The Good Democrat

Dick Cheney is A Man Gone Insane

Dick Cheney ‘tried to block North Korea nuclear deal.’

Vice President Dick Cheney fought furiously to block efforts by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to strike a controversial US compromise deal with North Korea over the communist state’s nuclear programme, the Telegraph has learned.

“The exchanges between Cheney’s office and Rice’s people at State got very testy. But ultimately Condi had the President’s ear and persuaded him that his legacy would be stronger if they reached a deal with Pyongyang,” said a Pentagon adviser who was briefed on the battle.

This man is insane. And he is still in a position of power and influence for a few more months!

The worst part about this is that the only thing that convinced George W. Bush, who also is insane, to go with this deal is because “his legacy would be stronger if they reached a deal with Pyongyang.” That’s the reason the deal happened. So George W. Bush could feel better about his legacy. The man is insane!

These men should have been impeached in 2003. How much more do we wish to see them ruin America?

Diplomacy Actually Works

would you look at that.

Not killing people actually is effective. Being nice to them actually works.

Neo-Conservatives On Iran: Rational and Irrational At The Same Time

Neo-conservatives really really wish President Bush will bomb Iran before he leaves office, that or Israel bomb Iran. Because they know that with a President Obama, we’ll have a rational foreign policy, and we’ll most likely be finally talking with the Iranians, a sacrilegious thought among conservatives. Conservatives argue on the one hand that Iran is an irrational actor, and the moment they get nukes they will commit national suicide. That’s supposedly why we can’t talk to them. They are irrational. They don’t compromise. They don’t give and take. There is supposedly no self-preservation in their thinking and in their thought process.

But as Eric Martin deftly points out, conservatives like John Bolton, who press for bombing Iran because of their irrationality, turn around and claim that Iran won’t respond to our bombings because:

Bolton gamed out the fallout from an attack on Iran. He claimed that Iran’s options to retaliate after being attacked are actually “less broad than people think.” He suggested that Iran would not want to escalate a conflict because 1) it still needs to export oil, 2) it would worry about “an even greater response” from Israel, 3) and it would worry about the U.S.’s response.

Those are quite rational reasons for not responding. Huh…

Eric Martin states:

So let me see if I have this straight: A country that is supposedly so irrational, reckless and religiously fanatical that its leaders would be willing to countenance the end of its very existence (and that of its population) in order to carry out an unprovoked nuclear strike against Israel will be too cautious to retaliate against an actual attack on its country for fear of economic hardship and conventional military counterattacks?

In other words, Bolton is arguing that Iran’s leadership is comprised of rational actors with well-honed instincts for self-preservation capable of applying a typical – conservative even – cost-benefit calculus. Except we have to bomb them because the opposite is true. Or something. Faster, please.

How did it happen, conservatives? How did you guys lose your sense of rational thought? Do you guys even realize how stupid you sound when you make comments like the following?

I hope you enjoy life as a permanent minority party. Good riddance to the GOP.

No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

Ex Post Facto (“After the Fact”). The Constitution of the United States of America states explicitly right in the very first Article, Article I:

No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No “After the Fact” law shall be passed. Now, maybe I’m not as well versed in constitutional law as others are, but the Congress of the United States just passed a law that gives retroactive immunity to lawbreakers. Will this madness only end in January when George W. Bush is finally out of power? Should we also purge idiots like Steny Hoyer and Senator Rockefeller from their positions of power to stop this utter corruption? Our Congress and our Executive Branch no longer believe in the Constitution of the United States. They certainly don’t follow its hallowed principles. It is a worthless document to them. Shame upon our generation for allowing this!

Corrupt, Cowardly Democratic Congressional Leadership!

Cowards, the whole lot of them. Ms. Pelosi is a coward. Mr. Reid is a coward. Shame on you two! Shame on you! Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Reid are going to allow the passage of a law giving retroactive immunity to telecom companies for spying on Americans from 2001-2007. BOOO!!! Shame on you! Cowards. Stinkin’ stupid cowards!

Or as Laura Rozen puts it:

Reports of the newest FISA compromise indicate that, on telecom immunity, a federal court would be compelled to grant the telecoms immunity if there was substantial evidence that the Bush administration assured them that the warrantless surveillance program was legal. Doesn’t that actually endorse and extend to private actors the Nixonian view that if the president says it’s legal, it’s legal, regardless of what the law says and the Constitution says? Wouldn’t that set an awful precedent that an administration could get private actors to do whatever they wanted including breaking the law?

Indeed.

Patriotic Blackwater Wants Ruling Under Shari’a Law!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!

This has got to be the most ironic thing in the whole damn sad spectacle. Blackwater doesn’t want to be held accountable under American law. They would rather be held accountable under, get this, Shari’a Law! That’s right. Americans want to be protected by the evil, dastardly, devilish Shari’a. And they aren’t liberals. They are hardcore conservatives who would rather escape accountability and the consequences of bad decisions.

Despicable people.

May All Mothers Say The Same

(Via the Washington Independent)

Peace Is Possible

Israel and Hamas agree to a cease fire to start on Thursday. This is indeed great news. Looks like Jimmy Carter meeting with Hamas wasn’t so foolish after all. The most important thing to note about this peace agreement is that the United States, under George W. Bush, was nowhere to be found. That tells you everything you need to know about what the Bush administration really thinks about peace in the Middle East. Instead of finding ways to bring nations of the Middle East together, Bush threatens nations in the Middle East with destruction and war.

Peace is indeed possible. But you gotta want it first.

Torture and Prisoner Abuse in Afghanistan

McClatchy has all the details.

Guantanamo Bay prison is the red herring to divert attention to the real abuses and uses of torture going on in lawless Afghanistan. This is the legacy of the Bush administration and of the Republican party. This is the legacy that John McCain wishes to continue. Shame on them and shame on him.

John McCain on Withdrawing

A little inconsistent, no?

Let Impeachment Proceedings Begin

We now have the evidence that Bush purposefully lied about the intelligence on Iraq in order to sell the war to the American public. How much more evidence is required to impeach the man and his vice president? Time for them to go.

Cartoon of the Day

By Matt Davies

Robert Novak Gets In The Fray

It was inevitable. He is a major player in the system. He is part of the media. He is the man who wrote down Valerie Plame’s name for the world to see. Technically he broke the law (though generally he is not the one to punish, but rather the official who gave the info to him). You bet he was inevitably going to smear and attack Scotty McClellan. And what is his angle? Heh, Scotty sounds like a Democrat! Heh. As Stephen Colbert said, “truth has a liberal bias.”

Clearly Mr. Novak is not a happy man. Going down with the ship.