Wolraich: Obama at the Gates of... Gates
Dr. C: In Praise of Writing Binges
Maiello: Gatsby Doesn't Grate
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Wolraich: Obama at the Gates of... Gates Dr. C: In Praise of Writing Binges Maiello: Gatsby Doesn't Grate |
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This morning Mitt Romney has accused the President of sympathizing with the people who killed the US Ambassador to Libya. In a statement released Tuesday evening but held back until 12:01 AM Wednesday, Mitt Romney said: “It’s disgraceful, that the Obama administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”
Unbelievable stuff, seriously, Mitt Romney is claiming that the President is sympathetic to the killers of our Ambassador to Libya and 3 members of his staff. Guess who else made this ridiculous claim? The political genius Sarah Palin and idiot Reince Priebus.
Mitt is a man of course who continues to claim Foreign Policy is not important, even though it is a large part of the President actual job. Romney didn't mention either Iraq or Afghanistan in his convention acceptance speech. So we do get the idea that Mitt Romney doesn't believe foreign policy is important, especially since Russia is our biggest geopolitical enemy and it is 1960.
But this seems beyond anything I would imagine a candidate for the Presidency would say, he is making the claim that this President supports the killers of our Ambassador and members of his staff, and it is beyond disappointing that anyone, but particularly a man who is running for President would politicize this even, in fact, one might say it is unpatriotic. Mitt Romney seems to believe he can only win by making sure people believe our President isn't one of us, he isn't American. We need to teach him a lesson on that one, because no matter our party, when a member of our diplomatic mission is killed in action, we become a nation of one, Mitt Romney doesn't seem to understand that making him unfit for the Presidency.
Prompted by Peggy Noonan's claim in The Wall Street Journal that "we are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate," Andrew Sullivan steps forward to defend Pres. Obama's honor. "Can she actually believe this?," he asks incredulously.
By Julian Pecquet, The Hill, May 18, 2013
Congress is ramping up a new round of sanctions against Iran, ignoring the Obama administration's request to let diplomacy run its course.
In back-to-back hearings this week, lawmakers on key House and Senate panels put the State and Treasury departments on notice that their patience is wearing thin after the latest round of talks last month failed to produce a deal. Both chambers have legislative efforts in the works – the House foreign affairs panel will vote next week – but the administration is warning against any moves that could undermine international support for the existing sanctions against Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program [....]
By Carl Zimmer, New York Times/Science, May 16/17, 2013
An article that summarizes the recent work of Ya-Ping Zhang, a geneticist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who has led an international network of scientists who have compared pieces of DNA from different canines which is pointing to the theory that dogs domesticated themselves.
But the article's message is not just what it first appears to be. When you get to the concluding paragraphs there are some real though provokers:
[....] SLC6A4 may have played a crucial part in this change, because serotonin influences aggression.
To test these ideas,...
By Neha Paliwal, Passport @ ForeignPolicy.com, May 17, 2013
On Friday, chaotic clashes broke out in Georgia as an angry mob -- comprised mainly of young men but also including robed priests and some women -- descended on a gay rights rally commemorating International Day Against Homophobia. A day earlier, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church had demanded that authorities stop the rally, calling it a "violation of the majority's right."
According to EurasiaNet, the mob, which numbered...
By Miriam Elder in Moscow, The Guardian, May 17, 2013
Federal Security Service spokesman breaches protocol as he accuses US agency of crossing 'red line' in its recruitment efforts
Chris Mathews was correct in his attack on Priebus. Journalists like Tom Browkaw who played "the both sides do it" card and didn't support Mathews' obvious truth should be ashamed.
Priebus should be forced to step down. This statement should serve as the focus of Republican response to an American trade guy. The first question Mittens is going to be asked is how soundly he rejects Priebus' statement. If Romney says those aren't the words I would have used, then he is a bigger coward than I thought.
This is disgusting. These are the mental cases are the ones that obstruct Obama at every turn.
thanks for this post.
The Cairo embassy was aware of rumors circulating about a US film characterizing Muhammad as a fraud and womanizer. The embassy released a tweet criticizing the film to try to quell any violent reaction.
The attack happened anyway.
Following the attacki, the Obama administration, distanced itself from the tweet. Hillary Clinton criticized the attack.
Romney then released his attack on Obama.
Romney continues to stand by his statement despite the above timeline.
Romney is unpatriotic.
Romney is receiving criticism from all corners
I have not heard that. Can you supply a link? The embassy's tweet seems right and smart by any standard and the subsequent violence supports that conclusion. Why would the administration distance themselves from it.
OK, I have now seen where the administration distanced itself from the embassy's statement. I do not understand why they did so. If anyone can explain how that might make sense I would appreciate it.
