I Hate What You Just Said

As president-elect Obama prepares to meet with the sitting president in the White House tomorrow, it is time for us all to remember the duo’s first encounter.

Who could forget this memorable moment:

Four years ago, Obama and other newly elected members of the Senate were invited to the White House for a breakfast meeting with Bush, who pulled the young Chicagoan aside.

“Obama!” Bush exclaimed, according to Obama’s account of the meeting in his second memoir, “The Audacity of Hope.” “Come here and meet Laura. Laura, you remember Obama. We saw him on TV during election night. Beautiful family. And that wife of yours — that’s one impressive lady.”

The two men shook hands and then, according to Obama, Bush turned to an aide, “who squirted a big dollop of hand sanitizer in the president’s hand.”

Bush then offered some to Obama, who recalled: “Not wanting to seem unhygienic, I took a squirt.”

Today’s Washington Post:

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.

Dear Congress, MSM, Blogosphere, and all Fellow Human Beings:

Please, please, please, please don’t let this story fade away until we know for sure whether it is true.

And if it is true, please, please, please, please don’t let them get away with it. They have already gotten away with so much. Surely this would have to be the final straw, no?

A new book by the author Ron Suskind claims that the White House ordered the CIA to forge a back-dated, handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi intelligence to Saddam Hussein.

Suskind writes in “The Way of the World,” to be published Tuesday, that the alleged forgery – adamantly denied by the White House – was designed to portray a false link between Hussein’s regime and al Qaeda as a justification for the Iraq war.

The author also claims that the Bush administration had information from a top Iraqi intelligence official “that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq – intelligence they received in plenty of time to stop an invasion.”

P.S. - as I am writing this post, the big headline on CNN.com is “‘Astonishing’ gorilla find reported.”

Andrew Sullivan has returned from his vacation to the Cape. Refreshed and relaxed, the noted Obamacon wrote the following:

I did some reading and writing. Ron Hansen’s “Exiles” was right up my alley. But Jane Mayer’s “The Dark Side” stayed with me. It’s the most important book yet written about the Bush presidency. Perhaps it was seeing “The Dark Knight” at the same time, but if you read that book, absorb what is tells us about what has happened to this country these past seven years, and then read or watch this election campaign filter through the ether, it is hard to avoid a sense of deep concern about where we’re headed. We have war criminals as president and vice-president, and a constitution staggering after one serious terror attack. But the campaign is about whether Obama is like Paris Hilton.

The threat of Rove and his ilk is not that their petty, deceptive and irresistibly subjective tactics are evil in a petty, deceptive, childish kind of way. It’s that their venial sins distract from their mortal ones. It’s the mortal ones we have to be worried about. And the mortal ones that they are getting away with.

Well said.

And I’m trying to think of something funny to say to end this post.  But this stuff just isn’t funny.

Today, we bring you a study in contrasts.

A clip from Obama’s Berlin speech:

And now, a selection of words from our President. (It is worth hanging around through the introduction and watching to the end, as there are some sublime works of performance art contained within):

Feel free to laugh or cry. Maybe a little of both.

Scheisse!

Have you ever looked deep into someone’s eyes, and then - all of a sudden - you just knew? Well, George W. Bush famously had such a romantic experience. As we all know, in 2001 Bush got one look at the stars in Vladimir Putin’s eyes and did nothing less than get “a sense of his soul.” Ah. Love.

Ever since that fateful day, there have been signs that these two crazy kids might just be soul mates. For one thing, their administrations both like to help their citizens understand the news, by shaping it for them. But this New York Times story shows that there is pure magic in the air(waves).

On a talk show last fall, a prominent political analyst named Mikhail G. Delyagin had some tart words about Vladimir V. Putin. When the program was later televised, Mr. Delyagin was not.

Not only were his remarks cut — he was also digitally erased from the show, like a disgraced comrade airbrushed from an old Soviet photo. (The technicians may have worked a bit hastily, leaving his disembodied legs in one shot.)

Mr. Delyagin, it turned out, has for some time resided on the so-called stop list, a roster of political opponents and other critics of the government who have been barred from TV news and political talk shows by the Kremlin.

The stop list is, as Mr. Delyagin put it, “an excellent way to stifle dissent.”

You really can see a lot by looking into someone’s eyes.

And I can’t confirm this, but last time Bush and Putin met, I could have sworn I heard George singing this lovely little Ella Fitzgerald ditty to his comrade:

I never cared much for moonlit skies
I never wink back at fireflies
But now that the stars are in your eyes
I’m beginning to see the light.

George hearts Vlad. Sweet.

George Bush has presided over the most lawless and tyrannical administration in the history of the United States. He has revoked habeas corpus; presided over wholesale warrantless wiretapping of US citizens; ordered torture; and promulgated a theory of executive power that renders the other branches of government null and void.

Yet, the president has issued a “proclamation” declaring this day “Law Day”:

The right of ordinary men and women to determine their own future, protected by the rule of law, lies at the heart of America’s founding principles. As our country celebrates the 50th anniversary of Law Day, we renew our commitment to the ideals on which this great Nation was established and to a robust system of ordered liberty.

The American legal system is central to protecting the rights and freedoms our Nation holds dear. The theme of this year’s Law Day, “The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity,” recognizes the fundamental role that the rule of law plays in preserving liberty in our Nation and in all free societies. We pay tribute to the men and women in America’s legal community. Through hard work and dedication to the rule of law, members of the judiciary and the legal profession help secure the rights of individuals, bring justice to our communities, and reinforce the proud traditions that make America a beacon of light for the world.

Nearly 800 years ago, the Magna Carta placed the authority of government under the rule of law; centuries later, the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution marked tremendous advances in the march of liberty. These documents established enduring principles that guide modern democracies. Today, we are reminded of that past and look toward a hopeful future as we work to secure the liberty that is the natural right of every man, woman, and child.

On Law Day, U.S.A., our Nation celebrates our belief in the equality of each person before God and renews our commitment to strive to bring America ever closer to its founding ideals.

This has to be one of the most spectacular absurdities of all time.