Last night Jon Stewart did what the media fails to do: namely, take General Petraeus’ long record of rosey predictions into account when judging the accuracy and objectivity of his report on Iraq.
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John Amato: Bush and the Republicans all hid behind the General’s skirt to buy themselves more time so they could continue a sustained presence in Iraq until he leaves office. Meanwhile, CentCom Chief Fallon had this to say about him:
“an ass-kissing little chickensh*t” and added, “I hate people like that”, the sources say. That remark reportedly came after Petraeus began the meeting by making remarks that Fallon interpreted as trying to ingratiate himself with a superior.
Sen. Webb will be asking Carl Levin to call Fallon in to testify. Smells like Armageddon to me.
8 Trackbacks To “Jon Stewart Tears Apart Petraeus’ Dog and Pony Show“
I thought I heard Randi Rhodes say today that Petreus campaigned for GWB.
That might be Stewart’s best so far… right on the money… smack in the kisser… out of the park… and any other cliche for “absolutely correct” you might wish to add.
This captures the noise machine which the MSM has become; I turned off my cable news channels (saved $40) a month; I am sick of the propaganda but I miss Keith O.
I hope the Dems can get real and do what the people want.
Support our troops, bring them home.
Oh, this is what Rhodes referred to; sounds like ass-kissing to me:
http://pundits.thehill.com/200.....#more-1617
Fact: Shortly before the 2004 presidential election Petraeus did something that active-duty commanders should not do. In late September he wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post obviously as a favor to the Bush campaign, in which he applauded what he called major progress by the Iraqi military, Iraqi police and Iraqi leadership.
CentCom Chief Fallon has it right! I agree wholeheartedly with him and would add a few more names to the list
Surreal
Fallon will soon be history and throw in a few guys on the Joint Chiefs just for fun. Six more months is a long time for a war but a short time for political payback.
I’ve seen this movie before…a long time ago….and Gen Westmorland was the star.
Like President, like general?
Pucker up, buttercup.
Hey, to go from one to four stars in three or four years…ya gotta be kissin someone’s ass.
My first instinct is to criticize the “general”, but the problem is right at the top. The “general” is only doing what he’s told to do.
This bullshit has to end and we need Democrats with some spine to make it so.
Yea, verily, and betcha a quarter that BETRAYUS PETRAEUS gets THE ONLY FIFTH STAR awarded since WWII—such is the price of TREASON!
Petraeus gladly bent over for Bush and then gave the finger to every American that believes they’re all lying to us.
hadenuf @ 4:
He sure did.
“Helping organize, train and equip nearly a quarter-million of Iraq’s security forces is a daunting task. Doing so in the middle of a tough insurgency increases the challenge enormously, making the mission akin to repairing an aircraft while in flight — and while being shot at. Now, however, 18 months after entering Iraq, I see tangible progress. Iraqi security elements are being rebuilt from the ground up.
The institutions that oversee them are being reestablished from the top down. And Iraqi leaders are stepping forward, leading their country and their security forces courageously in the face of an enemy that has shown a willingness to do anything to disrupt the establishment of the new Iraq.”
It goes on and on…
Yes,”no one” can predict what will happen in America’s continuing occupation of Iraq,but leaving?Dear God!They have no problem describing– in excrutiating and minute detail–what the grim consequences of THAT would be.
How ridiculous our nation has become under the Bush Regime.
A nation of the unwilling lead by a government of FOOLS.
reminds me of the well documented history of Germany’s attack on Russia. Hitler surrounded himself with a long list of sycophants each willing to carry out his will to further their careers. nearly all of them fell by the wayside as they could not for long carry out the fuhrer’s will. those that survived were imprisoned or executed. some pledged allegiance even at the gallows.
Seems like everyone else who had a hand at promoting this war got rewarded. Not one of them who fuck it up got reprimanded, and the one that came forward with honesty were fired. I somehow link honor with being honest, and my fault for not understanding GWBush definition of what Honor is, but I don’t understand honor among thieves.
Petreaus is a salesman…………kinda sad when you think about it.oh well….fuck him and the whores he rode in on.
“an ass-kissing little chickensh*t”
AAKLCS!
All you would have to do is expand it to one more letter for “the Commander Guy” to be covered as well:
AAKLCHS
An Ass-Kissing Little ChickenHawkShit
My take on the surge is Bush must stay the course in Iraq until he finds his excuse to attack Iran but I do not mean from land.
The troops and equipment must remain in Iraq too contain Iran. He is boxing them in! The chief idiot has more than enough armaments in the gulf with 3 carrier Battle groups and a french Carrier, the Charles De Gaulle at the mouth.
Plus as you know, Bush just upped the amount of advanced military hardware he is giving to Israel to 35 billion to offset the 20 Billion $ worth he is given to Saudi Arabia and other supposed allies to offset Iran.
It is quite a mess Bush is developing as he pursues his new middle east order that was his original reason for attacking Iraq. Someone must wake up congress quick because he is going to beat them to the punch!
$50Bil + 6 Nukes = Iran Attack
This is all bullshit. I’m so pissed about everything going on in the White House, and in politics in general, i think we should just fire them all and start over with randomly selected 18 years olds right out of high school. THey’d probably get more done, and when they sounded like complete idiots, it would be FAR more understandable.
ldzppln @ 13:
And this is the reason why everyone waiting on a Democrat to utilize such information (and ask what happened to those wonderful projections THREE years ago) is just fooling themselves. They are bought and paid for by lobbyists just like the Repubs. Only YOU, the American electorate, can make the war stop. Everyone needs to take to the streets, camp out in front of the offices of their respective representative and refuse to accept the bullshit any longer.
Until then, your comments and mine mean jack.
