Weird. I actually *knew* Eric Edelman in grad school, and he was then well to the left of *me.* Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected him to end up like this. Apparently at some point he fell under the malign influence of the Kagan clan

Even creepier -- Dick Cheney used to sing this to his aide each morning:

Edelscheiss, Edelscheiss
Every morning you greet me
Pure and white, might makes right
Or are you just happy to see me?

Like Tony Snow
You lie like a ho
Bush shall reign forever

Edelscheiss, Edelscheiss
The Fatherland forever

Cheney is, of course, our modern-day Jesus. The only way to Salvation!

Sing it, Al!

Kevin Drum >"...I don't care whether he worked for the guy or not, that's just creepy."

Well yes it is

Part of that ReThuglican Man Love crush thing they have going

Talk about sicko...

"If you`re not nervous, you don`t understand what`s happening." - John Young

Interesting ... I didn't know Edelman was a festooner.

I don't care whether he worked for the guy or not, that's just creepy

Not if you like darts.

Someone should ask him if he swore an oath to the Constitution, or Cheney.

I know people who sleep with a picture of W. Bush on their nightstand. As you can imagine talking to these people is futile.

What's weird is that the guy's CV isn't at all like the standard think tank/Commentary magainze neocon or Republican Party apparatchik. He's straight career foreign service -- the kind of people Dick Cheney usually spits on (that is, when he's not fantasizing about shooting them in the face.)

"Festooned" photos or not, I still have to wonder if Edelman isn't just the front man here.

Yeah, but you should see him without his shirt!

Yeah, but you should see him without his shirt!

No no no nooooooooo!

You'd think it was even creepier if Klein had reported on what Cheney was wearing and/or doing in those photos.

It reminds of what the former surgeon general Richard Carmona said, that he was asked to mention "George W Bush" at least three times in each page. Remember that this is part of the "stab in the back" strategery, where the ones who got us into the quagmire will pretend that the critics lost a war that was (always) almost won.

Hey, check this great cartoon by Tom Tommorrow, "The Quantum Cheneyverse":
Link
The physics analogies are actually rather well informed.

Here is Cheney's wavefunction when he is pretending to be in both of two branches of government:

= Az|executive> + B|legislative>

The A and B represent the amplitudes for Cheney to be observed as "executive" or "legislative" at a given time of observation. The probability of each is the square of amplitude, and the total must add to one. Hence we might have for example A = 0.6 and B = 0.8, meaning Cheney has a probability of 36% of being in the executive branch at the time and 64% chance of being in the legislative branch (yet I realize, it depends on the method of observation.) Here "z" is a complex number representing the phase difference between A the components, which is not significant in practice here AFAIK.

Well, that was rather tongue in cheek, but for real: A discussion thread I started in 2000 on the moderated and upscale NG sci.physics.research was so popular, and garnered so much attention from big wigs who linked, like John Baez, that now searching for "quantum measurement paradox" on Google brings it up first. ("Any idiot" can top up on Google with unique direct wording, but it's hard to get there for a subject matter search.)

My sci/phil blog, which needs updating:

Tyrannogenius

Pretty funny, Roger Ailes! Of course, I curse your name for putting that tune on an endless loop in my head.

David: I actually *knew* Eric Edelman in grad school, and he was then well to the left of *me.* Never in my wildest dreams would I have expected him to end up like this.

Opportunistic little so-and-so, eh? Didn't Stefan go to law school with some current Bush prat boy who used to be a liberal? Who was it, Stefan? Bolten?

I know people who sleep with a picture of W. Bush on their nightstand.

They may not all be backwashers. I see this as a cheap, non-medical intervention for priapism.

From what I read, Edelman was a recess appointment to his current position in 2005. That appointment should have ended when the new Congress began in January 2007. Why does he still have the job?

I know people who sleep with a picture of W. Bush on their nightstand.

shortstop: They may not all be backwashers. I see this as a cheap, non-medical intervention for priapism

Hilarious.

johns053: Good point, and what about all the other recess appointments? Are the Dems pussying out as usual?

Just trying to keep my chin up, trexie. :)

I see this as a cheap, non-medical intervention for priapism.

Warn a girl when you are going to say something like that.

This is a hilarious irony:

Link

Cheney to be in charge during Bush colonoscopy

* Story Highlights
* President Bush will have a routine colonoscopy Saturday
* While he's anesthetized, his powers will be transferred to the vice president
* Bush had last colonoscopy in 2002, which found no problems
* Next Article in Politics »

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney will serve as acting president briefly Saturday while President Bush is anesthetized for a routine colonoscopy, White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday.

"Briefly" - Hahaha .... But how will this affect Cheney's quantum wavefunction? I suppose it will increase the |executive> component and tip the expectation value towards full-fleged "President."

Neil B:

Your simplistic 2 state quantum system can be used to predict who we will bomb tommorow once Cheney comes out from behind his curtain and shows us who really mans the levers.

It's going to be either Iran or North Pakistan.

I go 75% Iran, 25% North Pakistan.

That with which this administration is "festooned" will also attract most species of flies.

What do you expect from the guy who took Doug Feith's slot?

There can be little doubt that Edelman was speaking for Cheney in that disgusting smear. His record as Ambassador to Turkey was pretty much a disaster, but what else would anyone expect from a Cheney-man?

