j_b Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 True, and don't forget about our presence next door, in Kuwait, although the official line is we don't know how many are just in transit Quote
Mtguide Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 (edited) Hey, c'mon, this is old news---Bush-era. Date on the article is 2009, and the construction was just another no-bid boondoggle of that whole Bush craziness. Don't try to hang this one on Obama, cause he didn't start it. It was a long-done deal by the time he was elected, not a whole lot he could have done about it. Edited January 31, 2012 by Mtguide Quote
kevbone Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Hey, c'mon, this is old news---Bush-era. Date on the article is 2009, and the construction was just another no-bid boondoggle of that whole Bush craziness. Don't try to hang this one on Obama, cause he didn't start it. It was a long-done deal by the time he was elected, not a whole lot he could have done about it. Â Done about it no....do about it yes. Quote
Coldfinger Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 FOUR MORE YEARS! Â At $3.5 billion per...... Quote
jon Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Hey, c'mon, this is old news---Bush-era. Date on the article is 2009, and the construction was just another no-bid boondoggle of that whole Bush craziness. Don't try to hang this one on Obama, cause he didn't start it. It was a long-done deal by the time he was elected, not a whole lot he could have done about it. Â Done about it no....do about it yes. Â How much is Newt's moon colony going to cost? On the bright side there won't be a shortage of cheese. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 How much is Newt's moon colony going to cost? On the bright side there won't be a shortage of cheese. Â Would it ever even happen? Thing about "idea" guys who talk a lot... well often doesn't happen. Although Barack did manage to talk a lot and spend a ton. Â Â Quote
dougd Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 How much is Newt's moon colony going to cost? On the bright side there won't be a shortage of cheese. Â Newt's moon colony "idea" officially rings in the silly season. Â Anyone entering the political arena in America should have their head examined. Â d Quote
jon Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Although Barack did manage to talk a lot and spend a ton. Â The problem I have with this particular statement which is echoed a lot in the right facing crowd is that no alternative, at least to my knowledge, has been proposed of what was supposed to be done when Obama inherited a collapsing economy with a financial system that almost completely stopped working. The right says it was too much money, the leftist economists (Krugman, Roubini, DeLong etc) says it wasn't enough. Who was correct? I guess time will only tell but if he wasn't supposed to spend money what was he to do? I seem to recall getting checks from the Bush Administration on two separate occasions. Is that not spending money? Â I suspect what is happening here is most people that are smart on the right know that Obama had to spend a lot of money, it wasn't going to be pretty, and it was with institutions that helped get us here in the first place, but are playing dumb and into the publics short-sidedness on this issue by exclaiming that he is spending tons of money, forgetting about all the money Bush spent (like on the topic of this thread!). And the reality is if McCain had won the election he would have done the exact same thing, yet here is blasting away at the president while he can't even remember where all his houses are. Â Back to the original topic. It's a shame that someone decided rush an emergency spending bill in 2005 to build such an enormous structure in the part of the world that clearly doesn't want us there. It would be a great gesture to turn it into a University so the Iraqi people can get a better education and move the society forward. Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Back to the original topic. It's a shame that someone decided rush an emergency spending bill in 2005 to build such an enormous structure in the part of the world that clearly doesn't want us there. It would be a great gesture to turn it into a University so the Iraqi people can get a better education and move the society forward. Â Obama could have done that, or canceled the project. He didn't. Â Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Â The problem I have with this particular statement which is echoed a lot in the right facing crowd is that no alternative, at least to my knowledge, has been proposed of what was supposed to be done when Obama inherited a collapsing economy with a financial system that almost completely stopped working. Â Is that "all" he spent money on? Seems Obama was foisting his health care "reform" on the public (really the best timing?), continuing to spend 100's of billions on those wars, AND was not fighting the Republicans to eliminate the tax cuts of Bush or add new taxes. He continued to spend beyond our means and did it in an egregious manner. Quote
