With so much going on in the world, at least there are people like Jon Stewart and Bill Maher to lighten the reality of global politics. Jon Stewart did a story covering the Democratic Race for Presidency and their debate in Miami. The initial language spoken for the debate was Spanish and the Presidential hopefuls answered in English, having it translated. Bill Richardson was barred from speaking Spanish as to not give him an obvious edge to the Latin audience but soon forgot this ban and responded in Spanish (I wonder how that went over in the green room!). And then proceeded to say Chris Dodd attempted to win favor by telling the audience he was filled with delicious candy (for those a little lost ... it's a piñata joke).
Another story discussed was in regard to the questioning of General Petraeus. During which, Barbara Boxer took over 7 minutes to ask a single question! The Senator from South Carolina actually made the idiotic statement saying that Iraq is failing because of it's location! Saying if Iraq were located anywhere else in the world, the Democratic government would work. What?! In the course of the entire "line of questioning" it seemed every Senator lost their gull and acted as if Iraq was going smoothly. SCARY! Also, Senator Joe Lieberman asked General Petraeus if he needed permission to go after Iran. Good God! Is everyone in the government drinking the same "crazy" as Jon Stewart put it?
In all seriousness, what is it with this Administration and their insatiable appetite for war? Is there no common sense left in them at all? I mean they are certainly succeeding at one thing: flushing us down the toilet of foreign affairs. We are the laughing stock of the world and rightfully so. With a President that throws the word "war" around in the same sentence as "responsibility", I'm wondering if he even has a clue about what he's really saying. (Let's keep in mind Bush, Jr. doesn't really speak too clearly as it is - a little confusion about the English language ... maybe that's why he's so hell-bent of starting world wars.)
Where are the Congressional leaders that were interested in fighting the good fight? A lot of talk on both sides but no one has done a thing to change the course this country is heading in. Whoever becomes the next President has more on the table than they bargained for. No one will be able to clean up this mess. It's going to take decades to undo the damage that has been done by this Administration.
On a side note, Bush recently told the nation he would be deploying soldiers out of Iraq slowly and this time next year would consider bringing more troops back once things stabilize over there. If that's what we're really waiting for, our men and women won't be back until they're grandparents. The situation there is beyond our saving. The fights they are fighting between Sunni and Shiite have gone on long before we arrived and will continue if and when we ever leave.
Let me just say this: Being an occupier in a country that continues to question our intention (which I'm beginning to wonder why everyone isn't questioning our intention) is not a good place to be. No one wants to be "occupied". The word itself leaves a sort of twisted sour, salty, uninviting taste in your mouth. That's like asking who wants to suck down a bag full of razorblades. While some (a very slim and questionably sane some) may give it a go, the vast majority of the world would pass. We should have passed on the Iraq war, we should pass on going to fight with Iran, and we SHOULD focus on how to rescue ourselves from a continually hating world. A world that sees us as egomaniacs looking for a new vanity thrill. We need to walk away when the battle is clearly not going in our favor. We need to put the cowboy toys away and start using the logic and scientific data showing us that our desire to bring democracy to the world is ripping us apart from the international community. A community we desperately need to be a part of.
