Joe Klein: Empty vessel

| November 16, 2010

ROS sent me a link to Joe Klein’s review of George W. Bush’s book “Decision Points” and it shows what an empty head sits on Joe Klein’s shoulders. First you must remember that Joe Klein was the “Anonymous” who wrote “Primary Colors”, the vacant worship of Bill Clinton during his 1992 campaign. The Clinton administration was merely a bookmark in history. He accomplished nothing and the only challenges the President Clinton faced were those of his own failings.

Klein writes in this supposed book review;

I was surprised by how angry I didn’t become. For me, at least, weariness has replaced anger. Bush’s was an exhausting presidency that will, I suspect, be remembered more for its waste — of time, lives, money, moral standing and economic strength — than for anything else. We have survived nearly a decade now since Sept. 11, and the cataclysmic events of that day have receded, not just in memory but in importance, compared with the global economic changes and Wall Street sociopathy that together challenge America’s future pre-eminence. We have not been successfully attacked since, a matter of luck and skill. We do have Bush to thank, in part, for that — but far too much testosterone was spent kicking irrelevant butts and landing, breathless with self-regard, on carrier decks to celebrate victories that were Pyrrhic at best. We struggle to recover from the thoughtless carnage of his tenure.

The only reason it was exhausting was because people like Klein wouldn’t give a moments credit to the accomplishments of that administration. It’s as if Hussein was just another poor victim of the Bush machine. As if Desert Storm never happened, as if we didn’t deploy US troops to Kuwait border no less than three times in response to Hussein’s saber rattling during the ’90s. As if Iraq’s air defense facilities hadn’t fired on our pilots flying to enforce the UN mandate. As if Iraq had complied completely with the UN weapons inspectors. As if Iraq hadn’t attempted to assassinate a former US president. As if Bush hadn’t given Hussein countless chances to avoid war for more than a year before the invasion of Hussein’s Iraq.

It’s as if the Left spent eight years blinded by their own partisan hatred to have noticed what was going on around them.

Category: Media, Terror War, Usual Suspects

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UpNorth

“It’s as if the Left spent eight years blinded by their own partisan hatred to have noticed what was going on around them”. Well, now that you mention it, that’s exactly what happened, and is still happening. The Chairman is carrying on that fine tradition everyday. It’s still Bush’s fault.

ponsdorf

And he repeats one of the many lies the left used during the Bush administration.

The left twisted and spun the carrier landing/mission accomplished story – squeezing every drop of BDS venom out of it then. And they apparently continue…

Klein may well have an empty head, but I suspect his testosterone fixation is based on being empty in parts of his nether regions?

PintoNag

There is a mental disorder in which the sufferer likes to be beaten, humiliated, and subjugated. When I read articles like what was posted above, I have to wonder if we haven’t had folks rise to prominence that suffer the mental disorder I mentioned. They expound on humanitarianism, but it seems that they are more avid to see America helpless and humiliated, than in helping anyone. They seem to be rushing to become helpless victims on a global scale.
Now THAT is a disorder…

Joe

Anyone who hasn’t experienced anger and exhaustion from the waste and misery caused by the Bush presidency has a blind spot big enough to drive a Stryker through….

Spockgirl

Joe,
I fear for you here.

PintoNag

You don’t have to worry about Joe, Spockgirl; he may be a liberal, but he’s OUR liberal! 🙂
And Joe has always loved a good dog-pile.

ponsdorf

Joe, normally I don’t take the time to respond to you, but since I’m killing/wasting time with some background tasks…

I do not rate the Bush presidency (overall) as a good one. Neither do I see it as horrific as you seem to.

However, the subject of this post has to do with Joe Klein and his take on a book. If you read the link you might just find a curious recitation of all of the old BDS stuff. One would think a big time pundit could at least develop anew slant?

I found a coupla easy items vapid and especially empty. The one I cited above (#2) and Klein calling Bush impatient, petulant, shallow which is sadly more descriptive of Obama than Bush.

Focus Joe, just focus!

