Ice Cream, while Iran Screams

George Will and Sen. Lugar today:

(WSJ) Conservative columnist George Will, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, dismissed “foolish criticism” of Mr. Obama’s position, noting that past U.S. efforts to urge uprisings, in Hungary against the Soviet Union and in Iraq against Saddam Hussein, led only to bitterness against, and criticism of, Washington.

Mr. Lugar also backed the White House’s approach, saying Washington must continue to focus on Iran’s nuclear program, not the street protests, even if that means direct negotiations with the Teheran regime.

Kissinger:

(NYT) Mr. Obama has won support from across party lines. Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, said on Fox News: “I think the president has handled this well. Anything that the United States says that puts us totally behind one of the contenders, behind Moussavi, would be a handicap for that person,” he said. Mir Hussein Moussavi is the main challenger to the declared victor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

…and Peggy Noonan: (WSJ) “A stifling and corrupt religious autocracy has seen its international standing diminished, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is among other things a Holocaust denier, has in effect been rebuked by half his country, and through free speech, that most painful way to lose your reputation, which has broken out on the streets. … To insist the American president, in the first days of the rebellion, insert the American government into the drama was shortsighted and mischievous. … John McCain and others went quite crazy insisting President Obama declare whose side America was on, as if the world doesn’t know whose side America is on.”

Sounds like the GOP is divided over this.

herman,

Yes, conservatives are divided; we’re a big-tent party, remember?

I appreciate their perspective, but think such fence-sitting will find them on the wrong side of history. George Will’s comparisons are flawed. Shiites were expecting our support militarily, and we failed to stand and deliver. That was our shame. From what I remember of the Hungarian Revolution, it wasn’t so much the U.S. as western radio broadcasts that led Hungarians into the belief that the U.S. was encouraging an uprising that would be supported with military intervention. The thing here is that the U.S. didn’t light the tinder on the Iranian election. The Khomeini Regime is going to accuse us of meddling whether we are, or aren’t. No one is calling for President Obama to drop millions of leaflets into Iran saying, “Revolt, revolt!”

When Reagan said “Tear down this wall”, I don’t recall it harming his further talks with Gorbachev. Of course, again, it’s a bit apples and pears.

I can understand Israel taking the Kissinger position; but the world looks to the U.S. as the beacon of freedom and democracy. Not France. It’s not so much about us “endorsing” Mousavi (who I hope is a different Mousavi than the Mousavi of a week ago- I think standing in the pivotal moments of history has the power to transform individuals), as it is standing upon democratic principles of free elections.

And for an exalted rhetorician of President Obama’s caliber, where everyone gushed over his Cairo New Beginnings speech; where he likes to take credit for having an “Obama Effect”, words matter:

This is the moment we must help answer the call for a new dawn in the Middle East. My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions. We must support the Lebanese who have marched and bled for democracy,

Where are those words now? Now that Iranians are marching and bleeding for reform? Or were they “just words”? Just lofty, empty rhetoric?

This is the moment.

@herman:

Nothing but DC Obamalama group think. Noonan, Lugar and Will have lost the respect of many conservatives awhile ago, they certainly do not speak for me nor will their words change the minds of those doing their own thinking.

The left hated Kissinger as much as they hate Karl Rove. How amusing that you now find him useful.

France, Germany and Great Britain denounced the fraudulent election and treatment of the Iranian people immediately, Obama sat on his thumbs until he thought he needed to wet his finger, he’s weak, Ahmadinejad and Khomeni know it. Now, unfortunately so do the people of Iran.

____________________________________

Nice read:

Hungary 1956, Iran 2009

http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Editorial/262570/

Why would anyone believe the pretender would back freedom and capitalism? His prejudices toward the muslim religion and the culture of islam is more then evident.

Wake up America. Close your eyes, change the name of iran to the United States (when the pretender does his best to complete his agenda of taking over and making us socialistic/communistic) and picture the rioters as American citizens. Yes, this will be our future if the kool aid drinkers don’t educate themselves and base their votes and comments on logic and facts versus emotion.

God Bless America and may she always be free

is it me imagining things, or are all of obama’s secret service guys black? mmm, just an observation. obama is an idiot, and his groupies are idiots. we all know that you cannot spend every waking moment in the situation room thinking of how to save the world, but has this guy even been in the room? has he made a concise stance on anything? i am so glad that while most of us are concerned about iran and are trying to have a normal day, he also has the day off and is running around with how many people on the clock to pick up frozen custard for himself the girls and the dog. what a waste of my money.

It’s 3am, the phone rings, what do you do? You go get ice cream.

If a hurricane hit New Orleans, he’d blame Bush while getting pizza, and (true to his novice, inexperienced, long list of accomplishments) do nothing.

Finally, the American people are realizing this as low approval of his policies is pulling down his popularity/approval rating.

Saw an interesting question Sunday on MTP. Fred Thompson was asked if dbl digit unemployment will hurt dems in midterms. He laughed. I thought to myself, “It probably means that 1:10 voters ain’t gonna vote Dem, and given that Dems took Congress by less than 90k votes in 2006…yeah, it could mean a difference.

The big question I have is why would anyone take anything Henry Kissneger says these days as an informed postion? He failed in his dealings with the Vietnam War and no where has he ever been right in any situation that the news agencies ask him ihs “opinion”.

Hey hypocrite eagle, he did his part and due to that fact, cannot do it anymore. What have you done other than show what a leftwing douche you are?
Jingoistic? You are such an ass.
He was dead right about posters like you and that is what gets under your skin. You are cowards to the core. You’d get on your knees and beg for mercy before you’d fight. Without guys like him you’d be speaking German.

Asshats like you were bashing Bush about Katrina yet gave Clinton a pass on the heatwave that killed people and obama a pass on the icestorms that also killed people.

Shit-for-brains is deleting all of my comments.

Lol, what an intellectually dishonest chickenshit coward. He can’t make up his mind what to do….my comments seem to be back up.

meathead writes:

None of Wordsmith’s comments have been placed in moderation. Occasionally, a comment is incorrectly classified as spam by Spam Karma 2. These are recovered as I learn of them.

Note that Wordsmith refuses to discuss its lie.

Hmm….my first comment published.

2nd and third said “comment awaiting moderation”. 4th one published. First comment disappeared. 4th comment disappeared. Then all comments gone. After my last whining about “free speech”, all of them are now up?

What’s a wingnut to think?

@Wordsmith:
CAREFUL WORDSMITH….

I followed that link you gave to “meathead’s” website, and my AVAST anti-virus program (or the Microsoft VISTA security setting?) gave me this warning…

Reported Attack Site!

This web site at napipsec.net… has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.

Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.

Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.

Needless to say, I prefer to steer clear.

His blog is in the trackback, linking to this post. Calls himself “thinking”meat (minus the quotations, of course).

Wasn’t really interested in debate, hence my ad hominems.

Word, thinking is obviously something he isn’t good at or used to doing.

I feel your lack of patience with his kind. They lie, distort, relentlessly attack, bring up the same discredited claims repeatedly, and it gets old. They are clearly very sick people utterly consumed by their derranged hate and desire to remain in their fantasy world where they hide from reality.

They hate us simply because we not only disagree with them, we inject reality into their house of cards which they have so much self worth invested in.