Beware of Blondes

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David Brooks on the rivalries and tensions in McCain's inner-circle

This week a potential scandal broke out threatening the McCain candidacy. Another hawt blonde: Vicki Iseman. Blondes are deadly to political careers.

One angle that I found interesting involves some remarks by Rush Limbaugh. I usually dismiss him as just someone who throws red meat to the hardcore Republican masses, but his remarks about the lesson that McCain should take from the Times reporting may be telling. He said that McCain should understand that this is why he shouldn't have any dealings with liberal media such as the Times, because they are supposedly just about breaking down conservatives, suggesting that our Culture War may run even deeper than I would have thought. This also explains why Dubya seems to give interviews only to Fox News. In any case, regarding the Iseman scandal, Brooks concludes:

At his press conference Thursday, McCain went all-in. He didn’t just say he didn’t remember a meeting about Iseman. He said there was no meeting. If it turns out that there is evidence of an affair and a meeting, then his presidential hopes will be over.

The 2008 election just keeps getting interestinger and interestinger.

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Beware of Blondes

♠
David Brooks on the rivalries and tensions in McCain's inner-circle

This week a potential scandal broke out threatening the McCain candidacy. Another hawt blonde: Vicki Iseman. Blondes are deadly to political careers.

One angle that I found interesting involves some remarks by Rush Limbaugh. I usually dismiss him as just someone who throws red meat to the hardcore Republican masses, but his remarks about the lesson that McCain should take from the Times reporting may be telling. He said that McCain should understand that this is why he shouldn't have any dealings with liberal media such as the Times, because they are supposedly just about breaking down conservatives, suggesting that our Culture War may run even deeper than I would have thought. This also explains why Dubya seems to give interviews only to Fox News. In any case, regarding the Iseman scandal, Brooks concludes:

At his press conference Thursday, McCain went all-in. He didn’t just say he didn’t remember a meeting about Iseman. He said there was no meeting. If it turns out that there is evidence of an affair and a meeting, then his presidential hopes will be over.

The 2008 election just keeps getting interestinger and interestinger.

xXx

Kosovo

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In recent days, Western leaders have watched with growing alarm as Serbia’s hard-line prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, who helped lead the revolution that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, has replicated the nationalist talk of the late dictator, who used Serbs’ outrage that their ancestral heartland was dominated by Muslim Albanians to come to power in Serbia.

“As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia,” Mr. Kostunica told the crowd in Belgrade. “We’re not alone in our fight. President Putin is with us,” he said of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

-- BOSTJAN VIDEMSEK and DAN BILEFSKY for The New York Times

In other big news this week, the American embassy in Belgrade was set on fire by Serbians in protest of our backiing of Kosovo's newly declared independence. The article suggests that this may be more about hard-right huffing and puffing than a true crisis, as moderate and younger Serbians are more interested in becoming part of the European Union rather than the status of Kosovo.

No less critically, it is also suggested that the Russians are not likely to step in big to squash Kosovo independence, but there may be more reason to worry. Recently, the Russians made a splash in the news when their fighter pilots buzzed our military ships. It was argued that the petro-dollar rich Russians under Putin are interested in showing off their status and power. Might they not choose the Kosovo issue as an opportunity to show up the Americans, as we are a bit over-extended to take on a full military challenge.

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Christopher Hitchens on some Kosovo hisotry

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Kosovo

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In recent days, Western leaders have watched with growing alarm as Serbia’s hard-line prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, who helped lead the revolution that overthrew Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, has replicated the nationalist talk of the late dictator, who used Serbs’ outrage that their ancestral heartland was dominated by Muslim Albanians to come to power in Serbia.

“As long as we live, Kosovo is Serbia,” Mr. Kostunica told the crowd in Belgrade. “We’re not alone in our fight. President Putin is with us,” he said of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

-- BOSTJAN VIDEMSEK and DAN BILEFSKY for The New York Times

In other big news this week, the American embassy in Belgrade was set on fire by Serbians in protest of our backiing of Kosovo's newly declared independence. The article suggests that this may be more about hard-right huffing and puffing than a true crisis, as moderate and younger Serbians are more interested in becoming part of the European Union rather than the status of Kosovo.

No less critically, it is also suggested that the Russians are not likely to step in big to squash Kosovo independence, but there may be more reason to worry. Recently, the Russians made a splash in the news when their fighter pilots buzzed our military ships. It was argued that the petro-dollar rich Russians under Putin are interested in showing off their status and power. Might they not choose the Kosovo issue as an opportunity to show up the Americans, as we are a bit over-extended to take on a full military challenge.

___ ___ ___

Christopher Hitchens on some Kosovo hisotry

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The Pythons Are Coming

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As climate change warms the nation, giant Burmese pythons could colonize one-third of the USA, from San Francisco across the Southwest, Texas and the South and up north along the Virginia coast, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps released Wednesday.

The pythons can be 20 feet long and 250 pounds. They are highly adaptable to new environments.

-- Elizabeth Weise for USA Today

Because rattlesnakes and killer bees aren't enough.

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The Pythons Are Coming

♠
As climate change warms the nation, giant Burmese pythons could colonize one-third of the USA, from San Francisco across the Southwest, Texas and the South and up north along the Virginia coast, according to U.S. Geological Survey maps released Wednesday.

The pythons can be 20 feet long and 250 pounds. They are highly adaptable to new environments.

-- Elizabeth Weise for USA Today

Because rattlesnakes and killer bees aren't enough.

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