Quote of the Day: "We are buying time at a cost of the lives of our soldiers." -- U.S. ambassador to Iraq Chester Crocker.
So which war apologist wants to die for "bought time?"

Yeah, but here's the million dollar question: was Dick wearing any clothes in those pictures?

Ah, Kevin.

Go ahead. Keep childishly malinging our Vice President, a man of nearly 70 years old.

Does a 70 year old man really frighten you, Kevin? DOES A &) YEAR OLD MAN REALLY FRIGHTEN YOU?!

DOES A &) YEAR OLD MAN REALLY FRIGHTEN YOU?! Posted by egbert.

Not unless I'm in front of him, and he has a shotgun. You, egbert, merely amuse me with your complete stupidity. Does your mommy have to cut your food for you because you don't know how to use a knife and fork?

Ah, egbert. Where is your sock-puppet egbert?

Dr. Wilbur, can you get Forsythe to come out and play?

Hey, if Condi can lust for Bush, can't Cheney have his own admirer?

I can see Halle Berry photos or Salma Hayek photos but pictures of Dead Eye Dick? calling this creepy is too kind.

Hey, maybe all those photos, you know, EMBOLDENED Mr. Edelman, if you know what I mean.

President Bush will have a routine colonoscopy Saturday
Will the event be televised like Katie Couric's?

johns053: Good point, and what about all the other recess appointments?
I believe that Bush claims Executive Priviledge allows him to do whatever, whenever, however.

"Cheney to be in charge during Bush colonoscopy"

Well...
Why bother with the procedure if he left his cancerous polyp back at the White House?

And...

Isn't a colonoscopy dangerous for someone with their head up their ass? Wouldn't that make the procedure a trepanation?

Opportunistic little so-and-so, eh? Didn't Stefan go to law school with some current Bush prat boy who used to be a liberal? Who was it, Stefan? Bolten?

I went to law school with several of these guys, but they were the usual right-wing tools, hardly worthy of notice. The more interesting case is Joel Kaplan. We weren't in law school at the same time, but I used to be friendly with Joel, who like Edelman was a liberal Democrat in his youth. He and I even campaigned for Dukakis back in '88, if I remember rightly. Now he has Karl Rove's old job....

Man, what happens to these people?

Looks like Cheney's leather slave finally made it out of the White House dungeon and into a cushy undersecretary job.

This reminds me of something I've wanted to mention and ask about.

A friend who retired a few years ago as a lieutenant-colonel in the reserves told me that some military offices he had been in had photos of Bush and Cheney. He said that the historical norm had been photos of the current president and perhaps the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Have others noticed Cheney photos in military offices?

You youngsters fail to see what every man 55 and up sees on Edelman's CV:
(Born 1951)
Mr. Edelman received a B.A. in History and Government from Cornell University in 1972, and a Ph.D. in U.S. Diplomatic History from Yale University in 1981.
Mr. Edelman served as a member of the U.S. Middle East Delegation to the West Bank/Gaza Autonomy Talks Delegations, 1980-81 . . .

Back it up there. Ignore the looooong interval between the BA and the PHD. The official list of gov't service which begins in 1981 does not have a space for 1970-72. There's the Cheney link; another chickenhawk. Sat out the draft at Cornell--not a bad choice, but the seemliness of those vacant two years makes his lionhearted tough talk just so much talk.
(Imagine the "Apocalypse Now" scene from "Jarhead", and replace the audience of high-test Marines with a crowd of graying/balding/bald men screaming at the screen, tapping their heads with Raisinette boxes, chanting "duhduntaDA-DUH"; Big Dick in the middle. You almost wish they had their war, but Viet Nam was hell enough without saddling a unit with these assholes.)

Cheney is quite the pin-up ever since "Don't ask,don't tell"

Libertarian scholar says Bush assertion that al-Qaeda will take over Iraq after we leave, is a “crock of shit”.

[I’m paraphrasing here, folks.]

Weird. I actually *knew* Eric Edelman in grad school, and he was then well to the left of *me.*Zionism trumps liberalism.

Oops, I violated the Emperor's Clothes taboo. We're not supposed to notice they're J_____ and act for I_____.

There's a great scoop out there for the enterprising reporter who can show when UnderSec Edelman changed his name. I'm positive the original must have been 'Renfield.'

Slate has this:

"In effect, Edelman was telling her three things. First, you're practically a traitor for even asking these questions. Second, maybe we do have contingency plans for withdrawal, but we're not going to tell you about them. Third, run along now, little lady, I've got work to do."

So, it becomes clearer that I was correct in my original conjecture that the DOD has decided to assist Senator Clinton in any way it can in becoming President of the United States.

Slate puts it this way:

"The undersecretary's letter to Clinton embodies the administration's contempt for Congress, Democrats, anyone named Clinton, and—implicitly, in its tone—anyone who falls in these categories and is also a woman. It is the sort of letter that could arouse resentment among lots of senators, even Republicans — and among lots of female voters, especially those who are all too familiar with the condescension of powerful men."

Is Secretary of Defense Robert Gates in charge at the Pentagon, or not.

Apparently, not.

Remember that episode of The Simpsons when Smithers dreams of Monty Burns floating over his bed?

Just sayin'.