After watching footage of freed journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee crying as they were reunited with their families, it should be difficult for anyone to criticize former President Clinton’s successful efforts to secure their release from North Korea. Yet John Bolton, former Bush administration U.N. ambassador, is up to the challenge. He criticized the Obama administration for “negotiating with terrorists for the release of hostages” and said that the Clinton trip was “a significant propaganda victory for North Korea.” But columnist Maureen Dowd responded: “The former Bush bullies have no credibility on diplomacy. They spent eight years wrecking it, and the score for them on North Korea is 0-6; zero meetings with Kim (Jong Il) and enough plutonium for six nuclear bombs.”
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46 Comments
It’ll take some time to undo all the damage bush has done to this country, but the dems are up to the job. If the cons will just get out of the way, and if they don’t they need a shove.
Cons would complain if you hung them with a new rope.
Isn’t this Jesse Jackson’s job?
I would have liked for Clinton to avoid giving the little pot bellied dictator the status of a meeting, but I’m glad the ladies are out.
Diplomicy is fine when dealing with rational responsible leaders who have at least some shared values.
North Korea does not fit that description.
Lets all wear panties and dance for joy.
I’m sure Clinton used cigar-tested diplomacy.
Which begs the question: Is that a stain on your dress or did Clinton just
come for avisit?XXX
If you’re gonna hang me I want an old rope with all the “stretch” pulled out of it.
New ropes is for puzzies.
“a significant propaganda victory for North Korea.”
================================================
This is true however, they are now less 2 American lives they could have used to bait us with.
I am happy they are home.
F.U. Kimmy.
“and said that the Clinton Presidency was “a significant propaganda victory for North Korea.””
There Mr. Bolton, I fixed it for ye.
Clinton went as a private citizen, not as a representative of the US govt. Therefore any promises he may have had to make to get the kidnapped journalists back won’t be binding. We saved two of our own with a few photo ops and a stroke or two to the ego of a petty dictator that may come in handy down the line. Definitely a win-win!
Did Clinton make nuclear compromise with North Korea?
WSJ
Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator, was on hand at the airport in Pyongyang to greet Mr. Clinton as he arrived—a clear sign Pyongyang, at least, is linking the two issues.
But columnist Maureen Dowd responded: “The former Bush bullies have no credibility on diplomacy. They spent eight years wrecking it, and the score for them on North Korea is 0-6; zero meetings with Kim (Jong Il) and enough plutonium for six nuclear bombs.”
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – – — – - – - – - — — – - – -
Hey Maureen, where did the N. Koreans get the plutonium from? Oh yeah, it was from their breeder reactors that we sold them in 94 when Clinton sent the “Born again peanut farmer” over there to negotiate for us. Damn your dumb Maureen. Did you not think some of us would remember that?
Is it any wonder that many of us would question at what price did Clinton gain the two ladies release. Like maybe technology that will improve the range and accuracy of their Topol Dong missiles that will carry their nuclear warheads. After all, it wouldn’t be the first time Clinton allowed our advanced weapons technology to be sold to a foreign power. Anybody else remember when he allowed his big time donor friend Bernard Swartz of Loral Corporation to sell China our most secret missile technology. This allowed China to catch up to us in missile accuracy twenty years before they would have without our help.
I’m glad the women are home safe, but I’ll withhold my praise of Bill Clinton till all the facts are in.
No good deed ever goes unpunished. The Second Coming will occur with complaints about the backround music.
Sure the Cons are critical, it’s because the Democrats used diplomacy and resolved an international situation without resorting to military force. As a result no military contracts were awarded to major Republican campaign donors like the PMA group.
http://kansasjackass.blogspot.com/2009/02/breaking-todd-tiahrt-secured-7m-in.html
It’s another success for Clinton who worked successfully with Ireland, Libya and Palestine. For the 8 years the Bush regime was in office all they managed to do was create more enemies.
Yes, the Cons are bitter, because they are reminded how much they fail at everything.
