Rumsfeld denies backing Nixon racial remarks unearthed in old White House tapes

January 11, 2001
Web posted at: 5:25 p.m. EST (2225 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Defense Secretary nominee Donald Rumsfeld on Thursday denied agreeing with racially charged remarks from President Nixon during a meeting nearly three decades years ago at the White House. ................

Sunday's Chicago Tribune, in an account based on a review of those tapes, suggested Rumsfeld agreed with Nixon's disparaging remarks about how southerners would view racial comments that had been made by Vice President Spiro Agnew after a trip to Africa.

A CNN review of the tape found Nixon critical of Agnew for "coming back saying that black Americans aren't as good as black Africans; most of them basically are just out of the trees, let's face it, they are."

Rumsfeld is heard joining Nixon's criticism, saying it was wrong to be "going out of the country and knocking America."

The president told Rumsfeld he believed what Agnew had said, but was critical of his vice president for being indiscreet in his dealings with the press.

Rumsfeld raised no challenge to Nixon's sentiments.

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/stories/01/11/rumsfeld.comments/index.html

You do realize that any reasonable observation of Obama's words and deeds are not allowed in political debate. Despite quoting him word for word, you're "attacking" him and "distorting his record."

This Obama fella is on onion that is getting incresingly uncomfortable to peel. The more you learn about the guy, the easier it is to become a bit tempered with the enthusiasm. How ANYONE left of center could EVER think Rumsfield was "mainstream" is beyond me.

Folks, before you get your panties all in a twist, look at the opening para: "It was January 17, 2001, and Illinois state senator Barack Obama was on WTTW11's 'Chicago Tonight.'"

Let's see, was rummie actually SecDef? No. Had booosh been sworn-in as preznitwit? No.

So, on what might have Obama based his judgement on? Let's see, rummie was SecDef under Ford. Did rummie do anything radical, anything that would have tagged him as "beszerk" during his first tour as SecDef? No.
Jsssh, just don't read the headlines and let your imaginations run wild. THINK! REREAD the article! UNDERSTAND! COMPREHEND! APPRECIATE!

Oh and get those ipod buds out of you ears and listen to what's going on in the world around you. Doing so might help you better understand and an appreciate the issues in your world.

Peace!
Mark

Frankly, this is the great concern about Obama. He has laid claim to unerring insight and judgment, hammering the nations ear regarding his early speech opposing the Iraq war. But his support of Rumsfeld and the "vast majority" of Bush appointments, is a stark example of what I fear is the true Obama. It is the Obama that votes "present." Or the Obama that votes for the patriot act.
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Or the Obama that endorses Rumsfeld and a "vast majority" of Bush appointments and says ""The Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years." Oh, I know that Obama says he didn't say they were good ideas. Too clever by half. He wasn't saying. ""The Republicans were the party of BAD ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years." because that would be nonsense. And if you look at Obamas web site, his defense is not to show the entire statement and say, hey read it and decide for yourself. No. The statement is no where to be found..Check it out yourselves. He defends himself by cherry picking quotes of the oh too reliable mainstream media. You know, the ones that helped swiftboat Kerry and Al Gore and the ones who helped sell the war in Iraq. I trust the media as much as I trust Rumsfeld.
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And I have my doubts about trusting Obama's good judgment.

If Hillary Clinton had said these things about Rumsfeld and other Bush appointees, HuffPost would run riot over her. This is the reason I have my doubts about Obama. His comments and actions smack of partisanship to the point of appeasement. More and more his history of working with republicans to the point of actually being one of them comes out of the closet. Trying to please everyone is not going to get us out of Iraq nor get us universal healthcare. Whereas Hillary was accused of speaking out of both sides of her mouth, Obama takes the lead in doing so.

i find it funny that Obama supporters won't support Hilary at all but hilary supporters will support Obama if he gets the nod

so i guess what i'm saying is

Obama supporters are dividers

Clinton supporters are uniters

and again folks i have no vote here i'm just an outside observer of the Obamapo but from all the post i've read Obama supporters won't unite the country if hilary gets the nod the devide and i wonder why you support a man who insists on change and bringing people together is his message getting through,it seems to me it isn't so again i gotta think that most Obama supporters who post here are repugs in drag

So, are you saying Obama is the Democratic version of Mitt Romney? Well, thanks for telling us what we ALREADY knew!

Weak stuff against BarackOf modical importance.

Sodium Pentothal for confirmation hearings.

hey even I am for a missle defense system. when you are a imperialistic war mongering country you better have a missle defense system because a lot of folks hate us.

most americans in thier stupidity think it is because of our freedoms. dumbies it is because we are arrogant war mongers and greed is good imperialistic capitalists.

we even call our mercenary army heros for invading and occupying another country in a war based on lies.

americans think everything american is the greatest in the world. how is the dollar doing with the euro capitalists? you mean those socialists euro is worth more than our dollar? cant be we are americans.

corp american will convince middle class dumbed down americans that a devalued dollar is a good thing. wait and see.

whats not to dislike about war mongering arrogance?

The big difference here is the Clinton supporters do not think she is perfect, we just want our country straightened back out so the average person can live half right and we know that Bill was able to fix a Reagan and Bush mess during his eight years as president. On the other hand the Obama supporters think he is totally perfect and expect him to do things that no one human can do. He will have to fail because he is not God.

What exactly had Bush done on January 17th 2001 that Clinton should have bashed him for?

Now...what exactly had Rumsfeld done on January 17th 2001 that Obama should have bashed him for? I mean...this whole line of attack on Obama is beyond lame.

An Ex-President, a Mining Deal and a Big Donor

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?pagewanted=1&ref=politics

"Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton?s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra?s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton?s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges. Mr. Giustra was invited to accompany the former president to Almaty just as the financier was trying to seal a deal he had been negotiating for months."

Enough said?

So Obama was suckered along with the majority of people that voted for Dubya. So what? Who would have guessed that Rumsfeld would be even more incompetent and stupid than we could have imagined? When you consider all the people that voted for Dubya to get a $300 rebate check it is hard to blame anyone. I am sure Hillary was right there singing Rumsfeld's praises as well...
More reason to make sure that there is a thorough housecleaning next November.

Even I, a middle class insurance agent with a computer knew Rumefeld was a neo-con.

Is Obama just clueless?