Top Ten Cloves: Things North Korean leader Kim Jong-il Received For Releasing The Two U.S. Journalists

News Item: Bill Clinton gets two US journalists pardoned from North Korea: UPDATED with a Bolton

10. The opportunity to bitch-slap John Bolton

9. Beer Summit at the White House, but with Bush and Cheney, over all that "Axis of Evil" stuff

8. A date with that irritating woman from the Progressive Auto Insurance commercials

7. Promise of a starring role, if ever a sequel is made to Mystic Pizza, as owner of the pizza place

6. A signed, framed reproduction of one of President Barack Obama's birth certificates

5. Years' supply of Sham Wow

4. Since they are a favorite of President Clinton, the rights to Krispy Kreme franchise in North Korea

3. A two-week stay at the House on C Street

2. That if he criticizes Keith Olbermann, Olbermann won't name him to the "Worst Persons" list

1. Nothing - Senator John Ensign's parents already paid him, for the release of the hostages




Bonus Links

Ben Armbruster: Even After North Korea Frees American Journalists, Bolton Insists Clinton Trip Was A Mistake

Joe Sudbay (DC): CNN already asking: Could Clinton's "high-profile presence backfire?"

Melissa McEwan: Welcome Home

TBogg: The Ransom of Red Chief Ass

Joe Sudbay (DC): Could the U.S. send Bush anywhere?

Round Up The Usual Suspects ...

John Bolton to be target of citizen's arrest at Hay Festival

George Monbiot, the journalist and activist, is planning the action because he believes Mr Bolton is a "war criminal".

It's a start ...


Bonus Bolton

Bolton: Card Had White House In Coma; White House Shake-Up Causes Bolton Snafu; Fiery UN Ambassador Thought Bush Reaching Out To Him; Lambastes Card and “that little bean-counting pansy”

Breaking News! Zidane Signals New Era of “Hooligan Diplomacy”; Have Head-Butt, Will Travel - Mr. Zizou Goes To Washington;
World Cup Golden Ball Winner Wooed By Bush Team; Likely Will Be Assigned To Bolton at U.N.

Top Ten Cloves: Ways White House Will Try To Keep John Bolton At The U.N.


Update

Boo Hiss!

John Bolton escapes citizen's arrest at Hay Festival

The Buzzards Are Picking At Each Other ...

Leave it to the Bush Grindhouse, the Neocon Nitwits and the freakshow dittoheads.

Right Wing Attacks Khalilzad For Not Defending Bolton’s Honor: ‘A Lack Of Testicular Fortitude’

Last Saturday, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, participated in a panel discussion on Iranian foreign policy with two high-ranking Iranian officials at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The New York Times reports that the White House and Condoleezza Rice were “angered” by Khalilzad’s move because he did not receive explicit authorization.

The moderator of the forum joked that Khalilzad has a “really formidable advantage of having a name that is not John Bolton.” Because Khalilzad let that comment stand without repudiating it, right-wing bloggers have erupted in full rage that Khalilzad did not jump to defend Bolton’s honor (as they surely would have). Thus, Khalilzad’s behavior was “disgusting,” “an insult to the United States” and showed “a lack of testicular fortitude”:

Bolton was a joke, so, the moderators' comment was spot on, more of an observation and compliment, than anything else.

But what am I saying? ... OMG! ... Someone in the administration talked to an Iranian!

From The L.A. Times;

"Khalilzad did not veer from the U.S. position, but broke rules that permit Bush administration officials to discuss issues with Iranians only under limited circumstances and with advance approval.

"Ambassador Khalilzad's appearance with the Iranian foreign minister and presidential advisor was not authorized," said a State Department spokesman, who declined to be identified while discussing a personnel issue. He said officials would speak to Khalilzad about the infraction."

No doubt, Khalilzad must have been put through a Karen Silkwood scrubdown soon after the meeting.

Hmmm ... I wonder, if they're more pissed off, because they got caught with their fearmongering-warmongering pants down last month ...

Who knows, maybe Khalilzad was buttering them up, trying to find out who the "Filipino Monkey" is?


Bonus Reads

Cernig: Khalilzad Goes Off The Reservation

Kevin Drum: US AND THEM....

NYT: White House Criticizes Envoy Over Iran

Bolton: Card Had White House In Coma; White House Shake-Up Causes Bolton Snafu; Fiery UN Ambassador Thought Bush Reaching Out To Him; Lambastes Card and “that little bean-counting pansy”

Breaking News! Zidane Signals New Era of “Hooligan Diplomacy”; Have Head-Butt, Will Travel - Mr. Zizou Goes To Washington; World Cup Golden Ball Winner Wooed By Bush Team; Likely Will Be Assigned To Bolton at U.N.


