It didn't take long for the mouthpiece for the moneyed part of the Party of No to come out with a narrative for why Bill Clinton's thrilling negotiation of the release of the two American journalists held by North Korea was really a failure. Somewhat surprisingly, the Wall Street Journal's story doesn't involve blow jobs...
Paying Kim’s Price
Was Mr. Clinton’s visit the down payment for a larger set of American concessions?
First, the obligatory lie...
We don’t begrudge the congratulations Bill Clinton deserves for saving the two journalists....
BUT. There's always a "but"...
Clinton's mission failed because he must've given something away on North Korean nukes.
And if he didn't give up anything substantive, Clinton failed because he must've allowed them to take some sort of tiny undefined step towards the NIRVANA of bilateral talks with the US, and away from the six-party talks that have yielded exactly squat so far.
And if he didn't do that, well then he failed because he didn't also negotiate the release of Japanese and South Korean hostages held by the North. Which will naturally piss off the Japanese and South Koreans. Really, I'm not making this up.
It will also dismay some in South Korea and Japan, which have their own hostages in North Korea and will wonder why Mr. Clinton couldn’t obtain their release as well.