Missing Monica On the Air?

I know! I miss me too. I've been traveling, so I've been airing some "Best Of" Monica radio shows and have been AWOL from The McLaughlin Group. But fear not! Your Monica withdrawal is about to end. I am back in the saddle on radio and The McLaughlin Group this next week. So liberals: enjoy these final days without me. And conservatives: take heart! The Monica cavalry is riding back to the rescue.

Comments

[timothy_d11]

DUMMAH you're COMPLETELY FUC#ING HOPELESS.

You think you're enlightened with your alternative media but you're just sadly misinformed and brainwashed. You're the type of weak-minded person with silly putty for brains that in Nazi Germany could be convinced that it was justifiable for the Holocaust. You believe everything you hear as long as it comes from the alternative fringe right wing media.

Plain and simple you're a naive, gullible, paranoid and delusional fuc#ing moron.

[M/M]

I signed a petition to help put Cynthia McKinney on the ballot for President. You go girl.

http://www.runcynthiarun.org/

[Account Deleted]

Monica,

Looking forward to having you back.

Buchanan and Zuckerman were brilliant today on TMG. Buchanan pinned the blame for the housing bubble and bank failures squarely on the Fed, where it belongs. When asked by McLaughlin if the Fed should be abolished, Pat hesitated for a split second but one could tell he was itching to give the ‘right’ answer: yes! OK, maybe that is a bit extreme, but it is nevertheless appealing to Conservatives, who look on concentration of power at any level with disdain, to contemplate the removal of it from the likes of Greenspan, Paulson, Bernanke, et. al. Intelligence does not beget infallibility and the economy of the United States, hence the world, is too complex to leave to one or several men.

Increase money supply, M2, at a steady rate and the economy will grow without inflation. The Fed should only have emergency powers.

Zuckerman knew the origins of Freddie’s and Fannie’s troubles and was insightful about the outcome of the present crisis, albeit perhaps a bit dire and foreboding.

Could you come on in place of Clift? That would make it a real discussion.

Regards,

[Account Deleted]

Timothy,

I previously honored your service to our country. Do not now dishonor it yourself by using language that should remain in the engine room of a Naval ship and insulting the very people and the country whom you were privileged to serve.

You may have good ideas, but that is hard to discern through all the noise you insist on emitting.

Peace,

[M/M]

I can't remember who said what, but I thought Pat made the point that the Fed has been irresponsible because by increasing our money supply and keeping our interest low, it is devaluing the dollar.

I think they should ditch Clarence Page. Eleanor reminded us that China is holding our a substantial amount of our debt.

_______________________________________________________

Timothy made an excellent point about the "bank robbers":

"We’ve already seen this with the Bear Stearns bailout, and the Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae gov’t loans. BS execs made billions off of securities backed by mortagages they knew were under water, and the financial institutions used Freddy and Fanny as their reliable no-questions-asked buyer for the endless stream of shitty mortagages they knew they were writing. And they all made tens of billions in fees. And predictably they all bitched and moaned about taxes and capital gains and how taxing the rich would only harm everyone else, and how they deserved the outrageous amounts of money they were getting paid, how they were entitled to the grotesque bonuses they were taking home.

And when the bottom dropped out, as it must because as they were enriching themselves they were bankrupting their companies.

And now fuc#ing look what happened: Everybody has to pay to cover their losses.

They made billions, ran their companies into the ground, then cashed out. We the people get stuck holding the bag, to the tune of $30 billion for BS and god knows how much for the others.

Thirty billion to pay for the rich men’s party. How do you like that demonstration of the great Republican free market?

It’s the Ownership Society. And you just got owned."

[timothy_d11]

M/M, I loved that when I read it myself so I figured I'd share it with you people here also. But I must admit it's not my original words - if you go back and reda that you will notice that I gave credit to the person that wrote it at an exellent website that I frequent - one that would automatically be knocked here because it is on the other side of the political spectrum.

