John Bolton has always styled himself as a modern Theodore Roosevelt — the mustache, the bluster, the talk of moral courage and American grit. But peel back the posture and you get something closer to a wussy Teddy Roosevelt, a desk warrior who mistakes chest-thumping for conviction. The big stick is just a pen, the charge up the hill replaced by a sprint to the publisher’s office. Beneath the bravado lies a bureaucrat who weaponized patriotism for profit.
Anyone who has ever worked with classified information should be horrified by Bolton's actions. If he were an average person, this would be an open in shut case with him serving jail time. There is never a reason to have an open email account where you are placing classified information, and even less to create one for a "diary". Hillary should have gone to jail for it and Bolton should go to jail for it.
The rules are different for the politicos. If you are a sailor that takes a picture on a Submarine and sends it to his girlfriend, you get 10 years in Leavenworth. These ass-clowns write books that nobody reads yet somehow they get several million dollars for.
I particularly laughed when Bolton claimed that it's perfectly ok to keep a diary. Ummm, not when that diary contains info that you copied down and which you knew was classified info. There's no "diary exception" for you re-writing down classified info that was given to you in confidence in a government meeting. Only a dope would make such an assertion.
You forgot the part where the CNN cameras were there to cover the investigation in his house, and when Bolton was put in leg irons and forced to make a humiliating perp walk in front of everyone.
Oh wait, only the Biden administration did stuff like that.
My mistake too for a second as the Matt Taibbi name is always on the e-mail when I get these and at first didn't see the Greg Collard byline. Distracted by the headline I suppose. Bolton's one of these bad neocons that got us in the Iraq quicksand, etc. Fully support the DOJ/Trump moves against him but do disagree with pulling his security detail. Also disagreed with pulling Pompeo's security detail. Iran's still got those fatwa's in place on both Bolton and Pompeo.
But Roger Stone was dangerous and deserved the pre-dawn SWAT treatment. He was charged with "obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and tampering with a witness." He could have blurted out more false statements, a perverted, ultra-violent crime seldom witnessed in Washington, D.C.
Well, considering they put Kiriakou in jail for 2.5 years for a complete frame-up job where he did absolutely nothing wrong, other than upsetting Bolton's fellow criminal boyfriend, John Brennan, Bolton should probably receive the death penalty that he wanted so bad for Bradley Manning.
Just pisses me off to no end - the greed that so pervades DC and the celebrity that these officials (elected and otherwise) gin up for themselves to capitalize on their service.
I pray every morning at Mass that God drops a giant enema hose on the Beltway and surrounding areas and blasts the rot away.
I borrowed the book from the library and tried to read it. It was so boring, poorly written, and self congratulatory that I skipped over at least 80% of it. If his goal was to prove Trump shouldn’t be president, he failed (and I say that as someone who didn’t vote for Trump).
It’s really sad to realize at my age to conclude that our politicians have been playing a real life version of Spy vs Spy ( or is Wylie Coyote vs the Roadrunner) for most of my 70 some years…..Trump arrives in Washington having concluded pretty much the same, determined to correct the course of a do mostly nothing government only to be lied to and double crossed by these career opportunists like Bolton . “ He’s not a politician” should be heralded rather than villified, tarred and feathered…
well if the NYT is reporting that he sent the daily encrypted messages to his wife and daughter that makes sense. The doublespeak detranslation is: the dnc blob supports Bolton in this matter.
I sometimes regret not developing the mindset/skillset to be a politician, an "operative," or even just a bureaucrat where I could enrich myself at taxpayer expense. But sleeping well is worth a lot.
He was a summer intern for Vice President Spiro Agnew.
He wormed his way deep into power on the Project for a New American Century. Does anyone remember that run by Robert Kagan spouse of Victoria Newland?
This guy was living in a glass house and he threw a lot of stones.
Mean Mister Mustache he's in the dark
Raves full of snark lying for a newspaper
Sleeps in his huge Bethesda home
If you lose your job just learn to code
Peasants make him turn up his nose
Such a mean old man
Suck on this, old man
[Verse 2]
His sister Kam works writing slop
She never stops, she's a Substacker
Takes him out to brat summer yas kween
Donald Trump's tweets are so mean
Always shouts out something obscene
Such a dirty old man
Dirty old man
Fantastic! Thanks
John Bolton has always styled himself as a modern Theodore Roosevelt — the mustache, the bluster, the talk of moral courage and American grit. But peel back the posture and you get something closer to a wussy Teddy Roosevelt, a desk warrior who mistakes chest-thumping for conviction. The big stick is just a pen, the charge up the hill replaced by a sprint to the publisher’s office. Beneath the bravado lies a bureaucrat who weaponized patriotism for profit.
…who routinely gets a lot of other people killed.
