Left I on the News

Yesterday, we had a State Department spokesperson unable to identify Israel as one of the two countries (using the word "country" loosely in the case of Palau) to vote with the U.S. in support of the U.S. blockade of Cuba. And today, we have the Secretary herself, Hilary Clinton, with not one but two almost unbelievable statements.

First, her observations on the likelihood of one of the two candidates in the upcoming Afghanistan runoff election withdrawing:

""I don't think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election."

Really, Hilary? Nothing? Not even given the fact that the candidate who may be withdrawing is doing so because the other guy stole at least 30% of the votes in the first round, and the identical election mechanisms are still in place? Clinton also claims "We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward." Really? Exactly how many times can you recall that that happened?

And then, she moves on to Israel, where it gets even more preposterous:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that Israel is making "unprecedented" concessions on West Bank settlement construction.

"What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements ... is unprecedented."

And just what did the prime minister offer in terms of "specifics on restraints" (restraints on the Israeli policy of flaunting international law)? As near as I can tell, not a damn thing. It was Clinton who told the Palestinians that they should accept Israel's building of 3,000 more units on the West Bank along with the construction of public buildings residentes in east Jerusalem.

Unprecedented? All too precedented, unfortunately.