Bush Shuns, Gates Demands Appeasement

May 15, 2008

Bush Shuns, Gates Demands Appeasement

Says something about "unity of message" …

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all 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. (Applause.)
President Bush Addresses Members of the Knesset , May 15, 2008

—

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates called on Wednesday for more unofficial contacts with Iran, saying this might eventually open a pathway to more substantive dialogue between the governments.

…
"My own view, just my personal view, would be we ought to look for ways outside of government to open up the channels and get more of a flow of people back and forth," he said in a speech to the American Academy of Diplomacy, a group of retired U.S. diplomats.

Gates urges more nongovernment contacts with Iran, May 15, 2008

The Senator Bush quotes was William Borah, a Republican from Idaho.

Posted by b on May 15, 2008 at 19:15 UTC | Permalink

Comments

William Borah seems like somebody who would have fit in well here.
bush is a cretin, it really is a waste of energy to get upset when he emits bile. that is what he does and we should be used to it by now.

Posted by: dan of steele | May 15 2008 19:30 utc | 1

This is end of empire stuff. The rhetoric is so unbelievable.

Posted by: Anonymous | May 15 2008 19:37 utc | 2

Bush is totally bonkers. Olmert lauds him and he starts crying – finally someone loves him …
Reuters video.

Posted by: b | May 15 2008 19:42 utc | 3

dos
sadly, the bile bush barks & bellows at all forums on hell & on earth extend the notions of how cretinous a human being can be

Posted by: remembereringgiap | May 15 2008 20:07 utc | 4

classic case of projection when this blood soaked mass murdering war ciminal compares someone else to Hitler. ditto for Olmert.

Posted by: ran | May 15 2008 23:37 utc | 5

Any grandson of Prescott Bush, the poster child of appeasement to Hitler, painting others with this smear, is beyond the pale. Even for this cretin.

Posted by: mikefromtexas | May 16 2008 0:20 utc | 6

Here’s my favorite part:

Ultimately, to prevail in this struggle, we must offer an alternative to the ideology of the extremists by extending our vision of justice and tolerance and freedom and hope.

Yeah Bush already did that when he demanded and got free and fair elections in Palestine. He thought by pouring money in he could buy the Palestinian vote and marginalize Hamas. Of course the Palistinians didn’t buy it and gave Hamas a solid majority in Parliament. But that vision of “justice and tolerance” went out the window after the election and Hamas was declared a terrorist organization that must be starved and shunned by the entire World not to mention arrestted or executed by Israel.
Although the targets have changed somewhat this speech is no different than what Bush was peddleing in his axis of evil speech. It is American foreign policy now and defended by John McCain:

In Ohio, McCain told reporters he wholeheartedly agreed with the gist of Bush’s remarks.
“Yes, there have been appeasers in the past, and the president is exactly right, and one of them is Neville Chamberlain,” McCain said. “I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States,” he said, referring to the release of U.S. hostages by extremists in Iran on the first day of the Reagan presidency.

Bush speech in Israel seen as attack on Obama
I notice he failed to mention the TOW missiles that the Republicans sent to Iran in exchange for those hostages. The same TOW missiles that killed Israeli Soldiers in Lebanon in 2006. Niether one of them mentioned that most Israelis think that their government should be negotiating with Hamas for it is obvious that nobody can make peace with only a minority of a people. But peace isn’t part of the plan and never was. It’s Hamas, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan and Al Queda equals terrorists and they must be crushed. Of course this will be done by recruiting collaborators no matter how many times it fails. He better hope that all those countries don’t catch on and actually join Al Queda because he is doing everything but force them to do just that.

Posted by: Sam | May 16 2008 0:26 utc | 7

This is the real opening salvo in the general election. Scare the F— out of everyone and win another election through lies and smears.The GOP know they are toast, so they will try to “throw the kitchen sink” at Obama to try and win the oval office again. He knows the American people despise him, yet he still injects himself into the game.
Bush is at the point where his whole thing is to just be vindictive and destroy the US from the inside. He don’t care, he has his ranch, lots of money, secret service protection for life and laws that protect him from the masses. He just don’t care.

Posted by: jdp | May 16 2008 1:00 utc | 8

This is my comment.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | May 16 2008 5:05 utc | 9

Poland 1939, Iraq 2003 mmmmm

Posted by: Ben | May 16 2008 5:38 utc | 10

USA Today: McCain action helped Ariz. land developer

Sen. John McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show.
McCain, who has made fighting special-interest projects a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, inserted $14.3 million in a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base in a provision sought by SunCor Development, the largest of about 50 landowners near the base. SunCor representatives, upset with a state law that restricted development around Luke, met with McCain’s staff to lobby for funding, according to John Ogden, SunCor’s president at the time.
The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base. It was the highest single land transaction of the private lots purchased by the government — three times the county’s assessed value and twice the military’s estimated value.

Posted by: b | May 16 2008 6:10 utc | 11

Corporate Looks to McCain for Big Win in November
Uh-oh!
US Treasury Department today released its monthly International Capital
Flows data for the month of March 2008. Among the main highlights was a
significant NET OUTFLOW of foreign capital of some $48.2 billion compared
to a revised INFLOW of $48.9 billion in February. That is nearly a $100
billion swing in one month’s time and illustrates how severe the distress
is in the US financial system. That bailout was from corporate bonds into
US Treasuries, which temporarily reversed a years-long decline in the US$.
McCain promises:
Bush 3, same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Reliability, the sine qua non of corporate profit.
100 Years of “Defense Profit Center” (Code: Secure jobs for White Elite Nativists)
Financial bailouts for “well intentioned and deserving” (Code: $s for White Elite)
Circling the wagons around capital gains and estate taxes (Code: Neo-Zi US Royalty)
The 56% of Americans who work for government or contract to it, along with the 10%
of financial people who control the money flow, is an unbeatable 2/3rd’s majority
backing Old Money McCain, grinding our bones to chalk under their chariots’ wheels.
Whistle while you wage-slave’n,
Hillary/Obama’s no maven,
John McCain has the brain,
Whistle while you wage slave’n!
Wake up! It’s 3AM! Do you know
where your grandfather is!!??
McCain 2008!

