Screw you.

Not content with merely be in the minority for the 110th Congress the GOP feels compelled to legislate during its lame duck seesion of the 109th Congress as if the Democrats were already in the majority!

The vote which would have normalized trade relations with Vietnam failed yesterday 228-161. Wait, 228-161 sounds like a majority, so how did it fail? The current Republican leadership in their wisdom hoped to push the bill through without any debate so they altered the rules thusly, with the caveat that a 2/3s majority would be required for passage.

The sheer incompetance of this hurts to fathom. How could the GOP leadership not know that 66 members of its own caucus would vote against this bill? Well maybe they did know and were against the legislation the whole time.

Free trade is one of those policies that the GOP was elected to enact. In addition to the economic downside that we now face our loss of face in Vietnam and the rest of East Asia is going to cost us in the future as we go toe to toe with China.

If any further proof is needed to show that Boehner and Blunt are part of the problem facing the GOP this little episode just provided it.

UPDATE: Their will be another vote today with debate and an outright majority will see the that the legislation passes. I am confident that the measure will pass, but not very confident in how the House has handled it thus far.

Mississippi Senator Trent Lott re-enters leadership as new Minority Whip.

Ralph Peters of the New York Post is saying what everyone already knows is fundementally true about our problems in Iraq.

With Iraqi society decomposing - or, at best, reverting to a medieval state with cell phones - the debate in Washington over whether to try to save the day by deploying more troops or withdrawing some is of secondary relevance.

What really matters is what our forces are ordered - and permitted - to do. With political correctness permeating our government and even the upper echelons of the military, we never tried the one technique that has a solid track record of defeating insurgents if applied consistently: the rigorous imposition of public order.

That means killing the bad guys. Not winning their hearts and minds, placating them or bringing them into the government. Killing them.

Let’s forget about Iraq for a second. Whether or not we win or lose there is not nearly as important as this issue we now face: The most powerful military in the history of civilization is unable to defeat a ragtag bunch of insurgents because they lack the will to effectively kill them. This is a problem that is going to haunt us for decades, long after everyone forgets about Iraq.

Hat-tip: Instapundit

Not exactly the person I would endorse.