Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers

*** UPDATED BELOW ***

President Bush has said repeatedly that he would not insert himself into the presidential race, but that stance changed dramatically today during his trip to Israel. After likening Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Osama bin Laden, Bush compared Barack Obama to Nazi appeasers:

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," said Bush, in what White House aides privately acknowledged was a reference to calls by Obama and other Democrats for the U.S. president to sit down for talks with leaders like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before," Bush said in remarks to the Israeli Knesset. "As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Obama himself quickly responded to the comparison, calling it a false attack and listing past presidents who didn't think that diplomacy was such a bad idea:

"It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel's independence to launch a false political attack. It is time to turn the page on eight years of policies that have strengthened Iran and failed to secure America or our ally Israel."

"Instead of tough talk and no action, we need to do what Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan did and use all elements of American power -- including tough, principled, and direct diplomacy -- to pressure countries like Iran and Syria. 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."

It was only yesterday that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates argued that United States needed to engage with Iran:

"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."

UPDATE: What are the odds? Sen. Lieberman sides with Bush on this one:

"President Bush got it exactly right today when he warned about the threat of Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. It is imperative that we reject the flawed and naïve thinking that denies or dismisses the words of extremists and terrorists when they shout "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," and that holds that--if only we were to sit down and negotiate with these killers--they would cease to threaten us. It is critical to our national security that our commander-in-chief is able to distinguish between America's friends and America's enemies, and not confuse the two."

UPDATE: Obama's communication director has also weighed in on what he calls "cowboy diplomacy":

In a telephone interview on CNN just a few minutes ago, Robert Gibbs, the communications director for Senator Barack Obama, called Mr. Bush's remarks "astonishing" and an "unprecedented political attack on foreign soil."

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UPDATE: Rahm Emanuel has chimed in as well:

The tradition has always been that when a U.S. President is overseas, partisan politics stops at the water's edge. President Bush has now taken that principle and turned it on its head: for this White House, partisan politics now begins at the water's edge, no matter the seriousness and gravity of the occasion. Does the president have no shame?

UPDATE: Howard Dean has called on McCain to reject Bush's statements:

"On the same day John McCain is talking about putting partisanship aside, the President launched a cheap political attack while on a state visit honoring the 60th anniversary of Israel, one of America's greatest allies. Bush's outrageous comments are an embarrassment to our country, not based in fact and bring us no closer to our goal of ending terrorist attacks against Israel and bringing peace to the region. If John McCain is really serious about being a different kind of Republican, he'll denounce these remarks in the strongest terms possible."

UPDATE: John McCain isn't listening to Dean. He has agreed with President Bush's statements, and even thrown in a reference to Neville Chamberlain:

"Yes, there have been appeasers in the past, and the president is exactly right, and one of them is Neville Chamberlain,'' Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign bus after a speech in Columbus, Ohio. "I believe that it's not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn't sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.''

Asked if he thought that former President Jimmy Carter, who struggled with the hostage crisis, was an appeaser, Mr. McCain replied: "I don't know if he was an appeaser or not, but he terribly mishandled the Iranian hostage crisis.''

UPDATE: Nancy Pelosi has echoed Howard Dean and Rahm Emanuel's comments:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that Bush's remarks were "beneath the dignity of the office of the president and unworthy of our representation" at the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary.

Referring to Sen. John McCain, Pelosi said: "I would hope that any serious person that aspires to lead the country, would disassociate themselves from those comments."

UPDATE: Sen. Reid has joined the pile on:

"Not surprisingly, the engineer of the worst foreign policy in our nation's history has fired yet another reckless and reprehensible round. More than seven years into his Presidency and in the sixth year of the directionless Iraq war, President Bush has yet to learn that his brand of divisive partisan rhetoric is precisely what has made America and our allies less secure. And for the President to make this statement before the government of our closest ally as it celebrates a remarkable milestone demeans this historic moment with partisan politics.

"President Bush's own actions demonstrate that he believes negotiations - at the right moment, under the right conditions and with the right leaders - can both show strength and produce results. He has relied on negotiations with North Korea and Libya, two state sponsors of terror. And by conducting discussions with Russia, China, Libya, North Korea and Iran in recent years, President Bush has demonstrated his belief that negotiations can be a tool to advance America and Israel's national security interests. I call on the President to explain the inconsistency between his Administration's actions and his words today."

UPDATE: John Kerry has responded on TPMCafe:

First, it's absolutely shameless that an American President would use a speech in front of a foreign government to launch such a petty political attack. President Bush has abused the dignity of the office in ways that make especially ironic his long ago pledge to "restore dignity and integrity to the Oval office."

