124 Comments

1. Brendan:

I have been wondering if Richard Gere would make a comment. It’s worth noting that some entertainment world biggies have gotten past their lefty instincts to recognize President Bush’s fundamental commitment to human rights. I’m thinking of Bono and Bob Geldof… are there any others?

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:33 am 2. Good Ole Charlie:

Why are we surprised? The general opinion of HBO is that he runs a trifecta: a) stupid, b) dishonest, and c) anti-American. A typical product of inner city malignant politics…with a penchant for nasty dictators and wealthy oil kingdoms.
He’s “acting it out” in the only way he knows how…

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:56 am 3. Pajamas Media » Tibet Forsaken: Obama Loses the Richard Gere Vote:

[...] Read the entire article here. [...]

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:33 am 4. Dee:

Well Roger, we live in interesting times. As time goes by we will go from interesting to distressing.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:51 am 5. billslayer:

My recommendation to the Dalai Lama:Wear jackboots! Nothing Makes Sweet Little Barry Happier than licking jackboots!

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:57 am 6. TomF:

At least he is consistent in trying to placate our enemies.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:00 am 7. bbbeard:

Is anyone actually surprised that Obama is unable to acknowledge a country that is the living example of Communist oppression? Tibet just doesn’t fit into his worldview.

BBB

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:05 am 8. Sherab Zangpo:

All this is very sad.

The commander in chief of the most powerful country on earth is too afraid to meet a very old man, whose country has been eaten by a totalitarian ogre FIFTY YEARS AGO (1959, I believe is the date of the escape of the Dalai Lama from Lhasa, but you better check).
And in this year anniversary of one of the most horrific communist crimes (although it IS difficult to classify which communist crimes are the worst, since the list is very very long), the CiC is afraid of the same communist ogre.
Boo boo CiC ! The Chinese own our debt !
Bow and lick the chinese boot !

VERY sad.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

PS Maybe he is not afraid, maybe he is just the Communist in Chief.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:06 am 9. Sherab Zangpo:

OK, I checked, YES, it is the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising against the Chinese invaders and the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama escape from Lhasa.

This Comunist in Chief is good with anniversaries, first Poland and the missiles, now Tibet.

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:09 am 10. Nancy Lopez:

I guess that’s the limit of the president’s “multi-culturalism.”

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:12 am 11. Sherab Zangpo:

#10 Nancy

Multi-culturalism is just another term for
marxism-leninism. Exactly like “environmentalism” and a whole bunch of other ad hoc ideologies (which “hoc” ? the destruction of the free economy).

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:15 am 12. glenn:

Never send a callow youth to do a mans work.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:36 am 13. qwfwq:

Has there ever been a leader of a western democracy more worthless than Obama?

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:41 am 14. Sherab Zangpo:

#13

Neville Chamberlain

(But O has the HOPE to become the first of the list by allowing Iran to go nuclear)

Thank you for the opportunity to comment.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:49 am 15. SjB:

“In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States…”

May I complete this sentence?

… is acting like a high school girl who wants to be part of the IN crowd and ends up being a slut.

Ugh.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:55 am 16. pl:

Of course, out of respect to China, he’d have the Dalai Lama’s meeting postponed.

The Chinese are our banker. Give it a rest with the human rights thing. Our need for money trumps all. Money for health care, money to rebuild Gaza, money for more unemployment benefits, money for the war in Afghanistan.

Talk about biting the hand that feeds. Insulting the Chinese by upstaging them.

If anything it goes to show what a bunch of amateurs the Obama staff are.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:09 am 17. Poor Citizen:

Since Nixon’s great visit to china both parties have been on a “hands off” when it comes to china’s internal affairs other than lip service. Except when it comes to Taiwan. The under story is simple, Taiwan and Hong Kong are left alone and Tibet is on its own. I do not see that changing with this administration either. Cuba, maybe, China, .. no. Its just one too many issues for this young presidency, his plate is already bursting. The second term? my vote remains a firm no…

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:13 am 18. chuck:

“Has there been a worse president in our lifetime?”

Coming up with a timespan for comparative incompetence has been a part time hobby of mine since the election. I would say that Obama is the worst president in 150 years. The timespan might be greater if I knew enough about some of the earlier presidents to make a judgement.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:24 am 19. Mike K:

#13

Neville Chamberlain

I disagree. As disastrous as Chamberlain’s polices were, he had the excuse that World War I was widely believed to have been preventable and was the worst carnage since Rome fell. He kept England from the worst of the Depression and one reason why Churchill got so little traction was the success of the Conservative Party in domestic affairs. Obama, on the other hand, has none of those excuses. When McChrystal resigns or retires rather than carry out Biden’s new policy in Afghanistan, Obama will have a full blown crisis on his hands.

And it will arrive just as war with Iran becomes a serious issue.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:30 am 20. Dissing the Dalai Lama? That’s kinda like spitting in Mother Theresa’s face. « Diary of a Mad Conservative:

[...] Dissing the Dalai Lama? That’s kinda like spitting in Mother Theresa’s face. Jump to Comments Tibet: Now Obama loses the Richard Gere vote [...]

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:59 am 21. bgates:

How about the staff? During the campaign Obama’s supporters pointed to a list of advisors that included Buffett, Volker, and other old white guys who haven’t been heard from since November. Since January we’ve been treated to Tim Geithner, who’s probably stealing utensils from the Treasury cafeteria as I write; Van Jones, the answer to the question “what’s black and green and red all over”; the czar in charge of making schools safe for NAMBLA; and the Latina who was so wise she knew she had to repudiate her transparent racism even in front of a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate.

Sotomayor provides a nice segue into another of Obama’s unfulfilled promises (not the one about not raising taxes, everybody knew that was a lie), the one about leading America past racial tension. His administration’s efforts here have involved a two-pronged strategy of opposing the white person in any dispute involving people of more than one race, and characterizing any opposition to him as racist.

Obama will be remembered as the most disastrous head of state in the Americas since Montezuma.

Oct 5, 2009 - 12:02 pm 22. Sandra:

Hey, you guys…watch it. Any criticism of The One is now considered racist.

Oct 5, 2009 - 12:37 pm 23. GREGORY E. MUFFITT:

Tibet is one of at least four countries that wlll see the underside of the bus as Obama presents rearward to the world. Others are Israel, Taiwan, South Korea and Hondouras. They will see the results of being America’s ally that were experienced by Hungary,
South Vietnam and the Iraqui Kurds, among others.

Oct 5, 2009 - 12:42 pm 24. Substance McGravitas:

Has there been a worse president in our lifetime than Barack Obama?

Of course. He was called George W. Bush.

Oct 5, 2009 - 12:56 pm 25. Allston:

Not even close, McGravitas…not even close.

Oct 5, 2009 - 1:01 pm 26. Substance McGravitas:

Not even close, McGravitas…not even close.

Obama has a long way to go to beat the record of W. Invading the wrong country, eating cake while New Orleans sunk, presiding over the meltdown of the banking sector… Without making any claims at all for the worth of Obama – seriously! – it’s going to take some serious incompetence to make the idiot list in the way Bush did.

Oct 5, 2009 - 1:07 pm 27. SukieTawdry:

At least when we used to cozy up to dictators, there was an arguably “good” (read: pragmatic) reason for it. This guy cozies up out of a shared affinity. And an element of envy, I think. Like Tom Friedman said, things would be so much easier if we only had a government like China’s.

Oct 5, 2009 - 1:12 pm 28. Ratatosk:

I don’t give a shit about that two-bit theocratic dictator. Tibet is the lame argument that both sides love to haul up… but not so many like looking at the truth. Before the Chinese Thugs and their communistic Dictator, Tibet was run by the Dalai Lama and his pack of priests with the whole country playing servants and slaves of their system.

The poor sods aren’t any better off under Communist rule, but I personally puke a little in my throat when I see the oppressor play the oppressed. In fact, this article made me puke a little in my throat, I thought I could trust conservatives to remember the facts, rather than get consumed by Anything But Obama.

