"Vanity Fair reports . . ."

I have more faith in the National Enquirer.

Yeah, but at what point does a President deal with the reality that "they don't like us much" is foundational, and not the slightest bit altered by anything we have done, are doing, or possibly will do tomorrow.

It's not like they liked us much before they got to vote.

Jim took the words out of my mouth.

"...it emerged yesterday"?

From where, Sy Hersh's mouth?

Self-determination....hmmm - Hamas won parliamentary elections, but not the presidency. So they self-determined their way to ruling Gaza, by murder, their favorite pastime. Would they permit another election? OJ says yes, most of us say no.

The comments above are indisputably true. Hamas is not going to view the US any differently, unless we decide to buy them out or kill them all. Then they might kiss the ring a bit.

But choosing Fatah as the proxy? Not too smart. It would have been better to pay the Egyptian army to clean out the place.

The Palestinians are like a 48 year-old whore, unable to muster much attention anymore, and with declining pricing power. They need a change, and it ain't coming from their usual pimps. They need a new friend. And there are only two who will help them, but that means a new paradigm.

Oderint dum Metuant.

They'll win the presidential too this time because they'll contest it. They're the popular government.

We're just being childish.

They don't like s because we deny them self-determination. Once they're a state they'll be a normal one.

OJ, you're just wrong on this. Hamas is a gang of murdering goons with aspirations to tyranny. There's only one proper and moral response to murdering goons and tyrants: it involves the liberal application of high explosives, Rule 303, and the occasional gallows.

If they're the popular government, then the rockets into Israel are an act of war. Isn't one way of fighting a war to destabilize the enemy government? Why should Hamas be surprised? Why should you?

Hamas has no way forward to 'govern' Gaza. Their primary accomplishment in the past 15-18 months has been to blow open the border with Egypt, which was then re-closed about a week later. Their love of theater, and victimology, is their only real apparent skill. It is also their downfall. Nobody wants to see the show anymore.

Fatah is no better, which is why the Palis as a whole are in bad shape. They need a new voice, because all the old ones have abused them so much.

And then in a few years you invite Menachem to the White House. Nations are made by murdering thugs.

Yes, the rocket attacks are an act of war. They've been at war with Israel since it was forced upon them. The only question is how long Israel wants the war to last. Sharon realized they were losing it and was ready to end it. His successors aren't as wily.