Perhaps worse -- he's not even right on the facts, and he knows it. Like Representatives Boehner and Cantor, President Bush just makes up policies to attack. Barack Obama opposes negotiating with terrorists. And always has. This is just another example of the disingenuous habit of this administration to create "some people" whom they can argue against, strawman arguments that they can use in their disgusting political attacks.

"This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement."

UPDATE: Biden calls bullshit:

"He is the guy who has weakened us," he said. "He has increased the number of terrorists in the world. It is his policies that have produced this vulnerability that the U.S. has. It's his [own] intelligence community [that] has pointed this out, not me."

Biden noted that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both suggested that the United States ought to find a way to talk more with its enemies.

"If he thinks this is appeasement, is he going to come back and fire his own cabinet?" Biden asked. "Is he going to fire Condi Rice?"

Comments

[jepysdad]

It's a shame George W. beat his genuine Ostrich skin golf shoe on the podium at the Knesset while calling Democrats Nazi "appeasers". But since he quit playing golf, at least he found a use for them.

[BillN]

So, the great protector of the American people has spoken. His trip to the Middle East disguised as a mission to increase oil production, is actually a taxpayer-funded political statement for the Republican cause.

Now, George, please tell us:

Where's Osama Bin Laden?

Where are the results of the post-9/11 anthrax investigation?

Where are the many confiscated videos of the 757 hitting the Pentagon?

It's been 7 years. We're still waiting.

If this is the best you can do for "homeland security", then I shudder to think how you would react to an actual invasion of our country.

Hopefully a special place is being prepared for you and your minions in the Hague. You can trust that I will do my part - whatever that is - to help make that happen.

[orianna]

My dream tonight as I go to sleep will be to see this nasty president behind bars, his wealth confiscated and returned to taxpayers he's been bilking to reward his companies in Iraq and the lobbyists for oil and insurance..... confiscate his wealth.... strip him of his freedom.... and still we won't have made things even stevens.... but it will leave pause before another has the audacity to abuse a nation as badly as this leadership has..... Obama and the democrats... we are behind you and proud to be Americans once more.... like the twin towers collapse.... Americans are brave and strong when united for all.

[sophistwatch]

AlphaOverdawg

Brilliance like yours should be highlighted. Hopefully my two posts will box top and bottom and draw some attention to your unique insights.

Bush and McCain are bone heads for using the appeasement argument. Bush was talking to Obama and McCain did say he was willing to talk to Hamas before he changed his mind.

Deal with the reality that they both made serious unforced errors. It's their fault. Don't blame Obama because they look foolish for making such ridiculous comments.

[AlphaOverdawg]

Why respond to a baseless charge lacking specificity? If the shoe doesn't fit, why wear it? If Bush didn't accuse Obama of "appeasement", why INFER such an accusation? Why indeed? Because it's great political fodder if interpreted so, lending itself to blustering fulminations and whimpering expressions of self-righteous indignation from an undistinguished bunch of self-serving losers fawning for political favor. And because it's an easy semantical strawman to set up and knock down, even if it is as phony as a wooden nickel. Unfortunately, as the current state of this nomination process so amply demonstrates, phoniness is flying under the radar of "leaders" and voters in the Democratic Party.

[sophistwatch]

Ever hear of deduction? Bush was not talking to McCain. He was not talking to Clinton. They have both been clear on their position with regard to talking to Hamas. Notwithstanding McCain's previous position that he would be willing to talk to Hamas, at the time Bush made his BS comments, McCain was against talking to Hamas.

The Republicans had complete control of this country and they fumbled. Period. There are no semantics in play here - only facts. There is nothing phony here - only a lot of facts that don't make you guys look very good right now. You and your ridiculous diatribe are phony.

Contrary to your acid trip description of what you see in the nomination process, what it really demonstrates is how the system should work and that about 82% of this country has no use for the people and policies that are responsible for where we are presently.

[AnnieinOR]

The smell of desperation is in the air - if Bush feels he has to inject himself into this election - they are running scared. Remember this people, MCSame is a third term for Bush. We cannot afford to be in this war and we cannot afford to go without healthcare any longer.

[mystic]

Anbd if there is an October "surprise", be skeptical and suspicious as hell.