[M/M]

Rush mentioned that Monica was on "Fox and Friends" discussing the "New Yorker" cover.

[SteveOk]

Monica, we missed you on The McLaughlin Group again and look forward to seeing you next week. Should be a lot of interesting news this week with Obama desperately seeking justification of his pre-baked troop withdrawal plan (befoe he consulted anyone except Michelle Obama).

It was interesting today that Adm. Mike Mullins, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs, said Obama's fixed date certain withdrawal plan was dangerous. Obama proposed sending 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan while we completely abandon Iraq. I still don't understand why Afghanistan is more important to our national security than Iraq. It doesn't make sense to me. I would say that Iraq is 100 percent more important than Afghanistan.

[timothy_d11]

Michael we're all adults here and I'm sure everyone has heard the word "#uck" before - I used it for emphasis and will continue to use it for emphasis...but I'll try not to get carried away with it.

[timothy_d11]

Steve quit your warmongering whining. Iraq is not ours.

Mullen ALSO said this on Faux Noise today:

WALLACE: I want to ask you two questions about Iran. How do you weigh as a military man, as the top military man, the downside risk if either the U.S. or Israel were to militarily strike Iran in terms of blowback from Iran and its allies in the region, increased turmoil in that area, increased turmoil in the oil market?

MULLEN: I think it would be significant. I worry about it a lot. I’ve said when I’ve been asked this before right now I’m fighting two wars, and I don’t need a third one...

But I worry about the instability in that part of the world and, in fact, the possible unintended consequences of a strike like that and, in fact, having an impact throughout the region that would be difficult to both predict exactly what it would be and then the actions that we would have to take to contain it.

[M/M]

I think both countries are important, but I think it would be idiotic to leave Iraq prematurely. I thought I heard that the Generals will give a report at the end of the month where they are expected to report that the Iraqi police and military have made great strides since last year.

I also heard McCain say that he would bring in more NATO troops to Afghanistan.

[Account Deleted]

Timothy,

If you have to use such a word for emphasis, perhaps your arguments are not inherently convincing. And if they are inherently convincing, using such a word will never add to the cogency of the argument. Hence …

Peace,

[SteveOk]

M/M, I don't see what our national interest is in Afghanistan, could someone please tell me what justifies sending an additional 10,000 troops and withdrawing all our troops from Iraq. Excuse me but Iraq is 100 times more important than Afghanistan. We have no long term interests in Afghanistan, period while Iraq is very important in terms of it's position in the Middle East. Obama believes Afghanistan is the center of the war on terror and worth sending an additional 10,000 more troops. That policy is absurd and who did he consult in baking that plan? Michelle Obama? He certainly didn't consult any Generals.

[SteveOk]

(Al Gore):"There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more - if more should be required - the future of human civilization is at stake."
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No, Mr. Gore I will not step aside while America is scammed by your idiotic nonsense. The future of human civilization does not depend on a fat Nigerian Scammer from Tennessee who never had a full time job in his life and claimed to invent the Internet. Get a job bozoo and shutup. I'm really getting tired of this idiot telling us we are screwed up and he has a plan to save us. Get out of my face, Al Gore and SHUT UP.

[Account Deleted]

M/M, Timothy,

Please do not be seduced by the retributive economic arguments of the Liberals as articulated, incorrectly, by no fault of theirs except unwillingness to seek the truth. To the extent that bank executives made a fortune by cashing out on a failed company salvaged by the government (doubtful, since the funds accrued to shareholders), the fundamental thesis of the capitalist economy is proven: had the government left Bear Stearns alone, failure would have yielded its proper sanction. The extreme example is Worldcom whose Bernie Ebbers and Tyco whose Dennis Kozlowski landed their just reward: conviction.

On the other hand, Liberals might be arguing -- unwittingly -- for less government intervention if for nothing else than their dispositive around "fairness": if the bums brought us this mess, the bums should be thrown to the streets ... a very Conservative notion.

