The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

President Punchline: Are Obama’s Top Advisors Late-Night TV Joke Writers?

“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail) Shorter @BarackObama: "Assad has crossed the Red Line! We must act! I'm going to try the 5-iron on this shot …" http://t.co/80oIVA7BPR — Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) August 31, 2013 Could he possibly look more ineffective if he tried? A year ago, after the Syrian […]

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Ready to Make Feeble Unilateral Gesture Against Syria

The British Parliament voted against war, but now that the oceans stopped rising and the planet has begun to heal and Obama has “restored our image as the last, best hope on Earth” — what, you didn’t notice? — President Gutsy Call has decided that go-it-alone foreign policy and military intervention without congressional authorization are […]

NYT Cranks The Judas Priest

by Smitty Could be the most unintentionally funny headline of the year: “Bomb Syria, Even if It Is Illegal” There are moral reasons for disregarding the law, and I believe the Obama administration should intervene in Syria. But it should not pretend that there is a legal justification in existing law. Secretary of State John […]

Your Semi-Official Obama vs. Syria Armageddon Predictions Thread

“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail) Let me jump out in front of the anti-war movement before U.S. attacks Syria: "OBAMA LIED! PEOPLE DIED! NO W.M.D.! FIRE CAN'T MELT STEEL!" — Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) August 27, 2013 We’re supposed to start bombing the crap out of Damascus sometime soon, because […]

The Highly Ironic Syrian End-Game?

When last we examined the mess in Syria, President Obama was embarrassed that the Assad regime had crossed his “red line” by reportedly using chemical weapons against the rebels (who are, by the way, a dangerous mob of Islamic extremists). And so now the ironic denouement, in headlines via  Memeorandum:   Damascus hit ‘by Israeli […]

Obama’s Syrian Dilemma

“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail) President Gutsy Call promised serious consequences if Syria’s Assad regime crossed a “red line” by using chemical weapons against anti-government rebels. Now that there is clear evidence that Assad used chemical weapons? Well, it’s nuanced, Chuck Todd explains: “I can tell you there is regret […]

Syria: Another Casualty of ‘Hope’

Reading a long New York Times article about the prevalence of Islamic extremism among Syrian rebels fighting the Assad regime in a two-year civil war, I was struck by this paragraph: The religious agenda of the combatants sets them apart from many civilian activists, protesters and aid workers who had hoped the uprising would create […]

Mr. Nobel Peace Prize Works His Magic: Israel Now at War With Syria?

All it took was an Obama trip to the Mideast, and suddenly everything seems to be flying completely sideways: Reuters is reporting that Israel has fired upon and destroyed a machine gun position in the Golan Heights. It is unclear at this moment whether this is merely spillover from the Syrian civil war or whether […]

« go back — keep looking »