Once again the simple-minded media and its pundits are confused about the nature of Americanism and language. When President Obama today inferred consideration of holding former administration officials accountable to law, he was immediately accused of violating his belief that we should "look forward." Had President Ford "looked forward" in his decision as to whether or not to hold Nixon accountable, he perhaps would have seen the Bush administration abuse of power coming and chosen to be genuinely tough on crime -- you know, "tough on crime" -- sending Nixon to jail and deterring this recent avalanche of abuse.
Further, the criticisms of President Obama's warm greeting toward President Chavez of Venezuela have been the posturing of our nation's most bitter and humanly impotent voices. Why is anyone listening to former Vice President Cheney? He's the one person alive proven wrong on virtually every topic. Then there's Newt Gingrich, who commented on the Chavez greeting as being approached wrong. He suggested that the meeting itself may not be improper, but that it should have been handled with a cold demeanor. This is a pattern of bad acting advice from bad actors. (All wimps think playing a tough guy is done in one-note coldness.) With a friend, or an enemy, our president will gain greater strategic position with a smile.
I know President Chavez well. Whether or not one agrees with all his policies, what is certainly true of Chavez is that he is a warm and friendly man with a robust sense of humor (who daily risks his own life for his country in ways Dick Cheney could never imagine). To treat such a man coldly is akin to spitting on him. As a country we've done enough of that. Say what you will, but it has only resulted in the self-celebration of our smirking spitters, while costing us international respect, American lives, and left wounds in the hands of our children's future. The Cheneys, down to the O'Reillys and Hannitys and Limbaughs, effectively hate the principles upon which we were founded. They are among the greatest cowards in all of American history. I applaud an American President who's tough enough...to smile.
Keep giving it to them!
In 1933, Hitler was appointed Chancellor by President Hindenburg.
In 1934, President Hindenburg died and Hitler assumed the powers of the presidency under the new title of Führer und Reichskanzler (leader and chancellor).
1933: On election day, 6 March, the NSDAP increased its result to 43.9% of the vote, remaining the largest party, but its victory was marred by its failure to secure an absolute majority, necessitating maintaining a coalition with the DNVP.
So you are right in a certain respect but the NSDAP was the largest party and after some of his tricks he then came out as Chancellor.
All I wanted to suggest was that he had ever increasing support by making big promises to the Masses.
By the end of 1960, all opposition newspaper had been closed down and all radio and television stations were in state control.Moderates, teachers and professors were purged.In any given year, there were about 20,000 dissents held and tortured under inhuman prison conditions.Groups such as homosexuals were locked up in internment camps in the 1960s, where they were subject to medical-political "re-education".One estimate is that 15,000-17,000 people were executed.The Communist Party strengthened its one-party rule, with Castro as the supreme leader. Fidel's brother Raul Castro became the army chief. Loyalty to Castro became the primary criteria for all appointments. In September 1960, the regime created a system known as Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), which provided neighborhood spying.
I find it ironic that those on the right condemn President Obama for shaking hands with Chavez. I don't ever remember those same creeps condemning Rumsfeld for shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, or Bush shaking hands with the king from Saudi Arabia. Just shows what a bunch of hypocrites they are.
With the mess the conservative Republicans left us for the past eight years, I give President Obama high marks for at least trying to get this country back on the right track. With an approval rating of nearly 70%, I'd say the Republicans are way over their head. They offer no real solutions to help up get out of this mess they created. They've become the Party of No. They have Palin, Jindal, Cantor, Limbaugh, Hannity as their representatives. What a bunch.
I was draft age during Vietnam.
The truth is, for a poor kid with no money for college, an offer to take advantage of a connection (and high test scores) which would have allowed me to serve in Europe, was really tempting. This way I could avoid combat while also avoiding the stigma of not going to that frutless war.
The thing is; Some of us would not support a war unless we were ready to fight it.
It is one thing to try to end a war and save others from the grief and death--but it is quite another to scream for blood after hiding out and neither fighting the war nor fighting against it.
That's why they call them Chicken Hawks. Comprende?
With Chavez, our President had the diplomatic savvy and guts to choose to present himself as completely open, without any apparent defenses. This may have served to disarm the usually gruff and aggressive Chavez , who may have expected wary defensiveness on Obama's part.
This placed Chavez in the position where if he had publicly attacked an open and friendly Obama he would then appear to the world to be the weak and unreasonable one.
Checkmate!
Being disarmed in this fashion should be quite familiar to the Republicans by now, though they appear to be horribly slow on the uptake. It should be clear to them by now that their frantic attempts to appear tough and strong by labeling and demeaning Obama, have only reinforced the public image of their party as the guys who are unreasonable and weak.
In fact, their continued blundering attacks have only served to make Obama's stature appear more admirable and strong.
I am a cook and waitress, have been most of my life.
The best way to deal with a nasty customer is to pour on the sugar, The nastier they get the more sugar I pour on. I may sometimes want to choke on it. But being polite and as nice as possible to the most obnoxious person has always worked. I become less angry at the behavior and they begin to realize there are being petulant.
The best way to learn the true character of a person is go have lunch or dinner with them and see how they treat the servers.
They're drowning and thrashing in the water, desperately looking in all the wrong places for something to save them. They are weak and cowardly and avaricious and stupid in their lowliness, and the sooner we can forget about them, the better we'll all be for it (I agree with you). In their weakness and fear and greed and stupidity, yes, they hate those fundamental principles upon which this nation is founded, as stated in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. They are would-be petty dictators in the land of the free, but our nobility as Americans may suggest some magnanimity in how we handle them, as with Ford to Nixon. Perhaps, and then again, perhaps not.
I'm glad to see that you are on the ground in Caracas. But for the "patriots" of greed, you would think that self preservation should have dictated that they leave the people at least something to lose. It is simple, with nothing to lose, they will find something to believe in--Chavez in this case. I have no doubt that Chavez will pass from this earth by non natural causes. I also seriously doubt that when it happens that Venezuela can go back to what it was before. Maybe that will be his legacy.
Not sure how Chavez will pass, but I wish him well, and hope that our relationship with him will result in improvements in the lives of all Venezuelans.
As a venezuelan citizen I can assure you that you are blind with him, and you will see sooner than later.
But we have to try another approach cause the Bush one did not work at all, instead it made a lot of harm,ignoring or confronting Chavez he created a hateful society of presidents in Latin American who are turning its citizens and countries against the USA and running into comunisms, socialisms and God knows what else.
So Mr Penn, support Obama but no Chavez , he is not really a democrat