NYT op-ed page tortures me...

Mon, 01/05/2009 - 3:22pm

... with an unreadable article by John Bolton AND John Yoo. Frankly, I'd rather be waterboarded. Bolton also bloviates on the Post op-ed page. Could we at least have a decent interval before these guys start telling Obama what to do? Please? This feels like Herbert Hoover holding forth on the New Deal.

Thomas E. Ricks | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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Just Getting Started...

by Jim Pharo on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 8:02pm

I'm certain that by the end of January Time or Newsweek will be pleased to carry, with breathless enthusiasm, an essay from former President GW Bush with his thoughts on how to confront the issues facing the nation.

Pretty much Hoover on how to fix the economy...

P.S. THRILLED to find you blogging here. Long-time fan of yours...

Yoo & Bolton ..

by Calvin Jones an... on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 8:22pm

Having them in the NYT just further sullies what little reputation the paper has left .. same with the WaPo .. does anyone ever tell Fred Hiatt that he is insulting his readers?

Yoo & Bolton

by Bill Keller on Mon, 01/05/2009 - 9:29pm

It was a curious submission by two who had appeared to be in contempt of the Constitution and International Treaties. Are they seeking respectability for a position at Stanford or Hoover? Or in a strategy to use Senate Republicans as progress blockers?

Bolton and Yoo

by idrake on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 1:02am

Regardless of the messengers, what about the message? As Bolton and Yoo point out, both Republican and Democratic presidents have avoided the two-thirds constitutional requirement by simply seeking congressional laws passed by a majority. Why is it "unreadable," when it is very clear that they are merely voicing support for adherence to the Constitution?

Bolton and Yoo

by Bill Keller on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 11:47am

Adherence to the Constitution is the message. (Although, it is fun to 'torture' the messengers now and then. Yoo would agree.) We have a need to push the message.

If the message is "protect

by J Thomas on Tue, 01/06/2009 - 2:48pm

If the message is "protect the Constitution", then let's not pollute it by quoting Bolton or Yoo's support. They'll at best confuse the issue.

Not the best analogy.

by IMSnooping on Wed, 01/07/2009 - 5:45pm

Hoover more or less set the stage for the New Deal with the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. The New Deal wasn't so much a reversal of Hoover's policies as a continuation and expansion of them.

So will the Obama administration end up repeating that history? Time will tell -- but it wouldn't surprise me. As with the Guantanamo situation, it's a lot easier to be critical when there's no expectation of a forthcoming substitute.

Now that they're having to offer a substitute to Guantanamo in order to keep the campaign promise to close it, Tribe etal are reportedly finding it more difficult to determine what exactly to do.