Obama's Choice For Arg Ambassador.....$ Buys The Post?

[Rich One]

Right. As opposed to the Ivy League of Kennedy (war criminal, invaded South Vietnam, Laos and Cuba); Theodore Roosevelt (war criminal and rampant racist; implemented waterboarding in the Philipines and torture in Cuba); John Quincy Adams (self-admitted genocide of native populations); George HW Bush (war criminal, invaded Panama, overthrew democratic government in Haiti); James Madison (whom I quoted above about the meddlesome masses); Woodrow Wilson (war criminal, invaded Guatemala and Cuba)...

Of course this is leaving out W, Clinton...

Evidence shows the Ivy League schools are precisely "what they used to be".

So who can cast the first Stone?

Look at Napoleon, de Gaulle Franco, Stalin, Castro , Mao, Mussolini, Ceascescu. Hitler, to name a few.

 

[EdRooney]

Agreed Rich. They all suck.

And ARbound, what's the story on Max Baucus? I know he's the epitome of corrupt politics, but did he say something about people not dying of hunger? Do spill!

 

[mrporoto]

Is he one of barry's Brotherhood mates?

 

[cbonanni]

Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one. Some are just bigger than others.

 

[Icabod]

Traditionally presidents have appointed (sold) about 40% of ambassadorships, usually to the best locations. The remaining slots go to qualified, career diplomats who worked their way up to the job. Not all appointees are a sham. Think of Obama's selection of Jon Huntsman (R) to serve in China (Mandarin speaker with experience). Carter appointed the lowest number and Obama has gone slightly over the average to around 43% or so. To the guy who just listed American presidents followed by "war criminal," that was a very stimulating post. Deep. Now take your shirt off and head down to 9 de Julio to cheer for CFK. Wear your little beret.

 

[EdRooney]

Traditionally presidents have appointed (sold) about 40% of ambassadorships, usually to the best locations. The remaining slots go to qualified, career diplomats who worked their way up to the job. Not all appointees are a sham. Think of Obama's selection of Jon Huntsman ® to serve in China (Mandarin speaker with experience). Carter appointed the lowest number and Obama has gone slightly over the average to around 43% or so. To the guy who just listed American presidents followed by "war criminal," that was a very stimulating post. Deep. Now take your shirt off and head down to 9 de Julio to cheer for CFK. Wear your little beret.

War criminal is a technical term that in international law refers to the UN charter and has the precedent of the Nuremberg trials, which defined international aggression as the "supreme international crime".

These are the standards to which we hold our enemies accountable, so the least we can do is apply them to ourselves as well. If it had been Milosevic or Tojo invading Iraq, there can be no doubt they would have ended up in the Hague court. I fail to see the connection between this very simple point of universal morality and wearing a beret on 9 de Julio.

 

[sleslie23]

That's my opinion. Obama himself is a ventriloquist's dummy who mouths the words on the teleprompter, then buggers off. He's utterly indifferent to policy, to incompetence, to sleaze and corruption.

At least he can read the words correctly. Can't say as much for the previous ventriloquist's dummy.

 

[bigbadwolf]

War criminal is a technical term that in international law refers to the UN charter and has the precedent of the Nuremberg trials, which defined international aggression as the "supreme international crime".

These are the standards to which we hold our enemies accountable, so the least we can do is apply them to ourselves as well. If it had been Milosevic or Tojo invading Iraq, there can be no doubt they would have ended up in the Hague court. I fail to see the connection between this very simple point of universal morality and wearing a beret on 9 de Julio.

I'm digressing again but though I agree with you in theory, the Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt perceptively pointed out that might makes right, that the rules the most powerful set up for others are not the ones they follow themselves. So the US can call Milosevic a war criminal and make the charge stick -- but not the other way around. Or as La Fontaine pointed out centuries earlier, the strongest reason are always trumped by the reasons of the strongest. Nuremburg was only for the Axis powers.

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/19819/

 

[bigbadwolf]

At least he can read the words correctly. Can't say as much for the previous ventriloquist's dummy.

Yes, that's a key difference. Or to put it differently, GWB was always threatening to break into a smirk at the bull he was spouting, causing his minders no end of anxiety. Obama can maintain a straight and sombre face (aka "looking presidential").

 

[sergio]

Change you can believe in.....