Posted on 08/02/2007 4:20:03 PM PDT by Bladerunnuh
Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney has cited the social welfare network of the Lebanese Hezbollah terror group as a role model the U.S. should copy to help promote "goodness" and "freedom" around the world.
Sections of Hezbollah's social welfare network, including schools and camps, are routinely used by the terror group to indoctrinate students in anti-Israel propaganda, instruct in military tactics and promote Shiite Islamic beliefs, including the waging of a final, apocalyptic world battle against "evil."
The former Massachusetts governor this weekend was asked during a campaign stop in Iowa whether he would renew President Bush's $50 million campaign to combat AIDS in Africa.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Sure. Knock yourself out.
Yeah, but it did. I have a sneaking feeling that the purpose of his statement was to placate a hostile query.
His point is that if bloodthirsty murderers can build popular support with charity, we can too.
What's wrong with that?
Whose charity? The U.S. taxpayers?
Nevermind...forget I asked. I’m not debating what’s not important.
I would ask a general question though. Does he want to become President of the United States?
Misleading headline.
It stated an objective fact: Hezbollah did deliver many essential services to the population in South Lebanon, like it or not.
Would you say that the statement, "Hitler made the trains run on time" constitutes praise for Hitler?
Whose charity? The U.S. taxpayers?
We already spend over $10 billion in foreign aid. Why not redirect that spending to something like what Romney's suggesting?
WND sinks lower and lower every day. Very sad.
And many sink into the mud with them - reactionaries, people who read a false headline and then post a one-liner. This article was written for ignorant people to misunderstand and run with.
This is why you have Political Correctness, because of infant reactionaries who like to twist very short quotes. I'm posting less and less on the internet because these half-witted ignoramuses just steamroll anything resembling a rational debate. 'Ocean' all right, ocean of mediocrity.
Yep, if it was 1942. You bet I would.
Redirect foreign aid to where Romney suggest? Not for the reasons he suggests it. It wouldn't be charity, it would be politics. And you can bet that's how it would be received. He praised Hezbollah for charitable works, and thus indirectly shakes a disaproving finger of shame at lack of it from other quarters -- mainly, us. *sigh* What a putz.
Sorry, I may end up having to vote for him, but it won't be with anything like enthusiasm.
So in your view it is impermissible to ever acknowledge that your enemy has done something well?
I don’t think it’s hard to figure out what he was in fact talking about, and it’s equally easy to see just how politically tone-deaf he is to use ANY example of Hezbollah behavior and policy as comparable to ANYTHING the US hasn’t in fact already done for decades, long before this current example of the “new” Hezbollah, which is ONLY ABLE TO DO ITs “HUMANITARIAN OUTREACH” because it is funded by big brother Iran and its oil money. Romney should follow the advice of carpenters and “measure twice, cut once”.
see ishabibble’s post:
/focus/f-news/1875478/posts?page=5#5
Mitt not only loves the warfare state but he loves the welfare state. This is the logic of his position. The Paulists have long pointed out that the two go together like hand in glove.
All hail big government at home and overseas. eh? Well, at least Mitt "socialized medicine" is being consistent in his support for the nanny state, internationally as well as domestically.
In my view it is impermissable to do to placate an enemy at home and abroad, which is what I suspect Romney did. I don't read as much "goodness" into it as you do. I read "patronizing" into it.
Placating the enemy for political gain or because it's the easiest (short-term) way out of a difficult situation happened back in the late 1930s, Europe. You may have read about it in history books?
You'd think the US hasn't done anything for anybody from this statement:" That kind of diplomacy is something that would help America become stronger around the world and help people understand that our interest is an interest towards modernity and goodness and freedom for all people in the world. And so, I want to see America carry out that kind of health diplomacy.”
Washington -- President Bush signed into law November 14 a $20.9 billion foreign spending bill for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2006 (FY06).
A committee of Senate and House of Representatives negotiators agreed to the final version of the bill in early November. The House adopted the measure November 4 by a vote of 358-39 and the Senate by a 91-0 vote on November 10.
