Baker Commission Report is out

Here is the complete text. I will post with an opinion after I have actually, you know, read it.

More Baker Commission Leaks

Does it seem to anyone else like Washington has more leaks than the SS Minnow these days? I could have sworn that the president was cracking down on leaks, but apparently he is as impotent as he is incompetent, and that's an accomplishment.

The Baker Commission report is "due on the President's desk" on Wednesday of next week, but everyone with an AM radio has heard parts of the report that have been leaked, including the imminent (within 18 months) pull-out of troops from Iraq.

"It's really about transitioning from a combat to a support role, and basically making very clear that this is no longer an open-ended commitment, and we're going to get this done whether the Iraqis like it or not," one of the sources told the Post. "Everybody understands that we're at the end of the road here."

The question I have is this - why is Baker's commission report leaking like a seive? I'm starting to revise my thinking on this issue (liberals often do that). Here is what I think: I think it's on purpose. I think it is happening with Baker's blessing. He has known young George all his life, probably at some point placed a hand on Babs' belly (sorry for the visual). I believe that Jim Baker is secretly mortified that the little prick is president. I believe he knows enough about aWol's pathologies - and there are many - that he knows how George is going to (want to) react to the recommendations, and he is setting him up for a sacrifice-the-son moment if it comes to that.

George is going to want to lash out (prepare to duck-and-cover, Iran) when he reads that report. He is going to read how bad he screwed up, and he is going to flip right the fuck out. He is not going to take it well. He is going to lose it. I caught the middle-of-the-night press conference with Maliki a couple of nights ago when it was on live. He was shrill and petulant and moreso than usual. He knows that while normally, everyone serves at the pleasure of the president; and the president serves at the pleasure of the people, he is a different color horse. He and his staff all serve at the pleasure of a group of powerful men who are his father's minions, not his own. He is aware of this, accutely. I think he feels the noose tightening. These men are not amused by the antics of the child-king, and he knows it.

These leaks are out there so aWol can't react the way Jim Baker knows he will try to. These leaks are happening not because Jim Baker feels we have a right to know a god-damned thing (he doesn't) but because they are the only way to bring this beast of an administration to heel. The only way he can be stopped is by the people and the new congress. This is certainly not setting well with Jim Baker, who is not a modest individual; but he is at least as shrewd as he is arrogant. the citizenry is a useful tool at some times and an obstacle at others. Right now, he finds us useful.

Fine. I'll gladly fill that role by demanding accountability and making my voice heard about this. Of course, I will be demanding accountability and making my voice heard in the future, too, when these same people who now find me useful will find me once more an obstacle. Two edged sword, ain't it?

Baker Commission Consensus

Well the report we have all been waiting for with bated breath is ready but they are holding it back for another week.

This week is important. That is all the time they have to shift ownership of this swamp to the Democrats. Step one: They are sending Lee Hamilton out as the advance man, and they are calling it the Baker-Hamilton Commission.

What a bunch of crap. I bang my head on my desk in frustration and anger. Why do we let these bastards get away with this garbage? We aren't going to anymore, right? We are going to hold the replacements accountable, right?

Here's the deal. The netroots needs to stick together. We need to be signed up for the emails from our senators and representatives whether they are our party or not. When they vote a way we disagree with, we need to let them know. When they do the right thing, we need to let them know that, too. Do not, for a second, let them forget just who the fuck it is they work for.

We need to embark on a new age of accountability on behalf of our public officials, from your city councilman to the President. Keep an eye on every one of the bastards and ride them like a rented pony.

People have said they were mad as hell and not going to take it anymore for years. Do you mean it yet? Now is your chance to prove it. When they catapult the propaganda, push back. Call it the Baker Commission. Remind the world that Jim Baker is the Bush family consigliere, the fixer. The guy Cheney shot in the face? Baker's brother-in-law.

This is Juniors fuck up and Daddy's friends are having to bail his punk ass out. This is not a bipartisan misadventure and don't let them repackage it as such.

Do not let the message get recast. Stay on top of it, damnit and keep the bastards honest. It's a hell of a job but when the founders gave us this republic they told us it was ours as long as we could keep it. They never said the retention process would be easy, but most things worth keeping aren't easy to hold on to.