“There’s no such thing as the United Nations…if the UN secretary building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” So Dubya has picked John Bolton as our new UN ambassador and, guess what? Yep, he’s a right-wing freakshow. Said avowed UN enemy and former Sen. Jesse Helms (no, not yet) of Bolton: He’s “the kind of man with whom I would want to stand at Armageddon.” Brilliant. (CLW link via BookNotes & Digby) Update: Slate‘s Fred Kaplan has more.
Tag: George W. Bush
Take your flunky and dangle.
After undoubtedly being read the Rove riot act for his earlier apostasy, a chastened Catkiller Frist changes his tune on Social Security reform and now says it has to happen this year. But, even with Dubya spinning otherwise, it’s starting to look ever clearer that the GOP privatization plan is going down.
A crack in the lines.
Third rail redux…As the White House pushes for a renewed GOP advance on Dubya’s privatization scheme, the big Congressional names — Frist and DeLay — have started hedging their bets. Hmmm…if the Republican leaders are already acting this shaky, the ground troops must be contemplating a full-on rout. In fact, to pursue the military metaphor, Harry Reid and the Dems should take this moment of weakness as the perfect opportunity to unleash some heavy-duty Harry and Louise-type firepower. Remember ’93? It’s payback time.
Third Rail Anxiety.
Stand clear of the closing doors, please…Facing an uphill battle in their bid to privatize Social Security, congressional Republicans start contemplating a legislative exit strategy, which would probably include some concessions to a bipartisan plan. But the Dems, sensing the Clinton health care fiasco redux, may not play ball at all, with the exception of the usual “moderate” suspects. For the love of Pete, Senator Lieberman, please don’t give the Bush bill any of your patented Joementum.
Don’t Mention the War.
Despite inducing peals of laughter with his “ridiculous” doublespeak on Iran, Dubya’s “We’re Team Players” European tour continues to generate mostly good international press for the administration. Along those lines, I particularly liked this gem from the LA Times: “Talk of Bush is often imbued with suspicion. But unlike two years ago, German critics are less likely to compare him to Hitler.” Hey now, that’s progress.
Stay Scared.
“We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war.” Dubya uses the swearing-in of crony Alberto Gonzalez as Attorney General to pull a Two-Minutes-Fear and shill for a blanket extension of the Patriot Act. With even GOP conservatives against some provisions of the Act at this point, not bloody likely.
All the President’s Men.
Journalism then and now: As Slate writer and Nixon historian David Greenberg reports in from the opening of the Watergate papers, Salon‘s Eric Boehlert surveys the strange case of “Jeff Gannon”, a.k.a. James Guckert, fake newsman for Dubya.
Even more a roving.
Dubya consigliere and strategy guru Karl Rove is promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff, making official his imprimatur on White House policy decisions. Hmm. It seems doubtful this particular reshuffling will enthuse Dems on the administration’s second term agenda.
Causing Deprivation.
I was at the movies during Dubya’s State of the Union address — I tried to watch it online this evening after my Radicalism sections, but Quicktime died in mid-sentence, so I just ended up reading it. And, while I thought it was very well-written as per the norm, my thoughts on the address have been colored even more than usual by the punditocracy. So, with that in mind, I’ll avoid being derivative and just direct y’all to the following:
- Fred Kaplan: “Some of the president’s statements on national security were simply puzzling. Again on Iran, he said, ‘We are working with European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium-enrichment program and any plutonium reprocessing.’ This is just false.“
- Chris Suellentrop: “You could call Bush’s idea the Screw Your Grandchildren Act…This was the Greatest Love of All speech, in which Bush asserted that The Children Are Our Future. But before you sign on to Bush’s proposal, be aware that what he’s offering is pretty tough love.“
- Will Saletan: “Tonight’s State of the Union Address demonstrated again that President Bush is a man of very clear principles. He’s just flexible about when to apply them.“
- Joe Conason: “Although George W. Bush and the White House aides who craft these public spectacles become increasingly adept at manipulating the feelings of his audience every year, their underlying method remains the same: to shade inconvenient realities with rhetorical vagueness and outright deception.“
- E.J. Dionne: “Our country could profit from an honest debate about the future of Social Security. Judging from President Bush’s State of the Union address, that is not the kind of debate we are about to have.“
Freaks of the NSA.
“The sources of this anarchism [the Columbine massacre] are 30 years of liberal social policy that has put our children in day care, taken God out of the schools, taken Mom out of the house, and banished Dad as an authority figure from the family altogether.” Slate‘s Fred Kaplan introduces us to J.D. Crouch, conservative freakshow and, naturally, the new deputy national security adviser. In case you were wondering about his foreign policy inclinations, Crouch also appears to be against missile treaties and, er, pro-chemical weapons.