Althouse: "Harold Koh is the Gollum of Foggy Bottom."

June 21, 2011

"Harold Koh is the Gollum of Foggy Bottom."

"Considering Koh's background, the whole episode offers a cautionary tale about the corrupting effects of power."

15 comments:

Anonymous said...: Koh's views evolved. As he grew older and wiser, he realized that the Constitution vests with the President the sole authority in determining when the United States can murder people.

Shorter Koh: Congress ... never heard of 'em.

Look, there is no position so craven that - for a few dollars - some lawyer won't argue it's legal and moral.; 6/21/11, 7:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Barack Obama is a war criminal who is acting outside the law and the Constitution.

If the House is so corrupt that it doesn't impeach him, and if the Senate doesn't convict him, I'm not sure we actually need a Congress any more.

Congress' primary role is to serve as a check on the power of the Executive and Legislative branches.

It is no longer serving that function.; 6/21/11, 7:53 AM
Patrick said...: Koh seems to be the type to believe that absolute power is ok, as long as he is running the show. Because he has the right ideas, and would never abuse power...; 6/21/11, 8:01 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Koh was in his mid-50s when he joined the administration, coming off a distinguished career built on opposition to the Imperial Presidency. Yet the lure of being "in the room" when the big decisions are made seems to have turned him into the Gollum of Foggy Bottom.

It's the kind of story you hear again and again in D.C. -- on the right and the left -- of principles sold out for the dubious rewards of "access" and "relevance." This town is "Hollywood for the Ugly" in more ways than one.

Good article. Hypocrisy, it's whats for dinner!; 6/21/11, 8:17 AM
virgil xenophon said...: What is on display here is the intellectual dishonesty/duplicity of leftists. As Humpty Dumpty famously said; ""The question is, which is to be master, that is all." When out of power leftists strenuously try to limit the power of the opposition; once having achieved power, they see no limits to their ability to share their "Vision of the Anointed" with the uninitiated--those lesser mortals who have yet to bask in the glory of their "vision." Totalitarian ideologues ALWAYS act in the manner of Koh. Seen in this light Koh is naught but yet another in a long, long line of duplicitous leftist totalitarian power-mavens.

"Corrupting influences?" Surely you jest. Koh's true inner-statist has simply been allowed power to roam. Probably took him all of 10 minutes to write his opinion. For leftist statist totalitarians such things virtually write themselves..; 6/21/11, 8:17 AM
Martin L. Shoemaker said...: I don't get the Gollum reference. And I've read Lord of the Rings a dozen times, so I kinda think I would've gotten the reference if it were there.

I'm not saying a Gollum analogy is impossible here; but Mr. Healy should either elaborate it (and thus alienate all the non-geek readers) or eliminate the reference.; 6/21/11, 10:12 AM
edutcher said...: This is the sort of obfuscation that will not play well before Congress.

The Honorables do not like their authority being trifled with.

PS Between this and Gunrunner, the economy may turn into the least of Little Zero's problems.

WV "nomaxi" Young Althouse's skirt wardrobe circa 1973.; 6/21/11, 10:22 AM
Martha said...: Gollum reference is brilliant and is the only way a rational person can understand Koh's conversion.

From Wikipedia: During his centuries under the Ring's influence, he (Gollum) developed dissociative identity disorder: "Sméagol" still vaguely remembered things like friendship and love, while "Gollum" was a slave to the Ring who knew only treachery and violence.

Substitute OBAMA/Hillary's State Department for THE RING's INFLUENCE and "years" for "centuries" and Koh's 180 sort of makes sense.; 6/21/11, 10:24 AM
Brennan said...: Koh's Critics: lol, wut?

Koh: 9/11.

Koh's Critics: Shit.; 6/21/11, 10:47 AM
cubanbob said...: He is a lawyer. He serves his clients interests. Little things like the canon of ethics and being an officer of the court are mere window dressing. Minus his law license he is a prostitute albeit less honest than a working girl.; 6/21/11, 11:12 AM
Richard Dolan said...: "I've kept my principles," says Koh to the Am Const Society. If so, they must be lawyerly priciples of an exquisitely subtle sort. Lawyers are often called upon to make legal arguments that do not square with their personal views. It is the client's position that the lawyer advocates, not his own. Koh's statement might make sense if he were saying, in substance, that he was speaking as his client's advocate, making the best argument he could fashion for his client's position.

But he went out of his way to suggest that he was making a different point -- that today's position is consistent with his prior criticisms of Bush and Clinton. We're almost at the level of the meaning of "is."; 6/21/11, 11:17 AM
traditionalguy said...: Koh would make someone a great University Chancellor. He could get a sex change first to be fully qualified. But what's one more change for a full functioning modern man/woman?; 6/21/11, 12:27 PM
SunnyJ said...: Just as in the stock market there is always someone betting the stock will go up, there is someone betting it will go down. Lawsuits and legal advice is the same, there are always opposing opinions on the same information. The really interesting aspect here is the intellectual dishonesty it takes to change sides in the discussion, and the absolute balls it takes to think your explanation makes sense to anyone else but your own need to rationalize the selling of your soul. Not often you can actually point at a moment in time and say, just saw the devil claim one.; 6/21/11, 12:53 PM
Toad Trend said...: The left simply redefines language to justify their actions.

Beezlebub.; 6/21/11, 3:33 PM
Anonymous said...: "What is government, when words have no meaning?"; 6/22/11, 12:50 AM