Heckler
Posted August 5, 2009 at 12:56 pm | Permalink
XXX
If you’re gonna hang me I want an old rope with all the “stretch” pulled out of it.
New ropes is for puzzies.
________________________________
Aw heck Heck, I couldn’t hang you. You’re a pal.
Wait a minute, next time it’s my turn to buy lunch.
Step over here on this little door….LOL!
While the Cons continue to whine, complain and be jackarsses.. quitter Sarah Palin today announced that she will divorce Todd and sell her ret**ded bast**d child Trig on ebay to finance her 2012 run for the White House,
#
Heckler
Posted August 5, 2009 at 12:56 pm | Permalink
XXX
If you’re gonna hang me I want an old rope with all the “stretch” pulled out of it.
New ropes is for puzzies.
————————
Bungee cord. . .
Bolton is irrelevant.
Bolton’s got a book out. One of those CON-financed vanity press imprints that rocket Coulter to the top of the NY Times list for a week until the bulk returns flow back in.
Bolton was on “The Daily Show” a few days ago.
Jon Stewart tossed him some softballs. Never once resorted to the question I would have asked:
“Why do you dye your hair and not your moustache?!”
That’s why Stewart is heir to Cronkite’s role as The Most Trusted Man in America and I’m stuck on WE Blog.
Bolton is a 21st Century caveman.
I watched Bolton on The Daily Show last week. Truly, a jaw dropping idiot.
“Jon Stewart tossed him some softballs.”
Bolton was saying dumb things without help from difficult questions.
reggie,
“Did Clinton make nuclear compromise with North Korea?
WSJ”
As I had just pointed out, Clinton was not an agent of the government and had no authority to make any compromises with anyone but Hilary. He had no more authority than you or I would in a similar situation. Of course he wouldn’t give up a negotiating edge on that nasty little faux bonaparte, so he might have failed to mention that point until after the hostages were freed.
Dowd’s 0-6 nukes score card suggests that we have to talk to Kim Jong Il so he won’t make nukes?
Why should we let him hold us hostage?
Bolton was Dick Cheney’s boy. The boy that hated the U.N. so much, Uncle Dick said “boy, have I got the job for you!”
satatom,
Sarah can do some outrageous things all by herself. You don’t need to help her.
Jed,
Emissaries don’t carry the baggage, they go for their name recognition or past interaction with foreign leaders.
Carter went to North Korean when Clinton was President, acting as an emissary which eventually led to some fundamental talks about nuclear proliferation. Nothing ever came about though…
Surely you are not equating something Maureen Dowd says to something an experienced foreign policy guy like Bolton says?
Wow..just wow.
StevenEDavis
Posted August 5, 2009 at 4:40 pm | Permalink
satatom,
Sarah can do some outrageous things all by herself. You don’t need to help her.
____________________
True enough! Screwing her hubby’s best friend with the result being a mongoloid child (God has a sense of ironic humor) is pretty outrageous!!!!
If he wanted to send a former pres., why not bush? I’m thinking because the objective wasn’t executions, and bush would be getting water boarded about now.
Christ to clarify, it was the company that Don Rumsfield was on the board of directors that sold N. Korea the reactor they used.
Maureen Dowd isn’t a serious journalist.
Of course it is wonderful the two journalists are home.
It is reasonable to be concerned about having the prestige of a former President negotiate with this regime and the signals the North Koreans receive from it.
I am sure Iran is watching.
“We” have been talking to the North Koreans for twenty years and “we’ve” accomplished doodley squat.
Cons just can’t handle that dems kick their butt in everything without having to kill them.
That’s why they feel the only way they can win is by killing. Cons are street thug gangs.
I also think if cons are just going to say outrageous lies all day long, we should reciprocate.
It didn’t take long but conservative Republicans are wishing the American journalists had stayed in North Korea.
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/dick-morris-thinks-two-freed-hostage
Good ol’ conservatives, they think Americans are a burden and should be discarded when they are no use to them. Kinda like how they wished a captured soldier was executed by the Taliban, kinda like how Reagan wanted the Iranian hostages kept in Iran until the election was over.