Cheers,

[Account Deleted]

Steve,

Obama is dead right on this. Al Qaeda's headquarters are somewhere in the mountains betwixt Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is where our forces should have been concentrated immediately after 9/11. To the contrary, we had and have no business in Iraq. This will go down as the major blunder in the Bush administration and in any military history.

In what theory of war strategy is the idea of attacking the center of enemy command not the main objective? Seven years after being attacked by a two-bit gang of ignorant, poorly armed, poorly organized, poorly funded, base-less hoodlums, we have not captured nor killed every last one of them? This is failure beyond imagination.

Regards,

[M/M]

This is why we need Monica back. I don't know enough about the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but this is what I'm hearing on the news:

Afghanistan is important because of 3000 people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001 and because we don't want it to happen again. We went to war initially in Afghanistan to capture Bin Laden and to destroy Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda also seems to be hiding in Pakistan, and Pakistan has a nuclear bomb.

The war in Afghanistan is not going well. Here is what Gen. Petraeus said yesterday:

"Gen David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told The Associated Press on Saturday that after intense U.S. assaults there, Al Qaeda may be considering shifting focus to its original home base in Afghanistan, where American casualties are recently running higher than in Iraq."
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/20/obama-prepares-to-meet-with-karzai/

Here is McCain's plan for Afghanistan:

"Our commanders on the ground in Afghanistan say that they need at least three additional brigades. Thanks to the success of the surge, these forces are becoming available, and our commanders in Afghanistan must get them. But sending more forces, by itself, that by itself is not enough,” McCain said, later clarifying that the brigades would not just be American but be made up of a combination of U.S. and NATO forces. But the GOPer added today that more troops is not the only solution to bringing down the violence.

“What we need in Afghanistan is exactly what General Petraeus brought to Iraq: a nationwide civil-military campaign that is focused on providing security for the population. Today no such integrated plan exists. When I am commander-in-chief, it will,” he added.

[M/M]

We can't leave allow Iraq to collapse because of oil and because of Iran. However, from what I'm hearing the surge was a success and the military had a timetable. They've been training the Iraqi police and military and that has been successful. Iraq seems to be entering a new phase.

Poland has committed 1500 new troops to Afghanistan this year. I think NATO countries will be more likely to commit troops to Afghanistan than Iraq.

[timothy_d11]

Michael, you don't convince me so I guess we're even. Capitalism works for the most part but left completely unchecked it creates enormous problems, ie. things like the cost of health care, a laughable minimum wage, OBSCENE wages at the top - just for starters.

[Account Deleted]

M/M,

McCain (although I love him for other reasons and will vote for him) is disingenuous on this matter. To say we now have more troops to devote to Afghanistan because of the success of the surge in Iraq is like the Giants saying that they are stronger to play the Patriots in the fourth quarter because they were playing the local high school team for practice in the first three (who wore the Giants down, which is why the second, third, and special teams had to be deployed to end the violence).

We were fighting the wrong war for seven years! “Al Qaeda” should have been a term used in the past tense six years ago!!

If McCain wants to seal the election results today, then sit back and watch while Obama flounders to defeat in the classical Liberal conundrums, he should be brutally honest with the American people:

“Folks, I plan not to run for a second term unless there is a national emergency. This is what I plan for my first term. Our country has been derailed from the tracks set by the founders. The hallmark of my administration will not be a grand vision or a new program. It will be restorative: restoring peace in the Middle East, restoring justice by hunting down and vaporizing Al Qaeda, restoring economic prosperity not by fancy government programs but by smaller government, restoring energy independence, restoring freedom. I want to be President because my opponent will do just the opposite. I want to be President because I want to restore the American ideal.”

