6. Holding out - If he can solve this Global Warming thing, some country will surely offer him a Kingship
5. Would be too tempted to do those primetime, national television speeches with his Oscar and his Nobel Peace Prize sitting on the desk in front of him
1. Doesn't want to be the one to evict Vice President Dick Cheney, who, being addicted to the power as he is, will refuse to leave his office on January 20th, 2009
MATTHEWS: Governor Romney, that raises the question, if you were president of the United States, would you need to go to Congress to get authorization to take military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities?
ROMNEY: You sit down with your attorneys and tell you want you have to do, but obviously the president of the United States has to do what’s in the best interest of the United States to protect us against a potential threat. The president did that as he was planning on moving into Iraq and received the authorization of Congress...
MATTHEWS: Did he need it?
ROMNEY: You know, we’re going to let the lawyers sort out what he needed to do and what he didn’t need to do. But, certainly, what you want to do is to have the agreement of all the people— leadership of our government as well as our friends around the world where those circumstances are available.
Romney has been ridiculed and lampooned since, including during the debate, when fellow candidate, Texas Congressman Ron Paul fired back at the former Governor "This idea of going and talking to attorneys totally baffles me. Why don't we just open up the Constitution and read it? You're not allowed to go to war without a declaration of war."
Romney's campaign office has been on overdrive, firing out a blizzard of press releases and statements, all shouting how the candidate would consult with his sons before taking the military action suggested in the debate question.
One release obtained by The Garlic reads, in part "The experience the Romney boys have received serving their country during this campaign has been immeasurable. The Governor is confident, that if called upon, his sons would give sound, professional advise as to any military action considered. These boys are veterans now, they have the campaign battle scars, and they would act accordingly."
"Look," pleaded Romney, attempting to hold the attention of a group of reporters, "no other candidate in this race - in either party - has my sons ... I know they can deliver, they can advise and I am eager for the opportunity to show that ... When I am elected President, they will be at my side, ready to continue serving ..."
With rumors circulating, neither Romney, or any of his staff would confirm reports that the campaign was firing all the lawyers working on it, as a means to dispel any conflicts, or suggestions, that Romney was letting the lawyers conduct his military or national security policy.
Additionally, staffers were given copies of a joke book, a compilation of lawyer jokes, to better handle any inquiries about Romney's debate answer.
Sidney Blumenthal, over on Salon, penned "An open letter to Karen Hughes", urging Ms. Hughes about "Your duty is to defend America's reputation in the world. To do so, you must persuade the Bush administration to renounce its abhorrent and hypocritical policy on torture."
The letter is an invitation to Hughes, to attend the opening of a new documentary, "Taxi to the Dark Side", which Blumenthal tells our intrepid diplomat "The film has been described by the New York Times as "a meticulous examination of American policy on the interrogation of prisoners. It traces the scandals at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere to official changes of policy originating in the vice president's office and approved by the secretary of defense. We see documents listing approved methods of interrogation, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning."
Then he explains;
Your complicity in the torture policy is one reason that I am writing you. Despite the futility of those inside the administration in bringing the problem to you, you still remain in place to redress it. As the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, responsible for defending America's reputation in the world, you must engage the issue that has most seriously damaged our image. Your obligation will continue so long as you hold your post. Those who care about the good name of the United States will not cease viewing you as a last resort, even if you disdain or ignore them, because they cling to the desperate hope that a nagging conscience or its sudden awakening will compel you actually to do your job.
And, he compliments Hughes on getting her crony position;
The genius of your appointment is that the president and his advisors understood ahead of time that they would need your services to repair the nation's reputation. After all, this position has never existed before; and it has never been so drastically needed. While it is true that there have been organizations within the government, such as U.S. Information Agency, under directors such as Edward R. Murrow and John Chancellor, that built libraries and conducted international educational exchanges, the idea of a public diplomacy czar is novel. Having someone to paper over the country's mistakes by telling people what they should think despite the reality would in the past have been considered undemocratic. Form and content, it would have been said, needed to complement each other. But your position is one in which form and content (words and deeds) stand in opposition to each other. Ironically, therefore, your job has never been more important than now.
Then, some parting advice;
While you are rethinking how to calm fears and rebuild America's image as a global leader perhaps you ought to begin to think of yourself not as a tool of the Bush administration but as a citizen of the world, not as a propagandist, constantly trying to formulate a hollow ideological phrase or distraction, but as someone who can admit mistakes and correct them.
If you receive this letter as simply a partisan broadside and can't envision your transformation into a true diplomat at large, an envoy of healing, perhaps you should just resign. Nothing will be served by continuing on your current course. Nothing different will happen. You might as well return to Texas now. To date, your diplomacy has consisted of excuses for leaving the damage to the next president to remedy.
The Retro Part
The Garlic also noted Ms. Hughes rise to power, from Bush aide to Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, shortly after we launched, in which one Arab League official offered "When America starts talking about planting the seeds of democracy, that's usually our sign to start building our bomb shelters";
Glenn Greenwald takes note today of those cheerleading, flag-waving, dwarfs-finks-phonies-frauds-band of neocons telling us, once again, how rosy everything is over in Iraq.
As the flames of this hate-filled vitriol lick at the Frost Family, the Compassionate Conservative, The Decider Guy, has, once again, demonstrated his uncanny skills of failed leadership.
M-Squared doesn't show signs that she will relinquish her crown, so, for The Commander Guy, he'll have to settle for "Sickest President in the Worrrrrrrld!"
"I wanna drink a toast to you, Ms. Malkin. From the beginning you hated the Frosts. And then you thought up this whole idea and you managed to keep your skirts nice and starched and clean, even in the smearing and stalking. Mitch McConnell will always be remembered as a mutineer. But you, you'll publish your novel, you'll make a million bucks, you'll marry a big movie star, and for the rest of your life you'll live with your conscience, if you have any. Here's to the real author of the Frost Smear. Here's to you, Ms. Malkin."
(Greenwald then splashes a drink in Malkin's face)
Is Chrysler is following suit, after GM, with adopting the Huffington Post Business Model?
Well, we did quote Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who called the GM move "breathtaking";
"This will be a economic revolution like we've never seen before," gushed Reich. "My God, if a relatively new, intellectual property-based, on-line entity can raise that kind of money - and via a free labor pool - General Motors will set profit records that will stand for decades to come."
Do you like children? Only if they are properly cooked ...
Boy, what I would pay to have W.C. Fields weigh in on this one.
The Rightwing Freakshow, led by the sludge-dwelling Michelle Maudlin, who, if Keith Olbermann offered a "Sickest Person In The World" rather then just the worst, M-Squared would win it in a landslide, are, mercilessly, attacking a 12-year-old child.
Officials are now viewing security camera footage around the radio station Frost gave his speech at, to see exactly where the big red bullseye was painted on the youngster.
Healthy debated over policy, and even budget, regarding health care, fine.
So, Michelle Maudlin, confident of Mr. Olbermann's endorsement, I borrow from his program to announce "Michelle Maudlin ... The Sickest Person in the Worrrrrrrld!" Bonus Have-At-It Links
2. 1st Mate Donald Rumsfeld would deflect criticism by saying "You set sail with the ships you have, not the ships you you might want or wish to have at a later time."
