Bill Burton Defends Obama Reaction To Honduran Presidential Coup On "O'Reilly Factor" (VIDEO)

Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton faced an outraged Juan Williams, sitting in for Bill O'Reilly, on "The O'Reilly Factor" tonight. Williams demanded to know why President Obama was supporting exiled Honduran President Zalaya, who had been removed from the country in a military coup, when he had stayed "silent" on the turbulence in Iran. At the end of a long introduction to his question, Williams finally splutters, "What is President Obama doing?"

Burton replied that the President was following American principles, which don't involve "taking someone out of their home in their pajamas and putting them in another country in order to swear in another president. It means going through elections and the democratic process in order to have changes in leadership."

Watch the exchange below.

Comments

[Alann]

Burton WAS weak.

He should have come right back at Williams' blatant falsehood that Obama was silent on Iran.

Silent? Really, Juan?

Oh, and Juan were you REALLY suggesting that a military coup-d'etat is acceptable in a democracy?

[Hossua]

A military coup-d'etat? really? is that what happened? The Honduran Supreme Court ruled that the measure to extend Zalaya's term as president was not in line with the Honduran Constitution. President Zalaya did it anyway, then was arrested. Sounds like a win for the people of Honduras to me when you dig a little deeper and get the facts.

[nick1936]

Right on many folks here haven't got the facts right and sad to say neither does Obama.

Zalaia was attempting to set himself up as President for life against present law

[nylibgrrl]

So the legal and proper way to handle a violation of a democratic constitution is to charge in and drag the accused away in the middle of the night?

[PATina]

Not quite right. He called for a referendum to amend the Constitution. And while he was seeking to amend the term limits of the Presidency­... it would not have extended HIS term. It would have only given him the opportunity to RUN for re election. His wrong, according to the Honduran Constitution is that referendums to amend the Constitution should come from the Congress..­. not the Presidency. However, the Supreme Court was wrong for having him arrested..­. Congress was wrong for making the President of Congress the President.

Maybe it's you who needs to dig a little deeper and get the facts.

[damilitantone]

A lot of Americans thought that Bush stole the 2000 election and implemented many repressive and unconstitutional policies. According to some of the posters on this thread those Americans would have been within their rights to overthrow the government, toss Bush out and install another president. Either governments like Honduras rise and fall by means of elections and not coups or anarchy rules and democracy is meaningless if you don't like who wins the election. That the ousted president of Honduras is a friend of Chavez is a non-issue and is only thrown into the argument to try and strengthen a weak justification for supporting what amounts to a military coup of a democratically elected president in Honduras.

[johnr49]

Very well put - Fanned.

[Hossua]

An extension of Zalaya's term is out of line with the Honduran Constitution, and he was arrested for that. We could of course just let our presidents be dictators and they can be in for life, does that sound like a good idea to you?

[damilitantone]

He was deposed in a coup not arrested and charged for a crime so be honest about what happened. By the way Honduras has a judicial system to address matters of constitutional. Why not try adjudicating the dispute before overthrowing a duly elected president. I actually paid attention in my civics classes of long ago.

[plaidsportcoat]

Yes - the point being the rightwingf­ascistauth­or itarianwhi­tesupremac­ists are spreading all kinds of justifications for doing exactly that right here - because they know that libs like us havenoguns and won'tfightback when they decide to do it. Any day now.

[barksalot]

Alas...LOL

[PATina]

Great post !!!! Agree !!!!!

[Indy 44]

No meddling until we know the outcome.

The Obama Doctrine

[platanoman]

Silence

[globalwarmingisafraud]

Zalaya was trying to pull a Hugo Chavez on Hondurans. They didn't like it and kicked the bum out. So our CIC decides to stand with Chavez and Castro and support a would-be "president" for life. Good job Mr. Prez. On the left side of history again.

[guajiro]

Ain't it wonderful?

[derekc06]

by "for life" you mean 2 terms instead of 1 right?

[hulka37]

The Honduran people are behind Zalaya.

[Gripen]

Yes and what is the constitution if the ppl thinks it should be changed. This wasnt a clear break against their constitution, it was simply a survey to see if it should be changed and if ppl support a change then go for it, after all it is a democracy right.

[luckynewman13]

wow, someone has no idea what the situation is.

[nylibgrrl]

on other topics as well, from their screen name.

[plaidsportcoat]

LEFT! YES! I hope. But when you say "they" didn't like it - what about all the people demonstrating FOR him in the streets? They LIKED it.

[VotingPresent]

Bill Burton was very weak in this interview and not the least convincing.

[huffyISaHottie]

he's no tucker bounds ...where is tucker these days?

[platanoman]

What's not convincing? That he didn't follow your rightwing views?

[Hossua]

lol. "Rightwing views". Do you even know how to think without being prompted by the political clowns?

[realpolitic]

Juan Williams does not know who he is. He tries to appear fair on many issues, then he coddles right-wingers like O'Reilly who drag him out as an apologist everytime O'Reilly makes a racial gaffe, then Williams tries to play the outrage game with Obama administration offcials as all other Fox News personalities do. Williams has just sold out for the Murdoch money and if he had any real concern for being fair and balanced he would leave Fox.

