Maddow On Egypt: Some On The Right Are 'Siding With Mubarak' (VIDEO)

On her Friday show, Rachel Maddow accused some right-wingers of siding with former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak over the protesters who toppled him.

She began by playing several clips of conservative commentators and analysts warning that Egyptians or Arabs or people in the Middle East either were not ready for democracy or could not be trusted with it. She then said that these views were evidence of the way that the conservative movement has shifted away from the neo-conservatism of the previous decade:

"Had what happened in Egypt today, had it happened even a couple of years ago, American conservatives might have been trying to claim credit, saying Egypt happened because Bush bombed Iraq or something, or, 'Mubarak? We always felt about him like we felt about Saddam!' It would have been a hard sell but I could see them doing it. But who could have imagined that instead of that you would have big portions of the American right just flat out siding with Mubarak?"

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Comments

[tacevad]

10:24 AM on 02/15/2011

But Hosni was the enemy of our enemy and therefore our friend!...No wait that thought didn't work out so well with Osama and the Russians or Saddam and the Iranians...

[somearelost]

08:37 AM on 02/15/2011

I think mad----cows ratings are plummeting.

[psmarc93]

02:48 PM on 02/15/2011

Really? Why?

[inARCTICulate]

11:12 PM on 02/14/2011

So what if the people are oppressed and suffering,
Mubarek is an ally and America's wants and needs COME FIRST.
This woman must be a muslim or at the very least a commie pinko!

[zest]

08:56 PM on 02/14/2011

GOP's afraid of losing their torture location.

[Ryan Healey]

02:38 PM on 02/14/2011

I love Rachel Maddow. However, I have to admit I am bored to tears with her latest show which seems to be "RACHEL MADDOW'S EGYPT". First we had two weeks of almost non-stop Egypt coverage which she mentioned when she got back to Washington topics briefly. Now, we're back with a new season of "RACHEL MADDOW'S EGYPT". I love her show normally, I understand Egypt is an important story, but she has turned her program into an hour long review of what has happened in Egypt since we last saw her. I keep deleting the show off my DVR each night praying she balance it out a bit.... soon, please.

[Aleks Hunter]

01:42 PM on 02/14/2011

Who should we look to for credible critical analysis? It requires some training.
Rachel Maddow
Stanford grad with honors, check.
Rhodes scholarship, check.
Doctor of Philosophy in politics from one of the most respected universities in the world, check.

She might just know what she's talking about.

[More Left than Liberal]

03:32 PM on 02/15/2011

She was one the people who supported the regime
You might like her position on economic issues but you perhaps are not aware that Maddow considers herself a "national defense" democrat and is quite conservative on foreign policy issues

So for example her main criticism of Obama during the 08 elections was that he called for a time line for withdrawal in Iraq.

[Aleks Hunter]

09:38 PM on 02/16/2011

When she was "supporting the regime" there was no uprising. She was simply, as everyone else outside Egypt was, accepting the reality of the situation, that reality has changed somewhat.

I also thought all the talk of timelines and the republican calls to "show us the plan" were absurd. No one ever won a war by making their plans public. Its cliche, but loose lips do sink ships.

[Tygartman]

12:49 PM on 02/14/2011

In 2008, the majority of voters voted for change. I guess they never imagined that it could result in a change for the worse. The same thing could happen in Egypt. Change is only good if the situation is improved.

[petit chaton]

12:22 PM on 02/14/2011

What's new. The right, and Fox in particular, are great for parading patriotism as it relates to our "founding fathers" when rebelling against tyranny, but they act as if they own it and it can't exist anywhere else. The idea of a foriegn country's right to self-determination without considering U.S. interests, is impossible for the extreme right to conceptualize.

[zest]

08:52 PM on 02/14/2011

Corporate interests are GOP interests; individuals freedoms count for nothing.

