Obama shakes hand, we're all DOOMED!
Sludge Factory
Posts: 976
Seriously though, this kind of bullshit needs to stop. I don't particularily like Obama that much as I tend to not believe he is serious about the things he says, BUT people slamming him for a simple fucking handshake need to grow the fuck up. I think it's a good thing for our leaders to hold talks with other leaders, even ones that are considered 'bad' because that's how you make progress on issues...not blowing the fuck out of them or pretending they don't exist.
Also, it would probably do those in power some good to read some literature that wasn't propagated by the American machine so Obama receiving that book shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200904 ... co/21445_2
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tore into President Barack Obama Monday for his friendly greeting of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying Obama is bolstering the "enemies of America.”
Gingrich appeared on a number of morning talk shows comparing Obama to President Jimmy Carter for the smiling, hearty handshake he offered Chavez, one of the harshest critics of the United States, during the Summit of the Americas.
“Frankly, this does look a lot like Jimmy Carter. Carter tried weakness, and the world got tougher and tougher, because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators – when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead,” Gingrich said on “Fox & Friends.”
Two Republican senators, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and John Ensign of Nevada, joined in the criticism Monday, with Ensign calling Obama's greeting of Chavez "irresponsible."
Obama addressed such criticism before he left the summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, noting his “great differences” with Chavez and expressing concern for the Venezuelan president’s “inflammatory” rhetoric toward the United States and interference in neighboring Latin American countries
“It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States,” Obama told reporters at a news conference. “I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so. Even within this imaginative crowd, I think you would be hard-pressed to paint a scenario in which U.S. interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela.”
While the White House felt Obama's first foray into Latin America went well, officials seemed concerned that so-called “picture seen ‘round the world” of Obama greeting Chavez at the summit would generate such criticism back home.
The criticism is déjà vu for the Obama team. It is along the same line of what Obama’s opponents – Hillary Clinton, now secretary of State, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), said of him during the campaign, that he was too willing to talk to U.S. adversaries.
Obama defended that, too, on Sunday before returning from a four-day trip to Latin America.
“We had this debate throughout the campaign, and the whole notion was, is that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness – the American people didn't buy it,” Obama said. “And there's a good reason the American people didn't buy it — because it doesn't make sense.”
By Saturday afternoon, Chavez had gifted Obama a book critical of U.S. involvement in Latin America, the images were being replayed on television, and the White House had a new talking point: that handshakes and smiles are not enough, that actions speak louder than words.
"The smiles and handshakes and the desire of one leader to say to the president that he wants to be his friend, again is a wonderful opportunity to match actions with words," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
But Gregg told MSNBC's Morning Joe Monday that while Chavez is "not a strategic threat,” Obama’s greeting of him is “not a good way to start your presidency."
Gingrich on NBC’s Today Show that Obama’s warm greeting of Chavez was "proof that Chavez is now legitimate, is acceptable."
And Ensign called Chavez "one of the most anti-American leaders in the entire world. He is a brutal dictator and human rights violations are very, very prevalent in Venezuela. And you have to be careful.”
Gingrich first raised the issue on Friday, the night Obama and Chavez first met at a reception.
“I think it sends a terrible signal to all of Latin America, and a terrible signal about how the new administration regards dictators,” Gingrich said on Fox, also citing Obama’s willingness to talk to Iran, his handling of North Korea and overtures to the Castro government in Cuba. “I don’t think there’s any downside to talking to him. But I think being friends, taking a picture that clearly looks like they’re buddies hurts in all of Latin America.”
Also, it would probably do those in power some good to read some literature that wasn't propagated by the American machine so Obama receiving that book shouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200904 ... co/21445_2
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tore into President Barack Obama Monday for his friendly greeting of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying Obama is bolstering the "enemies of America.”
Gingrich appeared on a number of morning talk shows comparing Obama to President Jimmy Carter for the smiling, hearty handshake he offered Chavez, one of the harshest critics of the United States, during the Summit of the Americas.
“Frankly, this does look a lot like Jimmy Carter. Carter tried weakness, and the world got tougher and tougher, because the predators, the aggressors, the anti-Americans, the dictators – when they sense weakness, they all start pushing ahead,” Gingrich said on “Fox & Friends.”
Two Republican senators, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and John Ensign of Nevada, joined in the criticism Monday, with Ensign calling Obama's greeting of Chavez "irresponsible."
Obama addressed such criticism before he left the summit in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, noting his “great differences” with Chavez and expressing concern for the Venezuelan president’s “inflammatory” rhetoric toward the United States and interference in neighboring Latin American countries
“It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States,” Obama told reporters at a news conference. “I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so. Even within this imaginative crowd, I think you would be hard-pressed to paint a scenario in which U.S. interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela.”
