Passion Play
September 19th, 2006Not too far back, I wrote about the story saying that Karl Rove had had the West Wing exorcised of Hillary Clinton, and taunted that Bush had thrown Holy Water all over the Oval to clean it off Bill. President Clinton’s response to Karl Rove is apparently out and about, and it’s, “I am sick of Karl Rove’s bullshit.” That bothers me, to a point. Bill Clinton complaining about another man being calculating is like Dick Cheney complaining about another man’s ugly.
If he’s speaking from a purely policy perspective, I agree with him. Truthfully, I fully understand that Rove’s tactics are not too far off, politically, from Democratic tactics but for the fact that Rove is far more successful. It’s when it comes down to policy that Karl Rove is an aberration. By that I mean: you always have political advisors in the White House, and it’s unusual to have an advisor who runs the show and runs it poorly at that. You have to go to William McKinley and Mark Hannah, in my view, to find another President so dominated by an aide, and if that’s what he means by “bullshit,” I’m with Bill, but otherwise, I’m not. Dick Morris’ bullshit and his and Hillary’s are just as bad.
Beyond snark about Clinton’s complaints, there’s genuine news in Washington, and the first I’d like to speak of is the plan for military tribunals for terrorists. From the moment I read the title of this editorial this morning, When Miranda Met Osama, I knew I would enjoy it. I enjoyed the following part.
To keep up war momentum, the U.S. now needs to put terrorists on trial. And to do that Mr. Hunter supports enacting rules, requested by the president, that would allow military tribunals to try and convict terrorists using hearsay evidence and to use classified information, even if it is withheld from the defendant. The goal, in Mr. Hunter’s view, is to provide a “modicum of fairness,” while also taking into account battlefield realities. Soldiers aren’t police officers. In the midst of a firefight, they can’t be expected to collect forensic evidence for a criminal trial.
Last month, as Washington was settling down for Congress’s summer recess, there was reason to believe that President Bush would prevail with his proposal for military tribunals. Most Republicans in Congress support aggressive interrogations of suspected terrorist leaders and tough but fair military trials. And many Democrats, determined to win control of Congress in November, weren’t raising sharp objections.
But that was before Sen. McCain, along with Sens. Lindsey Graham and John Warner, turned a debate over rules to govern interrogations and military tribunals into a shouting match over “torturing” detainees. It’s notable that, unlike Abu Ghraib, this isn’t a controversy over documented abuses. Terrorists in U.S. custody have been aggressively interrogated, but no evidence has surfaced to indicate that they have been tortured. And in its proposed legislation, the White House wants to ratify, not expand, its current terrorist interrogation policies and its planned terrorist tribunals.
To me, there’s no reason for McCain to be doing this, politically or in terms of policy. What does McCain have to gain by going against Bush again? especially since he wants to run for President as a Republican. Then, there’s the simple fact that McCain won this battle months ago. Bush signed the papers he wanted him to sign. Isn’t that the end of it for John? He was celebrating half a year ago. And then, maybe the most serious part of this all, is the fact that tortured interrogations have nothing to do with the tribunal, really. They’re separate issues, overall. McCain is just grandstanding, but that’s to be expected of Barry Goldwater’s bastard child. Which isn’t to say I’m defending George H.W. Bush’s bastard child (the President), because he too is in the wrong of late, though not on this. He spoke to the UN today and came off looking a little loony to me.
In his annual address to the U.N. General Assembly, Bush directed a portion of his remarks to Iranians, saying “you deserve an opportunity to determine your own future” and an economy that rewards their talents. “The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation’s resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons,” Bush said.
He does understand that the Iranian diplomats were there, not the people, right? Listen, I have no problem with open messages to a people or person (insert love letter here), but when you do that, and then pull this cowardice, there’s something wrong with you. Bush and AhManiac are going to go out of there way to avoid each other at the UN. Seems like Ahmaniac wants to go to the Nuclear Prom and George said no so he’s building his dress out of his mother’s old handbags and undergarments and now their feelings are too hurt to talk about it.
George Bush should man up, come over to him and say, “What are you doing? What are you doing?” and then he’d do well to call a translator.