Friday, May 16, 2008

Is Obama an Appeaser?

After Bushes speech yesterday, or which I watched most of, the word "appeasement" has been on the rally call of every wignut out there.

This word... I don not think it means what they think it means.

After watching one such blow hard yesterday call Obama an appeaser in almost every other sentence, the host asked the wingnut to define the word appeasement. Of course, he could not. So, here is a little help for you wingnuts out there.

Appeasement has several definitions according to Webster's Dictionary:

1) to bring a state of peace or quiet.

Not a bad thing to have in the middle east in my opinion. Bush likes war and chaos. Me? I am for lower gas prices.

2) to cause to subside

Subsidence of hostilities in the Middle east... oh the horror!

And the third one, and the one that I think Bush and the wingnuts are referring to.

3) pacify, conciliate; especially : to buy off (an aggressor) by concessions usually at the sacrifice of principles.

Ok, not as good as the first to. But lets look at this in context. bush and the wingnuts are comparing Obama to Nevil Chamberlain, former Prime Minister of England. In 1938 Chamberlain attempted to "appease" Hitler by giving a third of Czechoslovakia to Hitler hoping that Hitler would then cease his hostilities. Chamberlain was of course very very wrong.

Now, lets look at Obama. There is a big difference in talking to our enemies and appeasing our enemies in the way that Chamberlain did. You don't have to appease our enemies just by talking to them. If Obama was suggesting that we give half of Israel to the Palestinians in order to stop the fighting, then Obama would be an appeaser. Negotiating with them to settle a dispute is not appeasement.

Bush finally talked to North Korea... Is Bush an appeaser?

If we talk to the government in Khartoum to stop the killing in Darfur, are we appeasers.

When Israel sat down and talked with Egypt, their arch enemies at the time, and negotiated peace, was that appeasement?

McCain himself in 2006 said that we had to deal with Hamas. Is he an appeaser? So did Colon Powell, Jim Baker, Bob Gates.

Seriously people, if you never talk to your enemies, how are you ever going to find solutions other than war? The last thing we need is more of Bush/McCain cowboy diplomacy.

And would someone... Anyone... name me one time that Obama said he would talk to Hamas without them first renouncing violence and recognizing Israel?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hey! Thanks for all the great info. I was browsing through a bunch of political websites and blogs (mostly liberal ones) and I came across your blog and find it to be very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like huff post, and other news sites like politico. Do you know of any that cover politics and the environment? I saw earthlab.com which has mostly environmental info but some politics. I took EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). It was pretty easy to use (and it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any other blogs you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites or any ones with green info?