Bush 'appeasement' comment seen as veiled attack of Obama

U.S. President George W. Bush lashed out Thursday at those who would negotiate with "terrorists," calling the approach comparable to the "appeasement" of Adolf Hitler before the Second World War, comments that were perceived as a personal attack by Senator Barack Obama.

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said in a speech to Israel's parliament as part of the country's 60th anniversary celebrations.

No names were mentioned, but it was widely seen as a criticism of Democratic presidential nomination front-runner Barack Obama, who has expressed willingness to meet with leaders of U.S. adversaries such as Iran and Syria.

The Illinois senator was quick to respond by issuing a statement accusing Bush of launching a "false political attack" and stressing that he doesn't support engagement with terrorists.

White House press secretary Dana Perino flatly denied the idea that the remark was aimed in any way at Obama.

Bush was referring to "a wide range of people who have talked to or suggested" we talk to such opponents as Hamas, Hezbollah or their state sponsors, said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

The comment also comes after former president Jimmy Carter held talks with Hamas leaders last month and pushed for the militant group to be brought into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Bush's lengthy speech focused on promoting the strong alliance between the United States and Israel, but during it he also took aim at those who make the case for negotiating with "terrorists and radicals."

He said that when Nazi tanks had crossed into Poland, an American senator declared that if they had talked to Hitler, the situation could've been avoided.

Bush said that such "false comfort of appeasement" has been "repeatedly discredited by history."

In Obama's responding statement, he said, "It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel."

"Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power — including tough, principled and direct diplomacy — to pressure countries like Iran and Syria," he said. With files from the Associated Press

Obama is sooooo sensitive, I think we have found his greatest weakness (it was pretty obvious): he is so deeply imbued with the 60s leftover socialist weaselhood of the left. The Demagogues are all lined up to attack hysterically because they think this is the way to avert a "Swiftboat problem" in the 2008 campaign. They know how weak they are and they are desperate to avoid another Jon Carry problem. The problem is (for Obambi) that he is a squirrely appeasement-monger of the left, running for Jimmy Carter's 2nd term. So he has Jon Carry and Joe Biden trying to lead the counter-attack. What b.s.

btw, this is an IDEAL time to try to bring attention to Ted Kennedy's infamous effort to get Andropov to conduct a PR campaign in 1983-84 to try to defeat Ronald Reagan's re-election...... there is a notorious Kremlin memo from 1983 that has been discussed recently on FrontPageMagazine.com describing Ted Kennedy's treasonous initiative with Andropov........ THAT is a perfect example of the treachery and perfidy of the political left!!!!

Hey FReepers, this is the perfect time to try to get this instance of Democrat perfidy in front of the media. I’d read about this before, and a new interview about this document was just published today (our theme should be that “THIS is how the Democrats try to ‘negotiate’ with our worst enemies):

Ted Kennedy and the KGB
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, May 15, 2008

http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=0DC20D32-80C6-446E-BF51-1C054E35B7BA

Kengor: It was a May 14, 1983 letter from the head of the KGB, Viktor Chebrikov, to the head of the USSR, the odious Yuri Andropov, with the highest level of classification. Chebrikov relayed to Andropov an offer from Senator Ted Kennedy, presented by Kennedy’s old friend and law-school buddy, John Tunney, a former Democratic senator from California, to reach out to the Soviet leadership at the height of a very hot time in the Cold War. According to Chebrikov, Kennedy was deeply troubled by the deteriorating relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, which he believed was bringing us perilously close to nuclear confrontation. Kennedy, according to Chebrikov, blamed this situation not on the Soviet leadership but on the American president-—Ronald Reagan. Not only was the USSR not to blame, but, said Chebrikov, Kennedy was, quite the contrary, “very impressed” with Andropov.

The thrust of the letter is that Reagan had to be stopped, meaning his alleged aggressive defense policies, which then ranged from the Pershing IIs to the MX to SDI, and even his re-election bid, needed to be stopped. It was Ronald Reagan who was the hindrance to peace. That view of Reagan is consistent with things that Kennedy said and wrote at the time, including articles in sources like Rolling Stone (March 1984) and in a speeches like his March 24, 1983 remarks on the Senate floor the day after Reagan’s SDI speech, which he lambasted as “misleading Red-Scare tactics and reckless Star Wars schemes.”

Even more interesting than Kennedy’s diagnosis was the prescription: According to Chebrikov, Kennedy suggested a number of PR moves to help the Soviets in terms of their public image with the American public. He reportedly believed that the Soviet problem was a communication problem, resulting from an inability to counter Reagan’s (not the USSR’s) “propaganda.” If only Americans could get through Reagan’s smokescreen and hear the Soviets’ peaceful intentions.

So, there was a plan, or at least a suggested plan, to hook up Andropov and other senior apparatchiks with the American media, where they could better present their message and make their case. Specifically, the names of Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters are mentioned in the document. Also, Kennedy himself would travel to Moscow to meet with the dictator.

Time was of the essence, since Reagan, as the document privately acknowledged, was flying high en route to easy re-election in 1984.

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