It’s like a boxer taking his gloves off in the final round:
“Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,” Bush said at Israel’s 60th anniversary celebration in Jerusalem.
“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said in remarks to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset.
“As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”
Joe Lieberman quickly offered his support for the President’s remarks:
“President Bush got it exactly right today when he warned about the threat of Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. It is imperative that we reject the flawed and naïve thinking that denies or dismisses the words of extremists and terrorists when they shout “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” and that holds that—if only we were to sit down and negotiate with these killers—they would cease to threaten us. It is critical to our national security that our commander-in-chief is able to distinguish between America’s friends and America’s enemies, and not confuse the two.”
Bush didn’t mention Obama directly but guilt apparently drove him to issue an immediate and angry response:
“George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally Israel,” Obama said.
“It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence to launch a false political attack,” he said.
“Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power — including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy — to pressure countries like Iran and Syria.”
The AFP piece calls out Obama on his assertion that he would not support engagement with terrorists:
Obama said in a Democratic presidential debate last July that he would be willing to hold talks, without preconditions, with the leaders of top US foes including Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.
In a subsequent debate in April, Obama renewed his offer for direct talks at a leaders’ level with Tehran, saying the Islamic Republic should be pressed with “carrots and sticks” to end its nuclear program.
McCain finds him naive - and I think that’s being generous:
“I think Barack Obama needs to explain why he wants to sit down and talk with a man who is the head of a government that is a state sponsor of terror that is responsible for the killing of brave young Americans and wants to wipe Israel off the map and denies the Holocaust,” McCain said.
“It is a serious error on the part of Senator Obama that shows naiveté and inexperience and lack of judgment to say that he wants to sit down across the table from an individual who leads a country that says and says that Israel is a stinking corpse, that is dedicated to the extinction of the state of Israel.”
It’s going to be tough going for Obama from here on out.
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May 15th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
During the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush received an unsolicited endorsement (The endorsement) from the Iranian leadership whom he had include in the axis of evil. George Bush was not made to carry the burden of that endorsement. So, why is Obama being slandered by this unsolicited Hamas endorsement.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Funny, I did not hear Bush say Obama. Why are the democrats so nuts over this?
May 15th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Maybe the problem is that appeasement sounds bad, brings to mind the likes of Neville Chamberlain and no-one wants to be associated with that under most circumstances and certainly not when running for president. Like it or not though, making nice with people like Kim Jong-il, Hugo Chavez, and others, gives them the appearance of legitimacy which is incredibly demoralizing to the people who are fighting extreme oppression in these regimes.
I’m a little surprised that Hillary and Biden came to Obama’s defense on this one. It seems to me that the thing to be done in this election season on both sides is to jettison the thinly veiled spin. It’s smug, arrogant and downright smarmy. That’s why the republicans are losing republican districts despite massive spending. They are trying too hard to be “clever”. People are tired of the B.S., they want the truth and they’d like to have some say in where we are to go from here.
For the democrats, I’d like to see an honest debate involving a respectful give and take discussion between Clinton and Obama. This is not the time to defend bad ideas due to the head in which they originated. To my mind the sitting president sporting the 71% disapproval rating came out looking better than the Senators who want his job.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Thank you President Bush for setting it straight. To Brian at NBC Nightly News… what a cheap shot by saying President Bush wasn’t even running for saying what he said. Bill Clinton isn’t even running and he has been taking worse that cheap shots at the President all these years. No class at all is all I can say.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Obama should have agreed with President Bush and move on.
Bad move on Obama’s part to make a comment. He can’t deny the issue.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
President Bush and his followers need to be reminded that when Nikita Khrushchev told western diplomate Henry Cabot Lodge “We will bury you”(talking about the US), President Eisenhower opened dialogue. He also invited Khrushchev to come to the US and tour America cities, ride on American trains, go to our suburbs, visit our farms and school. President Eisenhower responded with dialogue. In 1962 when it was discovered that Fidel Castro had deployable nuclear weapons in Cuba 90 miles off the coast of Florida President Kennedy called the Kremlin, had a dialogue and negotiated with the Soviet Union. The weapons were removed, and war was avoided. When Communist China said that they wouldn’t mind if half the population of China was wiped of the face of the earth as long as they destroy the United States. President Nixon responded with dialogue that still continues today. See (R)Wayne Gilchrest report to Congress on April 15, 2008, An American Perspective On The War In Iraq.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Pres. Bush is the most unpopular president ever, and he is also not too swift. It’s one thing to do politics at home in the US, but to go to another countries and negatively talk about your own fellow Americans who are candidates or non candidates is so unbelievably stupid I can even believe it. Remember Bush did not win by the people, but by the delegates. We were united then. I’m not fearful by his threats, but by his actions and not knowing what he will do next. He sees how we are suffering. The candidates can’t do anything now; only he can, but does he take this remaining short period to help any of us. Please stay in prayer. Everyone.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
For w. to politic for McCain while on the floor of a foreign government was incredibly inappropriate. But he doesn’t care - he’s delusional. He’s been lying for so many years now that he actually believes it’s the truth.
