Everything's Negotiable
by digby
Politico has an adorable human interest story this morning featuring a fun odd couple, Rahm Emmanuel and Lindsey Graham, two "honorable" adversaries who are able to reach across the partisan divide and make a deal. We'd heard a little bit about this before, but this article dishes the dirt.
[A}t a time when voters are clamoring for bipartisan cooperation in Washington, this unlikely pairing of White House chief of staff and Southern senator represents one of the highest-level conduits between the polarized political parties. Graham has had more in-person meetings with Emanuel than any other Republican lawmaker, roughly eight or 10 since Obama took office, aides said. The two men also talk regularly by phone.
Fascinating. A little mutual back-scratching, a little good faith, a little give and a little take can often lead to a win-win for both sides. It's a little bit unusual for them to use such a method to deal with human rights, however:
The main topic these days is Guantanamo Bay — how to close the military prison on the U.S. Navy base there. But their conversations are broader than that, embracing a wide-ranging deal pitched by Graham that would shut down the prison; provide funding to move detainees to Thomson, Ill.; keep the Sept. 11 trials out of civilian courts; and create broad new powers to hold terror suspects indefinitely.
So we have one Senator and the president's factotum splitting the difference between ripping up the constitution and urinating all over the bill of rights. Don't you love bipartisanship?
This isn't unprecedented, of course. The Dred Scott decision was a similar sort of compromise and look how well that turned out. It's a little unusual to have such things decided via back door deal but that's probably for the best. The f*cking retards get all upset when you try to do this stuff above board, so best to just take care of the issue with a little chit-chat between pals over lattes.
.