Saturday, February 19, 2005

Can You Say That With A Straight Face?

Diplomacy is a game of chess in which the [people]* are checkmated.
Karl Kraus (1874 - 1936), writer

This just stopped me dead in my reading tracks. I was reading the Los Angeles Times this morning about President Bush’s plans to refresh his bond with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bush told a Slovak journalist that "...I want to him to be able to have a chance to say he’s a done it for this reason…so I can explain to him as best I can, in a friendly way, of course, that Western values are … based upon transparency and rule of law, the right for the people to express themselves, checks and balances in government.”

What! Transparency. Hmmm. I wonder who did Vice President Dick Cheney meet with regarding his energy commission?

Say What! The right for the people to express themselves. How many were arrested at Bush rallies for simply wearing a t-shirt that the Bush people did not like? What happened to that mother who spoke out against the war after her son died at Laura Bush’s speech?

Come Again! Checks and balances in government. The Republican Senate is preparing to use the nuclear option to stop the Democrats from using the filibuster to stop religious, right-wing judges from being appointed.

I only hope Putin reminds him of these items. Additionally, I have no doubt the invasion of Iraq will come up, how we went in for one reason and then came up with five other excuses when the intelligence proved wrong.

*the original quote said nations instead of people

1 comment:

The Misanthrope said...

As bad as the U.S. has become, we are still pretty good, but we are losing ground rapidly. The Bush administration has made the Nixon gang look like amateurs when it comes to revenge and attacking the media.