To call Obama an appeaser is a lie. He would like to open a dialog with Iran. Isn’t that better than just sending troops (not that we have any left) across the border. And wanting to open a dialog with an Iran puts him in agreement with, among many others, the current Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. Maybe Bush should fire them for being traitors.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Well lookie Here…
Exclusive Video: McCain Was For Talking To Hamas Before He Was Against It…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/15/exclusive-video-mccain-wa_n_102031.html
May 16th, 2008 at 5:43 am
Talking to terrorists or enemies? Does it work? Let’s think?
- What about the IRA? Weren’t they officially labeled a terrorist organization? Years of battle did not defeat them. DIALOG brought them into the fold and resulted in peace. The USA was directly involved in this dialog.
- What about the PLO? Weren’t they officially labeled a terrorist organization? Decades of battle did not defeat them. DIALOG again, by the USA and Israel. Oh my.
- What about President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan? Weren’t he and his government a major backers of the Taliban, prior to and on 9/11. Didn’t that effectively make his government a state sponsor of terrorism? We talked to him and have paid him billions to switch sides. The United States government is his biggest backer, domestic or foreign.
Maybe a little more history:
- The Soviet Union. Reagan talked.
- The Apartheid government of South Africa. The USA always maintained diplomatic relations, even while they were oppressing and jailing their citizens simply based on race.
- Augusto Pinochet of Chile. How many thousands of his people did he kill, including American’s. The CIA and the Nixon government were his biggest supporters.
- China. The communist government has always been very repressive, plus the USA fought two major wars against countries they supported against us. We talked and now pay more money to them than any other country, even while they continue to repress. Talk about appeasement!
Bush uses the term “appeasement” in his fear-based politics only to suit him. Fact is his administration and many before are well practiced. Talking to bring peace is not appeasement, but of course George Bush and his war-mongering colleagues would know nothing about that.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:55 am
This is typical Republican Campaigning. When their backs are to the wall they respond like little children by name calling. You would think that they would first look up the meaning of the word before associating it with someone. It’s no wonder the Middle East is in such a mess and gas is $4.00 a gallon.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:02 am
Now that Obama’s true feelings are being presented, the teflon luster is coming off. He is great at saying we are going to used American diplomacy and carrots to get Iran to do what we want…an this is going to be the president of the United States?? Thank you Jesus for leting this idiot show what he is really made of. Ofcourse he is a liberal and this is the way they think.
He will be defeated.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:18 am
We should absolutely avoid “appeasement” or anything that sounds like “appeasement.” We must avoid negotiating with ‘terrorists,” by which I mean people who use violence for political purposes but who ARE NOT affiliated with a government, (except for those terrorists that are affiliated with a government, like Iran and Hamas. That’s still terrorism because they’re Muslim.)
We must absolutely not sit down to talk with people who hold to an “ideology of death.” We must avoid that at all costs, even if it means invading a country that never attacked us and killing tens of thousands of civilians. This is different from holding to an ideology of death because, well, the killing of the civilians wasn’t really the purpose, just sort of a side affect of the invasion, predictable but unfortunate. It’s not like terrorists who kill innocent people on purpose, though, I should add, far less efficiently than we do accidentally (Go USA!) This isn’t terrorism for political purposes because the U.S. cannot, by definition, terrorize people. Shock? Yes. Awe? Yes. Terrorize? No.
Thank you President Bush for taking a clear moral stand! Thank you for helping us win against the genocidal Shite government in Iran by establishing a genocidal Shite government in Iraq. Thank you for spending more than a trillion dollars to create new places where radicals can go, so that we might then spend more money stomping them out. I can’t wait for the next war and all the added safety and security it will bring.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
One thing not mentioned much in the corporate media; Obama has ALWAYS considered Israel our strongest ally in the middle east. You can see his firm stance on his website. It’s been there for well over a year and hasn’t changed:
Barack Says:
“On Israel
* Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership: Barack Obama strongly supports the U.S.-Israel relationship, believes that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America’s strongest ally in the Middle East. Obama supports this closeness, stating that that the United States would never distance itself from Israel.
* Support Israel’s Right to Self Defense: During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel’s right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria’s involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He believes strongly in Israel’s right to protect its citizens.
* Support Foreign Assistance to Israel: Barack Obama has consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. He defends and supports the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and has advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. He has called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems.” and more.
McCain Was in Favor of Talks with Syria, Despite Saying they Were “Sponsoring and Harboring Terrorists”. See this article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/mccain-was-in-favor-of-ta_b_102099.html
McCain’s statements have been hypocritical, not to mention smearing, fear-mongering, and unworthy of a possible future president. Barack has always stood with Israel and for the security of Israel, contrary to what you might hear from right-wing windbags or some of the guest commentators on major networks.
May 17th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Is Bush serious when he made this comment or did he forget about the link his grandfather Prescott Bush has with Nazis? Can somebody clear this…if it is Obama or Bush who is close to Nazis?
May 18th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
I totally agree with President Bush on this one. This is still a dangerous world, and we need a strong leader, not a weak, inexperienced, naive, unpatriotic President.