[Dave Martin]

Juan Williams is completely happy receiving wingnut welfare.

It kills me that they still say he's from NPR.

[plaidsportcoat]

The NPR Omudswoman defends Juan to the death, too!

[JerryLevy]

What was O'Reilly's "racial gaffe?" I did not hear one. Second, Williams asked tough but fair questions, he is a good and objective reporter.

[johnr49]

Yeah, and Fox is really fair and balanced!

[instarx]

It actually was more of a statement than a question. Framing a straw-man "question" where your side wins no matter what the answer is not "fair and balanced". Stating an outright falsehood in the question as fact (Obama has been silent on Iran) and then asking the guest to explain it is also not fair and balanced.

[plaidsportcoat]

RIght. And you're not a paid tro//, too.

[drlouise]

Juan the whiner is NPR's two for one token: conservative person of color. Taking O'Reilly's place is a bit over the top! Fair and balanced will be hard for NPR now!

[getreal91660]

If you want to read clueless comments, coming to read the Huffington Post forums is a must. Manuel Zelaya, a puppet of the Hugo Chavez regime in Venezuela, was in the process of utilizing the cookie cutter methodology that allowed Chavez to set himself up to rule in his country indefinitely. Using the same approach, Evo Morales achieved the same result in Bolivia as did both Rafael Correa and Daniel Ortega in both Ecuador and Nicaragua respectively.

Zelaya, with Venezuelan financial backing, was persisting in an effort to hold a popular referendum on changing that country's constitution to allow him to remain in office longer than the legal term. In Honduras, the constitution can not be amended by referendum by law. Zelaya in defiance of that country's Supreme Court, and in opposition of the country's legislature (politicians in his own party were against his actions) persisted in his efforts. As he was arrested with a court order by the Honduran military, ballots and cash to execute the illegal referendum were arriving by Venezuelan military transport.

The Hondurans did what they did to maintain there sovereignty. They did not want their country ruled by Chavez by proxy, as is the case in Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. The Supreme Court, the legislature and the military upheld the constitution were mechanisms were being put into place to undermine the countries institutions.

Good for the Hondurans. As usual the U.S. press reports on this, and provides scant information concerning the details involved.

[guajiro]

you have 3 days to vent the frustrations you feel to know that Bolivarianism is alive and well. Toast!

[Freethinkinggal]

Nice informative post, I wish our politicans and supreme court were this good at protecting our constitution.

[nick1936]

Are Supream Court protected and installed the Despot

[hulka37]

It isn't the Hodurans as in Honduran populace that acted. It was a classic coup by the elites of Honduras (they still have sufficient control over the military that is trained by 600 U.S. military personal on a base near the capital) who view the introduction of a referendum as a threat to their control over the country.

[nylibgrrl]

Exactly.

[Americanium]

Your ignorance not matter how eloquent is still ignorance.­..
Fact.. Ortega was elected after being defeated many times at the polls. Defeats he accepted as the will of the people of Nicaragua.

President Morales was elected by Bolivians as the first President of indigenous ethnicity. Is it his politics you hate or is it his racial makeup? Because if you were for the Iranian protesters you have to be for Morales. He was democratically elected.

President Zelaya was still the democratically elected President when the coup occurred. Or does that little fact gets in your way of demagoguery?

Maybe if you would leave your posh life and visit these places of which you write you may have a different view of what it is like to be condemned not because of what you did but because of where you you were born.

The only undemocratic government in Central/ South America is Chavez' and his hold on power is entirely the US's doing. Chavez went to play when our backyard was ignored under your All wise All knowing King George...

[nelson71]

Good for the Hondurans?

They support Zelaya. It's the elite that's taken over the country.

I guess you would've supported our Supreme court if they had acted the same way when President Bush was pissing on our constitution.

[Hossua]

Damned right, too bad our supreme court is useless.

[Tyger79]

Check out the role that the infamous U.S. School of the Americas played in training and supporting those who participated in bringing about the Coup in Honduras. www.rebelreports.com

[Clayton139]

Juan Williams is a Poser for (Faux Noise) in order to keep a job !

[realpolitic]

Exactly!!

[guajiro]

Quite right old chap. For Juan, it's just a job. I know plenty of people in the different departments of my job that are the same way. They'll cross the picket line in a second, will turn in their fellow co-worker, are the first to tell the boss of the private conversations of fellow workers, and are beholden to no one but themselves. It seems to me that this behavior knows no boundaries. It also seems to me that a lot of it is inculcated into them by their upbringing, owing no one a cent. Or at least that's the way they see it. No matter, the movement has gotten stronger and is worldwide now. Juan or no Juan, his interjections mean nothing if they carry nothing of significance.

[Freethinkinggal]

Boy you people sure do hate fox news. The reason fox news does so well in the ratings is because they speak more to the majority of this country.