I saw the link on Greenwald's Guardian column. Warning, as always, Greenwald talks about the specific incident in its larger context so some here may wish to look for the link somewhere else. It also has a link to the movie trailer which is worth watching. I hope everybody involved with planning, writing, producing, and financing that piece of war-mongering trash is exposed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/series/glenn-greenwald-security-...
When an ambassador is killed, you show a strong stance. Being upset about a film does not justify killing. Full stop. The people who made and translated the film are beneath contempt. The people who attacked the embassy are murderers.
A strong religion can stand up to strong criticism.
Full stop my achin' ass. If you are going to take the time to write a response, why don't you actually respond to the question?
By your own account:
A direct quote of the tweet in question;
I asked if anyone could explain why the administration, Obama, would want to distance itself from that statement. Your reply is that when an ambassador is killed you show a strong response.
OK, let's bomb somebody, that's what the film makers ultimate goal is anyway.
So now you want to include in your non-response your own criticism of Islam as a whole thru bullshit innuendo. You are really a piece of work.
The tweet was sent out before any death occurred. Once the death happened you send a message that no matter in the film justified murder.Thus you reject anything sounding like appeasement.
The diplomatic screws ups in the Middle East becomes a separate issue. Whether the Arab Spring failed is a separate issue. Whether we should get out of the Middle East is a separate issue. The message is being sent to whoever was responsible for the attack is that their is no rationale for the deaths.
I thought my statements were clear. You address the deaths now by not seeming to accept excuses for the deaths.
Further clarification, the people who attacked the embassy don't care if you agree with the movie or not. They were out for blood. The majority of the population in the city did not cause the attack. Since the people who did the attack won't accept an apology. You make clear that a movie is not something punishable by death
The way I read this distancing thing is that freedom of speech was not mentioned in the tweet.
But how much should you mention in a tweet anyway and why are embassies tweeting?
The way I see it is that someone in the embassy, someone on a diplomatic mission, was not interested, in that particular situation, in lecturing anyone in the Middle East about how we respect freedom of speech in the United States. Instead, as diplomats, they were trying to mitigate the deliberately intended harmful effects of a bunch of jerks who abused their freedom of speech in the united States by creating hate speech with the intent of arousing hateful feelings in Muslim countries. I think that is why they were tweeting.
I have no doubt about the purpose of the messaging.
It just could have been worded better.
The American Government and the vast majority of Americans despise the denigration of any religion.
America disavows the actions and statements of the few who would denigrate and debase Islam.
But in America free speech is as sacred as freedom of religion.
Our government disavows any attempt of a few radicals who would abase the Great Prophet Mohammed!
I don't know. Something like this.
Am I to accept being put in the position of calling the statement perfect in order to defend it as a good and proper statement?
I see the American government using propaganda to denigrate any damned person, government, or organization they choose to whenever it suits their [often misguided] purpose. I think most of the sentient, informed, clear thinking people of the world see it too.
I estimate that about 60% of the American people are completely comfortable denigrating the religion of 'others'. Consider your own many comments about the right wing fundamentalist of our own country's dominant religion.
His name is Pastor Terry Jones, he was exposed yesterday, but was also a man who lead a Koran burning in Florida.
Pastor Terry Jones is one person, hardly the entire gang responsible. I have read that he has been promoting the film, hardly surprising, but there are plenty more.
That is interesting. I've been at work an didn't know the developments. That guy should be deported, immediately.
But that's just what I would do.
interesting post.
I just read elsewhere that while condemning Obama for the Embassy attacks, republicans had condemned him for using drones during the NATO Lybian conflict. Seems Obama is damn either way he goes ... just as trying to play the bipartisan card with republicans in Congress.
I suspect because Romney didn't get a convention bounce and Obama did as well as flowering reviews about the various speakers, he's falling back to the old republicans campaign standard ... wedge issues.
With the voters evenly separate between both camps, it'll be difficult to debate the issue reasonably with facts to base positions on. However, the more wedge issue that rear up before the election, the more Obama has to defend himself while Romney attacks without ever having to sate what he would do differently.
Romney could win simply by default ... too many wedge issues for Obama to answer while Romney waltz's around without having to take a position on any issue.
Obama has Osama Bin-Laden, the Somali pirates and drone strikes as evidence that he is not weak when it comes to going after enemies. Romney's only out is to suggest that we should turn the Middle East into a dessert parking lot by bombing attacks.
This is just one more prime example of his shooting from the lip and definitely not a viable candidate for POTUS.
I just read on Politico that he's 'tanking' in the European polls too:
The film producers name, Sam Bacile, sounds close to "imbecile". The name is probably a pseudonym. Bacile may not be Israeli, but a Christian Evangelical
Thanks. Curiouser and curiouser. I hope we get the complete, accurate, skinny on all involved. Goldberg might have his facts right but I never trust his evaluation.
Here is more about the production of the movie.
http://www.onthemedia.org/blogs/on-the-media/2012/sep/12/religious-refer...