Sheen gathers over a million Twitter followers in a day. He opened a Twitter account with the help of Hollywood product placement company Ad.ly. The company, doing this ‘pro bono’, specializes in celebrity endorsements. Sheen is open about his motive: money. After all, Kim Kardashian earns $10,000 per contractual tweet. Depending how fast he types, not a bad gig.
Meanwhile, Newt’s debut for the Big Dance 2012 is mess. For his last chance at the brass ring one would think 12 years was enough time to get basics down. So how bemusing to see Newt remains Newt — strategic trial balloons leaked and then immediately knocked down by his own people. The right hand is not talking to the righter hand. To wit, nobody coordinating tying up his financial matters before showing ankle to the press. His Fox contractual implications not considered. etc.
His big moment today? Walked back so far, it’s beyond feeble. He can only announce an intention to set up an exploratory committee.
For those who’ve spent time with him, vintage Newt. Disorder, confusion and last minute scramble to assemble an after the fact narrative. Same as it ever was. Can’t wait for the campaign. Really.
Bob Gates is a frustrated man. It’s March 2011 and he’s *again* a lonely voice warning Congress, Obama and other audiences against mounting military operations in a third Muslim nation. Both Gates (and some military, to be fair) warn that a ‘no fly’ zone is not a simple speech but a complex military operation. It can only be established after destroying Libyan radars, AAA, air field infrastructure, etc. And that’s not mentioning calls to insert American ground troops in the midst of another Muslim civil war. The Boy King? Perhaps for diplomatic maneuver room he leaves the door open to no-fly requests from a motley assortment of ‘provisional opposition leaders.’
Gates surely must know the way to jam Obama is to play on his Goldilocks Syndrome. That means manipulation of the extreme options to ensure his compulsion to compromise lands the U.S. where *you* want. A problem? Everyone else knows the game and they get a vote, too.
So any bets which will last longer? Newt’s campaign? Khadaffi’s stand? Or Sheen-mania?
Comment says
Smug liberals at the NY Times typically begin article in such a way as to mislead the 50%plus of readers who skim 1st graph and to help Republicans quote out of context for ads.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/nyregion/10christie.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Tbilisi says
@sglover
I actually agree with you. We’re not a player, but my only point was that if we’re going throw our words around like we are/once were, then we owe something to people who actually take us at our word.
Dr Leo Strauss says
“The sorts of civic virtue for a large, modern pluralistic society, and the appropriate means to promote them, may differ from those required for a homogenous small, pre-modern city-state.” ~ Christine O’Donnell (or was it Mika Brezinski?)
Comment says
“What passes for politics today will be unmasked as religion tomorrow.”
~Michelle Bachman (or was it Kierkegaard?)
Comment says
If we had to guess – the smarter people calling for no-fly
know it will fail – They just want Obama to get stuck
having to escalate and then have cred on the line.
McCain is just pro war.
Ann-Marie Slaughter on Charlie Rose now saying
“we” have a moral duty to bomb Libya if Libyans want us
to.
Now Leon Weiseltier is demanding we arm the rebels – Perhaps, he
can volunteer.
As Leon lectures about the new Libyans – no one asks him if he ever visited Libya.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Marine general tells McCain helicopters, not aircraft, are biggest military advantage for Khaddafi. More bad news for McCain: helicopters are not greatly hindered by no-fly zones.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/08/senate.hearing.libya/index.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Talleyrand stole that from Charlie Black. Really.
Comment says
“For forty years I was the most morally discredited man in Europe, yet I was all-powerful in government, or on the threshold of it.”
~Talleyrand (but feel free to attribute to Palin)
Comment says
Kissinger throws his moral weight behind spy. Obama can’t goldilocks this one:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/07/AR2011030702491.html
Dr Leo Strauss says
It’s odd to see Tweety take umbrage at Wing Nut dog whistle signaling when he himself traffics them nightly.
Comment says
Yeah – we thought so – The quote is very much in the Talleyrand spirit and very different than Voltaire. Surprised Lind made that mistake – It’s sort of Tweetish error.
Sometimes we attribute Ho Chi Mihn’s alleged quote: “If you sit beside the river long enough – you will eventually see all your enemies float by” to Condi Rice – But we do that for fun.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Talleyrand said that of Louis XVIII after dismissal by the Bourbons following Napoleon’s 100 days.
Gordon Brown got skewered for making the same mistake confusing the Hapsburgs with Bourbons.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/7271978/Gordon-Brown-confuses-Hapsburgs-and-Bourbons.html
Comment says
Lind attribs. Talleyrand’s comment about the Bourbons to Voltaire describing Hapsburgs- Or are we wrong?
http://www.salon.com/news/libya/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/03/08/lind_libya_no_fly
Comment says
If we were Colbert – we’d tell every loan recipient to send Morris a urine sample now – As a head start.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0311/Dick_Morris_calls_Ron_Paul_horrific.html
Comment says
“I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total freaking rock star from Mars.”
