Bush appoints Moynihan to UN

This is insane. And inexplicable. I was always a huge, huge fan of Daniel Patrick Moynihan. And I feel confident saying that he wouldn't be a fan of this administration. Strangely, the administration has decided to spread the line that the new UN ambassador, John Bolton (see earlier post "Meet Your New UN Ambassador"), is a virtual Moynihan clone. Let's put that to rest:

John Bolton: "there is no such thing as the United Nations."

Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "In the realm of law, the United States seems almost to have forgotten our once deep and abiding commitment to the rules of international conduct."

Quick! Can you spot the difference?

The truly mystifying part is that this is the second time in the last few months that the GOP has tried to use the legacy of Moynihan to push one of their reactionary ideas. They've also suggested that he was in favor of Social Security privatization. His daughter, outraged, made the rounds in various media outlets demanding that the Republicans stop misrepresenting her father's views. Moynihan supported Social Security benefits above and beyond the basic guarantees on a voluntary basis-- a nice, safe way for people to further pad their retirement nest egg. He also advocated reforming the system in a way that would guarantee its solvency for all Americans. In other words, keep it going and make it even stronger. Moynihan never advocated cutting benefits, taking on trillions in debt to change to system, or putting it in the hands of Wall Street.

So why does the GOP keep invoking Moynihan's name? Could it be because he was a New England liberal who fought for the common man, and defied their stereotype of the latte-sipping elitist? Why do they still fear him from beyond the grave? Personally, I'm still not sure what a latte is, but then I'm a Missouri liberal who just happens to live in Boston.