AndyN

You hit on something that’s bothered me for a long time and that I’m reminded of every time Obama talks about his belief that people would like his policies if only he explained them better.

When Bush 43 took office the US was already at war. Historically speaking, enforcing a blockade is considered an act of war. By any standards, militarily denying a sovereign government access to their own airspace is an act of war, as is repeatedly bombing their military infrastructure. The cease fire that Iraq signed on to was effectively voided when Hussein almost immediately began violating its terms.

Obviously very few people would have had the stomach to put boots on the ground based just on that, but after 9/11 when Hussein continued supporting terrorists there was really no other course of action than to bring an end to a war that had started under Bush 41 and continued through the entire 8 years of the Clinton administration.

I can understand the political decisions behind framing the military escalation in Iraq as something that might win UN approval, but the most straightforward justification would have been to simply explain that we needed to finally start bringing an end to an existing war in the middle east.

UpNorth

“Focus Joe, just focus!”. He can’t, ponsdorf, what with his lips being so firmly attached to the TOTUS, and everything only millimetres away from his eyes, it’s impossible to focus on anything.
Joey, boy, any thoughts on the “waste and misery” of the Obama presidency? Ya know, for the unemployed, the foreclosed, the soon to be out of work Dems?
And, I, for one, worry about our own little Joey boy, there just doesn’t seem to be the rancor, the envy, the “let’s punish achievement” hatred that good ole Joey used to spit out weekly.

Jacobite

“the most straightforward justification would have been to simply explain that we needed to finally start bringing an end to an existing war in the middle east.”

That’s pretty much been my argument from the begining, and one that is near impossible for the antiwar movement to formulate a coherant argument against.

Old Trooper

Joe; I’m gonna let the others have at you this time. I don’t want to waste any more time beating you over the head with facts, figures, and logic, because it doesn’t seem to help.

UpNorth

Joey, just one more set of statistics for ya, when President Bush left office the unemployment rate was 7.7%, now, under TOTUS, the unemployment rate is 10.1%. And, that’s only the people who are filing for unemployment comp. That doesn’t count those who’ve given up, which would raise the percentage to about 16%, or possibly higher. Or, how about 41.8 million Americans on food stamps today? When TOTUS was immaculated, the number of Americans on food stamps was 32 million. That’s an increase of about 30%.

ROS

His pretentious use of multi-syllabic discourse is odiously prosaic, the sanctimonious prick.

I do believe he might pray to himself.

PintoNag

ROS: THANK YOU!! YOU JUST MADE MY DAY WITH THAT ONE!! 🙂

Aurelius

Klein’s a loser, nothing more than a liberal mouth piece that hasn’t thought of anything new in three decades.

shaun

It’s a safe bet the sonofabitch didn’t read the book.

Joe

UpNorth,
Bush’s term ended just in time for him to bail on all the destruction he caused, leaving it for other people to clean up, a messy process that is still going on. Kind of like one of those blue-haired drivers that cause mass pile ups behind them but escape scott-free, not even aware of the damage they’ve caused.

Michael in MI

Joey, just one more set of statistics for ya, when President Bush left office the unemployment rate was 7.7%, now, under TOTUS, the unemployment rate is 10.1%.
==========

Just remember, UpNorth, an average of 5%-6% unemployment under a GOP Congress and GOP President was “the worst economy since Hoover!!!11ty!!!!”, while 7%-10% unemployment under a Democrat Congress (since JAN 2007) and a Democrat President is “funemployment!”

Also, the GOP Congress/President lowering the deficit each year from 2005-2007 was a bad thing and tripling the deficit in one year under a Democrat Congress/President is a GOOD thing! In fact, all the Democrat knob-gobblers say that we haven’t spent ENOUGH and need to spend MORE! GOP spending = Baaaaaad! Democrat Spending = Skittles and Unicorns and Rainbows!

Thomas Ferdousi

Klein’s an idiot!

UpNorth

Thanks, Michael, you saved me from pointing out the obvious to the oblivious. The “knob-gobbler” in question is just another sufferer of BDS, he should be pitied, but it’s so much fun to watch him try to justify what comrade Chairman is doing.