~Charlie Sheen
Comment says
BTW FWIW:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzJRDjpPS_I
Comment says
Re Spitzer – have not seen it in a few months – Though was thought it bad he hired that FNC former host to replace the last lady. This is CNN LOSING because they are afraid to have Spitzer go on by himself and kick ass like Bill O’.
Spitzer should be on every night with serious experts explaining why so and so is a criminal etc etc . He should be going after big shots. But CNN is afraid. Recall theyy fired Eason Jordan because of a winger complaints.
McCain reminds us of our Aunt – a few years ago she told us she bought a Zenith TV instead of Sony because she though it was Made in USA.
Saw Jack Welch the other day w/ smug sycophants of Morning Joe laughing as said Americans don’t care where something is made – only if it’s cheap.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Agree Spitzer’s temperament ill-suited for a presidency. How is his show now? Worth checking out?
Comment says
This reminds us why we were happy to see Spitzer humbled – We thought he was a good Gov. But he wanted to be President and he is brilliant and ruthless – He would have been a disaster.
http://www.slate.com/id/2287481/
Comment says
Romney picks on the Post Office – implies he would close it. Stupid – but then again no one believes he is sincere That’s his prob.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment McCain’s Apple flub resonates because the first thing all Apple customers see opening an Apple box is “Designed in California, Made in China”. It’s akin to the old ‘how much does a gallon of milk cost?’ question.
Comment says
Incidentally – we noted we liked the phrase “tigerblood” shortly after we heard it from Sheen – Looks like we’re not alone – It’s been trending on Twitter for a week now.#winning
Comment says
Btw – just heard on CBS radio that McCain just completed a fact finding tour of the Middle East and now even he is recommending a military attack on Libya. Shocking.
Comment says
Just a small but funny IMO example of CNN congenital suckiness – In their endless quest to dumb down just about every bit of news they have to contextualize a basic fact about one of the most common consumer products as “techie” nerd knowledge. So they seem to be saying that McCain is not out of it – he’s just not a nerd.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/06/mccain-flunks-made-in-america-101/
Dr Leo Strauss says
British Foreign Secretary takes responsibility for MI6/SAS fiasco in Libya.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/mar/07/william-hague-libya-full-responsibility
Dr Leo Strauss says
Movin’ on up !
Callista steps out.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50740.html
Comment says
Roughly 50% of all comments we make have an apostrophe error – Sorry.
DrLeoStrauss says
Covert military aid via Saudis makes more sense at this juncture.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/americas-secret-plan-to-arm-libyas-rebels-2234227.html
DrLeoStrauss says
Global Paradigms offers a nice write up on the post-post-American world of today.
Well written and incisive as usual.
http://globalparadigms.blogspot.com/2011/03/postmodern-thinker.html
Comment says
Incidentally, God also called other nation’s dispensable in Isaiah 40 (America excepted portion lost) – No excuse for Albright though.
Comment says
@sglover
Albright was a disgrace – she called other nations dispensable. She said only America was indispensable – Plus, the defense of Albright we’ve heard from liberals makes her sound worse – namely, she was just offering up chauvinistic bluster for the masses. We’d prefer some earnest simple country folk yelling Freedom Fries to what she said. Then again, no one’s perfect.
sglover says
Tblisi — you make an eloquent case. But Daniel Larison makes one at least as good:
http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2011/03/05/america-has-nothing-at-stake-in-libya/
Also, to my mind, it’s not at all undesirable that “we have NO business being a player in this world”. We don’t. (“We”, of course, means the tiny sliver of Beltway Caesars who craft what they laughably call our “foreign policy”, our “strategy”.)
I’m not a nostalgist, and I don’t think there was ever a Golden Age of American diplomacy. Nonetheless, we are no longer a society that listens to a John Quincy Adams or a George Marshall. Albright, Christopher, Powell, Rice, Clinton, Petreaus — this is the kind of “talent” we turn to, and can expect. With such people calling the shots, it’s raw hubris to even think of ourselves as “players”.
Comment says
Best Corporal yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugz7W17GQOs&feature=player_embedded
Comment says
Great fotos:
http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/02/23/from-the-archive-frontier-life-in-the-west/2713/
Comment says
Both F. Ajama and David Brooks literally rolled their eyes when they asked to comment on Bob Gates cautionary words.
Tbilisi says
Re Libya, The fundamental question for me is, if we are neither willing nor capable of helping what are truly freedom fighters to victory in a not-unimportant country, then we have NO business being a player in this world. If we won’t – or even worse, can’t – successfully intervene in Libya, then we need to pack everyone up and bring them home. Not just from AF/IQ, but everywhere. Obama has made it clearer than Bush – US Foreign Policy is not for American interests and not for American ideals, but is for glory, the wealth, and the power of the select few. How motherfucking European of him.
sglover: to answer your question, we would be fighting for the freedom of the Libyan people, or more specifically we would be fighting so that the brave Libyan partisans would win. This would still be true even in spite of the fact that American leaders and a good proportion of the American people today have so thoroughly polluted the word ‘freedom’ with their ignorance, their cowardice, and their limitless self absorption that uttering it earnestly feels wrong.
