An ad launching later this week takes notice of the war-monger words of Presidential hopeful, John McCain. Their spokesperson? A female veteran of the Iraq war.

It’s a stinger:

Transcript:

John McCain says it’s o.k. with him if the U.S. spent the next 1,000 years in Iraq.

That’s some commitment to the Iraqi people, Sen. McCain.

(picks up baby)

This is my little boy.

He was born a year after I came home from Iraq.

What kind of commitment are you making to him?

How about 1,000 years of affordable health care? or, 1,000 years of keeping America safe.

Can we afford that for my child Sen. McCain?

Or have you already promised to spend trillions in Baghdad?

Votevets.org’s website says their mission statement is to, “hold public officials accountable for their words and actions that impact America’s 21st century servicemembers; and fully support our men and women in uniform”.

And directly from the mouth of Votevets.org:

The ad features, for the first time, a female Iraq veteran and her small child. Rose Forrest served 12 months in Iraq, and gave birth to her little son, when she came home. In the ad, Rose challenges John McCain to tell the truth about what endless war means for her child, and all of our children. Senator McCain needs to give us some straight talk about how much endless war in Iraq is going to cost. We don’t have an endless pot of money, or an endless supply of troops and equipment.

[...]

We’re airing this ad in the hopes that Senator McCain finally gets honest with the American people. We’re putting it out there so that the media and power-brokers start to ask the same questions. Endless war in Iraq means drastic sacrifices for Americans in their everyday lives, and in terms of our own security.

Is it appealing too much to the tenderness of sending females to the sandbox? Is Americas collective guilty conscious ready to face the reality of women fighting alongside men?

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Hi, you don’t know me, but my name is Skitz M. Jones. I don’t lobby for anyone, I don’t donate money to any foundations, I’m not high on any lists, influential, or well-to-do… so you really have no reason at all to listen to me.

All of that said, for the Pete’s sake Listen To Me! Because this is fairly important. You’re all behaving in a fairly ridiculous and potentially self-defeating manor. You’ve been outsmarted by the Republicans- a party who gave us the wonderfully intellectual contribution of George W. Bush.

The maneuver to which I’m referring? Uniting. Granted Huckabee is still “running” for President, but really all he’s doing is sticking around to give McCain someone to contrast against and talk to while you all try to figure out what the hell you’re doing. The Republican party has all but announced it’s candidate in John McCain, and as a result, he looks stronger and safer than either of the Democratic candidates. Even with a scandal drudged up by the New York Times, McCain still looks better in many eyes, because the whole party backed him, defended him, and it slid off of him like water off a duck’s back.

But no, here you all are letting Obama and Hillary make veiled attacks and not-so-veiled attacks, respectively, on each other. The result? The Democratic front-runners are knocking themselves down before the Republicans even have to think about it. And don’t think the opposition isn’t noticing.

Throw Nader into the mix, and there’s a great potential for the Democrats to throw this one away before they even figure out who the candidate will be. The damage will already be done.

Now, I’ve made no secret my dislike and distrust of Hillary Clinton, anyone who runs basically on the platform of “I was married to the President, so I’ve got more experience than you do” leaves me with quite a sour taste in my mouth. Though I’m sure nothing like the taste her hubby Bill was leaving in at least a few people’s mouths. All joking aside-

Obama has been racking up nomination after nomination, and it’s really only this whole mess with delegates and super-delegates that leaves Hillary with the feeling of possible victory. It’s really time for someone to tell her to stop this foolishness, and everyone get together behind Obama. He’s clearly the choice of the majority of the country, the numbers have shown, and the less time members of his own party spend sniping at him, the better for everyone involved really.

Hillary- stop circulating stuff like this-

in an attempt to get American voters to distrust a man who you (or your staffers if you prefer) have been trying to cast as a Muslim, (one of the most frightening tag words to a portion of the American Public since “Commies” were being blacklisted in the McCarthy era) all the while pretending to be a gracious competitor at recent debates.I’m not even going to dignify this whole picture debacle with an explanation of what is going on in the photo, if anyone is curious as to why Obama was dressed like this, go here.Leaders within the Democratic party, why do you let crap like this go on? Don’t you realize it just provides more ammunition to the Republicans, by making Obama look suspect, and making Hillary look petty and cheap in her attacks?

I beg you, for the sake of at least a cleaner Presidential race, pick a candidate (preferably the one the majority of Democratic voters are actually voting for, no sense it putting off your own people, right?) and lets start the real campaign- between the red and the blue, and let the issues be the deciding factors, not who dressed like what when, and who may or may not have gone to what school or have what descendents in their past family history.

Do you think we could do that? Please?

All my best-

Skitz.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Nader is running as a third party Presidential candidate… again.

To refresh your memory, Nader has run in the 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004 and (now) 2008 Presidential Elections. What effect will this have on the outcome?