[beaupritchard]

end


Russia and China of course have nuclear weapons and so we talk to them ... but we don't want to. No in our little aren't we beautiful doesn't everyone want to be like us way we snob and nob our way through the world deigning to speak to only those who share our values ... or who can do us harm ... then we wonder why it is some want to do us harm.

Barrack Obama is right ... speaking is not a sign of weakness ... it is a sign of strength. Speaking is an intelligent thing to do. Force only leads us into an asymetric war that we cannot win. McCain should know this.

[beaupritchard]

continued

I won't bore anyone with which group I belong to ... this not being about me ... but I will say a great deal of animosity accrues from just being excluded from clics ... nonetheless from being rudely ignored , condescended towards and dismissed. In my case revenge constituted posting the top grade in the math finals and lettering in two sports then giving back the silent treatment that was given me when they asked me to join them ... again this is not suppose to be about me.

So when I see the high handed way our foreign diplomacy is being waged I understand the resentments of groups being excluded from our little clubs. Iran wants to join the nuclear club to keep from being a second class citizen in the middle east but no no ... Israel doesn't want it to ... so we declare it a terrorist nation. Castro wants to be a different form of government off our coast so we ostrasize Cuba ... impose sanctions ... and Russia does this and China does that and on and on ad nauseaum.

[beaupritchard]

Bush says "Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along,"

Perhaps there is "some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along". I always get wary when a "friend" tells me something negative about someone I do not know ... then suggest I not talk to them to find out whether what I've been told is true.

It begs back to high school days when my clic didn't talk to the other clic because they (fill in the blank). It continued on to colledge where the reason we didn't speak to the "other" fraternity was because ... they were jocks ... or dweebs ... or well you get my drift. Even then it didn't end ... in business there were the let's get together and play golf people and the really ... you work here too ... people.

continued

[skooma]

Thank god we didn't have this sort of dangerous demonization of the concept of diplomacy itself during the cuban missile crisis.

[KarenKaren]

Now Bin Laden is injecting himself into the race by promising upcoming comments. Bin Laden would rather see a Bush-McCain presidency so he can continue to promote hatred against the United States.

OSMAMA BIN LADEN SUPPORTS MCCAIN-BUSH!

[enoughalready]

Prescott Bush, grand-daddy to W - Nazi connection - loans etc to Hitler - W should be very careful what he brings up, for the media now has found it's legs and soul again and will expose all the family secrets! Too much dirt will create a backlash on the GOP like no other time. We are sick of the Bush/Cheney/ Rove playbook.

Appeaser - is their code word this time. Place that label where it is deserved - right back on the GOP Congress that gave Bush everything he wanted and did not stand up to defend Americans - all Americans. Republican Rep Tom Davis now says they must distance themselves from Bush or lose in November. Give them what most Americans got - NOTHING!

Learn the lesson well, folks, every time the GOP slime machine comes out with another code word - throw it back on them and do it so quickly they can't make this slime stick to anyone but themselves.

[ErikW65]

McCain projected his support for talking with Hamas onto Obama, who has consistently rejected the idea of talking to Hamas. McCain takes hypocrisy to this whole new dizzying level...

[texastornado]

Folks we are way overdue in house cleaning. What we have as a so called government are nothing more than a collection of ventriloquist dummys starting with bush. There are Democratic dummys and Republican dummys that are used by Isreal, big oil, drug industry, banking industry etc..., If you've every been to a ventriloquist show and beleive that it's the dummy that's talking then America is in deep doo-doo. I beleive we have to throw both parties in the trash can and start all over again. We need to have candidates that represent the people of the United States of America and not have to pledge allegience to Isreal or anybody else. Next get rid of the privately owned federal reserve and have our treasury print our money as the Constitution clearly mandates. Maybe then we can start to restore this country to having a representative government.

[robeson]

'Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers'

Not a bright idea coming from a family of Nazi supporters. GW runt of the litter.

[johnsnakecusak]

It is hilarious to hear Bush fan the fears of having the President sit down and talk with our enemies.

It is fairly obvious why the Bush admin. uniformly have been against such meetings, while they themselves have been pursueing talks, but through lower level negotiators.

Everyone instinctively knows that Bush would be completely incapable of talking about sensitive issues with our enemies, because he does not have the mental capacity to match wits with any of them. Even the disturbed leader of Iran could tie Bush's brain in knots in a one-to-one discussion of any subject.

So yes, it would be very dangerous for Bush to talk with any of our enemies, and his administration doubtlessly feared any such meeting.

It would not be dangerous for Obama or Clinton to communicate with our adversaries, they both have the intelligence to carry out such a conversation.