Read the title out loud and you’ll get a sense of how I really feel.

The other day I noted how Joe Biden had run his mouth about who killed bin Laden, putting SEAL Team 6 at risk. I said: “there is no way to know whether this was an orchestrated ambush targeting Team 6. But it is an important reminder why it’s not just comedy relief to have cynical glory-seekers and complete buffoons at the highest levels of government.”

Well, the possibility of an orchestrated ambush looks much more likely — as an Afghan official tells the press that’s exactly what happened:

The Taliban lured US forces into an elaborate trap to shoot down their helicopter, killing 30 American troops in the deadliest such incident of the war, an Afghan official said Monday.

. . . .

A senior Afghan government official told AFP on condition of anonymity that Taliban commander Qari Tahir lured US forces to the scene by tipping them off that a Taliban meeting was taking place.

He also said four Pakistanis helped Tahir carry out the strike.

“Now it’s confirmed that the helicopter was shot down and it was a trap that was set by a Taliban commander,” said the official, citing intelligence gathered from the area.

“The Taliban knew which route the helicopter would take,” he continued.

In other words, a Taliban no doubt incensed at bin Laden’s death set up an ambush designed to target exactly the sort of forces that would respond to a report of high value targets.

Did the families fear this? You betcha. Watch at 2:58 as the dad of one of the fallen SEALs goes off Matt Lauer’s feel-good script to lash out at the “sheep” like Biden who put his son at risk:

You know, it’s really strange, Matt, that 90 some-odd days ago SEAL Team 6 had a big victory, and possibly sheep in high places said things that made many of us very uncomfortable. And now some 90 some-odd days later, SEAL Team 6 has suffered a terrible tragedy. And I just pray that during these last days, these next days, they ‘ll allow SEAL Team 6 — the wives, the children, the families — to grieve, to bury their dead, and not make it political.

Next October when Hollywood is spending tens of millions to release a big “Obama killed bin Laden” movie blockbuster to influence the election, let’s keep in mind what the buffoons — the sheep — like Biden did. Is that me making it political? No, sir. It’s me noting when others do. When morons like Biden run their mouths, they put good men at risk. When the Obama administration decided to release all the information about who killed bin Laden, they put good men at risk.

And for this they should be re-elected?

This is me spitting at that idea.

It would be unbelievable if it weren’t Biden:

What is truly insensitive is the comparison between the two. On one hand, you have someone who is so brain damaged that they have no meaningful chance of ever saying something coherent again. On the other hand, you have Gabby Giffords. (Rimshot.)

The full quote is even . . . more Bideny:

“When I went up, she said, ‘Joe,” Biden recalled of his meeting with Giffords. “I said, ‘Now we’re both members of the Cracked Head Club.’ You know, I had two craniotomies. For real. They literally took the top of my head off. Twice. Now, the wags in Delaware, when the second operation occurred, wrote and said, ‘Well, it’s because they couldn’t find a brain the first time!’”

One heartbeat from the Oval Office, ladies and gentlemen.

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Courtesy of the L.A. Times. Who else?

In assessing the legacy of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, most eulogies have begun by celebrating his legislative achievements, which have touched virtually every American. He is routinely — and rightly — placed among the greatest senators who ever lived. Others have pointed to his less tangible contributions to the nation — that as his brothers’ heir, he kept the Kennedys’ progressive flame lit and continued to carry the torch for the least powerful among us.

. . . .

What we loved and admired in him, what we hope for ourselves and our country, is his sense of moral largeness, his unbounded capacity to care, not because he was a saint but because he wasn’t. By challenging us as he challenged himself, and reminding us where we fall short, Kennedy shames us, a gift that, one suspects, will linger in the national soul.

Oh yeah he said that. A guy who got liquored up, drunkenly drove a car off a bridge, left his female companion to die, and told authorities about all this . . . oh, about ten fucking hours later — you know, once his blood alcohol level was safely back around zero — what a morally large fellow he was!

Excuse me while I puke.

P.S. You do know that Harry Reid said today of Ted Kennedy’s death: “it’s going to help us” on ObamaCare.

You do know that, don’t you?

She didn’t say that, but it seems to be what she’s thinking.

