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Lese majestie

Jan 27, 2007

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Ron Chusid of Liberal Values tells the story in the title: “Kerry Unleashed: US a Pariah Nation Under Bush; Authoritarian Right Upset.”

Speaking in Davos, Kerry spoke out against a major problem of the Bush foreign policy, that the United States has become “a sort of international pariah.” …

… Needless to say, the authoritarian right, who would lead this country to disaster before admitting that their leader is in error, is outraged. Little Green ~~Fascists~~ Footballs calls this “appalling blast at his own country,” having no understanding of the difference between one’s country and its leaders when wrong–a common trait among authoritarians.

The correction to the name Little Green Footballs is in Ron Chusid’s post. I’m glad he made it clear that this nonsense didn’t come from Little Green Fascists, which is a perfectly respectable blog.

The wingnuts can’t disprove anything Kerry said about Bush, of course; they’re just outraged he said it.

Along these lines, this was on the Guardian blog page a couple of days ago:

George Bush might have just given his state of the union address but here in Davos he’s definitely a lame duck.

One clue lies in the fact that no senior figures from the US administration are coming. In other circumstances that might be thought a snub to a meeting which aims to gather the world’s most powerful business and political leaders. But now it is just a recognition of reality. Power is shifting elsewhere and the conference organisers seem happy to acknowledge it.

There’s still lots of interest in the US, of course. Hillary Clinton, I am promised, isn’t coming – though don’t rule out a surprise. Her husband loves the place. The conference tried to persuade Barack Obama to show up, but he, too, is apparently too deep in his campaign on the otherside of the Atlantic to find the time. Maybe next year?

Still, John Kerry is coming and so is John McCain, who’s routinely described as the Republican frontrunner.

In the meantime, most people here seem to think of President Bush’s time in office as a mistake the world would do best to forget. There was even a small cheer at a session just now when a senior US business leader pointed out, with a smile, that he’ll be gone in two years. Amen to that.

See also “They’re broken men, so don’t let them take us to a new war” by Henry Porter.

Spotlight

8 Comments

7 Comments

jman • Jan 28, 2007 @1:34 am

Thank you for your post and the links. As for Henry Porter’s admonition not to let them take us into a new war, good luck with Blair talking Bush into diplomacy. IMHO the only thing that will stop Bush&Co will be their departure from office. Lese majesties, not really.

Kerry’s remarks in Davos seam right on. America took a wrong turn in the 2004 election. Kerry is calling for diplomacy which is half of General Odom’s Strategic requirement (Strategic Errors of Monumental Proportions, What Can Be Done in Iraq? by Lt. Gen. William E. Odom.) Bush is unable to distinguish between tactics and strategy, offering the counterinsurgency tactics of General Petraeous as some sort of last chance solution.

General Petraeous is a good, intelligent general but according to Edward Luttwak’s article, “Dead End: Counterinsurgency Warfare as Military Malpractice” in February Harper’s magazine, the only available counterinsurgency tactics “are of little or no use and amount to a kind of malpractice.”
Zeus • Jan 28, 2007 @2:18 am

Having reached an age where a day seems like an hour, I have never wanted two years to pass so quickly.
c u n d gulag • Jan 28, 2007 @8:06 am

A Lame Bush,
Don’t forget that this little lame duck acts more like a cornered rat.
His reputation is in tatter’s; his legacy, a joke – if it weren’t for the death of (probably) millions. Mark my words – he will decide to attack.
I was in DC yesterday, (and don’t let them fool you, there were well over 500,000 people there – the energy was incredible), one of the greatest fears is that this imbecile may actually attack Iran and open up the “Gates of Hell”.
Yes, I believe he is that stubborn. That stupid. That insane. He may even wait until the last minute, just before he turns the office over to the next President. He can then claim that he did everything he could in the “War on Terra.” “America’s Churchill,” with Alzheimer’s on steroid’s. “Barney, you still there? Good.”
The next President, and the country, will be left to try to pick-up the pieces and try to fix the Middle East – and America’s completely trashed reputation. This is Bush’s “Humpty-Dumpty” foreign policy. “The Decider,” decides to break things. We decide what we want to fix. If we can fix anything…
We can only hope that we can keep him and his evil, craven, cowardly, cronies too busy with indictment’s and impeachment hearing’s for them to do what they want to do. We may need a military intervention like we had during Nixon’s last day’s.
Our lesson from this needs to be that we adhere more to the Founding Father’s wishes. That we change the laws. That the President ‘yield about as much power as the Governor of New York.’
I’m not a religious man, but I’m praying until January of ‘09, when the next President is in office. And, I wouldn’t be surprised, if this “President” caused another “Constitutional Crisis” by claiming that as the “Unitary President,” he had the power, as Commander in Chief,” to suspend any further elections during a” time of war.” I doubt that he will; but I wouldn’t be surprised.
If that’s the case, I think we know what we have to do…
So, be afraid, very afraid. But, not so afraid that you don’t do whatever you can to stop this nightmare scenario!
Donna • Jan 28, 2007 @8:39 am

So, it becomes obvious that John Kerry still has courage to speak truth to evil power. He did that as a young man, and continues to do that to the present day, even in the face of swift-boating by Bush followers.
No wonder the craven wingers want to smear him for simply telling the truth. Kerry keeps on highlighting the difference between someone who holds steady under fire, and those who attack to hide their cowardly running from the truth.
Doug Hughes • Jan 28, 2007 @8:56 am

CNN put up international poll numbers yesterday; internationally only 20% of those polled approve of US policy in Iraq. The numbers are significant, but even more significant is the fact that a major news outlet is starting to report the impact of the war on our reputation around the globe.

I don’t want to sound like a cheerleader for CNN, but they also are the network that did the legwork to rebuke the phony Fox story about Obama hving been educated at a radical Islamic school. Fox was none to pleased about it, either slamming Anderson Cooper personally without admitting the story was rotten politics.
moonbat • Jan 28, 2007 @9:57 am

Here’s hoping that John Kerry is doing an Al Gore – foresaking the lure of presidential politics in favor of finding his voice and speaking out more powerfully and effectively.
whig • Jan 28, 2007 @2:06 pm

Now that John Kerry will not run for president, he can speak from his heart. I want to see more of this. I am glad that Russ Feingold made a similar decision, because it allows us to focus on the message and not wonder about the motivations of the messenger. We are doing this for America and the idea of America, not for our own gain individually but together.