Spectacular.

Is there any equivalent liberal analogy to this derp?

Why we can't have nice things

The real unfortunate issue is this case is like quite interesting and I really don't feel compelled to just reflexively defend what the Obama Administration did. Which is just to say that there's alot of complexity here and it would be nice if a well-functioning media had a serious debate about it. I haven't read that issue but I suspect it's not there.

And as you can expect it's even worse among the twitter hoi polloi and cable news, and you can predictably expect I blame the right for the rank stupidity of BARACK OBAMA VIOLATED THE CONSTITUTION AND ALL DEEPLY HELD AMERICAN PRINCIPLES BY GRANTING THE RELEASE OF OUR INDEFINITE OFFSHORE DETAINEES WITHOUT THE PROPER PROCESS, now the terrorists have WON when you negotiate with the Taliban, who we are at WAR with, but not that kind of WAR, the other kind of war you DON'T NEGOTIATE, because terrorism and 9/11 CHANGED EVERYTHING 9deadsoldiersdiedtryingtofindBergdhalThxObama.jpg.

I think the problem with the utterly shameless stupidity of the modern right is that there's alot you can probably criticize Obama for, were it not being drowned out by FREE BERGDHAL I MEAN INPEACH FOR EXCHANGING TERRORISTS FOR TRAITOR I MEAN BENGHAZI SOLYNDRA?

I'll have the dialog by myself, since it seems like the story will be dead by Monday anyway:

1. seems pretty clear Obama broke the law. Or alternatively, there's the belief floating around that there is a law but the President can just ignore the law via a signing statement if there's some really compelling reason, at his discretion. Which ought to be considered no different from breaking the law, and wasn't considered different by the left from breaking the law during the Bush Administration. To the right's credit, this was their focus for maybe 5 minutes at some point maybe on Tuesday, before discovering Bergdahl's dad had a beard and that he once did ballet.

2a. I'm not going to piece together the dude's history but it seems like he was some stressed 20 year old dude in a warzone, or maybe just stupid, or a coward, or all three, or something in between, and something between 'got captured' and 'deserted' happened, which I guess for your right-wing keyboard warriors means Bergdahl should just be left with the Taliban forever, kbye dude. Well I mean that was after Obama negotiated for his release. Before that, #NOONELEFTBEHIND

2b. A few years ago, Michael Hastings wrote a very unflattering story about Bergdahl's unit and their direct commanders, which I guess is completely down the memory hole now but is even more interesting now and adds to the complexity of exactly what Bergdahl did.

3. LOL at all the henny pennys terrified 5 TERRORISTS are now on the loose again because due to cartoon villainy another 9/11 is just around the corner

4. And tremendous LOL at all the even bigger ******s who: 1) couldn't give two ****s about all the prisoners still locked up in Guantanamo forever without a trial for a literal decade now but 2) super pissed Obummer didn't tell Buck McKeon first and think Obummer should be INPEACHED1!!!

This doesn't contradict #1 in the slightest, which is to say Obama operates completely lawlessly in ways everyone hated about the Bush Administration and shame on him, but very few on the right who cheer on indefinite detention without due process have anything to say about that worth listening to, just to laff at.

Your 2a is one of the things I've kinda been kicking around when talking about this. People go straight to deserter, and I know he made some anti American comments ahead of this or whatever, but seems like the most likely scenario is some sort of PTSD driving him to act irrationally.

Should tie this in to the VA stuff in that way.

If the derposphere wanted to push "Obama violated the Constitution by not notifying Congress before freeing his Islamic bridge partners" that would be half way OK because that's an actual point but that usually gets mentioned at the end. Right now we're getting "OMG he learned the local languages and hung around locals while he was occupying their land: Evidence of betrayal?" "He might have walked off base so epso derofortum we shouldn't have brought him back", "OMG his dad has a beard and isn't making the proper fealties to the military industrial complex: is he a terrorist? " "His dad said an Arabic phrase: Conclusive proof that the family is working with the terrorists?" "OMG we released super terrorists who will destroy Americans with their terrorist superpowers" "Conclusion: Impeach Obama!"

It would be great if we could have an actual discussion about POW trading, the President notifying Congress, the Afghan War, etc but the derposphere and the terrible a** media make it impossible. It's like the Ground Zero mosque all over again.

No nuance, he's either a hero or traitorous deserter, it can only be one with super complex apes like us.

Obama broke the law. The executive doesn't give a **** about the law, shocked face. That's why they do stuff like fragrantly break the law, that's why they appoint AGs who say stuff like due process doesn't involve a trial.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...r-swap/372111/

I dunno, man. The derposphere is really coalescing around this one, it could be the next BENGHAZIIIIII.

