Bitchin' Bolton
by digby
tristero got to it before I did, but I did want to comment on the petulant, immature president we are forced to put up with for two more years. Not only did he send out the snotty statement about Bolton's resignation that tristero quotes below, he held a photo-op and talked to the press slumped down in his chair, lip curled, obviously pissed off. He said this:
"I'm not happy about it. I think he deserved to be confirmed. And the reason why I think he deserved to be confirmed is because I know he did a fabulous job for the country."
You'd think he'd be used to failure after experiencing it his entire life but he doesn't seem to he handling it well. His arrogance has always been there, throwing his weight around, peppering his speech with phrases like "I told the American people they were gonna have tah be patient and I meant it." But now there's a darker edge to it. I see no signs that he's ready to see reason on a judgment call like Iraq.
Meanwhile, here's a fun trip down memory lane with John Bolton from The Nation. Very informative.
But for sheer Bolton surreality, nothing beats Atlas Shrugs'"interview" with him:
What I most admire about John Bolton is his steely demeanor and moral clarity. His spectacular fortitude in the face of scoundrels, liars, and internationally sanctioned criminals never fails to surprise and delight me. What was completely unexpected was the other side of Bolton. He was funny, thoughtful, deliberate. I really enjoyed the chat.
Atlas: If I could I'd like to talk about you. [he is looking at me askance, laughing here] What formed you..........what is your favorite book?
JB: That's a good question actually. I'd say one of the things that made a big impression on me was Edmund Burke's book Reflections on the Revolution in France and I've read a lot of John Locke and that had a big impact on me and Ayn Rand.
Atlas: You're just saying that to make me feel better........
JB: No it's true.
Atlas: Growing up, were you one of many?
JB: No, I had one sister, nine years younger.
Atlas: So you were the oldest. Your parents were tough? Encouraging? Non approving?.
Trying to figure out where you developed that spine of yours........I find that quality rare. There's a lot of it in that administration.
JB: My father was a firefighter in the city of Baltimore, my mother was a housewife.
Atlas: YAY, the great American story.
[...]
Atlas: Do you find it is less difficult, more difficult getting things done in this political climate?
JB: When I was in earlier administrations I was in assistant secretary level positions working hard on my issues and I didn't pay as much attention to the broader.......
Atlas: the big picture? [Atlas interrupting? WTF?]
JB: So when I see it now, it's probably more discouraging how much there is to do.
Atlas: Discouraging how? Discouraging how much there is to do? Or discouraging as in --is it do-able?
JB: Oh its do-able, under the right circumstances. I'm not so naive that I would be doing it if I didn't think there was a chance which makes it in some senses more frustrating. You can see sometimes how close you can get and yet you can't finish a particular thing. Like Iran, I've been working on this for three and a half years
Atlas: And you'll be working on it for three and half more.
JOB: I hope not, I hope not because now that it's in the Security Council, now is the time to say this is their chance that either they give up their pursuit of nuclear weapons or we go to what the President said, we do something else.
Atlas: We do something else? That's a little vague, don't you think? Deliberately vague?
JB: Yeah, sure absolutely. The President said I never take options off the table. And you've got to be that way. Look this has happened to me enough times before .... if I said, well -- I'll give you an example......after the invasion of Iraq, after Saddam was overthrown I said something in a BBC interview like I hope the governments of Syria and Iran take notice of what's just happened and I got into enormous trouble for that because it sounded like I was threatening the invasion of Iran and Syria.
Atlas: yeah but you get in enormous trouble for waking up in the morning
JB: Well that's true too.
to be continued
More to come guys, but right now I am going to take a break, head downstairs, meet up with some AIPAC folks, and have me a glass of pinot noir............I've had it. Long day. But great.
You can't make this stuff up. Read on to find out how Pammy and John propose to nuke Lebanon.
Today is the worst day of her life:
Anybody happy about this is an America hater. The tyranny of the minority strikes again.
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