[SteveOk]

(Michael)"Obama is dead right on this. Al Qaeda's headquarters are somewhere in the mountains betwixt Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is where our forces should have been concentrated immediately after 9/11. To the contrary, we had and have no business in Iraq. This will go down as the major blunder in the Bush administration and in any military history."
-----------------------------------
We don't need 10,000 more troops in Afghanistan to achieve that, we can take out Al Qaeda's headquarters with a few cruise missiles if we knew where they were. Other than that we have no long term national interest in Afghanistan. But to completely withdraw from Iraq and say Afghanistan is the center of the war on terror is totally wrong. A free and strong Iraq stands as a counter balance against Iran, that is in our national interest. We can still fight Al Quaeda in Afghanistan without pouring in thousands of troops and completely withdrawing from Iraq.

[Account Deleted]

Timothy,

No one, including yours truly, argues for unchecked capitalism, just liberated capitalism.

There is a place for law and regulation; only not more than absolutely necessary.

Cheers,

[Account Deleted]

Steve,

If you can do it with 10,000 troops I support and salute you, raising my glass to you.

I would send 100,000 troops to Afganistan and snuff out Al Qaeda as quickly as possible. I would take no chances and defeat the enemy with overwhelming force.

We do not need Iraq to counterbalance Iran. Iran can be contained, destabalized, and liberated much more easily than we wish to believe.

We suffer (unnecessarily) from low self-esteeem ;-)

Cheers,

[SteveOk]

(Michael):"If you can do it with 10,000 troops I support and salute you, raising my glass to you.

I would send 100,000 troops to Afganistan and snuff out Al Qaeda as quickly as possible. I would take no chances and defeat the enemy with overwhelming force."
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We will never capture O. B. Ladin without Pakistan's cooperation. We can send a million troops to Afghanistan but if Pakistan doesn't cooperate with us it won't do any good. Why send thousands of more troops to a country that we have no long term national interest? I still don't understand the importance of Afghanistan. What is our interest there other than fighting terrorists? We had a strategic interest in attacking Iraq (we thought they had WMD) and we have a national interest in maintaining a free Iraq.

Obama is wrong in completely withdrawing from Iraq at a date certain and sending 10,000 more troops to Afghanistan.

[timothy_d11]

Moron Steve:

"A free and strong Iraq stands as a counter balance against Iran, that is in our national interest"

Hate to break it to you Steve; Iraq has a mostly Shiite population. Iran has a mostly Shiite population. Iraq and Iran being allies is probably inevitable.

Moron Steve:

"We can still fight Al Quaeda in Afghanistan without pouring in thousands of troops and completely withdrawing from Iraq"

Um, no. That's stupid.

This is where the terrorist threat is and has been - it needs to be cleaned up if it can be, ie. if we can kill them off without creating more of them.

[timothy_d11]

McCain for smaller government and freedom? Republicans haven't been for that in many many years.

[Account Deleted]

Steve,

Using Bush’s argument, we should be now landing on the shores of Bandar Abbas and Bushere because Iran is closer to WMD than Hussein ever was. Clearly, that is not why we invaded Iraq.

We were attacked by Al Qaeda. Al Qaeda is the enemy. Al Qaeda should be defeated.

Bush made a speech before Congress in 2001 establishing the policy that any country who even harbors terrorists is an enemy of the US. Forget about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. Those are earmarked for prevention of war with India. Pakistan needs the friendship of the United States. Friendship is reciprocal. Our policy toward Pakistan should be, “Help us to wipe out Al Qaeda or get out of the way [as our friend] and let us do it. This [9/11] will not stand.”

PS - Bin Laden must be killed. That is the only definition of victory.

[M/M]

Michael,

I don't think we should be in Iraq either, but I don't think we can leave until the country is stable - even if it takes 100 years.

Most conservatives are appalled that we are bailing out banks. I understand why we are doing it, but what industry is next? The airline industry isn't doing well either.

The banking executives were paid "big bucks" to make these sound business decisions; they should have known better.

Steve,

Afghanistan is a terrorist hotbed. What are we going to bomb? There is nothing to bomb. We need "boots on the ground" to hunt down Al Qaeda in their caves.