RickMac @ 23:
FAT CHANCE
Brilliant display by Jon Stewart and the good people at the Daily Show.
pinkobait @ 15:
Seemed like the audience missed that punchline…
Hahaha I cracked up at the Mobius strip comment and then he took it further with MC Escher help me. That was great :)
Betray Us can’t wait to cash in from his water carrying
I am ex-navy. What Fallon is reported to have said fits right in. Just look at the chest of the jumped up shill and you will see he has nothing for valor just a bunch of stuff for getting his ticket punched. Typical gung-ho ass kisser.
What you are all forgetting is that Gen. Petraeus and the troops under him had great success in the sector to which they were assigned. It’s because of this that he was given his current job. He’s the guy to go to for both modern COIN (Counter-Insurgency) theory and practice, having real world experience using the methods in the field manual on COIN used by both the Army and the Marines.
So his reporting of successes in his sector were not spin and were not political. Misreporting this, on the other hand, is spin and is political, but I’m not surprised given that it’s SP’s story.
Pardon me for interjecting a little reality into the discussion, but spin is spin, and it doesn’t matter what “side” does it. I don’t like being lied to, whether it’s Tony Snow doing it or Glen. Saying that “the other side does it, so they should expect us to do it back” does not excuse the twisting and spinning of facts. Don’t become the monsters that you fight.
That said, I disagree with Petraeus on the most fundamental point, while partially agreeing with him on another. We need to withdraw. We need to be out of Iraq by Labor Day of next summer (picking an arbitraty but easy to remember date). I agree that a rapid withdrawal will lead to increased chaos, but that is why we must begin the process now by at the very least setting timetables. 30,000 troops by next summer is not good enough (and would happen anyway).
There. See? I disagreed with Petraeus without twisting or misrepresenting facts. I didn’t call him a Bush lackey or question his honor or honesty. I would like to give him more time in order to minimize the chaos when we leave, but we must leave and we must begin preparations now, not six months from now or next summer. I fully support him doing all he can to minimize the shit that will fly after we leave, but we must leave.
mudshark @ 8:
Not comparable. Petraeus is more like Creighton Abrams, who had the unenviable job of cleaning up after Westy until we fully withdrew. Also, Abrams was much more effective with COIN, and had a better grasp of it the civil development component, while Westy had no inkling and was a great believer in firepower through technological and industrial superiority (i.e., Shock and Awe).
I wonder how far the parallels will go? Will Hil get elected based on a secret plan? That’s an amusing thought: Hillary Clinton as the Democratic version of Richard Nixon.
What a cheap whore Patreus is - how many stars has he added to his shoulders since the start of the Iraq disaster?
and is that a wig or a really bad haircut?
marcos the redneck Jew @ 32:
I for one do not believe for one moment that the report didn’t come through the WH…..not the way this admin has behaved..everything has been preordained before it hits the spokesperson for the masses…
marcos the redneck Jew @ 33:
Please no Hillary….
I hate people like this asshole “general”… according to Wikipedia, he’s NEVER seen combat… sure, lots of classroom education bullshit. Why didn’t he serve in Vietnam? What about Bosnia or Kuwait, or anywhere else? He was too busy in the classrooms. And he looks and sounds like this meek little BUSHIE, with political interests. What an asshole. He’s no patriot. I haven’t served, yet I’m more of a patriot than this asshole, and I’m not a hypocrit liar. 4 stars, for doing what…
Republican asshole general classroom boy.
Did you see betray-us’ eyes when the mic didn’t work the second time?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
He was scared shitless. HAHAHAHA
war czar, yeah right.
how do you pronounce his name correctly?
I think it is “betray-us”?
Ron McD @ 3:
Think about this… television serves no purpose whatsoever in this world. Everything that it does can easily be replicated by radio or the internet. Yet, if TV vanished tomorrow there would be chaos of epic proportions. Please… turn off the TV! My TV has an inch of dust on it, I haven’t used it for ANYTHING in over a year and probably 2 years before that… and I can honestly say that I am much, much happier not having the glowing box shouting at me to buy things all evening.
All those ribbons and bling. Gawd, that seems over done and gaudy.
Generals, presidents, elected/appointed officials or the whole damn system can ride the little yellow bus too.
Yellow is their favorite color.
The US democratic society is based on truth and honesty. Right now it’s made up of liars and thieves.
repugs tried to embarrass Clinton before they stole the 2000 election. In the near future repugs will blame the dems for all that they done, like the nasty little liars that they are.
It’s all a game to them because they are bored.
Godlike @ 40:
I love tv. I have my music and tv turned on. It’s nice. Although the internet has real-time feed back that can’t be beat.
So Stewart and his Daily Show, and this example, are to me held up as models of contemporary humorous political commentary?
Here’s all Stewart did; he hyperbolic mocked the hype created by the media, misquoted at article by the General, mocked the comments about the General by the media, mocked non-working microphone in the hearing, make weak accusations that the General’s report was written by the Administration (yet he fails to realize that presidents comments were likely based on information by the Departments of Defense), mocked that he had facts to back up his assessment. Of course if the General had not provided facts I’m sure it would have been lept upon as a shocking and virtually criminal act of withholding information that Stewart would pre-conclude as being dire news.
Next Stewart rudely hints that the General regards all the loss if life and injury that has occurred in this war as a merely statistics. How rude to assume that man has no feelings like that. How does he know what the General feels?
And to conclude Stewart mocks the fact the general’s prediction of short-term consequences of a possible premature withdrawal of forces would be worse then the war itself. Sounds like a valid statement of opinion to me.
So that’s s all he does?
He mocks.
That’s it.
And the people are eating it up!
I’m scared that this is what the popular left is basing all their opinions on.
But, we all know what Stewart was going to say. Just as he would say he we all knew what the General was going to say. Stewart’s mocking was a foregone conclusion.