John Bolton's little game of "If I were the President" is a dangerous one, especially since he's signaling that he might just have a gander at the 2012 GOP nomination for President. He took time out of his busy bloviating schedule to visit with Bill
March 22, 2011

John Bolton's little game of "If I were the President" is a dangerous one, especially since he's signaling that he might just have a gander at the 2012 GOP nomination for President. He took time out of his busy bloviating schedule to visit with Bill Hemmer and talk about how he would have handled things.

He thinks the US should have moved on Libya a month ago, unilaterally. If we had, according to Bolton, we'd be done and out of there.

Oh really? This is the same John Bolton who said this in 2003:

JOHN BOLTON: I think we already see evidence, substantial evidence of Iraq's WMD programs and I think we're going to see more.

I think the question of imminent threat is a matter when you have a regime like Saddam Hussein's that has a proven record of using chemical weapons against Iran, against its own people, that's plenty imminent enough for me.

That's why our policy in the United States on a bipartisan basis for several years had been we have to change the regime in Baghdad because the possession of weapons of mass destruction and weapons programs was integral to the regime itself and, as long as that regime stayed in power, the threat of the use of weapons of mass destruction was more imminent than I would be willing to risk.

March 20, 2011 was the eighth anniversary of the Iraq war. We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction, of course. Iraq was unilateral. If that's Bolton's idea of being "done and out of there", I think we know how the Libya course of action would have turned out.

Not content to only meddle in Iraq, Bolton also powered and ginned up the arguments that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, despite reports to the contrary. He saber-rattled at will with regard to Iran, and would have gladly sent US troops in there too if he could have without bringing Congress and the rest of the world down on his head.

Of course, none of this matters to Fox News. The only thing that matters to them is that John Bolton is a snarky guy with a resume who can warmonger while calling the President weak.

Oh, by the way, that's the Fox News theme o' the week. Hillary Clinton is strong because she wanted the US in Libya, the President is weak because he held back until a full international coalition had formed. All guests on all shows are required to make reference to, or otherwise tout this theme, whether directly or via snide remarks.

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