Sullivan has a theory on it and it say it's a pretty good one. I think he goes a bit too far in calling Obama's long wind down a victory but I think the right wing pathos is right

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2014/...-bergdahl-ctd/

I dunno, look at how half-hearted seattle is about relaying this ****. I wouldn't be surprised if the right realizes that they overstepped their bounds here and this gets kicked down to a second-tier story, a more fringey thing like the birth certificate

Yeah I think this is about a 2 out of 5 on the right-wing rage boner meter. It really needs one more element, like Putin stepped in and helped free Bergdahl somehow.

Greg Sargent agrees with you.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...h/?tid=up_next

Yeah Fox won't let this die even if the base doesn't care about it now They need to make sure it gets elevated to the deeper recesses of concussed goldfish memories of their base where they can tick it off on the list with IRS, Fast & Furious, Benghazi, etc.

DVaut1 pretty much nailed this. I would add that there is a legitimate justification for signing statements. The separation of powers is basically what it is all about. A POTUS may agree with most of a law but not the part that relegates him/subservient to Congress more or less.

I can't decide if that video makes me like Shep more, or think he's simply guilty of Working For Fox While Lucid.

Woh somehow I missed Dvaut1's long second post until now.

No man left behind.

If this man needs to be tried for desertion, we'll try him on our terms.

If nothing else, Berghdal will have to live with the fact many Americans died and will die because of his actions.

As far as executive overreach and "lawlessness" go, I consider this one to be extremely minor, potentially falling well within the executive's purview in overseeing military operations, which prisoner exchanges ostensibly are, and are actions that require "secrecy and dispatch," those executive qualities that POTUS is supposed to have. My view is pretty similar to Kevin Drum's: if Republicans really think Obama broke the law, they should sue in court and get a judicial ruling on the constitutional standing of this "30 Day Rule." If they don't, we can safely assume that they're grandstanding, not making an actual legal argument.

What frustrates me most about this story is I thought "leave no man behind" was one of the few rhetorical rah-rah-America creeds that was shared across most of the mainstream political spectrum. But it appears there is nothing that President Blackenstein can touch without immediately befouling it, and nothing he can do without the opposition attempting to throw scandal glue (patent-pending) all over it and hoping something sticks.

You get the guys home first. If they've committed crimes, you charge them and try them in a court of LAW where they get to tell their side of the story. What you don't do is try them in the court of public opinion, getting input primarily from people who didn't like the guy, and then leave him to the whims of Taliban "justice" after convicting him in absentia.

You probably don't remember the shep smith show during the 08 (?) election? It was online only and amazing to everyone here.

There's like many strains or super idiocy floating around this story, it's hard to even keep track of them all:

Meme 1: the whole right-wing driven we're not quite sure if Bergdahl was anti-American, or had a beard, or spoke pashto, or did ballet, or his dad also had a beard, and did he leave the camp with his water bottle and a diary or the water bottle or a KORAN, and say anti-American things, and we did say last month he was a hero because Barack Obama is a huge cowardly pussy for not rescuing, but anyway, while we're not quite of any of that, what we are sure of is he's a traitor, **** him, just leave him with the Taliban. HE HAS A BEARD, was he really worth trading for? ITS JUST COMMON SENSE.

When Americans say its code is no one left behind, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules, just make sure your dad doesn't have a beard and and don't learn to speak funny languages while in captivity if you don't want to be left behind.

Meme 2: AMERICA DOESN'T NEGOTIATE WITH TERRORISTS, EVER

This is maybe even stupider. It just proves anyone who says it understands precisely nothing about anything.

Yes, America would never dream of negotiating with the Taliban, Barack Obama is a traitor for thinking it. Wait, hold on a second...

We would never negotiate with terrorists, unless we're not calling them terrorists this week, and our entire strategy to win the war involves a huge troop surge in the hopes they will negotiate with us, you know, like the entire story of the war in Afghanistan from like 2006 to now. Those negotiations. Yeah, those ones, with the Taliban even.

Meme 3: The deep and abiding treasure to America's grand legacy of freedom and the rule of the law that is the 30 day rule shall not be trampled on by a mere black President, this is America, my grandfather died in WWII fighting for the 30 day rule, and Barack Obama has spit all over America's cherished legal history by not following it.

Habeus corpus for captives, ehhh, hmm, maybe try back when there's not angry Muslims in the world, this is war and 9/11 changed everything. Habeus is more of a nicety, kind of ephemeral to functioning democracies, but the THIRTY DAY RULE, that is sacrosanct, America is nothing without it. Can we endure as a nation when black Presidents do NOT respect the rich history of America and the 30 day rule, and release our decade-long held captives who never received trial? INPEACH

probably my favorite Shep Smith highlight

The icing on the cake and the proof that the RW is just completely lost in their world of bulls**t is that on Fox they have Ollie North talking about how horrible it was that Obama would break the law and negotiate with terrorists. OLLIE NORTH!

And they don't even blink.