Those 3am phone calls into the White House... who's calling???

[housewolf]

There is no dispute, as a dramatic campaign ad from Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign suggests, that presidents get plenty of phone calls at 3 a.m.

A sleeping Ronald Reagan was alerted early in the morning to what turned out to be the accidental shoot-down of an Iranian passenger plane. George H.W. Bush was informed after he went to bed of an apparent coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Bill Clinton received word in the middle of the night that negotiations had broken down in the case of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy whose relatives were battling the federal government to prevent him from returning home.

But in none of these cases were presidents asked to make major decisions. Instead, former White House advisers say, these calls -- and countless others like them -- were largely aimed at keeping the president informed of critical developments, particularly ones that might cause embarrassment if the public learned that a commander in chief had slept through the episode undisturbed.

"In my experience, I cannot think, off the top of my head, of a snap decision that had to be made in the middle of the night," said Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state and national security adviser. In fact, he said in an interview, "I think that one should reduce the number of snap decisions to be made."

...

(re the 3am ad) While the scenario is not inconceivable, former presidential advisers and historians say that it misses the point that good presidential decision-making plays out over time, and in more mundane ways.

"It's a bit of a specious issue, somehow implying you need better judgment in the middle of the night," said onetime Clinton administration official David Rothkopf, author of a book on the National Security Council, and who describes himself as a Hillary Clinton supporter.

The recollections of Kissinger, senior advisers in both parties and presidential historians offer an interesting counterpoint to the suggestion by the Clinton ad that critical decisions are often made in the dead of night.

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more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031502338.html?wpisrc=newsletter

[izquierdista]

1. Calls from jail

Jenna and Barbara needing to get bailed out after one of their drunken party nights.

[housewolf]

2. ROFL!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:toast:

[lapfog_1]

3. The next 3am call will be most likely handled by W/Cheney

and the subject will be the "surprise" decision by the Chinese Ministry of Finance to sell off some T-bills... maybe $200B of the over $1.2T that they own.

The next time our congress goes to raise the debt limit, it may be a mute point. There may well be no takers for "junk status" Tbills.

Selling $200B now could push us from recession into depression. Unable to finance our military... giving the Chinese Taiwan in about 5 to 10 years. Or giving them access to the trans Afghanistan/Pakistan/India oil pipeline (maybe another reason to put the hammer down on Tibet). Or any number of things they might want from the "paper tiger" (US).

Unfortunately, when Xie Xuran makes the announcement and someone calls the President, there won't be a lot of things he can do about it, other than start another war.

[housewolf]

4. .

[Bonobo]

5. What matters was not the call, but the image of a sleeping white girl being "approached"

by a shadowy figure.

Wonder who that would be?

[better tomorrow]

6. Bush calling about why no one is listening to him today in FLorida

He is in Jacksonville right now talking about NAFTA and none of the networks are covering him. He is sliding through the big port they are building so that China can slip in more junk.....Pulling another one over our eyes while we focus on Obama's speech, Patterson' love triangles, and the low interest rate.....

Karl Rove move.

(PS I can't post a thread as I have my three for the day but someone get this out in the open for discussion please.)