Cheney really is in control.

Sturgis: The very fact that Blatham dresses himself in his avatar as A Mountie should give you a clue. The other clue is obtained by recognizing that he lists Vancouver as his location.

I don't believe a word about what he says about Manhattan. Neither should you.

Ratzenhofer!!!

Berlin's next.

Heheheehehee.....Mortkat made a wrong assumptioon about where Blatham lives...does that count as a Ratzenhofer?

Nope. That's just stupid.

Our friends are guided by the beauty of their weapons.

Oh, the bit about blatham's living in Manhattan is entirely believeable, and I have no doubt that it is true.

The bit about a pretty lady falling in love with him...?

Now if he had written a pretty young thing had fallen in love with him...

Pretty Young Thing? Pretty Young Thing? Finn, you don't mean...................??

No, not at all.

Merely the latest move in a game in which blatham and I engage.

In our game, finn wears the perky maid outfit.

I'm not sure what is going on with Cheney. He is back doing high-profile speeches after an extended period of being pretty much out of sight.

Clearly, this is related to Murtha's entry into the picture and to the overall decline in polls re Bush's trustworthiness (Cheney is attacking the idea that there was deceit involved in how the administration presented the war).

He's doing the Tarzan dominant thing (whatever else, don't look like you are defensive or a weenie). That's a fundamental notion this administration has about presenting itself but Bush isn't doing it now and that seems odd.

It could be good cop/bad cop. It could be that there are two strong ideological factions in the WH (or, less charitably, that Bush and Cheney aren't on the same wavelength and Bush can't control Cheney).

The war is now apparently out of the administration's hand. The call today from the Iraqi officials for a schedule of withdrawl of American troops is one more key element putting control elsewhere than in administration hands - the American public wants out, the moderates in the party increasingly want out, the military surely is turning away from the project too (Murtha represents this), the Iraqi citizens want the US out (assuming Murtha's 80% claim is approximately true), and the war is just killing the budget and Repub chances in 2006 and beyond.

It seems likely there is a core contingent of neoconservatives and hawks who still believe but they are pretty much the only ones left.

Cheney fits that last category, but is he so dull as to think his rhetoric can change all these other dynamics?

Or, is Cheney actually thinking of running for President in 2008?

Cheney does represent a true-believer centerpoint in the party and in the overall new conservative movement, not merely the neoconservative crowd of Wolfowitz and others. He has become, according to Scowcroft, increasingly radical in his ideas.

If anyone would have had a good understanding of Bush Jr's lack of capacity/competence for the Presidency yet (looking back to Bush's nomination for the Repub ticket ) his attractiveness as a candidate at that time if marketed competently, Cheney would have been one of the power brokers most cognizant of those factors. It's acknowledged that this is the most powerful/influential vice president in US political history and given those other factors above, it isn't difficult to find valid reason to go along with the notion of Bush as something of a puppet.

So, let's assume that Cheney is a key centre in the Republican/conservative movement with its goal of huge and radical policy shifts via widespread political control for a duration of some thirty years. In that light, one would predict Cheney to be working now towards decreasing/stopping the collapse of the hopes for achieving these goals.

Who might the real power brokers in the Republican machine count on to be sufficiently electable in 2008? Santorum is heading down along with whoever gets caught up in the Abramoff scandal. McCain is, in many ways, a direct enemy and threat to the Cheney crowd. Guiliani will be somewhat manipulatable, but likely not enough, and the Christian crowd won't be happy with him.

So Cheney might be the best bet, in his crowd's eyes.

and a different take from Dickerson at Slate...
http://www.slate.com/id/2130793/?nav=tap3

Cheney's Challenge
Cheney's Challenge

Blatham says it could be "good cop/bad cop" with Cheney and Bush's comments. Actually, both Cheney and Bush praised John Murtha.

quote- Chicago Tribune- P. 3- Nov.22nd 2005

"Vice President Dick Cheney praised Rep. John Murtha on Monday, becoming the latest senior Republican to back off attacks on the pro-military Pennsylvania Democrat who called last week for withdrawing US forces from Iraq, but Cheney kept the heat on critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy saying those who advocate a quick pullout are engaged in a "dangerous illusion". In a speech to the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Cheney praised Murth as "a good man, a marine, a patriot ECHOING PRESIDENT BUSH'S PRAISE FOR HIM SATURDAY>" end of quote.

Good Cop/Bad cop????????????????????????

Nah - damage control. They know Mean Jean's attack has backfired something terrible. They also know that smearing anyone who disagrees with them as being "unpatriotic" (a major crime in the US it would appear) is also blowing up in their faces so they're scrambling. Hence Dick sucking up to Murtha. Just damage control.

Too late though.

Never too late.

Damage already done. Can't put Humpty back together again.

Duelling homilies

And now Bubp is claiming he never actually told Schmidt what she said he said. And nobody is answering their phones.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Congresswomans-Comments.html

Nobody is answering their phones? Who is nobody?

What garbage!!!!!

This seems to be a silly sort of political gossip.