I previously posted about the latest rash of scandalous photos coming out of Afghanistan showing U.S. military atrocities under Obama’s command, and wondering if the media would pick up on it the way they did when it was Bush’s army… Well, here’s a twist I wasn’t expecting: yes, one of the U.S. media, Rolling Stone, [...]
Jeffrey Goldberg, a correspondent for the Atlantic, cast a spotlight on yet another disgustingly overt example of pure bias in the mainstream media, particularly at the anti-Semitic Reuters newswire. He points to a Reuters news item which contains the following despicable sentences: Police said it was a “terrorist attack” — Israel’s term for a Palestinian [...]
In the [sparse] reporting of the Palestinians’ massacre of the Fogel family, several newspapers stand out with their distorted sense of “balance”, i.e., where they feel overwhelmingly uncomfortable describing the barbarity of the Palestinians without at least taking a swipe or two at the Israelis, no matter how patently irrelevant or disgustingly disrespectful it comes [...]
President No
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The Weekly Standard “Scrapbook” had a great piece (short, but packing a great punch) on how Obama is making quite the name for himself as the first president in a long time to have this many doors shut in his face:
Barack Obama is President No. And not because he says no a lot. It’s because he’s the president who takes no for an answer–again and again and again. It’s now his presidential trademark.
The “no” he received from the International Olympic Committee last week was only the latest and most embarrassing of a parade of no’s. The president traveled to Copenhagen to plead the case for Chicago as the site of the 2016 summer Olympic games. He pleaded passionately. White House aides believed success was all but guaranteed. Then Chicago was knocked out in the first round of IOC voting. Rio de Janeiro won.
Friends and enemies–they all say no to Obama. He demanded that Israel put a freeze on West Bank settlements. Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu said no. Obama relented and called for Israeli-Palestinian talks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said no. Meanwhile, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia said no when Obama personally asked him to make a friendly gesture toward Israel if settlements were curtailed.
NATO allies in Europe said no when Obama asked them to take some of the terrorists held in Guantánamo off his hands. They said no when he requested they send more troops to Afghanistan. France and Germany said no when Obama urged them to boost economic stimulus spending. An official in Scotland said no when asked to halt the release of the Libyan convicted of killing 190 Americans, and 80 other nationals, in the airline bombing over Lockerbie.
Remember when Obama urged Cuba to soften its dictatorship?
Fidel Castro answered with an emphatic no. Or when he demanded tiny Honduras put its deposed president back in office? Honduras said no. Or when he asked Russia to accept an antimissile system in Poland and the Czech Republic aimed at Iran? Russia said nyet (and the idea was scrapped). Or when Obama said NAFTA, the free trade treaty, should be reopened? Mexico and Canada said no. Russia, by the way, said yes to tougher sanctions on Iran before retreating toward no.
Obama gets no for an answer at home, too. He asked former Virginia governor Doug Wilder to endorse the Democratic candidate for governor this year. Wilder said no. He, or at least his White House, asked Pennsylvania congressman Joe Sestak not to run against Arlen Specter for the Senate next year. Sestak said no. He said Democrats should kill a “buy American” provision in the stimulus bill. They said no.Should we dismiss all this negativity as inconsequential? Does it simply reflect the way the world works in 2009? Is Obama just unlucky? THE SCRAPBOOK is reminded of the “Dysfunction” poster marketed on the Internet a few years back, depicting a chain with a broken link and this bit of wisdom: “The only consistent feature of all your dissatisfying relationships is you.”