Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

W'S DRIFT TO IMPOTENCE
N Y Post ^ | December 6, 2006 | JOHN O'SULLIVAN

Posted on 12/06/2006 2:06:31 PM PST by Sabramerican

JOHN Bolton's resignation as the American ambassador to the United Nations makes it official: The Bush administration is now drifting idly toward a mixture of centrism and impotence.

In less than a month, two of President Bush's stronger and more independent aides - Donald Rumsfeld and Bolton - have been dispatched. Rumsfeld's designated successor, former CIA head Robert Gates, is a leading member of the Beltway's permanent bureaucracy.

The administration seems to be waiting for the Baker-Hamilton commission of old Washington hands to dictate U.S. policy on Iraq. Leaks from the commission suggest it will recommend a gradual U.S. withdrawal camouflaged by negotiations with Iran and Syria over a new Mideast grand bargain.

All of this feeds an exaggerated defeatism in the United States over Iraq.

.....

Rumsfeld's abrupt firing was an act of flagrant disloyalty to a loyal subordinate. The defense secretary had made his share of mistakes - notably, his failure to crush looting immediately after the fall of Baghdad - but he had followed the president's policy faithfully.

.......

We don't know for certain the reasons for Bolton's departure: Either the White House wasn't prepared to fight for him, or he was no longer prepared to lend his voice to the diplomatic charade over Iran and North Korea. Either way, his departure demonstrates timidity on the administration's part. The net result will be that Bush has one less loyal subordinate in the shrinking ranks of his own administration.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bush; bushbash; bushbasherhideout; gwb; iraq; israel
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 581-599 next last
To: beckett
And jumping out of an airplane at age 80 is also unprecedented in American history.

You can take your stuff and peddle it elsewhere.

141 posted on 12/06/2006 4:46:58 PM PST by OldFriend (FALLEN HERO JEFFREY TOCZYLOWSKI, REST IN PEACE)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: HarmlessLovableFuzzball

Zotting people you disagree with? How infantile.

Anyhow, it looks like the Bushbots are outnumbered on this thread. Maybe you're the troll.


142 posted on 12/06/2006 4:54:43 PM PST by Rutles4Ever (The ZW radiation will not allow it. We'll both be killed that way. The medal must not be destroyed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 132 | View Replies]

To: Lancey Howard
"Keep digging."

I have no intention of continuing to dig. I simply said that he bragged about his political capital and, then, didn't deliver. You may not consider it a brag -- many others here do -- but, it doesn't matter much your view on that. That fact is that President Bush didn't deliver on any significant promise he made in 2004.

That reality doesn't mean that I would have preferred Kerry as President -- as a 2-time Vietnam veteran, I consider the man a traitor. But, Kerry's shortcomings don't in any way excuse Bush's lack of performance or his lack of conservative principles. Bush has just been the best of poor choices in the last two Presidential elections.
143 posted on 12/06/2006 4:56:22 PM PST by vetsvette (Bring Him Back)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 133 | View Replies]

To: Arizona Carolyn
If I read your date correctly, you only go back to 2005. How does that make you better than me

That's a very good question. You will just have to take it from me that I am. I am one of those rare individuals that joins FR maybe once every 10 years :)

OK I better head home. 202 is going to be all backed up.

144 posted on 12/06/2006 4:57:12 PM PST by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]

To: HarmlessLovableFuzzball

Actually, your profile says you're a big fan of Rush Limbaugh, who certainly hasn't held back in criticizing the President recently. Is he a troll, too? A troll on the radio? Do you still listen to Rush?


145 posted on 12/06/2006 4:58:55 PM PST by Rutles4Ever (The ZW radiation will not allow it. We'll both be killed that way. The medal must not be destroyed!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 132 | View Replies]

To: OldFriend
It is truly astonishing to watch so many on FR refuse to recognize the profound lack of wisdom the president demonstrated when he ordered our sons and daughters to risk their lives in Iraq. Even after thousands of them have poured their precious blood into the sands of that godforsaken desert, FOR NO DEMONSTRABLE BENEFIT TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, Free Republic still harbors a bastion of dead-enders too blind to see this disaster for what it is.

There is NOTHING conservative about this war, nothing in it that any conservative should care about. That's why almost every well known conservative pundit, with the notable exception of Mark Steyn (although in his latest in NR he admits how badly things stand right presently), do not support the war. Even Jonah Goldberg, a frontline cheerleader back in the day, now calls Iraq a "mistake."