While the White House felt Obama's first foray into Latin America went well, officials seemed concerned that so-called “picture seen ‘round the world” of Obama greeting Chavez at the summit would generate such criticism back home.
The criticism is déjà vu for the Obama team. It is along the same line of what Obama’s opponents – Hillary Clinton, now secretary of State, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), said of him during the campaign, that he was too willing to talk to U.S. adversaries.
Obama defended that, too, on Sunday before returning from a four-day trip to Latin America.
“We had this debate throughout the campaign, and the whole notion was, is that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness – the American people didn't buy it,” Obama said. “And there's a good reason the American people didn't buy it — because it doesn't make sense.”
By Saturday afternoon, Chavez had gifted Obama a book critical of U.S. involvement in Latin America, the images were being replayed on television, and the White House had a new talking point: that handshakes and smiles are not enough, that actions speak louder than words.
"The smiles and handshakes and the desire of one leader to say to the president that he wants to be his friend, again is a wonderful opportunity to match actions with words," said White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
But Gregg told MSNBC's Morning Joe Monday that while Chavez is "not a strategic threat,” Obama’s greeting of him is “not a good way to start your presidency."
Gingrich on NBC’s Today Show that Obama’s warm greeting of Chavez was "proof that Chavez is now legitimate, is acceptable."
And Ensign called Chavez "one of the most anti-American leaders in the entire world. He is a brutal dictator and human rights violations are very, very prevalent in Venezuela. And you have to be careful.”
Gingrich first raised the issue on Friday, the night Obama and Chavez first met at a reception.
“I think it sends a terrible signal to all of Latin America, and a terrible signal about how the new administration regards dictators,” Gingrich said on Fox, also citing Obama’s willingness to talk to Iran, his handling of North Korea and overtures to the Castro government in Cuba. “I don’t think there’s any downside to talking to him. But I think being friends, taking a picture that clearly looks like they’re buddies hurts in all of Latin America.”
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http://www.reverbnation.com/brianzilm
The only thing that will hurt Obama in regards to those pictures, is that they will be used by the crazy right in chain e-mails and fundraising attempts portraying him as an america-hater. But I guess the people that those ads/e-mails work on don't like him anyway.
Big shocker that the hypocrite Gingrich is adding to the partisan hackery...
I'm sure a few days from now when there are no immediate, obvious concessions made to the US from this summit, the right will have a circle-jerk about how being nice didn't help our country. Just like they did after the G20 summit. And we wonder why the rest of the world hates us... we actually act nicely and civilized towards countries that we disagree with, and the wingnuts are complaining that the other countries didn't just give us everything we want.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
A-fucking-men. This is exactly why I voted for the guy... he's not an inbred redneck moron.
Stage one:send in the economic hitmen.
offer them a loan from the IMF or WB-which they need to make "structural adjustments" in order to receive...
Chavez refused
Stage 2:send in the jackals-the CIA. they staged a coup, paid a few hundred people to march in the streets, had the media make it look like it was nationwide. the fact that it failed showed how popular Chavez really is. stage 2 also involves assassination.
Stage 3:outright invasion.
the current shift in attitude at least provides SOME hope that maybe they won't continue with their SOP. maybe venezuela will be left to the venezuelans.
Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
What a novel concept.
I still giggle at people shouting "SOCIALIST!!" when they clearly don't even know what it means, giving credence to paranoid conspiracy theories like "HE WAS BORN IN AFRICA!!" or "HE'S BEST FRIENDS WITH CASTRO!!"
Seeing people throw fits because he's trying to actually lead the country out of the wilderness is just juvenile. It makes me wonder sometimes if America is even worth saving.
When you have nothing, you really have to reach for anything and that's exactly what they are doing.
Since when was talking to an "enemy" a bad thing? A face to face conversation goes a lot farther than soundbytes taken out of context.
That's what kills me... there are actual issues that they can go after Obama on, but instead they spend most of their energy on the trivial fake-outrage crap. But I guess the problem with attacking Obama on actual issues, with the repub's past performance, they really don't have a leg to stand on.
I feel bad for the Ron Paul/small government wing of the republican party... they are justified in their outrage over Obama's fiscal policy, and the tea party bit was genuine for them... but like everything else recently, the republican party hijacked that protest, and now the whole movement looks like a bunch of hypocritical whiners.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
Of course they don't! Politics is nothing but a scam. If they went after him on certain issues then they will have to deal with them later.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
Reality has no place in this discussion.
why would you want to boycott 24hr news?
I don't know about Vinny... but, 24 hour one-sided politically slanted Op/Ed cable channels sholud be taken at face value. They are not news, commentary at best... and that 'best' is subjective... depending upon your political leaning.
Personally, I rank them amongst the likes of the Jerry Springer Show or Judge Judy regarding their inherent social value. Entertainment, Yes. News (i.e. Journalism), No.
Hail, Hail!!!