The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I am not surprised that the Palestinians voted as they did. They danced in the streets when 9/11 happened (prior to "pulling the rug out from under them", as you put it), and financially support suicide bombers killing innocent civilians. I think this is exactly what was expected. What happened is we went from a position of having to deal with Arafat and the PLO, who were never interested in peace (as Clinton was able to demonstrate when he got Isreal to agree to 96% of the land the Palestinians were demanding and they turned it down), to having exposed them as a country that truly does not desire peace in that they elected Hamas, who as a group has sworn to eliminate Isreal.

You see bullying. I see great foreign policy.

Once again you've narrowed your view to an isolated situation, rather than the world perspective. I told you I don't disagree with the decission to not deal with Hamas. I disgree with us throwing our weight around spouting our ideals when we (correctly) don't hold to them when it's convenient for us.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Once again you've narrowed your view to an isolated situation, rather than the world perspective. I told you I don't disagree with the decission to not deal with Hamas. I disgree with us throwing our weight around spouting our ideals when we (correctly) don't hold to them when it's convenient for us.

Once again you fail to see the uniqueness of this situation.

I understand you agree with the decision, and you clearly stated so. I think you are misreading what happened. There was an election. We have not gone in and overthrown the government and installed a different one. We have simply said "OK, you've made you choice. We don't support terrorist governments." It is most certainly holding to two of our foreign policy philosophies, being the pursuit of democratically elected governments and not dealing with terrorists. It is completely consistent with our stated foreign policy goals.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Once again you fail to see the uniqueness of this situation.

I understand you agree with the decision, and you clearly stated so. I think you are misreading what happened. There was an election. We have not gone in and overthrown the government and installed a different one. We have simply said "OK, you've made you choice. We don't support terrorist governments." It is most certainly holding to two of our foreign policy philosophies, being the pursuit of democratically elected governments and not dealing with terrorists. It is completely consistent with our stated foreign policy goals.

I understand all that. But from the perspective of the citizens of the countries we've invaded and have threatened to invade, that's not the message. When we spend 3 years spewing rhetoric about freedom, this looks like complete undermining of what we're spouting.

Madeningly, so much can be fixed simply with a change of attitude, not a change of action. If Bush had focused on the situation at hand, rather than going on and on about the spread of freedom across the world, it wouldn't look nearly as bad. But all of his posturing has set us up to look like bullies.

[Gemini Cricket]

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Wednesday he is resigning, continuing a shakeup in President Bush's administration that has already yielded a new chief of staff and could lead to a change in the Cabinet.

In another move in an ongoing shakeup of the White House staff, longtime confidant and adviser Karl Rove is giving up oversight of policy development to focus more on politics with the approach of the fall midterm elections, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Source