Dead-end all you want in support of the Iraq fiasco. It won't change the outcome, which will turn out to be humilation and failure for United States, all thanks to George W. Bush and his personal vendetta against a nasty dictator.

146 posted on 12/06/2006 5:06:20 PM PST by beckett (Amor Fati)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: OldFriend; All

*God Bless Our Troops and Their Commander in Chief*
~~~
Prayers For Our Nation

147 posted on 12/06/2006 5:06:47 PM PST by MEG33 (GOD BLESS OUR ARMED FORCES.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: Arizona Carolyn
Some of us have come to the conclusion that rasslin' with the bot hogs is a losing proposition for the forum. The blame that is placed upon the MSM, Democrats, and virtually any other group appears quite misplaced. Dozens, if not hundreds of FRiends have recently resumed posting now that they do not get slapped down by the cult of personality groupthink. And more than a few of the venerated conservatives with solid reputations have resumed posting. The spiteful Desperate Housewives Club is now struggling to remain relevant by engaging in another round of character assassination. And so they have turned on you. This is really a shame, and quite puzzling, for your conservative stance has never been questioned before.
148 posted on 12/06/2006 5:08:04 PM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies]

To: CalvaryJohn
The President has lost his way...

Pure unadulterated BS!

The President has figuratively and rightfully told us to go to hell.

149 posted on 12/06/2006 5:12:47 PM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: what's up
Yes, they are the idiots who gave us Nancy Pelosi. But Bush and a big chunk of the GOP are the knuckleheads who failed to get the idiots to vote for them. I believe a unified GOP pursuing a relatively conservative agenda, ignoring the MSM and plowing ahead with vigor and purpose, would have won the election. Instead we got Bridges to Nowhere, the Gang of 14, touchy-feely war in Iraq, religion of peace crap,Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan, out of control spending, amnesty, and all the while being nice to the Dems as they lied, distorted and conspired. Why is Wm. Jefferson not in jail, for example, while Libby is still under prosecution?

Other than 2 justices, which we would have had anyway if the Gang of 14 had not stopped the Nuclear Option, Bush accomplished almost nothing in 2 years, and it is due to a combination of unfair attacks from his opponents inappropriately replied to, and idiotic sniping by disaffected GOP grandees insufficiently reined in. Whose fault is that? All of them, except for the Dems. We expect them to be unfair, liberal and wrong.

150 posted on 12/06/2006 5:15:40 PM PST by Defiant (Obama as President would make us an Obama Nation.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 137 | View Replies]

To: Sabramerican

Why does it feel like 1974 all over again? Next we get 4 years of the Hildabeast, then a resurgence of Conservatism in 2010. Any bets?


151 posted on 12/06/2006 5:16:36 PM PST by kgrif_Salinas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: albie; All
Damn! Enough please?

The friggin' presidential election is TWO YEARS AWAY! Get a life!

152 posted on 12/06/2006 5:19:40 PM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Howlin
It's past time to take off the gloves.

AMEN!

153 posted on 12/06/2006 5:23:56 PM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: Defiant
But Bush and a big chunk of the GOP are the knuckleheads who failed to get the idiots to vote for them

In a Republic, I believe it comes down to the voters.

It's not the President's fault that some milquetoast voters keep voting milquetoast Senators in. And it's not the President's fault that conservatives swallow whatever negative garbage the MSM feeds them. That's the fault of ignorant voters.

For example...Taliban resurgence in Afganistan? LOL. Just what Hillary and her Paula Zahn cohorts want you to believe.

154 posted on 12/06/2006 5:25:50 PM PST by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 150 | View Replies]

To: Joe Boucher
I can go on but lets just say I'm disappointed in Mr. Bush.

And I with you. It's PRESIDENT Bush, Joe. Show some respect.

155 posted on 12/06/2006 5:26:42 PM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Mo1
All I have to say is that I will NEVER forget what so many in the media have done

The media is totally responsible in my opinion too. They have been constant and relentless. As long as the American media is in bed with the Democrats/Libs, we don't stand a chance. They, too, ALSO learned from the Reagan/94 revolutions. They've learned quite well how to fight conservatism and have succeeded.

I think that is what is so depressing. It's going to take a major castrophre to wake up the unpolitical voter.

156 posted on 12/06/2006 5:27:47 PM PST by Alissa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: beckett; PhilDragoo
Iraq was all about the Primacy and Geostrategic Imperative of the U.S. Dollar.

