Terminate, with extreme prejudice

Right. I was wondering when some boob in the chattering class would say it. However, I didn't think Politico's Roger Simon (no boob) would be doing the honors. This morning, he wrote: "Instead of waging a risky and costly war in Libya, why don’t we just take out Muammar Qadhafi? And I don’t mean to dinner."

Yes, Simon is calling for a mob hit on the Colonel, Sopranos-style:

"This war is going to cost us a fortune, it puts our military personnel at risk and innocent civilians are in peril of death or injury through collateral damage. So why don’t we just ice the guy? Grease him, snuff him or, yes, assassinate him?"

Hey, if Jason Bourne can do it so easily and stylishly, why can't we? To buttress this lunacy, Simon walks us through the familiar litany of rationalizations about why we should abandon the executive orders (in effect since 1976 by multiple presidential fiat) that explicitly forbid whacking foreign heads of state. I won't waste time refuting Simon's arguments. Outside of full-scale WWII-type war, the irrationality and immorality of assassination as a foreign policy tool should be self-evident. (But read the Simon piece here if you feel compelled to humor him.)

Remarkably, Simon even drags a Founding Father into his blood-lust. Absurdly subverting the words of Thomas Jefferson of all people, he plays back a quote from our famous third president: "Equal and exact justice to all.” Jefferson of course was referring to America's democratic promise -- not snuffing out people. But Simon treats Jefferson's words like so many gleaming rounds of .50 caliber ammo. Going all Rambo on us with his op-ed Gatling gun, Simon fires away: "With all the innocent blood on Qadhafi’s hands, equal and exact justice is exactly what America would be giving to him." Wow.

Who knew Simon was so taken with the smell of napalm in the morning? In a memorable scene, psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi says to Tony Soprano: "Let's get back to Pie-O-My, it's sad that you lost something you loved. That being said, it is a horse." Long incredulous pause. "What the fuck's the matter with you?" Tony replies. I respectfully pose the same question to Roger "Itchy Fingers" Simon.