Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Monday, August 25, 2008

Another Victory For "Tough Talk"

By Cernig



The BBC: "Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has urged President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to prepare for a second term in office amid fierce criticism. The ayatollah praised the president for "standing up" to the West and predicted he would be returned to office for four more years at the 2009 election."



Despite Ahman-nutjob's utter failure on the Iranian economy, with runaway unemployment and inflation. Despite moderates making serious inroads on his powerbase by attacking him on domestic issues, despite the received wisdom as little as a year ago that he wouldn't manage to get re-elected, Khamenei has backed him for a second term.

"Do not think that this year is your final year," Ayatollah Khamenei told the president at a cabinet meeting on Saturday, in remarks quoted by Iranian state media.



"Work as if you will stay in charge for five years. In other words, imagine that in addition to this year, another four years will be under your management, and plan and act accordingly."



Without referring to foreign states by name, the supreme leader accused "some bullying and brazen countries and their worthless followers [of wanting] to impose their will on the Iranian nation".



"The president and the government have stood up to their excessive demands and moved forward," the ayatollah said.

Way to go, Dubya! If you'd just followed Obama's advice the US could be looking forward to a relatively moderate Iranian president in 2009 as Ahmadinejad got buried under a landslide of domestic bad news. But that wouldn't have given either Republicans or Ahmadinejad's hardliners what they wanted - re-election on the crest of a wave of fearmongering.



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2 comments:

  1. EarlAugust 25, 2008 at 10:18 AM

    I just have to wonder what ties Khamenei has with the neocons around here...
    It IS all connected, you know...

    ReplyDelete
  2. KevinAugust 26, 2008 at 8:32 AM

    Who are these moderates making "inroads"? I'm curious.

    ReplyDelete

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