This Weak
posted by TheDon

This Week With George Stephanopoulos

Terrorist Plot Foiled! Whatever. Discussed by FBI guy. No weapons. Not operational. No ties to Al Queda. Starting to sound familiar.

GS hammers him a little on the lack of focus on home-grown threats and the phony focus on AQ.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani shows up.

“I don’t blame them (Americans getting impatient).” “Withdrawing forces without achieving success will harm the Iraqi people and the people of the US” Says the Iraqis can take over security at the end of NEXT year (2008). Trusts Malaki to dismantle militias. Says some of Muqtada al Sadr’s people are bad, and *some* of his militias are run by bad people. Says (despite polls) that most Iraqis love the occupation. Especially Kurds. Claims the parliament which voted to end the occupation was deceived and doesn’t mean it.

W claims he supports Baker-Hamilton, just like he always have. Pretty good laugh line

Talibani stays with his original assessment that B-H was unjust.

Thanks “glorious people of US” for dying there for his people and their liberation.
Says we only get the bad news out of Iraq. His ability to spin and twist would do an American politician proud.

Murtha comes on.

GS asks Murtha what happens if the benchmarks aren’t met. Murtha says a disaster is coming and coming fast. Talks about how bad the situation in Iraq is – water, electricity, security, etc. Says homegrown terror is inspired by Iraq war.

Murtha expresses reservations about believing what Petraeus and other military leaders say, since they seem to be parroting W administration lines. Calls out Iraqis for not doing enough, especially for not including Sunnis, claiming that it keeps surrounding Sunni countries from helping in Iraq.

GS pushes Murtha for caving on war vote. Murtha goes with “we don’t have a veto-proof congress”. Claims that veto-proof congress is coming.

GS talks about the Korea model. Murtha gives it the proper amount of respect.
“The key is to start to withdraw, and force them to rewrite their constitution.””We must do what is best for OUR country, not for Iraq.”

brief parry about the earmarks controversy

Roundtable time!

Thompson first, of course. (sigh)

clip of Thompson sounding like an idiot and a hack.

George Will says R’s are in the grip of Reagan nostalgia, and they won’t find another Reagan. Calls Thompson “McCain without the immigration issue”.

Cokie says the problem is that the R’s don’t have a candidate.

Sam says Thompson *is* the Reagan candidate, but wonders if he has Reagan’s substance. Hey! Don’t set the bar so high! I have a Shih Tzu with more substance than Reagan.

blah blah blah – just don’t care about Fred that much.

How do candidates deal with Bush for next 18 months? Consensus – by running away from him.

But Will thinks that will be tricky since Bush=War, and both are popular for the primary mouth-breathers on the right. Not so much in the general election.

Sam once again implies that Thompson is lazy.

W talks about how good Americans are, and how proud he is to be our leader. gag.

Sam goes way out on a limb and says W is not an evil man. ummmm… guess he hasn’t watched TV during his retirement.

Will goes to Limbaugh talking points on global warming, Sam calls him on it.

W – We must not let Al Queda keep the safe haven we have created for them in Iraq. Something like that. I might not have that exactly right.

In memoriam – 37 soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq. Jeebuz.

This week’s voice: Kyle Petty – NASCAR driver – made a camp for sick kids. Anybody who makes kids smile is good by me.

Sunday Funnies
includes a clip from FoxNoise’s 1/2 Hour News Hour:”There are reports that Fred Thompson’s portrayal of a racist character on TV in the ’80s could hurt his chances of being elected president today, particularly among people unable to distinguish between television and real life.” WOW! Talk about going after your own base!

credits roll