Althouse: "Is Harold Koh the Left’s John Yoo?"

July 1, 2011

"Is Harold Koh the Left’s John Yoo?"

One might well ask.

33 comments:

Chip S. said...: Oh, Yo ko!

--Lennon the Republican; 7/1/11, 4:01 PM
MadisonMan said...: One might well ask.

Especially if one is Miss Ann Elk.; 7/1/11, 4:04 PM
ndspinelli said...: Alert Sully..he's in Ptown researching Trig.; 7/1/11, 4:05 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Executive branch lawyers tend to vigorously defend expansive interpretations of executive branch powers, because, well, because it's their job. Now there's a shocker.

I guess the fact that they're both Oriental makes it ironic or something.; 7/1/11, 4:16 PM
Franklin said...: Yes. If you turned John Yoo into an America-hating, anti-constitutional, fascist. Then I suppose Harold Koh would be comparable.; 7/1/11, 4:22 PM
AF said...: One probably wouldn't ask if Harold Koh was named Harold Coke.; 7/1/11, 4:26 PM
Penny said...: From the original Eric Posner article in "The New Republic"...

"Congress does not have the institutional capacity or motive to direct foreign policy and thus traditionally has given the executive broad leeway."

Yes, their hands are full of themselves.; 7/1/11, 4:55 PM
MDIJim said...: Oh bull! It is simply that Koh is a good guy advancing the interests of a saintly guy, and Yoo is a bad guy advancing the interests of an evil guy. Seriously, why do we need laws and courts?; 7/1/11, 5:14 PM
Phil 314 said...: racist!; 7/1/11, 5:37 PM
Phil 314 said...: But if Mr. Koh plays his cards right it will get him an appearance on the Daily Show

(But I doubt he'll do as well as Mr. Yoo); 7/1/11, 5:44 PM
edutcher said...: For this to work, you have to accept the Left's nonsense that waterboarding is torture.; 7/1/11, 5:44 PM
Penny said...: "For this to work, you have to accept the Left's nonsense that waterboarding is torture."

Um...no.

You just need to accept that Congress and the President have very different responsibilities.

Further, you need to accept that there will be turnover in both branches, because it was designed that way.; 7/1/11, 6:27 PM
Penny said...: To be quite trite...

Instead of saying, "I win, you lose."

We just might try thinking of it this way...

"You win some. You lose some."; 7/1/11, 6:31 PM
Penny said...: And then their is that MIRACLE reality, where "winning some and losing some" seems to have worked for quite a while now.

And truth be told? All in all? It's been OK.; 7/1/11, 6:37 PM
Phil 314 said...: One might well ask.

Especially if one is Miss Ann Elk.

Ah hmm!; 7/1/11, 6:45 PM
Penny said...: So back to the question...

""Is Harold Koh the Left’s John Yoo?""

No.

And frankly, we only make the connection because someone out there wanted to conjure up a "feeling", and a "feeling along partisan lines".; 7/1/11, 6:46 PM
Phil 314 said...: If you turned John Yoo into an America-hating, anti-constitutional, fascist. Then I suppose Harold Koh would be comparable.

Sarcasm, right?

(Please say yes); 7/1/11, 6:47 PM
Anonymous said...: I just had dinner with some K-street pals. The word is that Koh in the Obama/Biden 2012 administration is going to be promoted to DoJ. The gang is gung-ho on the White House. They personally feel sorry that GOP does not have even a .001% chance in winning any state. They want to compete but unfortunately GOP is not non-competitive. Then the media people also crash and burn (see Mark Halperin). Thus, the gang feels that O-B 2 is a shoo-in every where. They have no fear, that is.

So, what should GOP do, given their impending and devastating defeat? Thoughts? Should they, for instance, disband as a party. Become The Tea GOP Party. Go to France or UK and join politics there. What is their plans? I have no ideas. The K-street gang does not care.; 7/1/11, 6:57 PM
Penny said...: Hey! I felt it too!

Course then I got to thinking about what a disservice we were doing to two BRILLIANT, and very INDIVIDUAL minds with strong feelings and theories of their own...serving at just the right place and at just the right time.

Partisans?

