[dagnabbit]

"These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said in answer to a question.

"We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."

Sorry Ohio, but there is no way to listen to or read this administration statement in its entirety other than as a clear stance against publishing the cartoons. That puts the Bush admin solidly on the wrong side of this particular Islam v. West issue.

And this is not just some random State Dept guy popping off. He's reciting from cleared text that's been reviewed by the White House (NSC). He's "on message" for the Bush Administration. And there's another thread now on FR in which another State Dept spokesman repeats and confirms the "not acceptable" part of the Admin's view of printing Islamist-bothering items in an otherwise free press.

[ohioWfan]

That link is to a Yahoo/AP news article, which.......in case you haven't noticed..........often quotes things out of context in order to put the administration in a negative light (i.e. LIES).

Is there more to the quote? Is there a more thorough explanation in a complete State Department statement?

One of my main problem with bashers on this forum is your haste to believe MSM articles as long as they make Bush look bad.

I'd like the complete statement, because that, alone, doesn't make your point, and is a FAR, FAR cry from their 'siding' with the terrorists.

Sorry, dagnabbit. It still doesn't work.

I don't find many political cartoons 'acceptable' either, but that doesn't mean that I think they should be censored or that I support rioting as a result of their printing.

You have made a huge and indefensible leap from the words on the page to a completely hypothetical and biased conclusion.