I am confounded by the authoritarian streak in the Republican Party backing Bush on this [extensive, illegal spying on Americans]. To me it seems so simple: Would you think this was a good idea if Hillary Clinton were president? Would you be defending the clear and unnecessary violation of the law? Do you have complete confidence that she would never misuse this 'inherent power' for any partisan reason?tristero responds:
Molly, you're assuming that sooner or later there actually will be a Democratic president. Republicans assume that will never, ever happen again. And they're doing everything possible - controlling voting machines, gerrymandering, fraud, blackmail, buying the media - to make sure it doesn't.
Tristero sounds a lot like me this morning.
here's what i said earlier in the month:
"Why is a hobbled repuglican administration so desperate to claim uber-power for the executive? Even if they are successful at grabbing that power, they will only be able to use it for a year or so before getting totally lame-ducky (if for no other reason that the electoral politics change as we approach the end of any president's tenure.) The repugs are trying to claim the president as king, even though they are most likely to be handing that power to the Dems as the repugs get thrown into electoral wilderness for a decade or more while they try to throw an amnesia blanket over the electorate in the hope that people might forget the Bush Reign.
i'm pretty sure that Cheney et al don't really believe in executive power - but rather only Republican Executive power - therefore we are forced to ask what the hell they are doing. are they just trying to make sure that the next few years till impeachment or 2008 are as fun as possible for themselves? maybe. or are they really confident that there will be a repuglican president in 2009? how on earth could they be confident of that? there are two possibilities - one, they own the voting machines, or b) they plan to use all the executive power that they have taken for themselves and call off the 2008 election.
does anyone have a more reasonable explanation?"
3 comments:
Lukery I have drawn this to your attention before, so I'll completely understand if you give it the flick. But get yourself undisturbed some time along with a good drink (I recommend Talisker). Then look again at the photos of the original Osama confession tape of Dec 12 2001. (link)
Now ask yourself: do I really feel this guy in the video is bin Laden? ...really? Does he look like the guy in the known bin Laden shots?... really?....
Keep in mind that the US government, the CIA and George Bush personally have all affirmed its authenticity.
Then I suggest you tell no-one what you think, bury it all in your soul, and go about your day.
But understand this. I took that stiff drink. I looked at those photos. And I came to the conclusion that it was no longer 'business as usual' for these guys. This is a different ballgame altogether, the scope and purpose of which is yet to be fully seen.
Talisker never lies - Cheers!
damien - apologies if i didn't comment about that. sometimes i forget, and sometimes i don't have anything to add... so always feel free to ask again if i happen to miss something.
yep - that video was fake - and i assume that all of them are. and i think i mentioned to you earlier that i agree that there isn't the slightest evidence that obl was involved in 911.
i dont really have a position on whether obl is alive, and if he is alive, who he works for. i do have a position on zarqawi though - and if they manufacture stuff from zarqawi, then i have no doubt they do it with others. given that zarq doesnt exist, then the 16 page obl/zarq 'memo' was fabricated, and the recent zawahiri letter to zarqawi was also false. neither obl nor zawahiri ever mentions that these were fakes - so i assume that neither of these people exist. communications from/between these people are only useful (and they are very useful) in reverse-engineering the 'strategy' of the americans (and their allies).
i've often joked about how much fun it would be to have the jobs of the guys who make this stuff up.
i'll have to try this talisker - ive never heard of it. our world is so trippy at the mo that perhaps we should all drink absinthe...
Talisker - single malt scotch...awesome...makes Johny Walker look and taste like paint thinner.
Post a Comment