"I will not have members of my administration talking to Iranians!"

Bush Said To Be “Invigorated”. Ready To Tackle Issues

Post Election, Staying With New Policy, Bush Pushes Old Agenda

Says Voters Sounded Mandate to Press Lame Duck Congress To Approve Bolton And Sanction Wiretapping

White House insiders are telling The Garlic that, after a rough patch the past week, or so, President Bush is feeling “invigorated” and “has gotten the message” from voters this week.

With this new mandate, yet staying with the new “Hello, I Must Be Going” policy, the President is calling on the Lame Duck session of Congress to confirm United Nations Ambassador John Bolton and, among a hodge-podge of bills, to sanction and approve his Illegal Wiretapping Program, otherwise known as the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

“The voters this week,” said one Senior White House official, “have clearly told the President they want these things. The combination of the Domestic Terrorist Surveillance and having Ambassador Bolton in place, has made the United Nations safer ... It hasn’t been attacked in the past year.”

“He’s already alienated a lot of us, offered Hugh P. Varicator, a consultant with the conservative hawkish think tank, “Cry Wolf”, that is said to be closely affiliated with The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), and, some say, may be an adjunct to the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG, “with firing Rumsfeld. . He needs to send a strong message to the terrorists and he can do that by keeping up the wiretapping and keep Bolton on-board.”

Soon-To-Be Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and newly-minted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) were outraged when advised of the President’s planned agenda.

“Maybe,” said Speaker Pelosi, “rather then talking about measuring drapes, the President should open his, there, in the Oval Office. It’s a new day and he doesn’t control the agenda.”

Majority Leader Reid was more blunt.

”The ink has dried up for his rubber stamp. If he wants to take a swing at us now, he’s going to get swung back at, and all the Signing Statements in the world aren’t going to be much help to him. They’ll have to come up for what is worse, what’s lower than Lame Duck if he tries to play games with us.”

Series of Bush-Cheney Gaffes Added To “Thumpin”

The White House is looking at the call to the Lame Duck Congress as a means to get the President back on track, after a series of stumbles, and then the “thumpin’” the GOP took in the Midterm elections, losing the majority in both the House and the Senate.

First there was Vice President Dick Cheney, in a radio interview, endorsing the use of torture, waterboarding, during the interrogation of terror suspects. The Vice President issued a clarification but, with the President confusing audiences on the campaign trail with his calls to “Just Say No”, causing widespread drug raids, was drowned out.

Then, the gaffe meter registered a toss-up, between the dust-up with Senator John Kerry (D-MA) on whether Kerry was insulting the U.S. Troops, or challenging the intellect of the President and, in the final days of the campaign, the discovery of how the Bush Administration placed documents on their “Operation Iraqi Freedom Document Portal” Website that offered detailed instructions on how to build a nuclear device.

Rumsfeld and Rove Factor Into Loss

Lastly, the President has enraged fellow Republicans with his firing - the day after the Midterm Elections - of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, believing, had the President done it sooner, it could have favored GOP candidates in certain races.

“You have to throw in there,” offered Holly Martins, Publisher of Axis of Evil Illustrated, a quarterly publication, that is rumored to be a house magazine for the Project for The New American Century “that Special White House Guru Karl Rove didn’t come up with an October Surprise. There’s a lot of hostility over that.”

Rove, instead, offered the GOP candidates, not just any reading of the polling data, but the application of Rove’s “The Math” that the man called ‘Bush’s Brain” projected would give the GOP a clear-cut victory in the Midterms.

“Rove couldn’t have done any worse,” said David Aaronson, editor of 'What Color Is My Coat Today?', the Capital Hill Newsletter that tracks politicians who turn on their own party, “then if he went around and poked every Republican candidate in the eye with a stick.”

It’s not clear if President Bush truly believes he has a mandate to push Bolton and the Wiretapping through the Lame Duck Congress, or, as he has recently admitted, he’s lying simply to move the agenda forward.

“That’s the beauty of the “Hello, I Must Be Going” policy,” said Aaronson. “The President can say one thing one day, then come back the next day and deny he ever said the first thing the day before. It’s maddening, but, hey, it’s worked for them so I suppose they’ll stay running with it.”













Now down to just the “Two Amigos”, President Bush is attempting to push his old agenda through the Lame Duck Congress