[INDIVIDUALTERRY]

11:57 AM on 02/14/2011

Maybe there needs to be a balance between doubters and those who believe a dictator General being replaced by six Generals is a good thing

[Richard Allen]

11:35 AM on 02/14/2011

i think progressives are the real conservatives. i mean, we are the ones who believe in real science and not just throwing the Bible or the Koran or the Torah at everything. WE ARE THE REAL CONSERVATIVES for conserving real universal academic truths. progressives developed computers and the internet.

[Ohsotired]

12:01 PM on 02/14/2011

I agree--I've always felt the 'conservatives' were more radical because of their resistance to change.

[INDIVIDUALTERRY]

02:53 PM on 02/14/2011

Maybe up is down..............progs have already stated the republican party is now the new democrats and the old south democrats are now republicans, men can now be women and animals should have human rights.
Any other fairy tales to throw in ?

[sushi27]

06:56 AM on 02/15/2011

Hey, corporations have human rights - according to the Supreme Court, just saying.

[Jenna T]

11:33 AM on 02/14/2011

Jenna on Egypt - Some on the left are siding with the Islamic Radicalists/Fundamentalists.

Dishonest narrative is dishonest, Ms. Maddow.

[emlr]

01:50 PM on 02/14/2011

Rachel gives examples. Where's yours? Or do you think all the protesters are Islamic Radicalists/Fundamentalists? If so you haven't been paying attention.

[Jenna T]

08:01 PM on 02/14/2011

My comment stands for itself.

Your attempt to put words in my mouth also stands for itself.

[IndependentBadger]

01:50 PM on 02/14/2011

You can't really be much of a leftist, and side with Big Religion. ANd historically, it was American Republicans who gave the most material support to Islamic Radicalists/Fundamentalists. Just google the Russian war in Afghanistan, or Dick Cheney's oil policies, or Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra Scandalette. The facts don't back you up, just because you found some isolated nuts who don't vow death to Islamists every five minutes.

[Scobes]

11:16 AM on 02/14/2011

I will never understand the Right's logic on this - they're not ready for the democracy THEY demanded? That they took to the streets for days on end in order to achieve? It just comes across as a modern day White Man's Burden - "Those uneducated brown people aren't ready for freedom, choice, and all the other good stuff we have over here."

[Laws456]

12:01 PM on 02/14/2011

The logic you speak of is most definitely part of American culture. That logic has existed in this country since the beginning. Reading a few pages of A People's History will show it to you quite quickly.

[Scobes]

12:23 PM on 02/14/2011

I've known it existed - it's just a bit jarring and upsetting to see it like this: not in history, but in the living, breathing, mainstream present.

[More Left than Liberal]

01:21 PM on 02/14/2011

Its very true

Although the democrats are just as amusing to watch
They were in total support of the dictatorship, and now they are all pretending like they are with the people. Its quite comical

[StellaRay]

03:13 PM on 02/14/2011

The United States has supported Mubarak for 30 years, most of those years being republican administrations. YOU too were in total support of a dictatorship, bub.

[VietVet67]

11:12 AM on 02/14/2011

Beck will be all over this:

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/fox-nation-posts-video-asking-if-fourth-ho#comments

[mataylor16]

10:56 AM on 02/14/2011

They've gone from neo-conservatism to neo-colonialism.

[IndependentBadger]

01:52 PM on 02/14/2011

That's like going from the pink part to the brown part of a Neapolitan sundae.

[afgail]

10:29 AM on 02/14/2011

It's not that complicated Rachel. An emerging Democracy in the largest arab/muslim nation in the world sucks all the oxygen out of the right wings John Birch style conspiracy theories. The Republican Party promotes fear. It absolves them of having to deal with the real issues facing this nation.

[INDIVIDUALTERRY]

11:59 AM on 02/14/2011

A democracy in a country where the majority believes there is not enough Isamic law?
Hahahahahaha.

[IndependentBadger]

01:52 PM on 02/14/2011

You could say that about Americans. Most Americans believe there isn't enough Bible nonsense in our school curricula, printed currency, and constitution.