The measure provides $2.8 billion to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis worldwide, exceeding by $258 million the amount requested by President Bush and by $629 million the 2005 appropriated amount.
MIDDLE EAST, SOUTH ASIA, SUDAN
• Israel -- $2.3 billion in military aid -- a $60 million increase over 2005 levels -- and $240 million in economic assistance;
• Egypt -- $1.3 billion in military aid and $495 million in economic assistance, provided that Egypt undertakes "significant economic and political reforms which are additional to those which were undertaken in previous fiscal years";
• Jordan -- $250 million in economic assistance;
• West Bank and Gaza -- $2 million in development assistance for programs to be administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID);
The bill also provides $430 million for Afghanistan -- more than double the 2005 amount; $300 million in military aid for Pakistan; $70 million for development assistance for Sudan; and $10 million in economic support for the states of the former Soviet Union.
GLOBAL AID PROGRAMS
• $791 million for migration and refugee assistance;
• $477.2 million for narcotics control and law enforcement and $734.5 million to support counterdrug activities in the Andean region of South America;
• $410.1 million to support nonproliferation, anti-terrorism and demining;
• $322 million for the Peace Corps;
• $95 million to promote democracy and improvements in the governance, human rights and independent media of emerging economies;
• $80 million for the Global Environment Facility, which helps developing countries fund programs related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants; and
• $4 million for programs that address the needs and protect the rights of people with disabilities in developing countries.
INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
• $950 million for the International Development Agency (IDA), the arm of the World Bank Group that provides long-term interest-free loans and grants to the poorest developing countries; and
• $100 million for the Asian Development Fund, $3.64 million for the African Development Bank, $135.7 million for the African Development Fund and $1.74 million to the Enterprise for the Americas Multilateral Investment Fund.
To help enhance military security the bill provides $30 million to the Philippines, $3 million to Mongolia; and $1 million each to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Cambodia.
Legislators reduced to $61 million the amount for reconstruction programs in Iraq, saying funds remain from money already appropriated for Iraq. The administration had requested $459 million.
The funding measure would also provide $65 million for the sale, reduction or cancellation of debt owed to the United States by eligible poor countries.
Bush Signs $20.9 Billion 2006 Foreign Aid Spending Measure
This was for fiscal year 2006.
So, Romney's plan is to just "Be sweet, sing "Kumbaya", hand out MORE taxpayer dollars and the jihadists will love us?"
Just what we need.
Attempting to learn from you enemy's successes, in order to defeat them, does not constitute placation.
No one said it did. Publicly praising a terrorist organization in campaign speeches IS most probably inspired by a desire to placate hostile factions.
That's the difference you are unwilling to acknowledge. Placating and political correctness, rather than a desire to "learn from your enemy's successes," seems Romney's probable motivation.
Did you even read the speech in which he made the remarks?
He didn't praise them. He simply stated a fact: they got political support by providing services to people in South Lebanon, and that we could use a similar strategy.
The speech was about the strategies we could use to win the war on terror.
Please, read the speech before you make unsupported accusations like that.
Here's the deal. He can squawk all he wants about his "health care diplomacy" as a great way to win the hearts and minds of enemies. That's one thing. But WHY even mention Hezbollah? Why not "learn from our enemies" without revealing where we learned it? There's a wise old prescription somewhere that recommends that you "do your alms in secret." In other words, to do charitable works anonymously. It's kind of like that -- if Romney's REAL TRUE desire was to help people in other countries get better, and to help America further its goals for freedom, he would never have felt the need to even mention where he got the idea.
Stating facts is only half the story. WHY one is stating particular facts is the other half. You're looking at one half; I'm trying to look at both and put it in perspective. Besides, I don't like Romney's affinity for governnment handouts, and this is just one more example of his willingness to take MY and YOUR money that is taken from us by force, to redistribute to others.
In my view it is impermissable to do to placate an enemy at home and abroad, which is what I suspect Romney did. I don't read as much "goodness" into it as you do. I read "patronizing" into it.Bingo. Ever heard of aid and comfort? Obama wants to chat with our enemeies, but Mitt wants to emulate them. Unbelievable!
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