[chronic]

LOL got more jokes?

[luckynewman13]

They speak to the majority of 67 year olds (the average age of the fox viewer)

Television news is worthless and dying, that's why only the nearly dead watch it.

[johnr49]

Which is why John McCain's in the White House, right?

[instarx]

No, its because they speak to the majority of zealots who watch en mass.

[plaidsportcoat]

Yeah, they really speak to the majority that voted Barack Obama President of the USA for at least 4 full years.

[cjk002]

So let me see if I get this -

Obama was wrong to not speak out on Iran's stolen election, but he's also wrong to speak out about a military coup?

These people are nuts...

[instarx]

The key thought there is tht according to the right Obama is always wrong... period.

[Hossua]

Not true, I believed him when he said he was going to clean up Washington. Unfortunately, all he has done is continue the corrupt BS that we all know and love.

[Hossua]

military coup my ass.

[We-Are-The-Ones]

Poor Juan, not able to see the difference between a coup of a democratically elected Prez in Honduras and a potentially stolen election in Iran.

Sigh. Where has happened to the media?

[marbiol]

youve gotta remember Juan is now a member of the non-Judaic neo-conservative faction of pseudo democrats!! So what if the President wanted to unilaterally change the constitution--it aint our business--at least we should be "deeply concerned"--but nothing more. We can wait a week and then see how everything falls out before we come up with a firm stand. O'reilley really needs to get better stand-ins if Juan is going to be such a rude sob. I've NEVER seen this so-called afro-american badger ANY democrat to this extent before. He cant still be on npr can he??

[Yank in France]

Oh, you are so right in your entire approach. What we really need to do is bring back GW Bush.
He would know how to deal with those Latino lefites!!
After all, just look at the good job he did in fighting terrorism in the world, right?

[plaidsportcoat]

unilateral is not by referendum, dodo

[Daniboy]

Gee-don't question the Obama administration-the nerve of that Jaun! And that Helen Thomas is getting kind of uppity too! It could be time for Obama to ban the press! Can he do thar?

[Lasnoe]

What Bill forgot to mention is that Honduras did it diplomatic­ally...... The guy fired those who apposed him..... He was conducting a survey to see if he could get enough people to sign on to his no term limit plan.... Honduras supreme court told him that's unconstitutional and he didn't stop....

The coup was being performed by the Puppet President.­......not the military..­... It turns out another Puppet President decided to speak out for the Honduran President.­..... even though he's never shown such initiative in the past.....

interestin­g.....

[johnr49]

Epic Fail.

[dan-o]

Do I have the story wrong? Didn't the President of Honduras run for reelection when their constitution only allows one term. Didn't the Congress and Supreme Court of Honduras order the military and police to remove him from office because he was trying to make himself President for life. The news has been all Michael Jackson and has not had many good stories about Honduras.

[barkrudedog69]

Quiet...yo­u may wake up the left.

[guajiro]

It seems your inner sense told you that you were wrong and you should've paid attention to it because, yes, you're wrong. NO, the president of Honduras DID NOT run for president. He was trying to get a referendum going. NO he wasn't trying to make himself pres for life, the Supreme Court made up a law AFTER the referendum was under way in order to declare it illegal IN CASE he might try to run again and the law the Supreme Court passed is a move EVERY SINGLE WESTERNIZED COUNTRY IN THE HEMISPHERE and in Europe declares illegal. Not having a good day are you?

[Mas]

Quiet, you may wake up the right. Let them listen to Glen Beck.

[nomoneynoworries]

It was because of democracy that the people were able to get rid of their corrupt ruler.He tried to change the constitution(to allow him to rule as long as he saw fit),and was stopped and exiled by the court.That was democracy in action.The­re was no coup,The military is not ruling the country.I hope readers on here read other news outlets as well,the view on here is very slanted,as are most mainstream media(calling it a coup,when it's not).

The Congress quickly accepted Zelaya's purported "resignation" and, in accordance with the constitution, appointed the president of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, as Zelaya's successor. Micheletti immediately promised to convene a national dialogue and, unlike Zelaya, vowed to respect the results of presidential elections scheduled for November.
End
It's not hard to find the facts when you look for them.

[Tasies]

Ok, this is just a plain ole lie, possibly written by a poster who is absolutely clueless about LA politics and history. He had planned a non binding constitutionally legal referendum. This sort of referendum is extremely popular in Latin America, and is as close to a direct democracy as one can get. It was under any objective standard a coup perpetrated by the economic elite and the military.

Answer this: Why has Michelletti now allowing Zelaya to return as a private citizen without the threat of prosecution? Because their case has no legs to stand on.

The clear, and I mean clear violation of the constitution occurred when the Democratically Elected President of Honduras was exiled without due process.

Now, suspending five basic constitutional guarantees I assume causes you no concern.

So please, stop parroting the official line of the gangsters who are now in power.

[Tasies]

Imagine of Richard Nixon would've been hauled out of the White House by the Army and exiled to Uruguay without due process.