Just another bee buzzin’ in our ears, that’s all.

There’s an interesting side note I’d like to make about Nader. You know how there’s a small army of wack job voters having anxiety attacks about Obama being a practicing Muslim?

Well, hold your diapers, folks. Nader really is Muslim. His parents immigrated from Lebanon prior to his birth in 1934. He has spoken Arabic since he was a child. Are you scrambling for your Valium now?

It’s interesting to note that a man who’s run for President FIVE times never once had the amount of scrutiny that Obama has had in the last six months regarding his heritage.

Perhaps because Nader was never actually viewed as any real threat to the White House?

Popularity: 4% [?]

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If you haven’t noticed, America has gotten a little tired of the Iraq/Afghanistan war rhetoric. The proof is in the effort it took to find any mainstream news articles reporting on it. But maybe a few rockin’ guitar solos will inspire interest again.

It worked in the 60’s, right?

Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young and Peal Jam have contributed tunes to the anti-war soundtrack for a documentary about a U.S. soldier paralyzed in Iraq.

The 30-song, two-disc album “Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran” will be released March 18 via Warner Music’s Sire Records label. All proceeds from the sale of the album will benefit Iraq Veterans Against the War.

And yes, the original news flash printed “Peal Jam”.

Popularity: 4% [?]

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Turkey has finally escalated it’s offensive against the Kurdish guerrillas hiding out in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq- which it had been shelling on and off in recent months.

This is the first occasion since the 2003 invasion led by U.S. forces that Turkish soldiers have moved onto Iraqi soil.

The offensive alarmed Iraqi officials, who have condemned violence by the separatist Kurdish guerrillas in the past but do not want to see a large-scale Turkish invasion.

“This has been a serious escalation,” Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, said in an interview. “We hope that this will end as soon as possible for fear of escalation or any minor mistakes that would lead to a wider problem.”

After hours of bombing and shelling by Turkish artillery and warplanes, Turkish soldiers crossed via the Habur mountain pass after dusk Thursday into a sparsely populated corner of northern Iraq that the separatist rebel group, known as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has used as a refuge and a base for attacks inside Turkey. The number of Turkish troops in Iraq remained unclear Friday, but U.S. and Iraqi officials estimated it at 500 to 1,000. Turkish television reported that the number was as high as 10,000.

Ahmed Denize, a member of the PKK, said that small teams of guerrillas had fought the Turkish soldiers throughout the day Friday. Turkish soldiers destroyed three bridges during their movement into Iraq, he said. He also said PKK fighters had killed about 20 Turkish soldiers, but that claim could not be verified.

“We had information that they are coming, so we spread out in small groups and opened fire on them,” he said. “The fight is still going on.”

The violence between the Turkish government and the Kurdish rebels has roots going back decades, and the shelling against Kurdish rebel strongholds have been sanctioned by the U.S.- which has it’s obvious interests in Iraq, but how exactly does our country’s leadership feel about the new escalation?

The Bush administration has been an active partner in Turkey’s fight against the Kurdish rebels. Turkey has grown more aggressive since President Bush called the PKK a common enemy of Turkey, Iraq and the United States recently. The U.S. military has been sharing intelligence to help target rebel positions and is kept informed of Turkey’s military movements.

Gul called Bush early Thursday to tell him of the incursion, according to Turkey’s military. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Turkey to keep the operation short and “keep in mind that while the terrorists need, obviously, to be stopped from doing what they’re doing, that there really can’t be a destabilization of the region.”

“This is something that we were aware of in advance, and, as you know, the U.S. agrees with Turkey that the PKK is a terrorist organization and is an enemy of Turkey, Iraq and the United States,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel told reporters.

Kurdish officials said they have lived with the U.S.-sanctioned bombing campaign against the rebels but feel the incursion is a violation of their sovereignty; they have also said they will defend their territory, if necessary. Bakir, the Kurdish foreign relations official, said the Americans should halt the Turkish advance.

“We believe that they have a responsibility to stop this incursion, which is not in anybody’s interest,” he said.

After the cease-fire declared by Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr (which many see as just as responsible for the decline in violence in Iraq as the surge in U.S. troops) being announced to continue for another 6 months- this can only have negative effects on an already strained calm that rests over the nation of Iraq. Whether it will be allowed to continue remains to be seen, as the U.S. will be forced both to try to keep the peace in Iraq and appease the current administration there, and keep it’s allies in Turkey happy to maintain the movement routes which the U.S. uses to bring most of it’s supplies to troops stationed in Iraq.

UPDATE, 2/24/08 9:24 am CST: (by Ms. Missive)

As reported on an ABC news website, the Turkish death toll has now risen to 15 including a report that the Kurdish rebels downed a Turkish helicopter. I’d also like to note that the ABC news website is displaying the newest incarnation of the Iraqi flag as reported here on Patriot Missive.

Popularity: 3% [?]

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