Given her attorney’s weird threats against the press over Todd & Sarah’s Wasilla bribery scheme, something foul in Alaska is quaking like an aspen tonight.

I shudder to say it, but Ron Paul would be about the only US politician saying something along those lines.

I think Obama’s crew are pretty amoral, Republican clones, but not so stupid that they don’t realize that even the topic of Israel attacking Iran, with NO reaction from us, does nothing but strengthen Iran’s leadership a this time. IMO, FWIW.

Meanwhile, Biden appears to have gotten some pushback in Iraq from his newfound status of Iraqiguru.

Hopefully Obama does realize and remember (of course he does) that Biden’s who Iraqi Solution Gameplan involved carving Iraq up into lesser components (a Khurdish, Sunni and Shia province). So as you are pulling troops out of the cities and predicting violent clashes and there is a greater and greater need for Iraqs military to actually act as a cohesive unit, is it really the time to send Biden over as our voice on Iraq?

I’m probably wrong on this, but reading between the lines to me this sounds like Biden was pushing Maliki on the Biden plan, to divy up Iraq as a way of quelling internal violence, and Maliki was getting hot under the collar over it:

Iraq on Saturday told the United States to back off in its attempts to resolve rows between the strife-torn country’s sects, saying such interference could cause problems and make matters worse.

The message was directed at visiting US Vice President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly voiced concern about lingering feuds between Iraq’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish communities being a roadblock to political progress.

“We don’t want other parties to interfere in this matter because it will cause complications,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on state television, referring to the country’s national reconciliation process.

“(Joe Biden) has to convey to President (Barack) Obama the common desire of Iraqis to solve their problems together,” he said.

Biden was also apparently telling Stephanopolus that the unemployment figures right now are a result of “no one” understanding how bad the economy actually had been. ???? And yet … I seem to recall things like a Nobel prize winning economist in columns with a major paper and tv and even on his blog, over and over saying the stim pack was too little, too much tax breaks not enough job stimulus, etc. Blog posts here and throughout “the left” as well – then there was input from another econ guru, Stiglitz … I think it has become very clear just where anyone to the left of Goldman Sachs on the economy and to the left of Jack Goldsmith on disappearing people into forever torture stands with the Obama administration. They are “no one.”

Seriously, when Dana Rohrbacher is to the left of Obama on the Uighurs, and when Democrats fall all over themselves to consent to a CIA gen counsel who just can’t for the life of him decide wtf is torture and certainly can’t commit to making sure he won’t allow any, I really don’t have any-much desire to see any of them re-elected. As ineffective as they were as the “loyal opposition” they at least did things like block Rizzo’s appointment.

Oh well. It’s an odd day when the thing I seen on the innertubes that makes me least perturbed is a kos diary on Schumer making halfway commitments to a maybekindasorta public option.

I’m still trying to like Biden, but I wish he sounded more like Admiral Mullen. Is there anyone who will say that any attack on Iran would be utterly disastrous and wrong both short-term and long, and civilized peoples don’t want to hear this c**p any longer?

That Haaretz piece is a bastardization of what Biden actually stated, and that’s uncharacteristic of that particular paper. Clearly his words meant Israel can’t count on the support of the Obama administration for a bombing run on or notionally targeting Iranian nuclear facilities; but it came out of his mouth couched in ‘new improved Obama pragmatic realism’, thus leaving entirely open — because entirely unaddressed — I reject Georgie S’s spin he asked after this “three times” — the nature of the U.S. position should Iran retaliate. That Haaretz of all Israeli outlets would spin it thus means this is being encouraged or permitted as part of the Obama ’soft pressure’ diplomacy, in this case towards Iran.

Where does the 1st amendment stand re Weymouth’s scheme? iow, if it were Matt Cooper and Judy Judy, would Fitz be able to compel testimony if it happened at a Weymouth party?

Now I know: Froomkin got the best deal!