I'm still trying to figure out who died and made Joe "Anonymous" Klein Time magazine's foreign policy expert-in-residence. The sometime presidential primary fiction writer apparently thinks John McCain's statement on the Bush administration's nuclear deal with North Korea is too "grudging":
...Congratulations to George W. Bush for finally making the correct choice--diplomatic engagement, regional talks that enabled quiet unofficial contacts with the North Koreans, which then led to direct negotiations--in resolving this dispute. Wonder what John Bolton is thinking this morning?
Update: John McCain has just released this statement, which is a bit too grudging for my taste, but does raise the appropriate questions going forward
So let's see: Klein praises Bush but takes a mild swipe at Sen. McCain for having the gall to suggest that North Korea might not live up to its word, which it clearly has a history of doing.
In other words, on one key issue where the Bush administration seems to fall to the left of McCain -- and certainly to the left of critics who argue the administration has gone soft on Kim Jong-il -- the otherwise harsh critic of the Bush administration has kind words for Bush while aiming to make McCain sound, well, a tad crotchety.
It makes one wonder if Klein is more concerned with pretense over substance in foreign policy. Nah, that's crazy talk!
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I also heard that McCain did
June 26, 2008 - 12:25 ET by SickofLibsI also heard that McCain did not send Kim a Lobster-Gram.
And please, candidates, let's all try harder to conform to Klein's taste.
...Congratulations to
June 26, 2008 - 12:39 ET by sam.i.amKlein's fact-free analysis
June 26, 2008 - 13:18 ET by WingletDriverWhat Klein is ignoring here is the Bush administration's policy was multilateral (US, ROK, Japan, Russia & China) talks with North Korea, which is precisely what occurred. This is what Bolton worked for and got. Therefore, Bush and Bolton are completely vindicated.
What Klein, the MSM and the former Clintonistas promoted were one-on-one talks with North Korea. This did not occur despite Klein's implying that Bush finally gave into their better judgement. What a pompous, history-altering moron.
Well, Ok - I'll grant Klein one point...
June 26, 2008 - 13:26 ET by Gary HallWell, Ok - I'll grant Klein one point... Perhaps it did take President Bush a bit too long to correct the grave policy mistakes the Clinton administration made with N. Korea; but then again, Bush was handed a rather full plate in 2001: a collapsing economy on the brink of a recession; millions of Americans loosing their jobs; a blossoming federal deficit fueled by the inherited economic reversal; an Afghanistan with the Taliban in control and Bin Laden in planning; an Iraq, being bombed daily by US forces, with a failed sanctions regime and no inspectors for several years; millions dying in Africa from civil wars, genocides and millions more from HIV/Aids and malaria; the CA energy blackout crisis; widespread corporate and accounting fraud; and no national energy policy to address what we see today. (;~/
North Korean leaders cannot be trusted
June 26, 2008 - 18:18 ET by wdhorningThey finked out on Clinton, and there is some evidence they are lying now about only using Plutonium. That is, they also may have been using Uranium and are lying about not using it right now?
McCain should be grudging.