{"id":2681,"date":"2004-04-06T12:42:38","date_gmt":"2004-04-06T19:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/?p=2681"},"modified":"2004-04-06T12:42:38","modified_gmt":"2004-04-06T19:42:38","slug":"en-passant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/2004\/04\/06\/en-passant\/","title":{"rendered":"En Passant"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Bush, in regard to the June 30th deadline for the transfer of Iraqi sovereignty, says the date remains firm<\/a>. When asked if the escalating violence might necessitate a push-back, he says:<\/p>\n

We will pass sovereignty on June 30th. We will stay the course in Iraq. We're not going to be intimidated by thugs or assassins. We're not going to cut and run from the people who long from freedom. <\/tt><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes, nothing says “we’re not going to cut and run” like a steadfast commitment to cut and run, on a date determined solely by the advent of election season. I’ll say one thing for Bush: it’s not everyone who could gussy up “we’re getting the hell out of Dodge!” with macho bluster.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the Bush administration, the LA Times says that Condoleezza Rice’s testimony before the 9\/11 commission later this week<\/a> will largely determine whether or not she gets to keep her job. If she gets the boot she probably won’t be alone: both Powell and Rumsfeld are rumored to be on their way out too. Not to mention the bevy of other administration officials who have quit or “resigned” (Richard Clarke, Paul O’Neil, Eric Schaeffer, etc.) during Bush’s tenure. No wonder the unemployment rate is so high.<\/p>\n

Apparently Rice needs to go because people associate her with the administration’s failure to prevent 9\/11, just as Rumsfeld needs to go because people associate him with the post-invasion Iraq debacle and Powell needs to go because people associate him with intelligence and moderation. It’s like watching a snake shed it’s skin as these guys try to slither into a second term.<\/p>\n

Honestly, it seems like scapegoatery and damage control are the only activities the executive branch engages in these days, aside from campaign stops and fund-raising. And it’s unnerving to think how much in federal funds has been spent to redirect blame and inoculate Bush from culpability. They ought to just put a checkbox on the 2004 Tax form that says “Would you like $3 to go toward presidential ass-coverage?”<\/p>\n

Oh well, the whole spectacle is kind of entertaining in a novice-chess-player sacrifices-pawn-after-pawn- in-the-hopes-of-drawing-a-stalemate kind of way. Hell, they should just stick a camera in the White House and turn the whole thing into a reality show, a cross between “The Apprentice” and “The West Wing.” Every week some new scandal could erupt (this element of the plan is evidentially already in place) and then the administration could spend the hour casting about for a fall guy to get hauled into the oval office and receive his walking papers. (“Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman, it turns out that we lied about the cost of our Medicare proposal. You’re fired.”)<\/p>\n

I’d totally watch that. And just imagine the rating for the January 20, 2005 series finale, when Kerry comes in to do the final two dismissals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Bush, in regard to the June 30th deadline for the transfer of Iraqi sovereignty, says the date remains firm. When asked if the escalating violence might necessitate a push-back, he says: We will pass sovereignty on June 30th. We will stay the course in Iraq. We’re not going to be intimidated by thugs or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/defectiveyeti.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}