Friday, May 16, 2008

Jonathan Alter: Offended Bush McCain Appeasement Deliberate Confusion

Jonathan Alter provided an eye-opening review of the statements President George Bush made yesterday in Jerusalem and the supportive position for those statements assumed by Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain.

Alter sat opposite Pat Buchanan on MSNBC's Morning Joe (Joe Scarborough has been absent all week long, relievedly, and that's why we're watching).

Another take over at Newsbusters we don't agree with the title of the post since Bush had no business making a comment of any kind on foreign soil regarding American politics, period, end of story. Plus, Bush clearly misrepresented "appeasement" and its meaning which was heatedly discussed on Matthews Hardball program yesterday with Kevin James who indicated he did not know the answer to Matthews' question "what did Neville Chamberlain do" that's regarded as "appeasement?"

Morning Joe's All Bush-Bashing Lineup
By Mark Finkelstein | May 16, 2008 - 06:35 ET

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/05/16/morning-joes-all-bush-bashing-lineup


Obama accuses Bush of 'appalling attack'
May 16 12:45 PM US/Eastern

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90MRLLG0&show_article=1


Unfortunately, on Morning Joe, nobody asked Pat Buchanan about his 2006 article which we noted yesterday.

August 5, 2006
On Talking With Terrorists
by Patrick J. Buchanan

http://www.antiwar.com/pat/?articleid=9480


Buchanan made few comments overall, in fact, which struck us as odd, about the situation President Bush created by speaking about so-called appeasement positions of persons Bush did not name. After John McCain made reference to the statement, and brought in Barack Obama, however, it was fairly clear Bush's statement could be taken to apply to Obama's former comments about talking with certain leaders...

Alter said he was offended being Jewish by President Bush's and John McCain's obvious attempt to confuse talking which might be productive with "appeasement."

Alter effectively outed the political motivations of Bush to affect the outcome of the Democratic party primaries which remain.

Later on MSNBC programming, Alter noted there is a clear difference between talking with the "enemy" and appeasement. He said, Chris Matthews noted the difference in an exchange with a guest yesterday. Appeasement is giving away the store. Neville Chamberlain gave away half of Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1939...

Barack Obama addresses the political attacks at a town hall meeting in South Dakota this afternoon...

Net the Truth Online

All sides take sides over remarks
WASHINGTON | President Bush’s remarks in Israel on Thursday stirred a controversy that spilled across the presidential campaign.

John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, said he took Bush at his word that he wasn’t referring to Barack Obama.

But McCain said Obama was showing “naivete and inexperience and lack of judgment” in his willingness to meet with U.S. foes.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/nation/story/622314.html


April 1st, 2008 3:11 AM Eastern
Obama has “no experience or background” on national security, McCain says
by Mosheh Oinounou
Washington, D.C. — Sen. John McCain slammed Sen. Barack Obama Monday after the IL Senator again alleged that McCain is willing to wage a 100-year war in Iraq.

“In all due respect he does not understand…the fundamental elements of national security and warfare,” McCain told reporters aboard his plane during a flight to the Washington area, where he is set to deliver a speech at his high school in Alexandria, VA on Tuesday.

Obama has been hammering McCain for comments he made at a January town hall meeting where the AZ Senator said he would be comfortable with a century-long U.S. troop presence in Iraq. While McCain was alluding a peace-time military force, Democrats have used the comments to make the case that McCain is willing to fight a 100 year war in Iraq.

While the non-partisan factcheck.org gives more merit to McCain’s argument, the presumptive GOP nominee has still had to repeatedly explain what he meant while on the trail. Today he provided the context as a side entree to a main course of Obama roast.

“It displays a fundamental misunderstanding of history and how we’ve maintained national security, and what we need to do in the future to maintain our security in the face of the transcendent challenge of radical Islamic extremism. And I understand that because he has no experience or background in any of it,” McCain said. “(He) either hasn’t read or (doesn’t) understand…the history of this country in warfare, and the way that we secure alliances and secure the peace–and that’s through military government to government agreements that call for United States presence and mutual defense. Not only in that country itself, but also in the region. Our troops in Japan maintain a military presence in Asia. Our troops in Japan and South Korea maintain stability in Asia. The same thing was true after World War II about our troops in Germany.”

Asked if he is concerned whether Obama’s 100 years argument will win out, McCain said he trusts voters and took a second shot at the Democrat. “I think the American people are smart enough to figure that out….and they’ll understand over time if they don’t know that he has no experience or background on these issues,” McCain said.

http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/04/01/obama-has-no-experience-or-background-on-national-security-mccain-says/


Jonathan Alter on the Dictator Dust-up: Clinton, Obama Both Right ! Republicans Wrong
By Jason Aslinger | July 27, 2007

...So what exactly is going on here? The two leading Democratic candidates contradict each other, then trade verbal barbs for three days, but yet they're both sly politicians with "indistinguishable" positions? Is Alter reporting the news, or is he trying to keep the peace among the Democrats? Or, as Mark Finkelstein asked in a prior post, is Alter trying to preserve Obama's potential as a vice presidential candidate, notwithstanding the heated exchange?

After carefully explaining away any discontent within the Democratic party, Alter then turned his attention to Republican candidate Mitt Romney, tagging him as a demagogue for comparing Obama to Neville Chamberlain. By Alter's analysis, Clinton and Obama would be fabulous diplomats while Romney (and by extension, all the Republican candidates) would be out-of-touch...

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jason-aslinger/2007/07/27/jonathan-alter-dictator-dust-clinton-obama-both-right-republicans-wr

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