julia

Title
Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers

Link
Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers - Politics on The Huffington Post
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Excerpt

Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers
s

The Huffington Post May 15, 2008

*** UPDATED BELOW ***

President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the presidential race, but that stance changed dramatically today during his trip to Israel. After likening Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Osama bin Laden, Bush compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers:

"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," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli 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."

Obama himself quickly responded to the comparison, calling it a false attack and listing past presidents who didn't think that diplomacy was such a bad idea:

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel."


"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. 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."

It was only yesterday that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argued that United States needed to engage with Iran:

"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."

UPDATE: What are the odds? Sen. Lieberman sides with Bush on this one:

"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."

UPDATE: Obama's communication director has also weighed in on what he calls "cowboy diplomacy":

In a telephone interview on CNN just a few minutes ago, Robert Gibbs, the communications director for Senator Barack Obama, called Mr. Bush's remarks "astonishing" and an "unprecedented political attack on foreign soil."

UPDATE: Rahm Emanuel has chimed in as well:

The tradition has always been that when a U.S. President is overseas, partisan politics stops at the water's edge. President Bush has now taken that principle and turned it on its head: for this White House, partisan politics now begins at the water's edge, no matter the seriousness and gravity of the occasion. Does the president have no shame?

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Comment:

What a focker to play fear on the international stage in a foreign parliament.

This cowboy is a complete embarrassment to this country and to all Americans.

DRS112

yes, yes...yes...how could we have overlooked Iran's warpath?

Or are we saying there should be no difference in the diplomacy or lack of Before any acts of agression take place vs. AS they are taking place?

Just look at what Jr. said and what Hillary said about obliterating Iran...same shit different shitbag.

guest1234567

As I posted in another thread, Bush did not compare Obama to Hitler.

He compared Obamas stated foreign policy of talking to the enemy to the same policy of an unnamed American senator during the invasion of Poland. However, since we don't know the name of that senator, we also don't know if his policy was in hindsight or previously forward thinking, such as Obamas.

neptune

Joe Biden says "Bullshit".

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Biden calls Bush comments ‘bulls**t’ « - Blogs from CNN.com

__________________

Holy Mudhead, mackerel! Morse Science High!
It's....disappeared!
-- Firesign Theatre

julia

Ok, agreed about pathetic political pandering but this is on an international state!!

This is going to be headlines around the world!!



Most ppl in industrialized countries are better informed with better news sources and will be like wtf?

More americans should be wtf too!!!

julia

guest1234567

And my concern is that people are going to hear what they want to hear. Bush did not compare Obama to Hitler at all. Not one word. He spoke about the perceived fruitlessness of Obamas stated foreign policy and that those same policies had been rejected as useless in the past.

edit: please see my post below

guest1234567

My apologies to you, Julia. I misread the title of your thread. You specifically said "Nazi Appeasers," and that is correct.

julia

HuffPo article con't:

SLAM THAT FLUBBERHEAD THINKING!!!!

julia

No problem, guest!