Afghanistan: And Another Republican Hits the Dust In the Moonscape...!

Former Republican Gov. and ex-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee became one of the most high-profile Republicans to express skepticism with the war in Afghanistan, telling reporters on Wednesday that he sees no "end game" in sight, has no confidence in President Hamid Karzai, thinks the country looks "like the surface of the moon" and believes the time has come for an honest, non-political conversation about the next steps.

Huckabee said at an afternoon talk organized by the Christian Science Monitor,

I don't know what to do next.

I don't think any of us know exactly. We are there.

The question is, I'm asking people, 'Tell me, what is it we do to say we are done? Help me to understand that because I'm not sure.'

.... My doubts about Afghanistan happen from being there in January 2006. And when I say my doubts I believe our military is capable of doing whatever they are assigned to do given the resources to do it. But I came away from that experience wondering: What does the end game look like here? I can't see a conclusion.

.... You go to Afghanistan, you look around and you say, 'My gosh, am I in a country or on the surface of the moon? You honestly could not see what it is that can happen here. You can't grow anything but poppies. The cash crop is essentially developing the basis of heroin for Europe... and the government is so incredibly and hopeless corrupt. And I don't see that changing any. I don't know of anyone who says 'what a great bunch of people we have over there, running the thing.' I mean we all, even our own administration, whether it is Bush or Obama, kind of throws up their hands and thinks that the Karzai government is mindlessly corrupt.

It's Quicksandistan, Mike. Whatsa' matter? Don't want any part of being President until we're out?

What Benjamin Frelka says.....

People from all over the world, including Cairo and China, have been ordering pizzas for the Progressives in Madison, but Scott Walker's a cheap guy.

Progressives Need a National Leader

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

No need to cast about any longer looking for one.

Watch This Space: Russ Feingold's New PAC!

Overthrowing our Dictatorship of the Corporatariat

Russ Feingold is teaching law school at Marquette University and writing a book on foreign policy. In his spare time he has launched Progressives United, a PAC aimed at mitigating the effects of, and eventually overturning, the Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates to corporate spending in the U.S. electoral system. This PAC will engage in online mobilization, support for progressive candidates at the local, state and national levels, and hold the media and elected officials accountable on the group's key priorities.

Feingold Says:

In my view -- and the view of many people -- it's one of the most lawless decisions in the history of our country. The idea of allowing corporations to have unlimited influence on our democracy is very dangerous, obviously. That's exactly what it does ... Things were like this 100 years ago in the United States, with the huge corporate and business power of the oil companies and others. But this time it's like the Gilded Age on steroids.

I have signed on but could not get very far because their file-server has been overwhelmed with other Progressives flooding into the site.

I'll be back for more.

It's deja vu All Over Again

Which Republican aspirant for President said these words?

We have seen tax-and-tax spend-and-spend reach a fantastic total greater than in all the previous 170 years of our Republic.

Behind this plush curtain of tax and spend, three sinister spooks or ghosts are mixing poison for the American people. They are the shades of Mussolini, with his bureaucratic fascism; of Karl Marx, and his socialism; and of Lord Keynes, with his perpetual government spending, deficits, and inflation. And we added a new ideology of our own. That is government give-away programs….

If you want to see pure socialism mixed with give-away programs, take a look at socialized medicine.

No, I don't give answers here anymore; just the questions. Readers wanting the answers have to go here.

Obama Has Turned Me into a caveat lector Blogger.

Yes, that's
caveat lector:
let the reader beware.

A lot of developments have conspired to squelch my propensity to blog. But nothing, no one has stifled my pretensions as a pundit than Barack Obama. I'm glad he's POTUS, proud that I supported him from the beginning, and all that biz.

But I wanted, hoped, and expected so much more than what we got.

I was taken in. Above and beyond everything else, this embarrassment has all but silenced me. I got nuthin' left, Dear Readers.

Fool you once, shame on me; fool you twice, shame on you.

I Love This President!

I can't help it. Inspite of all that has happened, I'm glad and proud to have put his signs up in my front yard in February of 2008. Don't like his appeasement of the Weimar Republicans. Don't like his appeasement of the Military Industrial Complex. Not a bit. But I still love him.

Maybe there's a little smidgeon of buyer's remorse that Hillary didn't get nominated. Would she have been a better fighter from the get-go? Don't know. Maybe. But this guy can talk the talk better than anyone current. Even if he can't - or won't - walk the walk.

He's still a keeper.