Agreed. Absolutely nothing funny about this gang of a-holes. Thanks, Greg, for stepping up! Nice work!
Anyone who has ever worked with classified information should be horrified by Bolton's actions. If he were an average person, this would be an open in shut case with him serving jail time. There is never a reason to have an open email account where you are placing classified information, and even less to create one for a "diary". Hillary should have gone to jail for it and Bolton should go to jail for it.
It’s why Hillary and Obama ginned up Russiagate, to take the focus from her illegal acts and aim the focus on Trump.
Seth Rich.
The rules are different for the politicos. If you are a sailor that takes a picture on a Submarine and sends it to his girlfriend, you get 10 years in Leavenworth. These ass-clowns write books that nobody reads yet somehow they get several million dollars for.
I particularly laughed when Bolton claimed that it's perfectly ok to keep a diary. Ummm, not when that diary contains info that you copied down and which you knew was classified info. There's no "diary exception" for you re-writing down classified info that was given to you in confidence in a government meeting. Only a dope would make such an assertion.
Seems like this sort of handling of Classified Docs is fairly routine in DC. I'd indict a lot more folks, Reps and Dems.
You forgot the part where the CNN cameras were there to cover the investigation in his house, and when Bolton was put in leg irons and forced to make a humiliating perp walk in front of everyone.
Oh wait, only the Biden administration did stuff like that.
P.S. Matt, glad to see you are feeling better...
This wasn't Matt. It's Greg Collard
Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't noticed.
My mistake too for a second as the Matt Taibbi name is always on the e-mail when I get these and at first didn't see the Greg Collard byline. Distracted by the headline I suppose. Bolton's one of these bad neocons that got us in the Iraq quicksand, etc. Fully support the DOJ/Trump moves against him but do disagree with pulling his security detail. Also disagreed with pulling Pompeo's security detail. Iran's still got those fatwa's in place on both Bolton and Pompeo.
They've all got enough money to provide their own security.
But Roger Stone was dangerous and deserved the pre-dawn SWAT treatment. He was charged with "obstruction of a congressional investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress, and tampering with a witness." He could have blurted out more false statements, a perverted, ultra-violent crime seldom witnessed in Washington, D.C.
Will his mustache be tried separately?
I've heard that they'll be tried together, but that his mustache has its own counsel.
Lol. That's even better. 😆
😂😂
🤭🤭🥸
Well, considering they put Kiriakou in jail for 2.5 years for a complete frame-up job where he did absolutely nothing wrong, other than upsetting Bolton's fellow criminal boyfriend, John Brennan, Bolton should probably receive the death penalty that he wanted so bad for Bradley Manning.
Just pisses me off to no end - the greed that so pervades DC and the celebrity that these officials (elected and otherwise) gin up for themselves to capitalize on their service.
I pray every morning at Mass that God drops a giant enema hose on the Beltway and surrounding areas and blasts the rot away.
Books that no one reads, but have a big payout!
So, the imagery makes me a bit queasy, but otherwise I'm right there with you. :)
I borrowed the book from the library and tried to read it. It was so boring, poorly written, and self congratulatory that I skipped over at least 80% of it. If his goal was to prove Trump shouldn’t be president, he failed (and I say that as someone who didn’t vote for Trump).
You’re not intended to read that sort of book; no one is.
I'm glad you didn't waste your money buying it
“My conclusion is clear. I don’t think he should be president. ”
So it’s up to John Bolton to judge whether someone is president? I thought we voted on that decision, it wasn’t up to some swampy insider.
I'm shocked, shocked to learn that John Bolton holds others to security standards that he himself does not bother to observe.
It’s really sad to realize at my age to conclude that our politicians have been playing a real life version of Spy vs Spy ( or is Wylie Coyote vs the Roadrunner) for most of my 70 some years…..Trump arrives in Washington having concluded pretty much the same, determined to correct the course of a do mostly nothing government only to be lied to and double crossed by these career opportunists like Bolton . “ He’s not a politician” should be heralded rather than villified, tarred and feathered…
well if the NYT is reporting that he sent the daily encrypted messages to his wife and daughter that makes sense. The doublespeak detranslation is: the dnc blob supports Bolton in this matter.
I sometimes regret not developing the mindset/skillset to be a politician, an "operative," or even just a bureaucrat where I could enrich myself at taxpayer expense. But sleeping well is worth a lot.
Why did Trump hire Bolton to begin with?!
It was an incredibly dumb move.
Probably wanted a close-up view of how swamp creatures operate. Bolton wasn’t there all that long.
Bolton was far from being the only swamp creature he hired who turned on him like a rabid Pit Bull.
Bill Barr was by far the worst. But you could also make a good argument for Wray and Pence being the worst.