Or maybe Patriots?; 7/1/11, 7:11 PM
Robert Cook said...: Simple answer: Yes.; 7/1/11, 7:19 PM
Robert Cook said...: Of course, can we consider Harold Koh to be "left?"

He works for a center/right administration with a center/right President, so on what basis would Koh be considered "left?"; 7/1/11, 7:21 PM
Robert Cook said...: "If you turned John Yoo into an America-hating, anti-constitutional, fascist."

Ummm...Yoo already is all that...what you said.; 7/1/11, 7:22 PM
Penny said...: Here's the REAL rub.

We all want to piss and shit among "our own".

It seems like the "Ladies' Room" and "Men's Room" are about to become the "Ladylike Room" and the "More Ladylike Room".

Followed by the "Republican Reststop" and the "Democrat Reststop".

Followed by the "Urinary Tract Infection Restroom" and the "Prostate Problem Restroom".

AND...if none suit you exactly? Well then...SUE the gosh darned business that dared to deprive you of just the perfect place to...

Get some fucking relief!

OK, for now? We'll call it "BULLPISS".

Still some stinky "shiat", but hey!

Not a bad start as long as the transgendered partisans know where to go when their urinary tract is working just fine.

And please... an extra janitor to help sort this all out?

High school diploma required. :); 7/1/11, 7:50 PM
Penny said...: "Simple answer: Yes."

Cook? You never once struck me as being "simple".

I do understand, however, that you feel "raw" under a mile or so of thick skin that enables you to listen to what is going on here at Althouse.

Bro? And honestly, I think of you that way. I could not do what you are doing....AGAIN.

I was "there", and now I am "here".

And Althouse and Meade!; 7/1/11, 8:43 PM
Penny said...: So where does that leave your fine ass?; 7/1/11, 8:44 PM
Penny said...: Ha ha

Grab your "minorities" as best you can!

Hell, we got a shitload of illegals who know how to hit your "happy note".; 7/1/11, 8:48 PM
Penny said...: Ole!; 7/1/11, 8:49 PM
Penny said...: Um?

How bout we call it "Bullpiss"?; 7/1/11, 8:56 PM
Eric Muller said...: Robert Cook's point is a good one.

In what sense is fudging the meaning of "hostilities" to allow a President to continue to bomb the crap out of another country a "left-wing" position? That seems essential to Eric Posner's comparison of Koh and Yoo (unless their Asian ancestry is the quiet and real point of comparison).; 7/1/11, 9:52 PM
Franklin said...: Sarcasm? About Harold Koh being a (big-el) Liberal fascist? No.; 7/1/11, 10:15 PM
Ralph L said...: Yoo said waterboarding is within the President's powers granted under AUMF. Koh said bombing another country is under WPA. One doesn't pass the laugh test.; 7/1/11, 10:53 PM
bgates said...: In what sense is fudging the meaning of "hostilities" to allow a President to continue to bomb the crap out of another country a "left-wing" position?

In the sense that "left-wing" means "holding no principle beyond power".; 7/1/11, 11:00 PM
Peter said...: I don't know much about lawyers except that there are too damned many of 'em, but there sure have been a hell of a lot of lives and money wasted on fights we either had no damned business getting involved in or should have used the strategy, tactics and resources to win the damned things.

The only lawyers that need to be involved in the whole affair are those charged with prosecuting and defending Service members charged with crimes.

Since lawyers insist on being involved in everything, let's look at this. Yoo said we could make people who made war in civilian clothing, who fought from the middle of civilians, well those people were made uncomfortable in the hope of saving American and civilian lives.

Koh figured out a "reason" we could bomb a country with which we are not at war and posed no danger to us. Now, of course, the Lybian tyrant is a danger too us, remember that airliner? Does anyone remember how Lybia turned over it's WMD program because Gaddafi saw what we did to Saddam and "I was afraid"?

So, here we go again, half assing another fight with someone who has already proven he doesn't mind seeing American civilians die. Wonderful. Yeah, Yoo and Koh are exactly the same, except that Yoo wanted to make bad guys uncomfortable and Koh wanted to kill civilians. Exactly the same.; 7/3/11, 2:44 AM