dougd Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 The different ways in which folks view the world would certainly be very interesting were it not so sad these days. Â We, and unfortunately for all of us, our political "leaders", prefer to fiddle while rome burns than to fix any goddamned thing... Â Health Care Reform being one notable exception IMHO and in the opinion btw of the majority of the country if you can believe polls. Â d Quote
jon Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Back to the original topic. It's a shame that someone decided rush an emergency spending bill in 2005 to build such an enormous structure in the part of the world that clearly doesn't want us there. It would be a great gesture to turn it into a University so the Iraqi people can get a better education and move the society forward. Â Obama could have done that, or canceled the project. He didn't. Â You are remembering that Obama took office in Jan 09, right? Â "With construction beginning in mid-2005, the original target completion date was September 2007." Â "In May 2008, US diplomats began moving into the embassy." Â "A new embassy opened in January 2009 in the Green Zone in Baghdad." Â So, he was supposed to cancel a near completed project? Quote
ivan Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 So, he was supposed to cancel a near completed project? that is of course irrelevant to the vast majority of folks who want him gone, as they'd have only used his doing just that as election fodder for "cutting n' running, liberal soft-on-defense-and-everything else yadda yadda bullshit" messages, no? Quote
KaskadskyjKozak Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Back to the original topic. It's a shame that someone decided rush an emergency spending bill in 2005 to build such an enormous structure in the part of the world that clearly doesn't want us there. It would be a great gesture to turn it into a University so the Iraqi people can get a better education and move the society forward. Â Obama could have done that, or canceled the project. He didn't. Â You are remembering that Obama took office in Jan 09, right? Â "With construction beginning in mid-2005, the original target completion date was September 2007." Â "In May 2008, US diplomats began moving into the embassy." Â "A new embassy opened in January 2009 in the Green Zone in Baghdad." Â So, he was supposed to cancel a near completed project? Â "The price tag for all of this will run about $3.5 billion a year. So far, Kennedy says, Congress has helped." Â A year. Quote
j_b Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 So, he was supposed to cancel a near completed project? that is of course irrelevant to the vast majority of folks who want him gone, as they'd have only used his doing just that as election fodder for "cutting n' running, liberal soft-on-defense-and-everything else yadda yadda bullshit" messages, no? Â The soft-on-defense message is stupid ("cutting and running" is pre-pubescent posturing) and it should be refuted on its merit, not by continuing the policies of empire. Unfortunately, Obama's motivation to continue military adventurism isn't to appear hard-on-defense for voters. Quote
ivan Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Unfortunately, Obama's motivation to continue military adventurism isn't to appear hard-on-defense for voters. that's probably true, but is irrelevant to the larger point - 'mericans want a president who isn't a jimmy-carter style pussy - obama is geniunely a hawk, albeit a much more cerebral one compared to the last fella crapping in the white house, but a hawk the same - what liberal in the big house, 'cept carter in the past century, wasn't? Quote
j_b Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 The foreign policy Americans want is almost entirely conditioned by reporting in the corporate media. Carter wasn't really a dove wrt Central America and Iran. Quote
j_b Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Hell no. Ron Paul gave a blank check to Bush to do whatever he wanted in Afghanistan. Quote
j_b Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Go Ron Paul! Â Not a very subtle way to call someone a kook without providing any argument. Unfortunately for you there is extensive evidence as to how the corporate media propagandized the Iraq war through the present. Do you need to see that evidence again? Quote
Crux Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Let's see, $3.5 billion a year under Obama is unacceptable, but $100 billion a year under Bush was OK. Â Got it. Quote
ivan Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 Carter wasn't really a dove wrt Central America and Iran. carter was certainly a dove on iran - jesus christ in a jump suit, what do you think either of our last 2 presidents would have done w/ something like the iran hostage crisis? obama woulda used drones to kill everyman on the street in tehran, and bush would have gotten so excited he'd accidentally invade iraq Quote
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