Hello, Kossacks:
I've been flooded today with e-mails and calls from friends -- and media outlets like the fine folks at Fox & Friends -- for reaction to the Bolton appointment.
Some friends have offered to come take away the contents of my medicine cabinet and razor blades. Some have expressed disappointment and outrage. Some have simply been pissed off.
Me? I just keep thinking of an old Laurie Anderson song from the early 80s, "Let X=X."
More below:
For those of you above the age of 35, here's a reminder of the song's lyrics:
I met this guy -
and he looked like
he might have been
a hat check clerk
at an ice rink.
Which, in fact,
he turned out to be.
And I said:
Oh boy.
Right again.
Anybody following the nomination process can't possibly be suprised. This is simply the latest in a long line of pathetic appointments, and we all saw it coming, didn't we? Hell, we all knew it was even money that Bush would make this chicken-shit move on the way out the door to yet another vacation down here in Crawford.
Even as I wrote my letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I had my eyes wide open about where we were likely headed with Crazy Von Mustache. What I'm pleased with, though, is that the vetting process has made sure that everybody in the country now knows what we're getting as the Walrus sets up shop along the East River.
Nobody -- not even my crazy, right-wing, coot of a father -- can claim that they're surprised if Bolton fucks up in the future. Nobody can claim shock if, in the end, Bolton's role in Treasongate turns out larger than we know at present. Nobody can pretend that any of us have anything but the lowest of expectations for old Joltin' Bolton.
As I posted here, and some of you commented upon over the weekend, Bush's move to appoint Bolton today is exactly what it looks like: A giant "fuck you" to anybody who questions his presumed authority and dares to believe in the spirit of advise and consent.
This is the "fuck you" presidency.
Don't like our battle against global extremism? Fuck you.
Don't think a CIA agent, or an ambassador's wife, are fair game? Fuck you.
Don't care for Rove's tactics? Fuck you.
You believe there should be a balance on the court? Fuck you.
Support our constitutionally promised systems of checks and balances? Fuck you.
The Bolton appointment is just the latest, and one of Bush's best, "fuck yous." And not just "fuck you" to Democrats, but a "fuck you" to Republicans like Voinovich who didn't just lie back and think of England over this appointment.
It's worth repeating:
He looked liked
he might have been
a hat check clerk
at an ice rink,
which in fact,
he turned out to be.
Bolton appointment? Let X=X.