A good about-face, Molly Ivins

[madokie]

http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/1/2006/1384
June 9, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas -- It occasionally occurs to me that if I could understand the Bush administration's foreign policy, I might like it. After months of threatening Iran with everything up to and including nuclear war, we are now full of Sweet Reason and offering to have diplomatic talks with the very people we have been denouncing as Beyond Vile.

I never mind a good about-face in foreign policy myself. Always reminds me of the times when that great duo Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger decided it would be a good thing to convince the world they were both quite perfectly mad. They succeeded. (Bonus point: What did Richard Nixon say upon first seeing the Great Wall of China? He said, "This is, indeed, a great wall." Almost as good as the time George H.W. Bush barfed on the prime minister of Japan.)

John Bolton is my favorite Bush administration diplomat. He's the one they sent to the United Nations, since he has all the characteristics of a really clumsy bull in a China shop. Ambassador Bolton, his white mustache positively bristling in horror, has assured us over and over that we cannot consent to have diplomatic talks with Iran No Matter What.

(snip)

I think we both got that massacres occur in war -- but for me, it felt like a "don't teach your grandma to suck eggs" moment. Why would anyone who hadn't lived through My Lai try to explain Haditha?

[acmejack]

1. Thank you Molly!

I want to beat these pukes to a pulp. It is very difficult to remain nonviolent sometimes. It is also very trying to save the snark for those who truly merit it, so I find myself apologizing too often to people that are my allies & fellow Dems. I feel as if I am slowly going mad or rather, that everyone else is!

[madokie]

3. I don't know if it is on purpose or by accident, but when it comes to

bushie* boy I get mad real quick. Before he came along I never felt hate for anything or anyone. Theres just nothing about the bastard to like. On second thought I would 'like' to see him at the Hague facing the charges for the crimes he has committed.
peace
:hi:

[acmejack]

4. Thanx, Bro!

I'm barely holding on anymore. I guess this is just one of life's inevitable negative cycles. This, too, shall pass...

[ovidsen]

2. She missed one!

Prior to this week's "stunning" offer to hold talks with Iraq, the Bush administration position was:

We won't talk with you at all until you dismantle your atomic weapons thingamabobs!

And NOW the offer is:

If you dismantle your atomic thingamabobs, we'll talk with you.

Molly makes a good point about how you couldn't trust the Bushies with your toenail clippings. But I've got some questions. What exactly is the difference between these two platforms? And what does this "nuttin' up my sleeve!" diplomacy say about the veracity of the Bush administration?