Oh, wait, my bad. Secretary Rice criticized the Russians for all the flaws which any sane person sees in the American government today. [CNN]
The Russian government under Vladimir Putin has amassed so much
central authority that the power-grab may undermine Moscow’s commitment
to democracy, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday.
"In any country, if you don’t have countervailing institutions, the
power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,"
Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists."I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I
have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full
independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the
independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions
about the strength of the Duma," said Rice, referring to the Russian
parliament.
It’s fun to plug in the American counterparts to the Russians, because, well, it reads like a real and legitimate criticism. The American government under George W. Bush has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine the District’s commitment to democracy. Jack Balkin, Sandy Levinson, Marty Lederman, Geoff Stone and others have been saying this for ages, e.g. in the context of the unlawful NSA program or with respect to our secretive torture institutions. There is too much concentration of power in the White House. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. See, e.g., Bush v. Gore, Carhart II, or nearly any of the votes cast by Chief Justice Roberts or Justice Alito. There are clearly questions about the independence of the mainstream media, which is largely why the blogosphere exists (although of course it’s a marginal sector which speaks more or less only to itself). And there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Congress, which routinely does whatever its superiorly coequal branch (the Executive) wants it to do, despite overwhelming popular opposition to the Executive and its misguided-at-best policies.
Accidental Blogger 
6 responses to “Rice criticizes anti-democratic Bush Administration (Joe)”
This is a joke and a bad one.
The US lately thinks everyone has to obey them.
What a politician or a normal ordinary American would say if Russia would planting missile “defense” systems in Mexico, Cuba and/or Canada??
Would you like that?? Why would anyone think here that they like the idea of missiles so close to their borders? Especially after the crazyness of the cold war. Will Americans ever wake up?
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My, my, my, Kindasleazy Rice is truly upset with Vladimir Putin. How nice. Let’s not forget that Kindasleazy spent the bulk of her “career” at the right wing Hoover Institution where she claimed to be a Sovietologist. The reality is she was a very mediocre Soviet specialist at best. Like most others in her field, she completely underestimated the weakness of the Soviet Union which led to its collapse in 1989. Kindasleazy has always been a very poor foreign affairs analyst regardless of whether this issue is the old Soviet Union, the new Russia or the Middle East and Iraq in particular. She is a blight and a disgrace at the State Department where she presently presides. Thankfully, it won’t be for too much longer.
America will be much better off when she and her bosses in the White House are gone.
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How bizarre that Rice’s observations apply to her boss Dick Cheney. One could say, “The American government under Dick Cheney has amassed so much central authority that the power-grab may undermine Washington’s commitment to democracy.”
“In any country, if you don’t have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development,” Rice told reporters after meeting with human-rights activists. How bizarre she sees this in Russia but is blind to it in the US.
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Rice is a Russia expert – a true blue “Sovietologist.” I am not surprised that she knows so much (but understands little) about Russia. What came as a real surprise (and a stunning pain) is that all through her tenure as a henchwoman for Bush-Cheney, she has been so clueless about America.
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The more I hear and see President Putin and President Bush, they really do have something in common…can look you in the eyes and lie, lie, lie…neither President can be trusted and this is so evident… can’t wait for these politican to fade away forever.
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It’s not the White House, it’s the Glass House!
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