Oct 5, 2009 - 2:05 pm 29. Thomas_L......:

Well then there’s that Ratatosk. Still, I don’t think we should be praising the Chinese for “liberating” Tibet from themselves. They may have been able to work it out without Mao’s help. Obama’s more concerned with getting his lefty friend back into power in Honduras and making sure those pesky Iranian demonstrators are not screwing up his “talks” to worry about Tibet. His followers are more concerned with Roman Polanski’s continued freedom than than the freedom of Tibetans. What kind of movies do they make?

Oct 5, 2009 - 2:17 pm 30. Gracie:

I do not support Obama. However, I feel he has no choice in the matter at this point in history. China holds our purse strings.

Plus Obama would have found a way to embarrass the Dalai Lama.

Oct 5, 2009 - 3:25 pm 31. RightwingHippyChick:

You guys need to set up an ObamaFAIL list, and keep that permanently scrolling on the side, like a modern kind of memorial, of all the causes and people he has let down, thrown under the bus, pointedly ignored, etc, of all the promises he has broken, projects he has messed up, cash he has wasted(count this in man years or paying tax, not only in $$$) and so on.

Preferably make it so one can put it on a website as a gadget, so it can make the rounds, let we forget.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:01 pm 32. xiphos:

Read the topic “Did We Elect a Beta Male As President?” at the American Thinker and then decide.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:11 pm 33. Marina:

So, Richard Gere has expected a Marxist to take a side of a Marxist-occupied country? Are you sure? Of course, after the “Free Polanski” petition no one expects any brain activity in Hollywood, but that…
On the other hand, the majority of the American Jews still expects a Jew-hater to protect Israel. Sounds like bad writing, but creepily isn’t.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:18 pm 34. Fantom:

13. qwfwq:

Carter?

But I think, at the rate our Present-dent is going, we will wish we had carter back in office.

Oct 5, 2009 - 4:39 pm 35. misanthropicus:

Poor Hollywood! Now this! Indignity & betrayal after indignity & betrayal!
And when you think that liberals complained that Bill Clinton triangulated too much!

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:01 pm 36. Mike K:

In fact, this article made me puke a little in my throat, I thought I could trust conservatives to remember the facts, rather than get consumed by Anything But Obama.

Yes, we remember. One of the most pro-American countries in the world is Mongolia. Every neighbor of China hopes we will help them hold off the Han Chinese. The Tibetans were too passive but the Mongolians have Genghis Khan’s portrait on their money. They just want us to teach them how to take off the safety on the weapon. They will handle the rest. I don’t think even Obama could get them under the bus.

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:11 pm 37. misanthropicus:

RE #28/Ratatosk: [...] I don’t give a shit about that two-bit theocratic dictator. [...] I thought I could trust conservatives to remember the facts, rather than get consumed by Anything But Obama. [...]

Rata, selective objective analyst – had Obama accepted to see the Dalai Lama, you sure would be stratospherical over the phenomenal achievements of Tibet as a culture, of the Dalai Lama as the epitome of the humankind (??), and you would have shamed Christians and others mercilessly comparing them with the Buddhist monks etc. etc.

But now, poor thing, what can you do? I simply pity you, Obamatons, when I see the despair overcoming your ranks when having to defend Obama’s rank opportunism.
Ok, Rata, blame the conservatives in this matter too – by the way, apparently you haven’t got the latest hymn page RE the Olympics: Obama couldn’t bring the Olympics to America because Ronald Reagan, who infuriated everyone on the planet by boycotting the Moscow Olympics -

Oct 5, 2009 - 5:12 pm 38. Minerva:

Roger, forget Tibet. If he were alive, today would your father have been taking care of his patients or sitting in the Rose Garden wearing a government-issue white smock?

Oct 5, 2009 - 6:44 pm 39. Xcontra:

Can’t see the Dalai Lama. What a whimp.

Maybe this guy really IS a communist. It’s amazing.

Oct 5, 2009 - 6:47 pm 40. Chicago:

Obama does not respect any religion other than Islam. he snubs the national prayer day yet honors the start of Ramadan. he bows to the King of Saudi Arabia, yet snubs the Dalai Lama.

those who can’t see which religion Obama is loyal are simply blind.

Oct 5, 2009 - 6:54 pm 41. Chileno:

Why so surprised? After all, last February our Secretary of State said that she would not let Chinese human rights issues “interfere” with other important issues, like global climate change… (Yes because Chinese human rights are subordinate to climate change, unlike foreign terrorists’ human rights, which are not subordinate to anything, not even national security… Didn’t you know?)

This is yet another example of Obama’s “sacrificial appeasement” foreign policy, where we sacrifice those who should be our friends, in the hopes of making peace with our enemies.

Thus:
- We sacrifice Israel to appease the Arabs.
- We sacrifice the Iranian protestors to appease the Ayatollahs.
- We sacrifice Honduras to appease Chavez.
- We sacrifice the Sudanese refugees to appease the Sudanese government/the Arab League.
- We sacrifice the Cuban protestors/exiles in order to appease Fidel/Raul & Co.
- We sacrifice our Polish/Czech allies to appease the Russians.
- And now, we sacrifice the Dalai Lama/Tibet to appease the Chinese.

Pity Obama doesn’t realize that “sacrificial appeasement” will simply leave us with fewer friends and bolder enemies.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:25 pm 42. vjie king:

Who is Dalai Lama? Is he a god (6 m Tibetans are led to believe that he is), or a monk (that’s what he claims to be) or a political leader (which he in fact is)? An elected leader? Of a legally constituted “government”? Not a single nation, certainly not US, UK or India, recognises Tibet other than recogising it as part of China. His continual preaching of democracy and human rights may appeal to the West, but rings hollow for one who, not so ago, ruled over a population of serfs and slaves, and the abolition of this inhuman exploitation explains his present self-created situation.

So why the big fuss? Why do Western leaders continue to meet the DL? It’s not because the Americans or the French or the Poles love the Tibetans or, for that matter, Asians or Africans, that were once enslaved, slaughtered and exploited by all the colonial powers over the past 300 years. The answer may be inferred from the following: Indians have always mourned that Nehru got nothing out of recognising China’s sovereignty over Tibet; more recently, the British public also asked what Britain got from eventually recogising China’s sovereignty over Tibet. The Dalai Lama is a convenient tool of the West, the Tibet card, used to pressure China into giving concessions. Hence the Sarkozies, the Merks,and the like. And of course having a picture taken with the smiling monk goes a long way towards resuscitating one’s falling stars, as the Geres might, no doubt, have discovered.

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:28 pm 43. alex:

What is truly concerning is lack of Historical context.

Britain Invaded Tibet in 1888 and again in 1904, slaughtered thousands without remorse and unnecessarily. Britain invaded Tibet to create a buffer zone for their colonial holding in India, and was desired as part of opium wars since the early 1800’s by western powers.

Tibet was part of China for hundreds of years, during the two world wars British and American supported Tibetan aristocracy attempted to declare Independence, China quashed the uprising. The CIA was involved in Tibetan uprising after WW2 to offset Chinese victory after their boy Chiang Kai Shek lost to Mao.
CIA was in this up to their elbows along with the British, it was the cold war thing to do.

Doesn’t anyone study History any longer, or is Poly Sci 101 enough to get by on..?

Oct 5, 2009 - 7:53 pm 44. Judy, NYC:

obama is actually pat buchanan (never having seen the two together, how can we be sure?). as we all know, buchanan has never met a nazi he didn’t like and the same can be said for “obama”, who has so far never met a vile, low, filthy fascist dictator he doesn’t like. maybe its their pheremones.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:23 pm 45. Instapundit » Blog Archive » TIBET: Now Obama Loses the Richard Gere Vote. Plus, from the comments: “Obama will be remembere…:

[...] TIBET: Now Obama Loses the Richard Gere Vote. [...]

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:29 pm 46. The Mad Parson » The Obama Administration Picks China Over The Dalai Lama:

[...] I’m not the only one thinking of an officer and a gentleman. Digg [...]

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:37 pm 47. Blackwater:

Some leftists used to be very passionate about Tibetan independence so you’d think we could agree here. But nope, leftists are facist commi lovers at heart who will support whatever their messiah does no matter what.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:41 pm 48. Redman:

Only the liberals are surprised at what Bambi does, the conservatives had him correctly pegged long before the election. The only way he could become president was if the GOP ran a cadaver against him; so, with the endorsement of the NYT, the GOP did just that.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:43 pm 49. John Steele:

I knew we were in trouble when the election results came in. But i never thought I would see my country dismantled THIS fast. I’m no longer sure that a 2010 turnover in Congress can stop the slide into decline. Its clear that it doesn’t concern Obama in the least.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:44 pm 50. Michael:

The only comparison I can think of is when Jimmy Carter returned the Crown of St. Stephen to the communist government of Hungary. But this is much worse in many ways.

Oct 5, 2009 - 8:48 pm 51. Chris S.:

Hello Alex,

Tibet was part of China for hundreds of years,
Yes, yes- as was Korea, Okinawa, and the island of Java . . .

during the two world wars British and American supported Tibetan aristocracy
As in recognizing Tibet as the independent nation it was? What other support was given?

attempted to declare Independence,
Well, both China and Tibet indeed gained independence from the Manchus around 1911. Tibet retained its independence until the 1950s. China, on the other hand, was alternately a Japanese and Soviet client state until then.

China quashed the uprising.
Yeah, sure- in 1959.

The CIA was involved in Tibetan uprising after WW2 to offset [the Soviets'] Chinese [Communist Party] victory after their boy Chiang Kai Shek lost to [Stalin's boy]Mao.
CIA was in this up to their elbows along with the British, it was the cold war thing to do.
Fighting Koba the Dread? Yeah, we’d do it all over again if we had to [but maybe with a lot more gusto].

Doesn’t anyone study History any longer, or is Poly Sci 101 enough to get by on..?
I couldn’t agree more- Political “Science” is bullcrap.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:02 pm 52. gk1:

Much too soon to be writing obama’s political epitaph, but I would agree it’s rather worrysome how out of his element he seems. His presentation to the IOC was a jarring eye opener what few tools he has to work with.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:03 pm 53. Mike G in Corvallis:

Ratatosk and alex remind me of John Derbyshire’s observation:

“Wherever there is a jackboot stomping on a human face there will be a well-heeled Western liberal to explain that the face does, after all, enjoy free health care and 100 percent literacy.”

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:11 pm 54. Fat Man:

“Obama will be remembered as the most disastrous head of state in the Americas since Montezuma.”

@ #21. bgates: Brilliant! Thank you.

The real problem here is that if we want to continue to run trillion dollar deficits, we will have to make Hu Jintao happy.

Of course, we could try to spend less.

Nah, that will never work.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:18 pm 55. Uncle Dan:

C’mon Geldof, Bono and Gere! Ante up! Time to admit you’ve been had! Obama plainly ignored the Dalai Lama in favor of a brutal dictatorship. Never mind who did it before, Obama was going to be the Savior of the World! What happened? Where is the outrage from the Left? Are YOU all ready to throw the Dalai Lama under the bus for this jackass in the White House?

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:20 pm 56. TacoBill:

As a hand picked, media created, media protected marionette for Soros and the dark Marxists fascists , O’s strings are just beginning to become visible to those who care to look. The dozens of meticulously scrubbed records of college admissions, college life, State Department passport history, and the hidden use of an Indonesian passport in traveling to Pakistan, the complete paucity of the reasonable and logical paper trails that accompanies any American citizen, all stink with the fingerprints of the Pervoye Glavnoye Upravleniye (PGU), the First Chief Directorate of the KGB.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:25 pm 57. tortillapete:

But Montezuma’s revenge is firmer, and doesn’t smell as bad…Barack makes the first President I voted against (guess who) look like Charles Bronson by comparison…

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:28 pm 58. Ogre:

Michael, the crown and scepter were returned because it didn’t belong to us. The only reason we had it was to keep the Soviet Union from stealing it. At the time it was returned, world politics were such that the Soviets would not have been able to steal it. To the Hungarians, the crown and scepter are pretty much holy items. It was a HUGE deal that we returned it and helped make them our friends. They did not forget that friendly gesture when communism fell.

Full disclosure, I was married to a Hungarian citizen. I visited their national museum and viewed the crown and scepter (of which my wife was very proud of). They were rather ugly, actually. I was wise enough to keep my mouth shut,though.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:30 pm 59. Tournefort:

“Obama has a long way to go to beat the record of W. Invading the wrong country, eating cake while New Orleans sunk, presiding over the meltdown of the banking sector… .”

Wrong country? What other country had refused to provide a full declaration of all its WMD programs proving it had totally disarmed to UN inspectors, a 12-year violaltion of cease-fire conditions?

I believe it was the mayor of New Orleans, the guy with “first responder” responsibility, who sat around eating cake while New Orleans sank.

What president warned about Freddie and Fannie in his annual budget summissions for 8 years and repeatedly called for GSE reform throughout his presidency while good ole’ Barney and friends assured us there were no problems?

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:31 pm 60. ajm:

Well, I find this one hard to chew. Actually, the DL is a even worse leader than Obama. More on the left side, quite seriously on the theocratic side, definitely on the looser side. And: how much of his good reputation in the West does he owe to Hollywood?

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:41 pm 61. Concerned Citizen:

****The real problem here is that if we want to continue to run trillion dollar deficits, we will have to make Hu Jintao happy.****

I’m not sure there is enough money in China or the rest of the world to support the spending Obama has in mind. The Dalai Lama was expendable and doesn’t help our country on the path to it’s glorious Communist Future.

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:45 pm 62. gloria:

Do you think the fact that the Dalai Lama had remarked that GWB was a good leader and good person has something to do with the slight???

Oct 5, 2009 - 9:56 pm 63. Pete:

Mr. Simon:

You are far too kind regarding Obama, ACORN and Chicago. It is a morale and ethical failure of the highest magnitude that the massive election fraud that stole the election for Obama has remained unchallenged. ACORN was registering 6-year olds and dead people for the vote. These are standard “Chicago way” tactics, but they cannot be allowed to survive, even thrive, in our national political culture. Where are our prosecutors, judges, journalists, election judges, and the others who should be – but are not – raising the outcry?
This is not about politics, I did not vote for Obama, but would be equally disturbed if a Republican had committed election fraud.
My concern is the integrity of the process, which has suffered a horrific blow. Why the silence from inside-the-beltway GOP leaders? Could it be that they too have benefitted from crooked votes?

Our fighting men have died to protect our right to the vote; we dishonor their memories by allowing the process to be corrupted, and then doing nothing about it.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:00 pm 64. Higgins1990:

When I think of the worst Presidents ever, Buchanan and Pierce come to mind, but they were pre-Civil war. Obama has already fallen past Carter, though. Remember when the MSM were comparing Obama to Lincoln, FDR and JFK? LOL!

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:06 pm 65. Pragmatist:

#41 Chileno your list can be summed up in four words ‘Obama is a Mohemmedan”

OBMA = ACORN, ACORN = OBAMA

OBAMA + ACORN = RACIST CORRUPTION
OBAMA + UNIONS = RACIST/COMMUNIST CORRUPTION.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:13 pm 66. Terry, Eilat - Israel:

Obama’s foreign policy in a nutshell: Appease your enemies & screw your friends. The man is a moral midget.

Oct 5, 2009 - 10:19 pm 67. Richard:

Tibet stands as an example of the effectiveness of Pacifism.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:01 pm 68. Gregory Koster:

Dear Mr. Simon: It’s not easy to disagree with you AND the estimable Instalanched bgates, but I do. There are three years and three odd months of The One’s term left, minimum. If you are shouting WORST this early on, what’s going to happen when, say, Iran fires a nuke? Or the Chinese decide to stop buying half the Treasuries they are now, driving interest rates to the roof? See what I mean? Historical comparison: if you thought that 1862 was the worst year in history for the Union, what would 1863-64 have done to you? Economically, I wouldn’t have wanted to live through the 1893-94 recession, when there was no safety net, period.

We’ve got a long pull ahead of us, one that is going to require stamina and steadiness. Otherwise we’ll sound just like the Left did on Iraq from 2004-7, and look even more silly than they did, having far more intelligence and willingness to listen to the opposition. Unlike Substance McGravitas, I have ever confidence that The One will be as dreadful as you say. But we’re going to have to live through every one of these days. This, I think, will inoculate the country against Leftism for another generation. The task now is to remake the GOP into a party fit to govern. The booting of Don Young, Alaska’s grafter-in-chief and longtime GOP Representative, is an example of what I mean. I think a great test of Sarah Palin would be what she sez and does to old Don.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:09 pm 69. Stevemmn:

It would be unfair to rate a president as worst ever before his term is up (although liberals were calling Bush worst ever 2 full years before his term was over.)

However, It is safe to say that no president in history has fallen so far so fast as Obama. At this juncture Bush was popular, Herbert Hoover hadn’t faced the crash yet, and even the pathetically incompetent Jimmy Carter was still fairly well regarded.

Let’s just say that if the presidency were a horse race Obama would be 30 lengths down and not even out of the starting gate yet.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:15 pm 70. oldhippie:

Gravitas? I know you have an education and it elicits memories of all my capital city friends who are intelligent, educated, involved… and clueless.

Focusing simply on the nola issue for a moment? It is not the job of the federal government to wipe your butt. Expanding that circle slightly, it is not their job to mow your lawn. Expanding ever outward, it is not their job to fix your streets, run your library, plow your road, run your phone company, etc., etc.

There were dozens of school buses ruined in the Katrina crises and guess what? It was never George W. Bush’s job to put them into use as part of the evacuation process. Here’s a quick IQ test for ya: Whose fault was it?

Hmm… I hear crickets. Again.

Oct 5, 2009 - 11:40 pm 71. Miriam:

Chileno (#41), well said.

Oct 6, 2009 - 12:17 am 72. joel:

Please stop pounding on Neville Chamberlain.

He is my hero. He declared war on Hitler, and convinced the French to come along with him. That is something FDR didn’t do.

Everybody dumps on Neville over Munich, forgetting that the Poles and Hungarians grabbed their piece, or that the Czechoslovak state was an entirely artificial creation of the Treaty Of Versailles, a treaty to which the Germans had not been invited to negotiate.

Do you care to recall the fate of the ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia after WW II. Do you care to remember the the Czechoslovak state was broken up by the Czechs and Slovaks themselves?

Bah. A curse upon your houses!

Oct 6, 2009 - 1:53 am 73. Rob Smith:

Czechoslovak state was an entirely artificial creation of the Treaty Of Versailles, a treaty to which the Germans had not been invited to negotiate.

Hmm, I wonder why that was…..

Oct 6, 2009 - 2:55 am 74. JFM:

Has there ever been a leader of a western democracy more worthless than Obama?

Neville Chambermain

Nope. Neville Chamberlain was neither stupid nor weak just sincerely committed to peace. Whatever his failures at Munich once Hitler violated their agreement it was the same much maligned Nevaille Chamberlain who declared war and nominated Winston Churchill as Lord of the Admiralty (in US terms: Secretary of State for the Navy) who had been a political corpse for over a decade.

Neville Chamberlain made only one mistake. Obama has already made a dozen of them. Assumming these are mistakes.

Oct 6, 2009 - 3:48 am 75. Mike Jefferson:

It’s patently unfair to compare Obama to Carter or Chamberlain. Say what you want about the later two men, but they did have some accomplishments in their respective positions. The same can not be said of Obama who has accomplished little during his brief tenure. If one were trying to compare Obama to any leader of the modern era – and I don’t think that is entirely possible – I suspect that he would be closer to Von Hindenburg as President of Germany though VH was not as much of an egoist as Obama.

Oct 6, 2009 - 3:48 am 76. AQUA:

to 28 Ratatosk

Nah, if it were really true that the Dalai Lama was an oppressive dictator, Obama would embrace him

– whether it would harm us and our borrowing and indebtedness “relations” with China or not.

Am waiting in anticipation of Obama’s photo-op BOWING TO HU JINTAO

as he did to the Saudi King — and the Russians in spirit — and A’Jad by lack of action.

Oct 6, 2009 - 4:11 am 77. freebootrr:

xiphos asked: “Did We Elect a Beta Male As President?”

No, we did not. A beta male would take Obama’s lunch money and make him cry. We would have to go travel much further into the Greek alphabet to find the apposite letter.

How about Iota Male? “Iota” connotes something miniscule, as in Mr. Obama’s stature as a leader of men (and women). stature

Oct 6, 2009 - 4:12 am 78. Phyllis:

Yes, we have a communist for president, far along in destroying our freedoms and economy. But the real horror is the CLUELESSNESS of sleeping America, who won’t sense a problem till the lights go out and there’s no food.

The lapdog media keep up the mental-morphine drip and it feels so much better not to think. Alas!

Oct 6, 2009 - 4:52 am 79. seansarto:

Being in China, I begin to think that the Chinese long ago gave up thinking for the betterment of mankind and instead have chosen to focus only on the betterment of themselves….(I have no comment concerning Tibet)..Many of my experiences with my associates and general population here have been imbued with petty jealousies, slights, resentments and contrivances when sound reasoning counters or offends their collective ego….It is never forthright in its occurrence…Never face to face, which means they are scared but that they mean to fight…and if not that, then undermine somehow. Without instigation, they intentionally budge in front of line….They intentionally taunt you…They intentionally cut you off….They intentionally laugh at you…charge you higher prices and feign ignorance when it is to their advantage to do so..(For instance, it is Autumn Festival here, perhaps the most important Holiday for the Chinese. First, they went to a great extent to impress upon me the importance of this holiday to the CHINESE people and then they went to an equal extent in offering me no opportunity nor invitation of being included in the celebrations,(even went as far as ask me to teach them songs they could play at their parties…without inviting me)….As if to say “No one is alone except YOU on Autumn Festival days!”….I know if it had been Christmas in America, out of sheer courtesy it is custom to at least invite a stranger to such an occasion after promoting it’s significance to one’s own culture. They seem to prefer a competitive edge over shows of sincerity as if they are always conniving to seem more important than you…The slight is like a commodity for them in that.)
Now I do not like to talk in generalizations about the “Chinese”, but they DO seem to operate like a collective unit more frequently then not ( I experienced the same from the African Americans in Altadena, CA)…I would also reiterate that they also act like the high school girl, but more in a ‘taunting the disciplinarian” way so that they can cry “wolf!” to another or the slut bent on forcing a community to show her respect and gain acceptance through the empowerments that her manipulations provides her (i.e. Having sex with the principal because he is the principal.)…but I have also found that IS the consensus of the IN CROWD today in either America or China….Neither seems interested in reining it in. It’s “c**k teasing” married to “machismo”. (That’s why the Hollywood stripes feel obligated to defend Polanski/OJ/R. Blake….. (On a side note, perhaps the “yellow face” was implied in Polanski’s milieu of corruption in “Chinatown”…That being said, he should have gone to jail a long time ago so he wouldn’t HAVE to go to jail now.)….There’s a lot of low-class women in Hollywood, (and I should also add in most high offices of politics, industry, and prestigious universities) who exploit their sexuality upon the men who are weak enough to accommodate it knowing they can blame the man. After all, Confucius said, “I have yet to meet the man who is as fond of virtue as he is of beauty in women.”…Which is a pimp’s main hustle…And what else does Hollywood profit by?)
I get the sense the Chinese are along with the Africans in disrupting American politics and policies with these kinds of objectives (Especially in their contributions and chumminess with the Clintons on forwards. They are just as invested in disarming the working-class Americans as the politicians they are buying into.)…I see such a kind of heart on their sleeve…The Chinese youth seem to have been programmed by the movie “Rush Hour” with its “humorous” racist alliance based on duping the “white” establishment. It is as if that constitutes discipline, “Hollywood”. Unfortunately there is much collusion between the criminal American establishment and the Chinese one…They are just as power mad, p-whipped and full of beer-courage and idolatry as their counterparts. Pleasure principles. They played Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” on the PA system a while back, before the WTO decision on imports, and yet feign surprise at seeing a foreigner? Which makes me wonder to what extent is America invested in the infrastructure here?
It is disappointing…because it is a course of corruption in the equity of trade. What real properties do American businesses own in China?
Sure we might have bombed their embassy for the moles they had in our Defense Department, sellin’ secrets off…but I don’t think that put an end to it.

Oct 6, 2009 - 5:26 am 80. Porkov:

Bush had a warm relationship with the Dalai Lama. Obama is the Bizarro Bush.

Oct 6, 2009 - 5:26 am 81. seansarto:

For working class Americans, this kind of corruption should be a call to arms….You don’t need to be paying such crooks (Americans work 10 times harder then any others in the working world and under more restrictions an regulations then any other nation) ….It’s my perspective that it makes sense strategically for the Chinese to be invested in disarming the American public because they do not want the American population to rise up against them or their toadies that are serving as “managers” or guarantees on American soil as they are jockeying up into power.. In terms of the open door policy, they only help America when it is to their advantage to do so…that’s obvious…And it is not a majority of the American working class that will benefit for the few Americans who do( usually the pay off is sex for the American elite, because the Chinese woman is supposedly a rarity)…And that is exactly what serves the Chinese interests (or any foreign investor’s interests in America’s prosperity) …A kind of “celebrity” American based in sexual conquest….The American working class is expected and does bend over backwards in tolerating such encroachment instead of fighting for that which is rightfully theirs, real properties, not BJ’s for B.sers (How else to explain North Korea’s political reversals because of their “boy” in the White House? And what else are “Affirmative Action“type policies, if not precedents for encroachment on the criteria for another individual’s achievement’s or prosperity? See Federal Communication Commission diversity “czar” Mark Lloyd’s comment on the need to remove white people from powerful positions in the media in order to give minorities a chance: “Unless we are conscious of the need to have more people of color, gays, other people in those positions, we will not change the problem. But we’re in a position where you have to say who is going to step down so someone else can have power.”…Then add to that the current popular portrayal of American labor as being the providence of illegal immigrants and not the investments of it’s citizenship…As if to say, American labor is illegitimate and akin to slavery…Therefore the jobs are not American entitlements.) In the bigger picture, I suppose it is even possible, that the Chinese believe if they can get the West to behave like them they can take credit for the world…Which historically has always been their attitude if not game plan….All you gotta do is find folks who see eye to eye with such measures of vanity and face….
I could be wrong. If I am, I’d be glad to admit it…But I’ve wasted too many years being clear and straight forwards with those who just profit by keeping you guessing.

Oct 6, 2009 - 5:27 am 82. Substance McGravitas:

It would be unfair to rate a president as worst ever before his term is up (although liberals were calling Bush worst ever 2 full years before his term was over.)

Liberals had a case. Then the economy collapsed.

Oct 6, 2009 - 6:14 am 83. Thomas_L.....:

Wow. Obama’s going to need a fleet of buses to fit all those Subarus with Free Tibet stickers under them.

Oct 6, 2009 - 6:29 am 84. Stevemmn:

#75 “It would be unfair to rate a president as worst ever before his term is up (although liberals were calling Bush worst ever 2 full years before his term was over.)”

“Liberals had a case. Then the economy collapsed.”

Liberals had no more case than there is now. I said liberals were calling Bush worst ever a full 2 years before his term was up, back when the economy was doing just fine and there was no problem in the housing industry, or at least that’s what we were told by top congressional democrats who blocked every effort at reform of the finance industry and caused the collapse.

Oct 6, 2009 - 6:52 am 85. Mark in Texas:

Obama is going to have to work pretty hard to capture the “Worst President Ever” award from Jimmy Carter. Not to say that President Obama is not up to the task but those are some pretty big shoes that he will be trying to fill. In two terms, George Bush came nowhere near to doing the damage that Carter did in his four years.

Aside from the effects that 18% inflation and 21% prime interest rates had on the economy, there is the matter of violent radical Islam coming into prominence during the Carter Administration. That can be laid directly at Carter’s feet.

And that doesn’t even count the little stuff that Carter did for laughs like refusing to recognize Bishop Abel Muzorewa as the first black President of Zimbabawe after he had won the election but insisting that Robert Mugabe, who had lost, be put in charge instead.

Oct 6, 2009 - 7:17 am 86. optimus primed:

@ #26

“Obama has a long way to go to beat the record of W. Invading the wrong country, eating cake while New Orleans sunk, presiding over the meltdown of the banking sector… Without making any claims at all for the worth of Obama – seriously! – it’s going to take some serious incompetence to make the idiot list in the way Bush did.”

If you want to be disingenuous, then so be it, you can argue whatever you want (as most liberals do). You can believe that Obama hasn’t hit the depths of W (in your eyes) when it can be easily argued it took him 8 months to be marginalized while it took W 6 years. But, no matter what you argue, you can never argue that any President to date has done more damage to this country than Carter. However, you have conveniently forgot that name. Liberal Presidents are fun to watch for their sheer incompetence, that’s for sure.

Oct 6, 2009 - 7:37 am 87. Jim Bruce:

When America is put (even more) at risk, and the you-know-what hits the fan, you will hear people say that Obama failed to protect America. That will be incorrect: He will have REFUSED to protect America.

Oct 6, 2009 - 7:44 am 88. deek:

So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I’m a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald … striking. So, I’m on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one — big hitter, the Lama — long, into a 10,000-foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga … gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the 18th and he’s gonna stiff me. And I say, ‘Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.’ And he says, ‘Oh, uh, there won’t be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.’ So I got that goin’ for me, which is nice.”

Oct 6, 2009 - 8:34 am 89. Ratatosk:

Misanthropicus,

Rata, selective objective analyst – had Obama accepted to see the Dalai Lama, you sure would be stratospherical over the phenomenal achievements of Tibet as a culture, of the Dalai Lama as the epitome of the humankind (??), and you would have shamed Christians and others mercilessly comparing them with the Buddhist monks etc. etc.

You are entirely incorrect. First you seem to think I’m a Liberal, second you seem to think I am a huge fan of Obama and third, you seem to think I pick and choose my views based on ummm… well I’m not really sure.

I find the entire situation with Tibet idiotic. “Free Tibet” makes me laugh just as much as conservatives whinging about Obama not seeing the Dalai Lama. Its absurd. If the Dalai Lama was a Christian and ran Tibet the way he used to, the Libtards would be up in arms.

However, just because I am not a Liberal doesn’t mean I find stupidity among non-liberals to be a good, cool or acceptable thing. Trying to read the Conservative blogsphere these days is like trying to read the Liberal ones a couple years ago. Bush wasn’t the end of the world as we know it, neither is Obama… both cases are simply stupid, selfish people who think “democracy” means ‘I GET MY WAY’. If this continues, we won’t have a working country much longer… we’ll have destroyed it through our own selfish actions and it won’t matter if the government runs healthcare or if we waterboard prisoners, we the People will have destroyed ourselves.

Oct 6, 2009 - 9:27 am 90. john m e:

stealth and deceit are often misread as a lack of clarity in planning….be certain of this . there is a plan , has always been a plan for every radical action and the less we know the more vulnerable we’re kept (according to THE PLAN )

Oct 6, 2009 - 9:31 am 91. J. Z.:

@ #83

Just as I was getting ready to post about Subarus sporting Free Tibet stickers with Obama stickers on the other side of the bumper, you beat me to it. LOL.

So now my question is which sticker will the Subaru owners remove?

Oct 6, 2009 - 9:34 am 92. Chris S.:

Ratatosk,

I find the entire situation with Tibet idiotic.

Yes, well- projection is a bitch, no?

“Free Tibet” makes me laugh just as much as conservatives whinging about Obama not seeing the Dalai Lama.

Great- here are some more ROTFL “gags” for you:

“Close the Laogai Camps” “Free East Turkestan” “Free the Spratly Islands” “Hands Off Taiwan”

If the Dalai Lama was a Christian and ran Tibet the way he used to, the Libtards would be up in arms.

If you really think Stalinism was a step up for the Tibetans, perhaps isn’t your problem, Ratatosk.

Oct 6, 2009 - 10:26 am 93. Chris S.:

If you really think Stalinism was a step up for the Tibetans, perhaps
Liberalism isn’t your problem.

Oct 6, 2009 - 10:33 am 94. Vader:

“Obama will be remembered as the most disastrous head of state in the Americas since Montezuma.”

Opinions do seem to be running that way.

Though public opinion is notably fluid.

Oct 6, 2009 - 10:51 am 95. Substance McGravitas:

Liberals had no more case than there is now. I said liberals were calling Bush worst ever a full 2 years before his term was up

Yes. That was after he’d invaded the wrong country and screwed up in New Orleans.

Those two things are a big deal. And there’s more!

Oct 6, 2009 - 11:49 am 96. Ratatosk:

Chris S.

If you really think Stalinism was a step up for the Tibetans, perhaps isn’t your problem, Ratatosk.

A step up? Hardly. What’s one authoritarian bunch of assholes compared to another? I have no desire to support China’s repugnant government, but I’m certainly not going to compromise myself by supporting an equally repugnant system of authoritarian control. The people of Tibet, like all people should neither be a slave to Communism nor a slave to a Theocracy. I wouldn’t side with Stalin over Hitler and I sure as hell wouldn’t side with Hitler over Stalin.

My point wasn’t (in any way shape or form) YAY Stalinism… it was BOOO Roger Simon for dinging Obama for skipping the Dalai visit. He should have said “Hell yeah, now don’t meet with the Chinese either”. But, no… that might smack of saying something nice about the US President and since the idiot liberals couldn’t say anything nice about poor GW, then apparently the Conservatives have decided to join them on their level.

Its disgusting.

Oct 6, 2009 - 12:52 pm 97. Chris S.:

Ratatosk,

supporting an equally repugnant system of authoritarian control.

“Equally repugnant”? Really? You know- when you claim that America, Tibet, etc. are “just as bad as/worse than Hitler”, you’re not just criticizing “America” or “Tibet”. It’s lefty sickos like yourself that think, “yeah the Cheka/NKVD or Waffen SS EinsatzGruppen were ‘kinda sorta bad’ but how about the utter brutality of those Tibetan Lamas and/or Americans, man!!! Totally worse than Koba the Dread, fer sure!!!”

How very post-modern/deconstructionist of you, toadie. Please do carry on with your morally relativistic platitudes.

Oct 6, 2009 - 1:20 pm 98. Ratatosk:

Chris S.,

Are you perhaps on some sort of drugs? Where, anywhere, did I say anything about America being anything like Tibet/Hitler/Cheka etc etc? ANYWHERE?

I am NOT a leftist, not in any sense of the word. Could you show me ‘leftist’ thinking? I think that ANY FORM OF Authoritarian control is HORRIBLE, not KINDA SORTA BAD. Are you an idiot? A fool? Or just trying to fight with phantoms of liberalism, since I’m not willing to throw away my values to score a cheap point against Obama? Either man up and show me some proof of your bullshit accusations, or apologize… I’ll accept either.

Oct 6, 2009 - 1:26 pm 99. Ratatosk:

Chris S.

In fact, I just took a look at your blog and I’m pretty sure you’re probably more of a leftist than I am… WTF man?

“I’m anti-death penalty, anti-tort reform, anti “Marriage Amendment”, against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, and for open border immigration?”

I’m anti-Marriage Amendment (due to States rights) but otherwise, I disagree with your other liberal positions. I think we need to make sure we kill the right people with the death penalty… probably use it more sparingly since in some cases we’ve accidentally killed the innocent. I’ve for tort-reform. I don’t really care one way or the other about “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” I figure the boys in the service should decide that one for themselves since its their business and their life… and I’m for immigration reform, but definitely not open borders.

Perhaps you have a bit of self-loathing to get over?

Or, perhaps since you’re a “Tibetan Buddhist from the Midwest” you have an extra fish to fry that’s got nothing to do with me being a toadie?

Pardon me while I go laugh at you… hypocrite.

Oct 6, 2009 - 1:47 pm 100. jimbo:

I think you misread Obama. If he is really into transforming America as we know it, sinking in the polls is part of the price for the huge power grab he is effectively executing. All we need now is a manufactured crises for the final shoe to drop and the prudent among us will cease commenting about the be Zero.

Oct 6, 2009 - 3:29 pm 101. seansarto:

Dispatches from a Foreign Devil:

To expand on my perspective:
In saying, “celebrity” American the Third World alliances percieve the notion and opprotunities in “elected representatives”….Thus in exploiting this link in the fence, they find the constitutional clauses of “taxation without represenation” and rights to bear arms threatening to their agendas…

Oct 6, 2009 - 4:26 pm 102. Stevemmn:

95. “Liberals had no more case than there is now. I said liberals were calling Bush worst ever a full 2 years before his term was up.”

“Yes. That was after he’d invaded the wrong country and screwed up in New Orleans.”

No, the Democrat political machine running New Orleans screwed up. And you seem to forget that the leading Demcorats in congress were all behind the Saddam has WMD’s and lets take him out bandwagon. I guess that means Kerry, Pelosi, and co. were the worst ever too. In any case Bush’s fiasco does not even begin to compare with Lyndon Johnson’s far larger catastrophe.

Oct 6, 2009 - 6:42 pm 103. Chris S.:

Where, anywhere, did I say anything about America being anything like Tibet/Hitler/Cheka etc etc? ANYWHERE?

Gee, I don’t know, Ratatosk:
I wouldn’t side with Stalin over Hitler and I sure as hell wouldn’t side with Hitler over Stalin.

We’re just talking about a visit by the Dalai Lama to Washington, and you go the full monty Godwin’s Law on us. So just why in the hell is everything EQUAL TO/GREATER THAN the Holocaust, except, you know, the Shoah itself, Ratatosk? I know- you’re not “denying anything” you’re just “raising important questions”…

you have an extra fish to fry that’s got nothing to do with me being a toadie?

Oh, sure- but you’re still a CCP toadie (irrespective of any comments I post about immigration or marriage, dude).

Oct 6, 2009 - 8:10 pm 104. Chris S.:

In fact, I just took a look at your blog and I’m pretty sure you’re probably more of a leftist than I am… WTF man?

I’m glad you like my blog, though I can’t tell you what the Dalai Lama may think about marriage or immigration, so I suggest you either get back on topic or “STFU”.

Oh, and about your conflating of left-wing statism and (classical) liberalism:

Take Back the Word: Liberalism isn’t what it used to be.

Oct 6, 2009 - 8:35 pm 105. Chris S.:

Dear Ratatosk,

I think that ANY FORM OF Authoritarian control is HORRIBLE, not KINDA SORTA BAD.

Well, “all things being equal (but of course)”, it was nice to have your support of the (theocratic!!) Mujaheddin in their fight against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Afghanistan, as well as your support of the (Authoritarian!!) regimes in Taiwan and South Korea. Because you “really” were in support of fighting totalitarian international communism, weren’t you Ratatosk?
Or did you waver- realizing at long last that the mujaheddin, Koreans, and Taiwanese were themselves “worse than Hitler™!!”?

Oct 6, 2009 - 8:54 pm 106. Substance McGravitas:

No, the Democrat political machine running New Orleans screwed up. And you seem to forget that the leading Demcorats in congress were all behind the Saddam has WMD’s and lets take him out bandwagon.

Hurricane Katrina was an extraordinary screw-up on the federal level, from weak president to worthless FEMA director to an empire-building defense secretary to a homeland security who was really slow to act. No matter how stupid state and local authorities were, it was a massive failure.

I also don’t have much patience for those who fell for the Iraq garbage. Those Democrats who bought the president’s “intelligence” don’t deserve forgiveness and I’m happy to see primary challenges against all of them.

In any case Bush’s fiasco does not even begin to compare with Lyndon Johnson’s far larger catastrophe.

Johnson’s war a larger catastrophe but domestically he was a fine president. He was also living in a world in which the US and the USSR and China were struggling against each other: a much more compelling threat. The Vietnam war was a delusional one, but driven by actual superpower opposition as opposed to fear of swarthy guys in caves.

Oct 6, 2009 - 9:56 pm 107. Johnny Simpson:

The Evil George Bush gives the Dalai Lama a gold medal, and the holy Barack Obama gives him the cold shoulder. Can’t blame THAT one on Bush!

Unbelievable!

Oct 7, 2009 - 12:35 am 108. Paul:

All my life I have been seeing ‘Free Tibet’ on every lefties Volvo, Subaru, Lexus. 60 years of moralizing bumper sticker efforts of the lefties.

And, what?

At least Bush and the true American Volunteers, mostly conservative/righties have Iraq out from under their dictatorship.

The American left as a body has done anything since the Lincoln Brigades.

Obama throws the white Democrats pet cause under the bus. HaHaaaHa!

(not like anyone but delusionist couldn’t see it coming)

Oct 7, 2009 - 3:26 am 109. Obama throws the Dalai Lama under the bus | Les Jones:

[...] L. Simon – Tibet: Now Obama loses the Richard Gere vote: In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to [...]

Oct 7, 2009 - 5:19 am 110. JFM:

The American left as a body has done anything since the Lincoln Brigades

Not to mention that trhe Spanish Republicans weren’t exactly nice democratic people: elections won through fraud and intimidation (plus threats to the aithorities) so tyhe votes were counted well after the beginning of the Civil War, daily political assassination, tiorture chambers called “chekas” (that is a russian word), giant portraits of Stalin in the most important places of Madrid, NKVD agnets roaming the country (Andres Nin, ie a Republican was skinned alive by them) plus giving all of Spain’s gold to Soviet Union and making he country a soviet satellite.

The people of the LMincoln Brigades fought neither for freedom nor against fascism. They fought for Stalin.

Oct 7, 2009 - 6:08 am 111. Paul -Indiana:

Beta male? I contend, Gamma or Delta.

Oct 7, 2009 - 8:30 am 112. Ratatosk:

Chris S.

So just why in the hell is everything EQUAL TO/GREATER THAN the Holocaust, except, you know, the Shoah itself, Ratatosk?

Where did I say anything like that? You just keep making things up. The Holocaust was one of the single worst act against humanity in history. I haven’t said a blasted thing about Nazis in ANY of my posts, nor the Shoah. I made nothing equal to it, nor greater than it. In fact one of the problems I have with the Dalai Lama is that he associated with Nazi’s after WWII (both the German and Argentinian kind). I have never stated that Tibet is worse than or equal to the Shoah… I said that playing favorites between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government was bullshit and politics of convenience.

Well, “all things being equal (but of course)”, it was nice to have your support of the (theocratic!!) Mujaheddin in their fight against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in Afghanistan, as well as your support of the (Authoritarian!!) regimes in Taiwan and South Korea. Because you “really” were in support of fighting totalitarian international communism, weren’t you Ratatosk?

What? Are you insane? Do you just draw arguments out of a hat or some kind of random argument generator?

I supported the Mujaheddin? That’s news to me. I support the regimes in Taiwan and South Korea? WHAT?! I’m not even sure why these topics are being mentioned, I certainly didn’t say anything like that.

Or did you waver- realizing at long last that the mujaheddin, Koreans, and Taiwanese were themselves “worse than Hitler™!!”?

Oct 7, 2009 - 10:57 am 113. Chris S.:

I haven’t said a blasted thing about Nazis in ANY of my posts,

Uh, you stated (in post#96) that you “wouldn’t support Tibet over China like you wouldn’t support Hitler over Stalin (or Stalin over Hitler).” Rhetorical question alert!: Are you that stupid? Like, Jimmy Carter doesn’t know his latest speeches were recorded and accessible on YouTube, and you just can’t fathom that we can scroll back about six posts up and read your contradictory remarks? Perhaps if I spewed such blather, I might call myself a “Norwegian squirrel”, too…

I made nothing equal to it, nor greater than it. In fact [Oh, great.. wait for it...] one of the problems I have with the Dalai Lama is that he associated with Nazi’s after WWII (both the German and Argentinian kind).

Well, you did have a few Germans and Japanese acting somewhat “out of character” during the war- a Japanese diplomat issuing visas to thousands of Jews in Europe, and a Nazi official, John Rabe, sheltering Chinese civilians during the Rape of Nanking. (And it’s a bit of a stretch to claim that Heinrich Harrer ever advised the Dalai Lama on National Socialist industrial policy (or anything else besides English).

Oct 7, 2009 - 12:39 pm 114. Chris S.:

I supported the Mujaheddin? That’s news to me. I support the regimes in Taiwan and South Korea? WHAT?! I’m not even sure why these topics are being mentioned, I certainly didn’t say anything like that.

Wonderful- a “small-government conservative” who’s a Soviet fanboy. Exactly who are we trying to fool again, ratatosk?

Oct 7, 2009 - 12:46 pm 115. Daily scoreboard « Don Surber:

[...] Via Glenn Reynolds, a comment from an anonymous person: “Obama will be remembered as the most disastrous head of state in the Americas since [...]

Oct 7, 2009 - 2:01 pm 116. Larry Hughes:

A good case can be made that Gerald R. Ford was our worst president. It was he who not only enabled Carter, but also blocked Ronald Reagan for the eight years of Carter.

Oct 7, 2009 - 6:12 pm 117. Ratatosk:

wouldn’t support Tibet over China like you wouldn’t support Hitler over Stalin

So you read into that, that I was equating anything? My point was that we don’t need to pick from two horrible choices. We don’t need to support China or the Dalai Lama, we should be supporting free democracy for the people of Tibet if anything. Just as I wouldn’t support Hitler OR Stalin, I’m not gonna support China OR the Dalai Lama.

And why the hell do you call be a soviet fanboy? I am NOT a fan of Communism. I’m for small government, personal choice and personal responsibility. My views a re a hell of a lot more closely aligned to the philosophy of Jefferson or even Heinlein’s ‘Rational Anarchist’ concept. I don’t mind debating stuff, but you just seem to be making things up, or jumping to conclusions or well… I have no idea what you think you’re doing.

Oct 8, 2009 - 7:30 am 118. vivo:

Our President has the freedom of meeting with anyone he’d like to.

Who cares what a country or political group thinks if he meets someone they don’t like?

Meeting
Dalai Lama displease China
Castro displeases anticommunists
Chávez displeases right wingers
Iranians displeases war mongers
Gays displeases bigots

They can all go to hell.

Oct 8, 2009 - 7:52 am 119. Chris S.:

“wouldn’t support Tibet over China like you wouldn’t support Hitler over Stalin”
So you read into that, that I was equating anything?
Oh, what a @#$% weasel- it’s like debating Edward Said: “Orientalism is bullcrap (not that I’m saying it’s bullcrap, mind you)”.

we should be supporting free democracy for the people of Tibet if anything.
Squirrel, you could start here.

Just as I wouldn’t support Hitler OR Stalin, I’m not gonna support China OR the Dalai Lama. Oh, sure- because who in there right mind would support a Tibetan Buddhist lama who forcibly starved 7 million peasants in a Central Asian Holodomor or otherwise liquidated as many Kulaks?

And why the hell do you call be a soviet fanboy? Must you ask?

I am NOT a fan of Communism. I’m for small government, personal choice and personal responsibility.
Well, sorry, but since you weren’t even for containing communism than I’m calling you out for the crypto-lefty that you are. Yes, that is “what I’m doing”, Ratatosk.

My views a re a hell of a lot more closely aligned to the philosophy of Jefferson or even Heinlein’s ‘Rational Anarchist’ concept.
If they really were “your views”, you might find that they somewhat conflict with those of North Korea’s Kim dynasty (or the East German Stasi, for that matter). But not that you should “oppose” them or anything, right?

Oct 8, 2009 - 8:38 am 120. Ratatosk:

you weren’t even for containing communism

I wasn’t? When did that happen?

Oh, what a @#$% weasel- it’s like debating Edward Said: “Orientalism is bullcrap (not that I’m saying it’s bullcrap, mind you)”.

Err, no its like debating someone who doesn’t say things that you make up in your head. I can’t really help it if you draw insane conclusions from a single line of an Internet comment.

And why the hell do you call be a soviet fanboy? Must you ask?

Well, since I have never been a fan of ANY sort of communism… yeah I gotta ask.

If they really were “your views”, you might find that they somewhat conflict with those of North Korea’s Kim dynasty

Yep my views conflict greatly with any Authoritarian system, North Korea being a great example. I do not, nor ever have supported North Korea, I have never said a single nice thing about them. Why do you think I support them? I don’t I oppose them and Cuba and Chavez and China and extremists that claim America is a Christian Nation and extremists that wish to outlaw religion in this great country we live.

I really think you’re projecting a lot of leftist bullshit onto me for some reason, and I’m at a loss to understand why.

Oct 8, 2009 - 12:26 pm 121. Chris S.:

I support the regimes in Taiwan and South Korea? WHAT?!
I supported the Mujaheddin? That’s news to me.
“you weren’t even for containing communism”
I wasn’t? When did that happen?
Is it also “news to you” that perhaps West Germany was worth defending, as well? Do you need an RSS feed, Squirrel?

Why do you think I support them?
Well, really- if you think Taiwan and South Korea are “impure” enough to the point where you’d prefer they be absorbed by China and North Korea respectively, just what are we to assume?

and extremists that claim America is a Christian Nation and extremists that wish to outlaw religion in this great country we live.
“Orientalism is illusory bullcrap.”

“Not that I’m saying Orientalism is a house of cards that would surely crumble to dust if the light of truth were shone upon it (or anything)”

I can’t really help it if you draw insane conclusions from a single line of an Internet comment.
We just “can’t help” but wonder why (oh, why?) you continue to compare the Dalai Lama to Hitler/Stalin…I mean, just who is projecting “insanity” on whom?

Oct 8, 2009 - 1:01 pm 122. Matthew:

What a load of manufactured outrage rubbish.

What olympic fiasco? He wasn’t running the bid – he just pitched in to show up at the last minute. He didn’t lose the bid for anyone – he just didn’t push it over the line. Trying to assign “blame” to obama for that just shows how deep the obama hatred runs. How about just asking the IOC why brazil won? They probably just paid bigger bribes.

Ignoring protests in iran to cosy up to dictators? Garbage. If you don’t understand why obama made the right decision (i.e. not to publicly pick sides) then you don’t understand how iran works. Obama wading in would have taken a bunch of pro-democracy protesters and given the crazy mullahs an iron clad case to shoot them as fifth-column traitors. It’s all well and good appealing to american domestic politics, but if it gets the protesters killed, it’s not so smart. Obama made the right call.

The health care plan is what it is. That’s how (your) congress works. He came up with a proposal, and it’s being negotiated. There’s no avoiding that. If you don’t like it, maybe you should reform your political system to bring your executive and legislative branches a bit closer together – you know, like in a country that works properly.

Afghanistan is “supposedly Obama’s war”?!?! Where have you been for the last 8 years? Obama inherited it. He owns it now, but he didn’t create it. If you’re shopping around for a failure, you need to look a bit further back in time.

“Israel given the back of the hand.” Yes – and it’s about time. He’s had to back off, but it’s nice to at least see a president grow a pair and try to not be played by that crowd. He failed, sure – but I don’t see you criticizing him for that. As long as america’s underwriting israel’s survival, I don’t see why the US can’t ask them to play like an actual democracy now and then.

As for the dalai lama – screw him. You’re painting a little halo around a guy who’d like to take his people back to a feudal society. If you think the tibetans don’t have rights now, then you ought to read a bit more about how things were BEFORE the chinese invaded. I have no illusions about the actions of china (which have been scummy), but the dalai lama is no democrat himself. He’s a nice chap and all, but I wouldn’t want him running my country. Now – how about showing some love for the uighurs too? Or are they a bit too “muslimy”?

As for the “ACORN, chicago” business – apparently even you guys can’t provide words to explain what the heck that’s supposed to mean. That’s just noise. Keep chanting, guys.

If this is the best you’ve got, then obama’s doing pretty well.

Oct 8, 2009 - 11:30 pm 123. Chris S.:

Matthew,
What olympic fiasco? He wasn’t running the bid – he just pitched in to show up at the last minute.
Yes, that’s pretty much his modus operandi . . .
He didn’t lose the bid for anyone – he just didn’t push it over the line.
Matthew, it wasn’t even anywhere near that close. And you can probably see a corollary between Obama’s “intelligence” on the Chicago Olympic Committee and his “intelligence” on Iran’s nuclear program.

Trying to assign “blame” to obama for that just shows how deep the obama hatred runs. Bush-hatred runs even deeper, but does that make him “blameless”?

How about just asking the IOC why brazil won? They probably just paid bigger bribes.
That’s possible. It’s also possible that they were turned off by the youtube video of Chicago street violence.

If you don’t like it, maybe you should reform your political system to bring your executive and legislative branches a bit closer together – you know, like in a country that works properly.
Matthew- still smarting over that 1776 declaration?? I mean, the city of Boston even paid back the value (adjusted for inflation) of all that tea we spilled…

Afghanistan is “supposedly Obama’s war”?!?!
That’s what he campaigned on, Matthew. But like all his other pledges, it came with an expiration date.

Oct 9, 2009 - 7:43 am 124. Chris S.:

As for the dalai lama – screw him.
No thanks. My wife would kill me.

You’re painting a little halo around a guy who’d like to take his people back to a feudal society.
Really? I don’t think Native Americans will “revert to 1491” if we shore up their treaty rights. And will the Arabs of Jordan and Egypt “revert to” the wandering desert Bedouins of the 1940s if Israel gives up land to them?

If you think the tibetans don’t have rights now, then you ought to read a bit more about how things were BEFORE the chinese invaded.
I guarantee they were actually much better than the Stalinism of the ‘50s and ‘60s.

I have no illusions about the actions of china (which have been scummy), but the dalai lama is no democrat himself.
His government-in-exile is actually quite democratic, if you cared to take a look, Matthew.

He’s a nice chap and all, but I wouldn’t want him running my country.
Fair enough. Perhaps Rebiya Kadeer would be a poor choice to “run your country”, as well.

Now – how about showing some love for the uighurs too?
They’ve got my best wishes, but you know what they say about the Iranian opposition . . .

Or are they a bit too “muslimy”?
Not really- it’s just that they, like the “muslimy” Chechens, are not fighting the Jews, so who cares? (And yeah, the Tibetans are a bit cuter…)

As for the “ACORN, chicago” business – apparently even you guys can’t provide words to explain what the heck that’s supposed to mean.
For starters, it “means” that the American Internal Revenue Service and the Census Bureau have both severed their ties to ACORN, and our Congress is voting to defund them.

That’s just noise. Keep chanting, guys.
Hey-hey! Ho-ho!
Western Civ. has got to go!

Oct 9, 2009 - 7:56 am

Write a Comment

Name:	(required, displayed)
Email:	(required, not publicized)
URL:	(optional, displayed)
Comments: