Political Junkie Heaven

Workout notes: 4 miles on the Hike and Bike in 50:27 (25:57 at 2 miles). Barbara got lost and took forever.

Other stuff:
If you like general elections and playing with numbers until your spouse yells at you to get off the computer, here are a few “fun” sites:

FiveThirtyEight.com (polls, polls, polls)

270towin.com (if McCain wins X but Obama wins Y we end up with…)

Of course, the Electoral Vote.com site on the sidebar is a ton of fun as well.

Walking wise, I hope to get out there and sweat a bit today. I am embarrassed at my lack of upper body strength; after FANS I am going to do some sort of “general fitness” program for a few months.

Elections I find it amusing that McCain continues to try to attack Obama on Iraq and Middle East policy, especially since McCain doesn’t even know the basics, such as the fact that Al Qeada is a Sunni group and Iran is Shiite, or that Iran has a type of government that splits executive power between an unelected Supreme Leader (who controls the military) and an elected President (they guy who says the wacky stuff but doesn’t control the military).

No, this won’t make a difference with the wingnut voters as the situation is indeed nuanced and wingnuts lack the mental capacity to handle nuance. But maybe, just maybe some independents will want a President who can understand what is going on rather than some “kill ‘em all and let god sort ‘em out” type.

I can recommend the Salon article though:

The curious retraction of the senator’s correction occurred on Thursday, when Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s national security spokesman, made the following statement to the New York Sun: “There is ample documentation that Iran has provided many different forms of support to Sunni extremists, including Al Qaeda as well as Shi’ia extremists in Iraq. It would require a willing suspension of disbelief to deny Iran supports Al Qaeda in Iraq.”

To evaluate Scheunemann’s assertion, it is helpful to know that he was also a spokesman for the Committee to Liberate Iraq, the neoconservative outfit that promoted the overthrow of Saddam Hussein for years before it got its way in 2003 — and that the committee, like most of the war’s enthusiasts, insisted on the connection between al-Qaida and Baghdad. Before its claims about that relationship were debunked, along with the mythical weapons of mass destruction, the neoconservatives and the Bush administration convinced a majority of Americans that Saddam was actually responsible for 9/11.

[...]

As always, the reality is more complex and vexing than the simple schematic conceived by our right-wing ideologues. Dumbing things down got them (and us) into a lot of trouble in Iraq, but that hasn’t chastened them at all. And of course they forget every fact that doesn’t fit their precooked briefing.

Our intelligence on Iran is inadequate, but as far as our agencies have been able to determine, there is no operational relationship between Shiite Iran and the Sunni extremists of al-Qaida. Recall that in September 2001, the Iranian regime, then headed by a reformist president, denounced the 9/11 attacks and proceeded to assist in the U.S. overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Indeed, the Iranians had been fighting the Taliban through the proxy Northern Alliance army for years before the United States chose sides. [...]

It is difficult to believe that the Shiite leaders in Iran would arm and train the fanatical followers of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, perpetrator of the bombing of one of their holiest places, the Golden Dome mosque in Samarra, not to mention countless murders of Shiite Iraqis. The Iranian leaders are devious and perhaps even demonic, but they are not likely to countenance the massacre of their own people and the defiling of their faith’s sacred sites. Our misguided policies have ensured that they have plenty of militia and political power in Iraq without providing arms or training to their most implacable Sunni enemies.