Yes, we can.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

No, it's not hypocrisy because "meeting with" is not the same as "negotiating with".

Although I'm not sure what you would hope to accomplish by meeting with someone "you can't" negotiate with.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Although I'm not sure what you would hope to accomplish by meeting with someone "you can't" negotiate with.

I've already talked about this before. Information, engagement, knowledge. You will ALWAYS give yourself a better chance of acting intelligently if you have more lines of communication. You don't have to make a deal to gain something out of talks.

What doyu do with that information of course ultimately determines its value, and no amount of talking or information will mean jack-sh*t if you don't act intelligently on it. But to make the blanket statement that you're just going to close your eyes and plug your ears is, to my mind, a guarantee that you'll be working from an incomplete picture to make decisions.

[sleepyjeff]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

But to make the blanket statement that you're just going to close your eyes and plug your ears is, ...

No one has been suggesting that: clearly we do talk and meet with our foes on a lower level basis; but what Obama has suggested in the past(but is running away from now I think) is that He personally should meet with our enemies....and I think Hillary Clinton has the best response to that:

Obama's position was "irresponsible and frankly naive" and said that as president she wouldn't meet leaders such as Fidel Castro or Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

"I don't want to be used for propaganda purposes," she said.

In other words, your very "meeting" with the bad guys, regardless whether you negotiate or give up anything at all, works to their advantage....they can show their people that they are legitimate since they got to meet with the President of the United States.

[wendybeth]

You don't think Sudan isn't playing this up to the hilt? They must be loving the fact that they got the Great Non-Negotiator to enter into talks with them. I love all the relativism being applied around here; it's not okay for one person to say that they would be open to talking with rogue nations, but when your own candidate actually does it then you practically snap in two trying to justify it away.