So I came up short on what Bush would say in his Wednesday press conference. That’s cool. With the right seasonings crow isn’t half bad. Maybe he will even match words up with deeds, but don’t count on it it. We have seen the president rhetorically turn on a dime before. Changing his act will take a lot more work.
Of course Dick Cheney, considered Batman to the president’s affable, dim Robin, didn’t bother with conciliatory words. Don’t expect pleasantries from a guy whose governing philosophy revolves around the idea that Nixon gave up too easily and don’t expect diplomacy from a guy who views every conflict as a savage death struggle between implacable foes. The first subpoena to slide under Cheney’s undisclosed door will kick off a scrap that won’t settle until Bush’s SCOTUS picks have had their say, if then.
Maybe with Rumsfeld gone Cheney will have a harder time spreading his murk around Washington. That assumes the existence of a compassionate president beneath the naked machiavellianism championed by Rove and the Veep, one who can finally take advantage of the dark pair’s weakened state to express his basic humanity. Could be, but it’s been twenty-four hours since Bush extended his open hand to the Democrats and already we have two reasons to think that he meant to extend a finger.
One:
Word has just reached me from a well-placed source that the White House has continued to push John Bolton’s confirmation prospects as US Ambassador to the United Nations despite the election outcome.
Another highly placed source has informed me that in just a few minutes Senator Lincoln Chafee is calling a press conference to state categorically that he will not support John Bolton’s confirmation in the upcoming lame duck session.
Two:
For the new 110th Congress, a long-overdue investigation of warrantless eavesdropping seems far more likely than legalization of it, to put it mildly. For that reason, the President made clear in a Rose Garden speech today that he wants Congressional action taken on that bill during the lame duck session, to convene before Democrats take over in January.
Kiss my black ass indeed. Or for the sake of brevity, KMBA. Expect to see it often.
Walker
Okay, I’ll bite. Who’s black ass are we kissing? Or has does that word just work as a generic superlative in this context?
Tim F.
Generic superlative. It’s a figure of speech.
Steve
I’ve heard it said in some quarters that elections have consequences.
Dave
I’m more concerned with what the ass looks like. Is it hairy and lumpy or smooth and tight?
TenguPhule
Grease up the broomstick, we’re going fishing.
Krista
Is it Taye Diggs’ black ass? I’d kiss that quite happily, and with great vigour, thank you very much.
jcricket
Dick Cheney is more “Brain” to George Bush’s “Pinky” than Batman/Robin.
John “Walrus” Bolton ain’t going nowhere. Is there another recess between the lame-duck session and the 110th Congress? If so, that’s the only way he’s being re-appointed. There are quite a few Republicans suddenly concerned about their 2008 chances, and I see no reason why they’d spend their remaining “political capital” giving Mr. Unpopularity and Darth Vader what they want
Tsulagi
Yep, the Uniter will use the lame duck session to try getting Bolton and any lesser knowns confirmed. Probably thinking it they get through, great, if not, it’s recess appointment time over the holidays.
Will be interesting to see if the enablers will still be keen on enabling. Do they really want to try ramming things through when they know the next time they get together the Pubs will be in the minority? Tubes could find himself in front of a committee in January explaining how his bridges conveniently led to property owned by family and friends. Hastert could have a little explaining to do too. We’ll see how well Reid and Pelosi play in this session.
The Other Steve
Cheney is going to be gone within a month.
How do I know? Because Bush promised he was going to stay, just like Rumsfeld.
traig
Bush wants the lame-duck congress to take up warrantless eavesdropping and… wait, why would they be concerned with what he wants? Are they supposed to be thankful for the most excellent timing of the Rummy announcement?
Yeah, that’s great, coach, but we’re down three touchdowns with a minute left and we don’t have the ball. Don’t be surprised if I don’t look terribly motivated.
David
I prefer “Bite my shiny metal ass,” but I suppose that would invite Bender back.
CaseyL
I figured Bush would try to ram through a bunch of stuff during the lame-duck session. I hadn’t considered how nervous the Republicans would be about their own chances in 2008 if they continue to enable him now.
I’m listening to an NPR story about how the only energized Republicans right now are the evangelicals, and how they’re determined to “take back” the GOP. “Take back” is an odd phrase, to those of us who think they’ve had too damn much influence already. It’s also an odd phrase in light of the unraveling Christian Rightist movement (not just the sex scandals, but the reports that young people are abandoning the movement in droves).
The struggle for control of the GOP is going to be interesting to watch. If the evangelicals get their way, they really will destroy it as a major party. I don’t think the dispossessed old-style conservatives will want to become Democrats permanently, so I wonder what they’ll do. I also wonder what’ll become of the GOP’s remaining moderates, like Snow and Collins.
fwiffo
Chafee’s right out there showing both cajones and class, espescially after getting blasted so hard from both sides this election. I really wish he had just jumped parties a year ago so Rhode Island wouldn’t have had to lose a good senator. I hope he finds home in a nice ambassadorship or cabinet position in a 2008 Democratic administration.
Sherard
John Bolton, God forbid. He’s done such a horrible job so far. Oh, wait, he’s done a fine job ?!
Golly, that’s a toughie. Might make sense to oppose something worth opposing, don’t you think ?
jake
Strange, I was not aware the GOP ever belonged to the Evanhellicals. Quick, check the label. Oh wait! I’m expecting the terminally irrational to think rationally. Silly me. Why don’t they start their own bloody party? That would be quite amusing (in a haunted house/freak show/get me a large can of Raid and a shot gun sort of way). Besides, I like it when all the wing nuts stand in one spot.
They’re just afraid Mark Foley will come a-callin’.
Perry Como
Brilliant job with North Korea. NK has only tested one nuke under his watch!
Zifnab
Go Chafee. You may only be in the Senate for two months, but feel free to give the President the harty “Thanks for nothing, dickface” he deserves for costing you your seat after the past six years of historic ineptitude.
Pb
fwiffo,
Yes, that impressed me, and it really was a classy move–and also, his candor was refreshing:
chriskoz
I see…. appearently Bush’s plan to unite the country was to sink the Republican congress and hand it over to the Dems. Then he would be forced to work with the opposition. He truely is “The Uniter”
Steve
Well… no. He hasn’t done a fine job. He hasn’t advanced American interests. Not in my opinion, in any event.
See, something interesting is about to happen in this country. You’re going to have to respect the fact that the other guys have opinions too. I know it’s strange… but you’ll adjust.
ThymeZone
Hopefully, this idea will never catch on in the blogs.
Government, fine. But not the blogs. Please.
Dave
Can it asshole. I shit on you.
ThymeZone
Does that mean you won’t be joining our mail list?
ThymeZone
Don’t forget, there’s a 72-hour waiting period.
jcricket
I second this, and think it would be good for Democrats (actual bipartisansip for people who deserve it, not faux bipartisanship, or forgetting who fucked you over for 12 years).
Snowe and Collins are either going to shock us all and switch parties (unlikely), retire soon (unlikely) or just ride it out until retirement (most likely). They have approval ratings in the 60s-80s, highest of pretty much any sitting senators. It’s like thinking Jim McDermott was going to switch to being a Republican because of the Republicans winning the last couple election cycles.
I do expect they’ll be the “last of a dying breed” (moderate Republicans that win elections). Seems like the motivated Republicans, and those who have the money/influece, are the wing-nuts – see Scaife, Dobson, Falwell. See Tancredo, Sali, & Schmidt. All the Republican talking heads (Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Malkin, Goldberg, O’Reilly, Savage, etc.) They’re all true believers so they don’t believe this is a repudiation (on a national level) of their values. Frankly, the more the rest of American disagrees with them, the higher their “persecution complex” will rise.
I’m not saying these people are electable outside of the deep south and the racist/anti-immigration parts of the west, but again, they “answer to God” – so why do they care whether you vote for them or they win elections?
A couple of election cycles out in the cold (say, more losses in 2008 and 2010) could change things for the GOP. The whole “it has to get worse before it gets better” kind of thing. Maybe by then we’ll hear talk of the GOP needing a “50 state strategy” to avoid being a “Southern Party”
jake
Money. Power. Prestige. All the pages you can eat. If these guys were sincere in their beliefs you wouldn’t know they existed unless they were featured in an article about a soup kitchen. Christianity is their “hook.” If putting on a tu-tu and performing indelicate acts with a pit bull would get them in office we’d need to lock up the pit bulls.
But I hope moderates (from both sides of the aisle) aren’t going anywhere. I can’t think of one example of a sane, healthy, working society that was ruled by radicals or extremists. Besides, those guys get on my nerves.
Jackmormon
May I suggest a “Kiss My Black Ass” category tag?
Bombadil
Learn something new every day. First, we find out John is a gay cat lover (two new things, there, as I didn’t realize cats could be gay), and now Tim’s black. What’s next? Tom’s a woman?
Jay
For those situations that are particularly vexing: SMBBD.
BlogReeder
Now you’re racist. I can’t believe this. :)
Like what? Do you have any supporting documentation? Oh, wait. I know. Since he was a Bush appointee he’s bad. period. No substance needed.
rachel
No substance? Here’s one example, if you want substance: back when Colin Powell was still SoS, Bolton got himself banned from the multilateral talks the US was trying to hold with North Korea because said–in public, mind you, in South Korea–that Kim Jong Il was a “tyrannical dictator” and that life under him “is a hellish nightmare.” Diplomats don’t go off half-cocked and make statements like that on the record to a lunatic dictator’s number-one enemy, not if they are serous about arranging negotiations with said lunatic. Bolton’s shooting his mouth off allowed North Korea more time to work on their nuclear weapons program as well as adding incentive. His belligerent attitude did *not* advance America’s interests, or South Korea’s either.