Earlier DRJ told us about Robert Byrd’s plea that we rename health care legislation after Ted Kennedy.

It bears noting that Byrd was not the only Democrat to cynically exploit Kennedy’s death before the corpse had cooled to room temperature:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,” the statement read.

I encouraged readers not to make today be about remembering Kennedy’s role in the death of Mary Kopechne, or his lies about Robert Bork, or his numerous personal failings. There will be time for all that, but the day of a man’s death should not be about politics. Pelosi would have done well to remember that.

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Good.

(L.A. Times story is here.)

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have returned from a five-day visit to Cuba, conducted with the aim of improving relations between the island nation and the United States. They were thrilled at the opportunity to meet Fidel Castro himself, whom they described as “very fit” and “very energetic.” Rep. Laura Richardson (D, Calif.) described the meeting thus: Castro “looked directly into our eyes” and asked how Cuba could help President Obama in his efforts to change the course of U.S. foreign policy.

How grand.

Fellow traveler Rep. Barbara Lee (D, Calif.) has advocated for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a position presumably shared among the entire entourage. So, while they find it objectionable that the United States occupies a sliver of the island for the purpose of housing enemy combatants, they are apparently untroubled that the remainder of the island is itself little more than a prison, one maintained for half a century by their fit and energetic host but now under the stewardship of his even more fit and energetic younger brother Raul.

I hope they had a nice time.

–Jack Dunphy

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

My column on the recent horrors in Oakland is up on NRO today. I was particularly appalled by Oakland mayor Ron Dellums’s inability to condemn the behavior of those in Oakland who expressed support for Lovelle Mixon, the man who killed four Oakland police officers on March 21. below is a selection from the column, but I invite you to read the whole thing and leave your comments here.

Last week, Oakland mayor Ron Dellums met with reporters and discussed the shootings. One reporter expressed his surprise at finding so many people who seemed indifferent or even jubilant at the death of four police officers. “People in the neighborhood,” said the reporter to Dellums, “said they were not sympathetic — they expressed no sympathy for the officers when we went down there. What does that tell you?”

Incredibly, Dellums couldn’t muster the courage to denounce such people. “I don’t want to comment about that,” said the mayor. “This is a moment of tremendous grief and tragedy. This is not a time to politicize death.” Only in Oakland and a handful of other cities would it be considered “political” to condemn such execrable behavior. With leadership like that, is it any wonder that Oakland finds itself in its present condition?

I suspect that if the racial equation in this incident were inverted, Mayor Dellums would have had quite a bit to say.

–Jack Dunphy

The latest in a seemingly endless parade of sanctimonious lefties who lecture you not to do that which they secretly do themselves:

This week, the City Insider spotted an almost empty case of bottled water in the back of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s hybrid sport utility vehicle as it was parked in front of City Hall. At least one full bottle of Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water remained under the plastic covering.

This from the mayor who in June 2007 issued an executive order directing city government to no longer purchase bottled water, saying the containers clog landfills while the city owns a pristine reservoir in the Sierra Nevada that produces some of the country’s best-rated tap water.

Newsom, a former restaurateur, last year called on the restaurant industry to stop selling bottled water to customers and start serving local tap water instead.

To hear Newsom’s spokesman talk, you’d think the stuff was crack cocaine. He’s not proud of it — but he slips sometimes! And the mostly used stash in his trunk belongs to someone else, man!

The mayor sometimes slips, said his spokesman, Nathan Ballard. But in this case, the bottled water belonged to the mayor’s security detail and wasn’t purchased with city funds, Ballard said.

“The mayor will be the first to admit that he occasionally indulges in bottled water,” Ballard said. “It’s not something he’s proud of.”

I think it’s time we recognized that we are losing the war on bottled water.

Thanks to CQM.

ABC News reports:

Illinois’ beleaguered Gov. Rod Blagojevich said today that when he was deciding who would take President Obama’s Senate seat he considered appointing talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, a suggestion that Winfrey says left her “amused.”

It makes sense to me. Who has more money than Oprah?

P.S. I heard a guy on the radio today mocking this as ridiculous. Of course, it is. But what’s more ridiculous is that, if she ran, she’d probably win.

Laugh if you like . . . but then explain to me why anyone took Caroline Kennedy seriously as a possible Senator.