In this avenue of true power.....Iraq has worked well.
As U.S. Dollars flood the mid east....and Afghanistan[Dope-istan].
The U.S. Dollar is the coin of choice of the crimminal Sunni/Shia,....which extends from great nation centres....to grotty dens of pyschopaths in Lebanon to Pakistan.
Russia and China offer little resistence to America's move...as they are both swimming intoxicated in U.S. Dollars.
Some 500 Million in Bribes went down in Russia in 2005 as reported by Russia Blog.
The money game is however tapering off in Iraq,....as Bechtel didi's allong with other main contractors.
Rumor is that former lost oil signatory of U.S. and B.P. in Iraq has been restored...with pledges that Iraq will not borse or follow Irans Borse attempt.
The Baker /Gates Iraq surrender group likely is giving Iran its invasion pass card for not borsing against the U.S. Dollar..or turning Iraq into Theocracy.
Iraq will continue in sectarian murder-death-kill until it is partitioned.
Things however do not go as planned.
U.S./CIA sided with Uncle Ho and allowed him to do his Communist purge run to ensure strongman in the region for narcotics and other fiscal endeavors.
Ho coperated handsomely...even besting the French as a sign of feilty [Game the French out of Indo China]

What exactly went down to turn Ho against the U.S. is speculation.....there are some books out there with theories.
anyhoo....Ho got pissed off and went Rogue....and eventually Vendetta towards U.S. Dollar imperative.
Platform Shoe Midgit of N.K. is kinda quiet right now....rumor is his offshore fantasy reality has been run to ground by Globalists...and with that...much of his narcotics run.
Iran is kinda quiet of late too....me thinks they have been touched : )....and consider their fate of the wheel in..."Two men enter....One man leaves"

They are not ready to take on the U.S. right now.....China and Russia are not ready themselves for the big break against the U.S. Dollar.

But down the road...it will occur,....or posture significantly enough that there will indeed be war,

Saudi Arabia has seriously underperformed in Iraq by its management of the miserable Sunni.
Look for Saudi Arabia to be Troubled by design in the next decades.
Allthough I can't stand Bob Woodard,...his report of a meeting at the beginning of Bush admin where power men gathered and said in one accord...."We have unfinished Business in Iraq" is spot on.

Now there is unfinished Business with Iran.....and Saudi Arabia.
Even Chavez is backpeddling in his Rhetoric....signs that his money is in jeopardy.
WW-2....The last true conflict where what was said was followed with resolve and clarity....issues spoken truly from the Government and too the people.
Since then..its been a downward slide of deceptive rhetoric and concession....playing both sides In All Matters.

Trust is nearly non existant now.

"In God We Trust".....dispatched to the rim of the coin.

157 posted on 12/06/2006 5:35:03 PM PST by Parrot_was_devastating
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 124 | View Replies]

To: The South Texan
The only things on Bush's mind are getting citizenship for all illegals, the Amero and the merger between the US, Canada and Mexico. Those are his marching orders from the powers that be.

All that accomplished and the USA will be pretty much destroyed as a nation that we would recognize

158 posted on 12/06/2006 5:35:07 PM PST by nygoose
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: what's up
It IS the President's fault that he didn't pursue an aggressive conservative agenda and that he didn't use his "bully pulpit" to force the Republican Congress to help him with his initiatives.

Certainly, Bush was a better choice than that nut-case Algore or the traitorous Kerry, but that doesn't mean he's been a good Republican President, he hasn't and that's a fact.
159 posted on 12/06/2006 5:36:08 PM PST by vetsvette (Bring Him Back)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 154 | View Replies]

To: Alissa
The media is totally responsible in my opinion too.

What ever happened to the conservative principle of self reliance and taking responsibility for ones own actions? An optimistic individual might perform some research and help other FRiends with clear and concise information to convincingly discredit liberal media propaganda. Such mentoring and inclusion has been woefully lacking on the forum of late. Rather, personal attacks and accusations of hate and divisiveness has ruled the agenda. Blame the MSM, blame disillusioned and misinformed voters, and blame the perceived ignorance of everyone else in the United States and the world. Or use the God given intellect that one has been granted to engage in constructive research and dialog amongst fellow conservatives. With a little bit of respect and dignity.

160 posted on 12/06/2006 5:42:42 PM PST by ARealMothersSonForever
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 156 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 581-599 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson