CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
May 15, 2008 – 1:38 p.m.
Pelosi, Other Top Democrats Denounce Bush’s Remarks
By Edward Epstein and Adam Graham-Silverman, CQ Staff
Top congressional Democrats on Thursday denounced President Bush for comments he made in Israel that they interpreted as a swipe at the party’s presidential frontrunner, Sen. Barack Obama , D-Ill.
In a speech to Israel’s Knesset, Bush said: “Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.
“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” he added, referring to pre-World War II appeasers who sought to head off war against the Nazis.
Both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. , D-Del., and Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois assailed Bush’s remarks.
Obama has said he would be willing to talk with Tehran if the leaders of Iran stopped trying to become a nuclear power and stopped supporting terrorists.
The White House denied Bush’s remarks were aimed at the Illinois senator, but Democrats harbored no doubts on that score.
“I think what the president did in that regard is beneath the dignity of the office of president,” Pelosi said. “I would hope that any serious person would disassociate themselves from those remarks.”
Pelosi is leading a high-ranking bipartisan House delegation to Israel this weekend to help celebrate that country’s 60th anniversary.
Across the Capitol, Biden reacted even more vehemently to Bush’s remarks. “This is bull----, this is malarkey, this is outrageous!” Biden said in an interview.
“Outrageous for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, sit in the Knesset . . . and make this kind of ridiculous statement,” Biden fumed. “He’s the guy that’s weakened us. He’s the guy that’s increased the number of terrorists in the world. His policies have produced this vulnerability in the United States. His intelligence community has pointed that out, not me.”
Biden read from a printout of a Wednesday speech by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in which Gates suggested expanded meetings with Iran.
“His first two appeasers are [Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice and Gates,” Biden said.
Durbin said he was “very upset” with Bush’s comments and that he agreed with Pelosi’s assessment that they were beneath the dignity of the presidency.
Pelosi, Other Top Democrats Denounce Bush’s Remarks
Durbin, Obama’s staunchest Senate surrogate, said there was “no escaping” the fact that Bush was taking aim at Obama and characterized White House suggestions that the president was doing otherwise as “baloney.”
In a speech to Israel’s parliament commemorating the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary, Bush said that negotiations with Iran would be “foolish delusion.”
“As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’” Bush said. “We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”
Bush criticized politicians who “explain away” Iran’s statements that Israel should be eradicated.
“As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously,” he said. “Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred.”
Sen. John Kerry , D-Mass., a senior member of the senate Foreign Relations Committee, echoed Biden’s harsh criticism.
“President Bush is still playing the disgusting and dangerous political game Karl Rove perfected which is insulting to every American and disrespectful to our ally Israel,” he said in a statement.
Obama’s Response
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic presidential frontrummer , has called for direct talks with Iran.
“It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence to launch a false political attack,” Obama said in a statement.
“George Bush knows that I have never supported engagement with terrorists, and the president’s extraordinary politicization of foreign policy and the politics of fear do nothing to secure the American people or our stalwart ally, Israel,” he said.
Even Obama’s Democratic opponent, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who has not called for such talks with Iran, came to his defense.
“President Bush’s comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous on the face of it, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy,” she told reporters on the campaign trail Thursday.
Pelosi, Other Top Democrats Denounce Bush’s Remarks
The White House deflected suggestions Bush’s remarks were aimed at Obama.
“This is long-established United States policy, so it should come as no surprise that President Bush suggests that we should not be talking with these people,” said press secretary Dana Perino.
Kathleen Hunter contributed to this story.
Comments
Pelosi, can always find something to criticize the republicans and she will continue to do so as long as there is a republican residing in the white house.
Pres. Bush is a complete joke. He should have his passport revoked until he is no longer president. That way he won't make an even bigger mess of the world. The man lives in a bubble. If we taught our kids in kindergarden to never speak to your enemies, better yet.. only be violent with them, what would our country look like. OH, well I guess it would look like it does, violent, drug ridden and now uneducated as our money all goes down the drain for military fantasies. The hegemonic power is going down, and the hegemon will usually react with bizarre acts of military aggression i.e. preemptive wars etc.. I only hope our children will forgive us for the mess!
As one who has heard statements like these before on various occasions; it was the "perfect usual." So, I am very surprised that many high-ranking political figures are surprised to hear another moronic statement. Perhaps the surprise is the place and time. Come on, people, you know the saying: " He who sows brambles reaps thorns." If you expect something else, perform the grafting procedure and maybe time will be on your side. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but I decry the use of her present situation for political gains. Stop trying to lift the "burdensome stone" (Zechariah 12).
If Democratic House madam Nancy Pelosi and Sen.Ultra liberal Ted Kennedy are trying to derail the enforcement illegal immigration bill SAVE ACT (H.R.4088) it must be of paramount excellence for THE AMERICAN TAXPAYER.
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