[Chi-townChief]

I didn't know old Ziggy was still alive; I guess all of the scum are coming out of the woodwork.

[Cicero]

I wouldn't be survived if Hillary channeled Acheson from the dead. He was, as I recall, a singularly bad Secretary of State.

[facedown]

Credibility

As compared to that of Carter?

[neverdem]

This advice from the fellow who couldn't do anything but enable the Islamic fundamentalists to take over Iran has to be taken with a grain of salt.

He does make a good point about regaining credibility. David Kay's next report needs to be a lot more impressive to the rest of the world.

[Tacis]

Yeah, but de Gaulle wasn't on Fidelito's payroll!

[Brilliant]

It doesn't help that we have Democrats who are accusing the President of lying for their own political gain.

[EGPWS]

It isn't our foreign policy that generates a sense of credibility, it's the lack of support from our members of congress through their politic's before country attitude that has generated a credibility issue with the USofA.

[KC_Conspirator]

ZB has no credibility since he served with Jimmy Carter.

[RobFromGa]

THEN: At the end of the briefing, Acheson said to de Gaulle, "I would now like to show you the evidence, the photographs that we have of Soviet missiles armed with nuclear weapons." The French president responded, "I do not wish to see the photographs. The word of the president of the United States is good enough for me. Please tell him that France stands with America."

NOW: At the end of the briefing, Powell said to Chirac, "I would now like to show you the evidence, the photographs that we have of Iraqi WMDs." The French president responded, "I do not wish to see the photographs. The overwhelming evidence of the president of the United States is not good enough for me. Please tell him that France stands against America. We prefer to cast our lot with Saddam."

[Billthedrill]

Zbiggy had better put a sock in the "intelligence failure" approach. As the chief intelligence conduit to the president for four years, he was passing precisely the same information that his successor was. He just didn't get caught.

I will confess a certain impatience with the equivocation inherent in his simultaneous desires to support the putative peace process in the Middle East and condemn Israeli brutality. His own guidance in the form of a long-standing U.S. approach under the rubric of Camp David led us to the 9/11 atrocities. Clearly a different approach should at least be investigated. I think, also, that his "they only hate some of us" bleating was naivete at its height. It isn't all of "them," of course, but some of them hate all of us and proved it by killing anyone who happened to be occupying the World Trade Center on not only that fatal day, but on the previous attempt as well. These are our enemies, they really are, self-described, fanatical, and supported by some who call themselves our friends. Zbiggy's era of hopeful engagement came crashing down on September 11, and we're left with the rubble.

[thoughtomator]

The reason we need to prove what we say now is that for 8 years, people took Clinton at his word because he was the President of the United States. Once burned, twice shy. But we're getting back to where we once were.

[emcj111]

The possibility of war today between nations has pretty much disappeared, at least for the time being. Why? because the republicans and a few courageous democrats (which have also disappeared) were willing to accept the challenge of the Soviet Union. If we have any hope as a nation, that hope comes from being true to our constitution, values and moral standards,not the values of the French(Think about this). If it takes the French socialist to agree with me to make me feel okay, then certainly I've lost direction and my future.
We are a great country,but will never be perfect. We have done more to help others than any country I know of and will continue to more than our share. Would we be able to those things today if everytime some country disagreed with us we gave up to their way of thinking?

[nathanbedford]

How can you regain credibility which is dependent on credible intelligence when your intelligence assets are so broken they missed 9/11 and the WMDs in Iraq? He is right, intelligence must be fixed. But how can it be fixed when the Democrats' own smoking memo has betrayed them as unfit to manage America's intelligence services because they were caught trying to turn the Senate Intelligence Committee into a clone of the Civil Rights Commission? It is the responsibility of that committee to manage, oversee, and, if necessary lead the reforms which will gain us the intelligence which will keep us safe.

This is why the petty factionalism of the Democrats is so damaging to the nation in time of war. But this message is not being well articulated by Roberts et. al. All the public is hearing is, there they go again, Republicans and Democrats are squabbling.