altara

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Cheney Actively Seeking Book Deal On Bush Years

So that's why we're now seeing and hearing so much from a man who seemed to have lived under a rock for eight years, emerging occasionally to guide the President in a disastrous direction.

Or maybe he lived under a bridge. Jon Stewart tellingly called Cheney a troll. Just today, Gail Collins wisely advised us to pay no attention to the former Vice Presiden until he undergoes therapy.

I must say that his speech scared me with his 27 references to 9-11 and warnings of clear and present dangers that he sees.


PRESIDENTIAL IDOL

Who will be a survivor in 2012?

As others have observed, President Obama's wise appointment of the highly qualified Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah, as our ambassador to China may well have removed from contention a leading candidate for the 2o12 Republican presidential nomination. This follows his wise selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, thus probably eliminating this strong member of his team of rivals from the 2012 election. Perhaps unrelated is the news that former President Bill Clinton has been named by the UN as special envoy to Haiti.

So what's next? Governor Bobby Jindal as ambassador to India. Florida Governor Charlie Crist (Spanish speaking?) as ambassador to Mexico?

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

PRESIDENTIAL IDOL

Who will be a survivor in 2012?

As others have observed, President Obama's wise appointment of the highly qualified Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah, as our ambassador to China may well have removed from contention a leading candidate for the 2o12 Republican presidential nomination. This follows his wise selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, thus probably eliminating this strong member of his team of rivals from the 2012 election. Perhaps unrelated is the news today that former President Bill Clinton has been named by the UN as special envoy to Haiti.

So what's next? Governor Bobby Jindal as ambassador to India. Florida Governor Charlie Crist (Spanish speaking?) as ambassador to Mexico?


POLITICAL PRIORITIES

While we're engaged in hostilities in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, a world economic recession, swine flu, nuclear dangers in North Korea and Iran, etc, what are politicians and other talking heads discussing? Rush Limbaugh and Colin Powell as fellow Republicans, Dick Chaney's multiple public appearances, and the who struck John issue of Nancy Pelosi and the CIA.

None of these current topics warrant much attention. On the Pelosi issue, I've noted before that it really doesn't matter what she was or was not told by the CIA in 2002. In 2003, Pelosi learned of the use of waterboarding in interrogations. The Republicans are trying to implicate her in this use by her failure to object; so when and how she learned is irrelevant. Anyway, waterboarding is torture; torture is a crime; what Nancy Pelosi thought about it does not change these facts.