJ party? It is hard to tell. Since there is no opposition party per se, they have to fight with each other to go to the head of the (no) class. They all thought little Blago would be their little lap dog and do whatever they say. But he started to get a too big for his britches, so they decided to turn him in. When he was starting to cause problems for bama, Rhambo stepped in (Rhambo got Blago elected and then jumped ship when bama's star looked brighter), and ratted on Blago to get him out of the way. This whole sting has the MO of what Rhambo has done from day one for bama-get rid of anyone in the way. The reason all these guys stay out of jail is because they all do the same pay to play crap, so no one rats because they are all eating the same moldy cheese. So when Blago got caught with his pants down, all the rats scattered, and then pretend to turn on the crook so they don't get linked. The good news is Blago knows the goods on all of them. I sure hope he brings some of him to his trial as witnesses, notably bama buds, Valerie Jarrett, Emil Jones, Rezko, and Rhambo himself. Sparks are going to fly. Shakespeare could not have written a better comedy, or is it tragedy? I just have this eerie feeling that what has happened in Illinois is going to happen in DC. The dems have all the power, and the rats will be fighting among themselves. They will make a mess of the country just like they made a mess of Illinois, which actually ran pretty well until about 10 years ago.

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McCain Isn’t Swooning

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