Dr Leo Strauss says
‘Let’s use special forces in Libya. What could go wrong?’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12658054
Brit news reporting rebels captured SAS troops in Libya.
DrLeoStrauss says
Good point. Plus, locating in an existing metropolitan city would force government culture to co-exist with economic and cultural activity un-related to governmental sycophants. Eventually the toxicity would poison even the most vibrant existing industries and culture.
sglover says
“My reservation, however, is that we never know when to stop. Who’s to say Libya wouldn’t be out newest “nation building” debacle? ”
And that’s it, full stop. By now, anybody who says, “Aw, heck, it’ll be just a **little** bomb’n’strafe, no ground troops. In, out, easy!”, is ripping up their membership in the Order of Sentient Beings.
As Davey Brooks did, just last night, when I was stuck in the car and (stupidly) opted to tune in to National Piety Radio. Davey was doing that sweet “I think I’ll talk out of my ass” McNeil-Lehrer (is it still called that?) gig. God I’d love to get paid for **that**.
Question for the Beltway Caesars: Suppose we follow their brave counsel. Do they have even the slightest wisp of a vapor of a hint whom we’d be fighting **for**?!?! Does even one of these clowns know the slightest thing about Libya? I already have a pretty good idea of the answer…. But what continues to amaze, even now, is how completely obtuse, how totally un-self-aware, our “leadership” caste really is.
Y’know, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to relocate the capital to, say, St. Louis. True, the same crowd of hangers-on would eventually congregate there, but the disruption would buy the society a little time…..
DrLeoStrauss says
Obama Administration walks back from “regime change” in Middle East in favor of ‘regime alteration.’
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580004576180522653787198.html
What’s Arabic for ‘Goldilocks’?
Redhand says
I’m not sure I can add anything to the discussions about Sheen and Newt. Both are hopeless publicity whores and egomaniacs whose continued presence on the public stage is a sad commentary on our society. Get the hook! Failing that, where are the rotten vegetables we can throw?
As for the Boy King and Libya, there’s a case to be made, I think, for taking out Qua-daffy in an air strike or with special forces, if only to prevent him from committing further slaughter of the Libyan rebels and civilians. I think it’s possible to cobble up a justification on international “crimes against humanity/war crimes” grounds despite the hypocrisy inherent the U.S. doing the deed. (Thank you once again, W., Cheney, Rummy!) I’d want us to just go in and kill the bastard, and let the rest of them fight it out: it would be interesting to see if Muramar’s viscous, idiot sons could carry on the struggle after 42 years with Dad in center stage.
My reservation, however, is that we never know when to stop. Who’s to say Libya wouldn’t be out newest “nation building” debacle? Not me. Watch HBO’s “The Battle for Marjah” or “Restrepo” and ask yourself, What in God’s name we are trying to accomplish in Afghanistan?
Looks to me like it’s just more mindless death and mayhem because withdrawing from a hopeless situation would be “letting the terrorists win” and a poor set-up for 2012.
Comment says
@DrLeoStrauss McCain is Colonel Blimp – Constantly wants new and expanded wars against WOGS real and imagined.
Saw J. Rubin in WaPo saying USA is being shameful not to attack Libya – Same word as Lupus Maximus used. Damm – these people all Project. Just like McCain saying for him war is the last resort.
DrLeoStrauss says
Gates on March 4th spoke at the AF Academy . He warned the Air Force might relapse when he steps down to its old Jedi Knights ways, preferring manned platforms of old instead of embracing new technologies. An Ozymandias moment for sure.
Gates also found time on his valedictory to comment on the crucial role Boy Scouts play today.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/dallas/headlines/20110303-defense-chief-gates-praises-boy-scouts-as-valuable-in-a-chaotic-world.ece
DrLeoStrauss says
McCain being McCain, attacking Gates over Libya and no-fly.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/03/04/gates.mecain/
Comment says
@sglover
Scratch that – doesn’t sound right – Nikki Haley said it better – ie Newt had his time and place.
Comment says
@sglover Newt is masochist who always wanted to be a sadist – So he wants everyone else to suffer with him. He has no chance – He tried to act all grown up and serious at the lecturn today – A pose no one really takes seriously from him. In a sense, his demeanor was a lie –
Comment says
Obama was helped when Lupus Maximus called for Libyan intervention – This immediately branded it as bull s*** idea.
sglover says
I don’t understand. I have it on good authority from Joe “Air Cadet” Lieberman that not only is Qaddafi evil incarnate (as of about mid-February 2011), but also that setting up a “no-fly” zone is completely simple, cost-free and certain to get the results we want, er, “Freedom” demands. You gonna question a guy with his record of wisdom and integrity?
Does the Newtster have some kind of masochism complex, or is he actually so completely devoid of self-awareness? I mean, every comedian in the literate world has got to be yearning for him to drag his pudgy hide back into the limelight. The sleaze jokes write themselves, no?
Dr Leo Strauss says
Nate Silver on Newt’s odds.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/few-winning-scenarios-for-gingrich/
Dr Leo Strauss says
New blog for Newt’s campaign, Newt in front of stock photos.
http://newtinfrontofstockphotos.tumblr.com/