Flying H. Spaghetti Monster

Deal of the Century:

Here is a way to measure how seriously President Bush was willing to compromise on the military tribunals bill: Less than an hour after an agreement was announced yesterday with three leading Republican senators, the White House was already laying a path to wiggle out of its one real concession.

About the only thing that Senators John Warner, John McCain and Lindsey Graham had to show for their defiance was Mr. Bush’s agreement to drop his insistence on allowing prosecutors of suspected terrorists to introduce classified evidence kept secret from the defendant. The White House agreed to abide by the rules of courts-martial, which bar secret evidence.

…So it seemed like a significant concession — until Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser, briefed reporters yesterday evening. He said that while the White House wants to honor this deal, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Duncan Hunter, still wants to permit secret evidence and should certainly have his say. To accept this spin requires believing that Mr. Hunter, who railroaded Mr. Bush’s original bill through his committee, is going to take any action not blessed by the White House.

The deal does next to nothing to stop the president from reinterpreting the Geneva Conventions.

This president doesn’t even listen to the concerns of members of his own party, who, lest we forget, are there to represent the interests of their constituents, otherwise known as the American people. There’s a word for a leader who does whatever the fuck he wants to do regardless of what his country’s citizens think. I hope the GOP is proud of itself for rubber-stamping this asswipe right into his own nifty little dictatorship.