Bush Dissed, Ahmadinejad Writes Letters, And The Iraq Study Group Finally Tells Us What We Already Knew They Were Going To Say (Wednesday's Show)

Hi everybody! We kick it off from Jordan tonight with the news that Maliki totally stood up Bush. Oh no he didn't! Major drama. I swear, I don't know if I'm watching the news or some warped WB (oh I guess that's CW now) teen show. Anyway, this Bush diss would be hilarious if, you know, there weren't thousands of people dying. The reality is we are in deep here, people. A piece from Suzanne Malveaux breaks down the situation and Anderson intros it by saying, "here comes the spin." Well, at least we're being warned. The Bush camp is of course denying this was a snub, but it's really hard to pull that off because it's obvious Dubya wasn't consulted. The story is (well depending on who you ask) that Maliki was ticked about a Hadley memo that was leaked to the New York Times that didn't exactly make him look good. The White House is downplaying the memo because that's what they do. If all this isn't bad enough, Muqtadar al-Sadr has made good on his promise to pull his supporters out of the already weak Iraq government since Maliki went to Jordan. So there it is. What a day. Suzanne then joins us live with Anderson and explains that Maliki is flexing his muscle to look good to his people. Anderson wants to know if anything will even come out of a meeting between the two and Suzanne says the only thing we'll really learn is whether the leaders still trust each other.

Next Anderson talks with Hala Gorani who seems to have taken Suzanne's place. What did you do with Suzanne? It's like musical reporters. Hala was with Colin Powell when he gave a speech calling Iraq a civil war. Oh man, he's off the White House Christmas Card list. Powell also did not recommend raising troop levels. For more analysis we have David Gergen and Jeff Greenfield live. The Gerg is gobsmacked (or boggled if you will) about the Bush diss. He's calls it a "very bad blow" and he's not sure how Bush is going to be able to persuade the American people that the US can work with Maliki. Well, to be fair, at this point if Bush told me the time I'd have to check my watch, so there you go. Jeff takes us down a memory lane of lies, laying out everything that the war backers promised would happen with this invasion. They promised us a kind of reverse domino theory and just like the first domino theory, they were full of crap.

On now to a John Roberts piece on Maliki. We learn he rose to power with the promise of bridging the secretarian divide, but we can tell by all the bodies in the streets that that totally didn't happen. In fact, the joke in Iraq now is that Maliki is the "mayor of the Green Zone." All of his plans have been a failure. Back in studio John mentions there is a rumor in Baghdad that politicians are lining up to replace him. I knew it! I'm telling you people, Maliki's political days are numbered...and maybe his living days too.

Transitioning now to a taped interview John had with Christiane Amanpour on a five page letter Iran's Ahmadinejad has written to the American people. The guy writes letters, he blogs, you just know he's got a diary under his mattress. Christiane tells us that Iran believes America's power has been weakened, but he's not really saying much new. Basically he likes to focus on the commonalites between the American and Iranian people. He also focuses on Israel because he has a major following in the developing Muslim world. Don't stay away so long next time, Christiane.

We then move back live with Reza and Anderson to discuss the letter. Reza says the letter is related to Ahmadinejad's style of always framing himself as a populist. Then Reza brings up the kind of shocking point that Ahmadinejad actually has no say in his country when it comes to policy, including nuclear policy. I knew he was controlled by the Mullahs somewhat, but I didn't know he had no say. What the hell is with this whole nuclear standoff then? I mean, it would have been nice for the White House to clue in the American people. Oh what am I saying? I seem to have forgotten for a moment who is running our country. Anyway, Reza says that Ahmadinejad has actually done more than any other president to challenge the real power in Iran. So...if we played our cards right he could be our friend? I'd really like to hear more about all this. Preferably from Reza, since I'm already asking.

Moving on now to BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! The New York Times has just posted a piece on what the Iraq Study Group is going to recommend. They're going to suggest ASAP redeployment, but no time tables. John Roberts and Anderson both get on this, with John noting that basically the suggestions were widely expected. Retired Brigadier General David Grange then joins us on the phone and he seems a little ticked there are no time lines, noting that it could be a year before even one soldier is moved. Reza is still there too and he says victory is no longer an option and it might be a good idea to move from an offensive position to a defensive position that keeps Iraqis alive. They would probably really like that. Reza also says that if we just pull out there'll likely be a massacre and possibly a regional war. He emphasizes that before going anywhere we must stabilize a central government in Iraq. The Gerg is on the phone too (they've got everybody!) and he calls the study a "classic Washington compromise." However, he notes that Bush won't like the redeployment talk and the democrats won't like the lack of time table.

Uh oh! BREAKING NEWS! CNN is having massive video problems. Anderson gets kicked off and we're back with John who is now fielding all the phone callers. I'd say that John did something to Anderson's feed in order to get more air time, but his is all messed up too. John talks with everyone and suddenly David Sanger of the New York Times is on the phone too (I'm not sure where he came from). It's all pretty hard to follow when your tv is cutting in and out. After a couple minutes CNN gets it together and we go back to Anderson for more discussion. David Sanger tells us he has a sense the diplomatic plan that is yet to come out is more specific than the military plan. Anderson then thanks all the Davids. Bwah! And I thought all the Johns was bad. I bet Anderson is pretty confident he will never share his name with another CNNer. This whole big discussion was pretty good. Too bad we tech problems. The show was good tonight. I'm not blogging the second hour because it was taped and I was distracted worrying about the weather. With good reason apparently. It looks like I won't be leaving my house for a couple of days. I hope everyone else is warm. Don't drive on icy roads if you don't have to. That'll do it. B+

Screencaps by stillife.

Your thoughts on the diss, letter, or ISG?