(source)
Yesterday, super-hawk John Bolton was upset that President Clinton. . .went over to North Korea to negotiate the release of two imprisoned American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee. “It comes perilously close to negotiating with terrorists,” Bolton said. Even after news of their release, Bolton still called the move a mistake. “[T]his is a classic case of rewarding bad behavior,” he complained.
Gosh, John Bolton has never ever ever been right about anything ever, so maybe he's due. Could John Bolton be right?
“John Bolton is right,” declared the Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes.
Oh my God! Who is Steve Hayes? How much credibility does he have?
Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard and author of "The Connection : How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America"
Oh.
Let's check the credibility-o-meter:
Okay, I think I'm going to go ahead and ignore him. Does anyone else want to weigh in?
Oh, Jeez! Looks like Dick Morris is going to take the hooker's toes out of his mouth long enough to make a statement.
Criticizing Bill Clinton's "awful," "ridiculous" trip to North Korea, Fox News political contributor Dick Morris said of the two freed journalists: "I feel badly for the two journalists, but what were they doing in North Korea in the first place?" Morris later responded to a question about "how were we supposed to get them home" by stating: "Maybe they don't come home. Maybe they go to North Korea and they live with the consequences of their decision to go there."
Thanks, Dick! That was truly a waste of everyone's time. I mean, we already knew that you're an asshole, so this doesn't really add anything, but thanks for dropping by. And don't touch anything. I don't have a strong enough disinfectant.
Anyone else? Krauthammer?
Well, it's the return of hostages in exchange for stuff. And we will learn about that stuff.
Stuff? What stuff?
There probably was an apology [offered by President Clinton in Pyongyang].
I don't think that really counts as "stuff.".
there was obviously a quid pro quo. The first of it we saw because we had Kim Jong-Il, who has had a stroke- - he's been wobbly and unsteady, and you can understand in a dictatorship like his how that begins the rumors of succession — so by standing up in the photos that we just saw, obviously engaged with Clinton, he looks like he is back in charge. That helps him personally.
Ok, so what Kim Jong Il got in return for freeing these two prisoners is that photos were taken of him standing upright? Seriously? You know he has his own news agency, right? They could release photos of him standing anytime they want. They could photoshop in Bill Clinton or Bill Cosby or Wild Bill Hickock. This is what we "gave" him?
Secondly, by getting a very high level envoy — you can't get higher level than a former president of the United States — it does help the North Koreans in their legitimacy.
Ouch, it really hurts to give that up! Recognizing the truth on the ground, that North Korea is de facto an independant nation? Wow, for that prize we should have got two journalists, Albert Pujolz, and a player to be named later!
And it probably has gotten stuff that we haven't even heard about and we may never hear about — aid in food and oil. All of that stuff will happen quietly in the future.
And we also gave up some imaginary, theoretical aid? My God! we was robbed! I gotta tell, you Charles, this was no hostage ransom.
But it was a hostage ransom. No question at all.
No, really. It wasn't. see, in a hostage ransom, you know what, forget it. There's a stray cat in the backyard, and I'm going to go explain it to her, because she has a better chance of getting it than you do.
So, I'm starting to think that John Bolton may have been wrong after all. Hmmm, but that would mean that I was right! Me and the rest of the sane world. Oh, everything makes sense again!
