Barack Obama ready to lean on George W Bush’s 2002 Iraq AUMF. …DOES IT *BURN*, #p2 & #tlot?

I hope it burns them like hygiene*:

The White House believes that Congress’s 2002 authorization of the Iraq war — and not just the 2001 authorization to fight Al Qaeda — provides a legal justification for President Obama’s air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Obama administration said Friday.

Via Instapundit, who is probably likewise feeling invigorated right now. Who needs stimulants, when you have schadenfreude?

Moe Lane

*Classical reference.

Tweet Of The Day, The Neocons’ Revenge edition.

Alas, I have little hope that we can expect competence out of Barack Obama.

Moe Lane

PS: I understand that it is fashionable – more accurately, a fad – to assert that George W Bush was a horrible bungler who prosecuted the most disastrous war in American history. I do not ask that sufferers from that delusion read more broadly on American military history; I simply note that said sufferers should.

Quote of the Day, John Kerry Applies To Become A Dark Lord Of The Neocons edition.

BBC, 1988:

Thousands of people are reported to have been killed and many others injured in a poison gas attack on a Kurdish city in northern Iraq.

Up to 20 aircraft, said to include Iraqi Migs and Mirages, were seen overhead at around 1100 local time in Halabja.

According to experts, the chemicals dropped by the planes may have included mustard gas, the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX and possibly cyanide.

John Kerry, 2002*:

It may well be that the United States will go to war with Iraq. But if so, it should be because we have to — not because we want to. For the American people to accept the legitimacy of this conflict and give their consent to it, the Bush administration must first present detailed evidence of the threat of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and then prove that all other avenues of protecting our nation’s security interests have been exhausted.

Continue reading Quote of the Day, John Kerry Applies To Become A Dark Lord Of The Neocons edition.

QotD, A Reminder To #p2 That The Neocons Won And Made It Look Easy edition.

Allahpundit, while discussing this week’s knife fight in an alleyway among the caucus, caustically comments:

Maybe each side’s ideological principles are basically only as sturdy as the support they get from charismatic leaders at the top. Ask an anti-war Obama voter about that, if you can still find one.

…Ouch.  I keep forgetting just how comprehensively the antiwar movement lost the argument. They lost so badly, in fact, that it’s hard to remember there was ever a point where there was a faint possibility that they could win.

MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell *had* 32 teeth.

“Lawrence, we can end this interview right now if you don’t want me to finish my point.”

I know this, because I just watched him crawl on the floor trying to retrieve them after he tried to push around former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This one’s going around. Newsbusters, @adambaldwin, the Daily Caller – take your pick. Particularly enjoyable was the part where she called O’Donnell a liar:
Continue reading MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell *had* 32 teeth.

Optimism Run Mad Watch, Inauguration Day Edition.

I was going to more or less skip the political commentary this morning, but this was too silly to pass up.  Via Hot Air Headlines:

Will Obama Bring Home the Neocons?

“Neoconservative” and “neocon” have become terms of abuse, denoting right-wing extremism. But the original neoconservatives began mostly as left-leaning intellectuals who only deserted the Democratic Party after it fell under the influence of the counterculture during the Vietnam War. With Barack Obama about to become president, is there any chance neoconservatives will finally return to the roost?

A month or two ago, the question would have seemed preposterous.

Speaking as a “neoconservative:” it still does. Continue reading Optimism Run Mad Watch, Inauguration Day Edition.