Letters to the Editor
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The Real Culprit...
Thanks to Fred Kaplan's articles over the past few years, I find one thing in particular very interesting:
Jimmy Carter brought about the Agreed Framework on October 21, 1994. We can argue all day about how effective a document it was, and whether Carter exceeded his mandate in crafting it, but on the whole it had some promise and seems to have done some good. But the timing is interesting:
October 21, 1994 was just a couple weeks before the "Republican Revolution" brought a new Congress to power. And although the Agreed Framework wasn't a treaty per se that would have required ratification, nonetheless its financial terms were in the hands of this new Republican Congress. Which promptly balked at paying for what had been agreed to.
This meant, among other things, that the soft-water reactor promised in the Framework (supplying energy for the people but much harder to extract fissionable material from) was never delivered. Right from the git-go, then, the North Koreans saw the U.S. breaking its word. In other words, there is an argument to be made that we broke the agreement first--thanks to our friends in the new Republican Congress. If you were a North Korean, what conclusion would you have drawn from this?
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The "noting could have prevented this argument"
It's interesting to see the argument that "they were going to develop nukes anyway, nothing could have stopped this." And it may well be true, we'll never know without being able to personally quiz those in Pyongyang. But I can't help thinking: Republicans blame the Sept. 11th terror attacks on Bill Clinton not previously apprehending Osama Bin Forgotten. And if Democrats had defended themselves by saying "Nothing could have prevented the Sept. 11th terror attacks," the Republicans would have screamed bloody murder about the "Blame America" crowd.
Not that they don't..........
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Tricky One
I'd be tempted to respond to the GOP's most recent round of attacks on Clinton by offering that "hey, this is coming from the party of Richard Nixon."
The problem is, that's being too kind to today's GOP. The half-dozen or so Nixon desciples in and around the admininstration would also tend to see that as a compliment.
And, while Nixon was indeed a lying, cheating, thieving, dirty bastard, at least he was a relatively intelligent, coherent, lying cheating, thieving, dirty bastard. The former two characteristics being utterly lacking among the present Republican leadership.
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This is obvious, hence the reason I thought of it
The conservatives are telling the truth - everything is sorta Clinton's Fault...
In the areas for which they are casting blame
Because President Bill's advisors, assistants and volunteers were the last American leaders to action decisions on Korea
Bush did Nothing (congress did)
Certainly nothing Bush has done is his fault
...He is a tool (Garbage-in Garbage-out) he makem quickem deciderisms, with his gut, if you provide "all" of the data...
Really, do you wish Rumsfeldershnizen, and Cheeny had actually done something to/with North Korea?
Have they done anything reasonably effective yet in foreign affairs...
anything....
anything...
good thing Hussein didn't have nukes.
North Korean does
Whatcha gonna "do " now Bushies? Nothing...I thought so
Bahahahahahahahahahahaha-ha-ha
?.....uh-oh, I'm kinda scared.
How many exotic metals does it take to catalyze a strong nuclear blast? several
...Where can Korea get them?
...Lacking these catalysts and micro triggers...what is KIM Dung gonna do with a umpteen thousand pound bomb? Radiating its ass off in harmless but "easily" detectable wavelengths, again not preventable without exotic materials.
That much TNT covered in cow shit would be more dangerous...e-coli ahhhhh save me.
So really the only thing to fear is France, Israel, China, US, Russia and some of the other countries at the talks...
There is nothing to fear except
!) Bush
a) Loosing your job
b) Loosing you family to religion
c) Missing Two-and-a-Half Men
d) Isreal
e) auto accidents…
f) falls down steps
x) Russia
y) China (not likely, they're getting wealthy and corrupt that'll keep'em busy for 25 years)
z) The unknown
oh yeah, and terrorists
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Sane vs. Insane
"Even if Clinton's policy was completely misguided, why should any sane voter accept the notion that current policy problems are his fault?"
I submit that nearly half of the people who vote are obviously not sane, or we never would have been saddled with these morons in the first place.
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Note to self-appointed grammar police: Buy a clue!
What does this guy know [?] He states "the GOP has reverted to blaming...". The proper useage is "reverted back to blaming".
" The proper usage" according to whom? "Revert back" is generally considered a redundancy, a pitfall good writers try to avoid. See http://www.bartleby.com/64/2.html
I don't know what is going on that mostly bogus minor criticisms of a writer's spelling, grammar, or style have lately been popping up in the comments on this site; maybe it's a way of pounding on the table when logical arguments fail.
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That ship has sailed
Letter writer joe:
Kim...
would have developed a nuke regardless of who he was talking to. Clinton's tactics and Bush's were doomed to failure because Kim is a coniving liar.
China is backing away from sanctions? People are surprised?
Stop turing this into a Bush/Clinton fight. This is a USA Kim fight.
Ah yes, progressives are the ones "turning this into a Bush/Clinton fight."
It wouldn't have anything to do with the conservatives in attack dog mode out on the talking head programs asserting that it's Clinton's fault.
No, when you punch me in the nose, by fighting back I'm not starting the fight. Joe, I've seen a lot of your letters recently, and it seems like you always ignore your own party's actions and argue in a vacuum. I probably would too if I were you.
This is one of those times.
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The ABM Defense
I regret that I haven't had the time today to read all of the letters in reply to this article. But the Republicans response to the confluence of all these messes reminds me of what I have often called, in my chosen profession as a trial lawyer, the ABM Defense.
No, it's not anti-balistic missile, although given the context of the latest of Bush's chickens that has come home to roost, that bit of irony is not unnoticed. It the Anybody But Me!!
It is a courtroom defense that is used, often very aggressively and belligerantly by those civil defendant (usually negligent trucking companies of manufacturer of highly defective products) who have no legitimate excuse for their actions. The louder they squeal, the more guilty they are. And these swine are squealing like pigs stuck under a gate. Guilty, guilty, guilty!!!
And if they want to blame this on Bill Clinton, I say "Grate." I can't think of a better person to come in and throw the final spade of dirt on this reign of witches. I'll put his rhetorical skill, popularity, judgment, and credibility up against thiers any day of the week.