Posted by: Hey Heh | May 16 2008 6:27 utc | 12

Wow – even Tweety Bird knows the difference between talking to X and appeasement.
From Jason Linkins on HufPo (same link as above):

But the best was yet to come. Matthews, convinced that James was being a fatuous ass, called him out on his knowledge of geo-political history, asking James if he knew what Neville Chamberlain did at Munich in 1938. If you answered, “He signed the Munich Agreement, conceding a portion of Czechoslovakia to the Nazi regime,” you are right. If you answered, “He talked to Hitler, and caused 9/11 to happen and made the Statue of Liberty cry, just like Barack Hussein bin Laden wants to!” then you are Kevin James.
Until finally, James conceded, sort of, that he didn’t know. Matthews replied: “Your problem, is, Kevin, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t understand there’s a difference between talking to the enemy and appeasing. What Chamberlain did wrong was not talking to Hitler, but giving half of Czechoslovakia.” He then growled, “This is pathetic,” tossed it to Air America’s Mark Green, who told James, “Kevin, when you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

The video is at the link above.

Posted by: Hamburger | May 16 2008 11:15 utc | 13

Also: Exclusive Video: McCain Was For Talking To Hamas Before He Was Against It…

Posted by: Hamburger | May 16 2008 11:18 utc | 14

hamburger, excellent video! aside from tweety grilling him for being an idiot (something about somebody not even’ knowing what the cuban missle crisis is, and now this’) the most astounding part of the grilling, 7 consecutive questions back to back…
why is israel now at the center of the republican campaign?
what is israel about in this presidential campaign?
why the focus on israel?
why are you so excited about israel?
how did this become your issue?
why are we turning israel into hyde park corner, speakers corner?
why is israel becoming the podium for political activity?

Posted by: annie | May 16 2008 13:37 utc | 15

err, that came out a little skewed. i didn’t mean, ‘something about’, that was simply one of the more fun asides during the fiasco surrounding the politico being clueless about chamberlain..
watch the video!

Posted by: annie | May 16 2008 13:44 utc | 16

annie,
Besides CM challenging a wingnut nonstop – a welcome change – I too was taken by the questions on Israel. Wow. What’s that all about? It’s now OK to question why the Israel tail wags the US dog?

Posted by: Hamburger | May 16 2008 16:46 utc | 17

It’s now OK to question why the Israel tail wags the US dog?
i hope it becomes a trend. interestingly there are 2 diaries about this over @kos and no one will touch those questions (i posted them in both diaries), they are all commenting on the chamberlain issue without making the obvious connection the appeasement position of land for peace IS supposedly the official US position towards a 2 state solution. so while there is no barrier regarding sliming away over gop talking pts denouncing anyone as in bed w/hitler for talking to hamas… nobody will talk about how this issue, which everyone and their brother knows is a the heart of the middle east conflict, can be solved if the big taboo in the presidential election is …offending israel.
i would really like this flushed out instead of the big unspoken elephant more important than health care, peace in iraq, the economy.. there is NOTHING, that will sink a politician like offending israel.
disgusting!

Posted by: annie | May 16 2008 17:04 utc | 18

Annie,
the appeasement position of land for peace IS supposedly the official US position towards a 2 state solution
Good point – but I guess it’s more precise to say that it is the US position that Israel take the appeasement position …
Are you familiar with NOEL IGNATIEV’S writing on a one state solution?

… “Land for peace” implies the permanent partition of Palestine.
…
History has shown, in Ireland, India, and everyplace else it has been tried, that partition of a territory along lines of descent whether called “racial” or “religious” is a guarantee of permanent war.
…
What solution, therefore, do I propose? A simple and moderate one: within historic Palestine, the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, live ten million people. I propose that there be established there a single state, in which every person who declares his intention to live there and adopt citizenship be recognized as a citizen and have one vote. I propose further that the special advantages given to Jews be terminated, that the Palestinians who were forced into exile after 1948, and their descendants, be granted the right to live there, and that the state undertake practical measures to make it possible for them to do so by building housing and extending to them to right to rent or buy, if necessary providing funds to help them. I propose further that both Hebrew and Arabic be declared official state languages to be taught in the schools, that all residents be granted the right to publish newspapers and maintain cultural institutions in any language they choose, that the special position of Orthodox Judaism be ended and that the state declare freedom of worship and make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
…

It’s a longish essay well worth the read. I’d like to see this discussed on Hardtalk!

Posted by: Hamburger | May 16 2008 17:59 utc | 19

Annie: I think examining Israel’s influence is indeed absolutely necessary right now before the primaries are over. It’s necessary because, as you rightly pointed out, there is nothing that will sink a politician like offending Israel. And this examination must be done without the fear of being smeared as anti-semitic by sometimes overzealous institutions like the ADL.
The main reason why the prospect of a HillBill candidacy frightens me is Hillary’s ravenous support for Israel and the apparent willingness to obliterate sovereign nations like Iran to prove that support.
As b indicated above, with Gates call for open channels, i don’t think its unreasonable to expect more pressure coming from the upper-brass in the military against taking the kind of actions that could finally set off the whole region.

Posted by: Lizard | May 18 2008 23:27 utc | 20

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