Monday, March 05, 2007

repudiating Bushism

* tristero:
"With Bush in the high 20's for approval, a sober movement to impeach Bush AND Cheney has an opportunity to make clear to the world that the US is repudiating Bushism."

* clemons:
"Late last week, Secretary of State Rice shocked many by appointing a leading neoconservative intellectual, Eliot A. Cohen, as her Counselor. Cohen was a leading proponent of the Iraq War -- and has only recently begun to critique -- along with other leading neocons like Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, and David Frum -- the Bush administration's effort as one that has not gone as expected.

[]
As reported in this piece by Jim Lobe, I believe that Cohen's appointment is in part an effort to get someone past the Cheney foreign policy wing. Rice does not like to do direct battle with the Vice President and views personnel appointments as a way to inoculate herself and her efforts against sabotage from the Cheney team.

In other words, Cohen has joined Condi's team both to create back-channel communications with Cheney's spear-carriers but also to protect Condi from all-out assault from the Vice President.

When I queried another top-tier political and intellectual personality who works closely with Eliot Cohen, the response I received was that he was surprised Cohen would want the job at this point in the life-span of the Bush administration.

This person also stated that Cohen would probably take over much of the "democratization" and "how to do nation building" portfolios that Krasner was working on as Director of Policy Planning. According to this source, Eliot Cohen has been working on the subject of how to get democratization -- the nuts and bolts of the process -- right.

The net effect for Condi's game plan though is that Cohen protecting her rear flank from Cheney's assaults is probably more important than any thing new he might achieve in another risky R&D effort on nation-building."

* AOL:
"Next Great Beach Resorts...
From Antíparos to Zanzibar, we've tracked down 12 new hot spots where you'll find pristine sand, local culture, and picture-perfect sunsets. What are you waiting for?"
I was at one of them 2 weeks ago, and will be at another in 3 weeks :-)

1 comment:

«—U®Anu§—» said...

Going on vacation again, my, my. I told a guy today I'm retired and he just couldn't believe it, which proves retirement is far from planning to fail or failing to plan, it's something to be imposed by force. Luke is more sensible than I am, and knows when enough is enough. At least, that's my theory. It's casual. Don't be out too long, Luke. Things are getting interesting, and many of the issues we discuss are getting traction. Marcy gets mention in this one by David Swanson which talks about how Congress could end the war and impeach Cheney. Hoo-boy, getting to the start of that discussion has been a long, hard road.