Afghanistan IS in our national interest because we need to destroy Al Qaeda before they destroy us. They hate us and will attack us again. We need to hunt down their leaders, and weaken the organization so it can't function.

[M/M]

Timothy,

There is a difference between Conservatives and Republicans. Conservatives are well aware that Juan doesn't represent us and that Republicans have discarded their Conservative principles.

You should feel free to post your ideas here because Conservatives believe in the First Amendment. The libs (like Sharkton and Jackson) are the ones who are always telling people what they can and can't say.

[Ummahgummah]

PS - Bin Laden must be killed. That is the only definition of victory.

Posted by: Michael Avari

---

I second that one! No long ACLU-fed trials.. Kill the bastard on sight!

[timothy_d11]

M/M Who is Juan?

[Ummahgummah]

Food for thought from Europe..

[Ummahgummah]

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/

[timothy_d11]

osage Says:

No oil spills as the result or hurricane Katrina is a flat out Republican lie:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9365607/

[Ummahgummah]

A Christian, a Jew and Barack Obama are in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Barack Obama says, "This joke isn't going to work because there's no Muslim in this boat."

[naijaman]

Nice discussion on Afghanistan and Iraq...keep it going folks.

[Ummahgummah]

Here is something MUCH worse then Abu Ghraib or waterboarding a few terorists:

But then these rapists work for th U.nited N.azis and that makes them immune.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7420798.stm

Far be it from the American leftist MSM to mention this story!!

[Ummahgummah]

I'd like to finish the discussion re. Obama and the Kenya-moslem/sharia connection!!

80% in Kenya are Christians and Obama supports the candidate who maked a deal with moslems to implement sharia!!

islam is not a religion. It is the world's most dangerous cult!

[Ron]

Hi Monica. Glad to hear your coming back. The Mclaughlin Group isn't any fun without you on there.

Yours truly,
Ron

[M/M]

Timothy,

Juan and Juan Mexicain are our nicknames for John McCain because of the McCain/Kennedy Amnesty bill and the way he panders to La Raza while constantly "poking Conservatives in the eye".

By the way, the Republican party called me over the weekend for a donation and I explained that, after the primary, I became a "Republican in Name Only" and that if they want support, they should call the people who will do the jobs that Americans won't. Juan can look to them at the voting booth too as I am looking at the 3rd party candidates.

[SteveOk]

(M/M):"Afghanistan is a terrorist hotbed. What are we going to bomb? There is nothing to bomb. We need "boots on the ground" to hunt down Al Qaeda in their caves.

Afghanistan IS in our national interest because we need to destroy Al Qaeda before they destroy us. They hate us and will attack us again. We need to hunt down their leaders, and weaken the organization so it can't function."
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M/M, my point is that Obama considers Afghanistan the center of the war on terror and is willing to completely abandon Iraq and put 10,000 more troops into Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not as important as Iraq and we can fight the terrorists there with missiles and the troops that are there now. We will never defeat Al Quaeda there as long as Pakistan continues to give them free haven along the border. Iraq is 100 times more important to our national security than Afghanistan.

[SteveOk]

(WSJ):Washington is teeing up "the rich" for a big tax hike next year, as a way to make them "pay their fair share." Well, the latest IRS data have arrived on who paid what share of income taxes in 2006, and it's going to be hard for the rich to pay any more than they already do. The data show that the 2003 Bush tax cuts caused what may be the biggest increase in tax payments by the rich in American history.

