Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Brooding and Freezing

El Jefe has been brooding on his hacienda and is now back in Ciudad El Jefe freezing, and catching up on things. The secret police reports have piled up, not to mention all the mundane and boring things summed up under the label "work." A real post will no doubt appear soon.
Meanwhile, lots to read in the world . . .Ronald A. Cass over at Real Clear Politics invites us to speculate as to why former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger felt compelled to turn into Sandy Burglar and filch classifed materials from the National Archives. Something really sinister and important had to be going on for Mr. Burglar to run such huge risks, but nobody, least of all the media, seems to want to find out precisely what. Spook 86 at In from the Cold has some interesting comments on this case here, and (especially) here.
Down in sunny Havana, Fidel Castro is reportedly in "grave" condition says the AP, quoting the Spanish newspaper El Pais. Apparently that's not the AP copy editor making a pun, but what the Spanish paper actually says. El Pais apparently has "unnamed sources" in the Spanish hospital where one of Castro's doctors works, which makes the report very interesting indeed. Maybe Saddam's gonna have that new roommate after all.
Finally, Baron Bodissey over at Gates of Vienna discusses Senator Hillary Clinton's recent call on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. The Baron correctly points out that the President-General probably thinks he is talking to the next US president, which, as the Baron tells us, is an assumption which the Senator no doubt shares. What this might mean for Pakistan is less clear, but I suspect that a Democratic administration will not be good news for the President-General, or for Pakistan in general. The Baron's piece also discusses a cleverly photo-shopped portrait on the Senator's website.

6 comments:

Candidly Caroline said...

It's SNOWING in Austin! :)

El Jefe Maximo said...

The Heir would no doubt like to be there. Usually, we don't get much in Houston beyond sleet.

Anonymous said...

the parking lot in front of my store is a 2" thick sheet of ice.
so i don't want to hear about cold you think it is in south texas.
32 above is a pipe dream up here.

as for barack of obama's website, this little tidbit scares the hell out of me:
I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics.

i didn't know that socialism was so popular in this country. i guess i'm getting ready to find out.

El Jefe Maximo said...

Oops, sorry about that, LL. I'm a totally tropical plant. I think that even the usually mild winters we have in Texas are much too much.

As for Barack and his Menu of New Politics...they all say they're offering a full service smorgasbord of newness. Remember Gary Hart and his "new ideas ?"

I just don't think Saint Obama's got legs. I need to start watching it closer...but it looks to me like he's perhaps the unwitting stalking horse of other interests, people who want to muss-up Hilla the Hun's hairdo by proxy so as to to better prepare the way for. . .

John Edwards, or more likely Al Gore.

Stay tuned.

Anonymous said...

as for hillary's positions, i don't know why anyone at GoV did not mention bill's close ties in the mideast. in the form of jizzah. while hillary was arguing against the hand over of our ports to a company controlled by the UAE, bill was talking it up as a good thing.
while all consider her shrewd, imo that says more about them than her, i consider her dysfunctional.

El Jefe Maximo said...

Yeah, the Clintons will get you coming and going, no question. For Hillary, tis a close question whether Bill's more useful as an ex-husband -- simply because 30 prct. of the voters won't even look at her b/c of her husband -- or more useful as her husband because he has such a great rolodex and connections to so much money.

On balance, I think if she wants a shot at being President, I believe that Hillary needs Bill in the marriage. Keeping him as First Hubby makes it harder for Bill to talk and publish what she might not like; prevents her from being embarrassed by comparisons with his latest arm-candy; and gives her unlimited use of his connections. All he has to do is behave in public.

Despite her enormous organizational and money advantage, I think she's a weak candidate, if only because her negatives are so high, and she has a history of having a tin ear. On the plus side, the Republicans are in a very tight spot, and the Democrats should have a significant advantage in 08. But there is space for a real rival to Hillary, and just enough time for him to get organized.

I think Kerry sunk himself last year, although he may try to get in. He thinks its his duty to be president. . . got to save the world from the benighted Southerners. If Kerry gets in...that sucks more energy away from Clinton, and probably swamps St. Obama.

Edwards is positioned to do very well, and he's my bet, unless. . .

Bonnie Prince Albert returns from Over the Water. Watch Gore. Demos might well think that his time is here. After all, he is the President in Exile. He was against the Iraq war before it was cool, they like the Global Warming thing, plus. . .he wants it. I keep wondering if he's going to be content with being President, or whether he'll insist on being God-Emperor. He has to save the world from polluters and giant corporate interests. The True Believer Demos (particularly on campus and on the West Coast) will eat him up and crawl on glass for him if he gets in the race.