re: "Almost the Ultimate Carter Moment in Damascus."

Moe Lane (Diary) at RedState ("the most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill") cautioned administration appointees:

"(I)f Syrian ‘loyalists’ follow up today’s attack against the US Embassy in Damascus…

…by actually seizing the embassy? If that happens, start updating your resumes. And don’t bother with sending them along to Democratic House Members (and any Democratic Senator up for re-election in 2012): we’ll be throwing them out of office, too."

Recent history only provides one example of the "if" side of this statement, but the "then" segment justifies 100 percent confidence in the political consequences.

7/11

re: "Obama to reduce Iraq strength to 3,000, lose election… "

Moe Lane at RedState ("the most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill") is crystal-balling some crystal-balling.

Money quote(s):

"(S)et up the bank shot in 2016 for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton"

Since this post, the target troop strength for the end of this year has dropped another couple of zeros, to (essentially) nothing. The primary official U.S. presence by 2012 in Iraq will be the State Dept. mission there. This actually would seem to put the "blame line" firmly on Sec. Clinton's desk, should anything not go spectacularly well.

(Does anyone actually, seriously, forecast things going spectularly well in Iraq after our withdrawel?)

This would seem to defeat the purpose in setting up a bank shot for her.

(Unless it was a double bank shot intended to sink her.)

"(T)his would work as a long term strategy. Accept that the election’s lost, set up a disaster for the Republican President to inherit and take the blame for, and put the one brave truth-teller in position to come over in 2016 and save the day. It’s not optimal, but then it’s going to take a couple of years for the Democrats to fix everything that Obama’s done to their party. They might as well sabotage things for the GOP in the meantime."

It's not that political strategists can't/don't plan this far ahead, but this is shading past strategizing into the realm of conspiracy.

(Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity and incompetence.)

(9/6)

re: "A mini-Ice Age?"

Moe Lane at Redstate ("the most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill") resorts to reporting on actual climatology (rather than the made-up kind).

Money quote(s):

"The magic phrase ‘Maunder Minimum’ was used – which suggests that we might be looking at another Little Ice Age. Which, depending on who you ask, either: caused a bunch of wars; made a bunch of wars much worse than they would have been otherwise; or is not to be mentioned in polite company. Personally, I was hoping that we’d avoid this"

This would be a bad thing. Anyone else read Fallen Angel?

"(T)he perfect name for a hypothetical new period of decreased sunspot activity would be the “Gore Minimum.” In terms of irony alone, that would be perfect."

re: "Obama takes Argentina’s side in Falklands dispute."

Moe Lane at Redstate ("the most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill, is the most often cited right of center blog in the media, and is widely considered one of the most influential voices of the grassroots on the right") explores the motivations.