The nearby chart shows that the top 1% of taxpayers, those who earn above $388,806, paid 40% of all income taxes in 2006, the highest share in at least 40 years. The top 10% in income, those earning more than $108,904, paid 71%. Barack Obama says he's going to cut taxes for those at the bottom, but that's also going to be a challenge because Americans with an income below the median paid a record low 2.9% of all income taxes, while the top 50% paid 97.1%. Perhaps he thinks half the country should pay all the taxes to support the other half.
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To be a fair tax system everyone who earns income would have to pay some taxes. We have traditionally had a system of graduated income taxes with those making the least still paying a modest amount in taxes and the higher income brackets paying more, but not expected to pay the full load. We have never allowed politicians to completely exempt whole voting blocks from paying taxes in order to obtain votes. B. Obama is breaking the mold and would exempt whole groups of taxpayers from paying taxes while increasing the taxes of others (others who don't tend to vote Democratic).

Bush and Republicans believe tax cuts and tax increases should be across the board and everyone should be treated equally when it comes to paying taxes. Therefore the Bush tax cuts was across the board and everyone got a tax cut no matter what income tax bracket you were in. The Democratic Party believes that they can punish those that traditionally don't vote Democratic and reward their voting blocks with even more tax cuts. This goes against fairness in the tax code and rewards people based on Party affiliation.

[SteveOk]

(Al Gore):"There are times in the history of our nation when our very way of life depends upon dispelling illusions and awakening to the challenge of a present danger. In such moments, we are called upon to move quickly and boldly to shake off complacency, throw aside old habits and rise, clear-eyed and alert, to the necessity of big changes. Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more - if more should be required - the future of human civilization is at stake."
--------------------------------------
No, Mr. Gore I will not step aside while America is scammed by your idiotic nonsense. The future of human civilization does not depend on a fat Nigerian Scammer from Tennessee who never had a full time job in his life and claimed to invent the Internet. Get a job bozoo and shutup. I'm really getting tired of this idiot telling us we are screwed up and he has a plan to save us. Get out of my face, Al Gore and SHUT UP.

There, I said it again, now I feel better.

[Ummahgummah]

Steve LOL.. "fat Nigerian scammer"

Good one!

Algore seriously has GOT to shut his fat yap.

[FK]

Timothy --

While I don't disagree with your sentiments, maybe you could tone down the language a bit. I've been trying to control myself, too.

[Ummahgummah]

Tinyslimytim.. coming from FRED, that is a very STRONG statement!

[naijaman]

John McCain earlier today falsely claimed that Barack Obama "wants to bomb Pakistan". Ok...either McCain is being intellectually dishonest or he's just stupid. Which is it? And then he compounded the whole issue by adding that our fight against terrorism is focused on the "Iraq/Pakistan border". Is he for real? Iraq does not share a border with Pakistan.
Someone needs a crach course in Geography 101.

[Ummahgummah]

Najisman.. so how about the Odinga/Obama sharia connection..?

And Obama Did say he wanted to bomb Pak if he knew that bin Laden was there.

Another inconvenient fact for your boy Hussein, moslem!

Not that I believe he would. He was just trying to "look tough" in American eyes.

As for geography lessons.. ROFLMAO!!

All I can say is: 57 STATES!

[FK]

McCain's misstatement sounds like campaign fatigue. I assume he meant Afghanistan/Pakistan.

Same for the 57 states. These guys get exhausted and they make slips.

Neither side should get glee from what amounts to the equivalent of a verbal typo.

[naijaman]

Fred,
I'll go along with your view and give McCain a pass regarding his geography mistake, as you and Ummah correctly pointed out Obama's mistake when he mentioned 57 states.
I cannot give him a pass however on claiming Obama wants to bomb Pakistan. Obama very clearly stated that if the USA has actionable intelligence on Bin Laden's location and the locations of other high-value Al Qaeda targets, and Pakistan refused to act, he would. As a matter of fact, Senator Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plainly stated recently that Obama's position regarding going after Bin Laden is "current US policy".
I don't understand how McCain, who allegedly has strong foreign policy credentials does not know the difference between what Obama stated (US policy) and "bombing Pakistan".

Ummah, I've closed the book on the Odinga/Obama discussion because you are not saying anything new. We've both stated our cases and should agree to disagree.