Lesson to be learned is, if you are in trouble overseas, just hope the person you ask for help is a Democrat. President Clinton and President Gore traveled to North Korea to negotiate for their return, a Republican couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger.
Never thought I’d see the day when a visit by Clinton would be described as giving prestige, by a con! Will wonders never cease?
I have to admit it’s hard to feel compassion for the three hikers that got picked up by Iran. What the hell were they thinking hiking in Iraq in the first place?
I think the honorable repubs with any sense of fair play and ethics have abandoned the party some time ago. Now, they’re just left with the rif raf.
“President Gore ”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAA!!!!!
The three hikers are journalist who were out on a recreational hike. Don’t you guys read real news. At least listen to NPR.
HA! Eight years of Bush and we got a nuclear Korea from the neo-con non-engagement principles.
A legacy and a history of diplomacy gets the ladies out of captivity with a simple, grim faced visit from Mr. Clinton.
Hisssss, Mr. Bolton.
Welcome home, ladies! Thank you, Mr Clinton.
Chrisfrommactown, wss this kind of like having the Bushes and Rummy give advanced weapoons to Iraq and the Taliban or is it more like Iran-Contra? I too need to know where to make the comparisons.
#
Regular
Posted August 5, 2009 at 5:23 pm | Permalink
Jed,
Emissaries don’t carry the baggage, they go for their name recognition or past interaction with foreign leaders.
Carter went to North Korean when Clinton was President, acting as an emissary which eventually led to some fundamental talks about nuclear proliferation. Nothing ever came about though…
==============================================
Gee, you think that had anything to do with Clinton handing the Korean problem to Bush, and Bush doing nada about it? Bush and his cronies didn’t believe in diplomacy. He was all about either bomb em or ignore em.
How much cheaper could we get off than a photo op? No death, no destruction and no millions of dollars!
John Bolton Neo-Conservative and former ambassador to the U.N. wanted millions killed and half the world destroyed rather then to talk to the North Koreans. How brave and insightful these Chicken Hawks are with other’s blood and wealth. As to talking, on occasion I found myself talking to a fool. It does not change me. Foolishness is not something that I find infectious except for those times when I am being foolish myself. Then it is a matter of two fools talking with each other, being foolish is a choice.
Let’s Not Forget How Successfully President Clinton Was With North Korea in the 1990’s
The United States and North Korea signed an agreement on October 21, 1994, that offers North Korea a package of benefits in return for a freeze of North Korea’s nuclear program. Benefits to North Korea include: light water nuclear reactors totaling 2,000 electric megawatts by the year 2003; shipments of “heavy oil” to North Korea (50,000 tons in 1995 and 500,000 tons annually beginning in 1996 until the first light water reactor is built); U.S. agreement to establish liaison offices as an initial step toward diplomatic relations; and a relaxation of the American economic embargo against North Korea. In December 1995, the United States and North Korea signed a supply contract for the light water reactors.
The Clinton Administration hopes to secure most of the money for the oil and light water reactors from other governments. South Korea and Japan will finance most of the cost of light water reactors. The Administration needs the cooperation of other states for the provision of oil to North Korea. Administration officials have acknowledged, however, that costs to the United States could run into the “tens of millions of dollars.”
Dismantlement of North Korea’s current nuclear facilities and a resolution of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demand for a special inspection of suspected nuclear waste sites are postponed for at least five years by the Agreed Framework. The same is true of North Korean consent to the removal of reactor fuel rods, which North Korea removed from its operating reactor in May 1994.
http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/crs/91-141.htm
World outraged by North Korea’s latest nuke test
Mon May 25, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) — The U.N. Security Council called an emergency meeting Monday after world leaders reacted with outrage to North Korea’s latest nuclear test.
The White House — which less than three weeks ago announced a new diplomatic effort to restart stalled talks with North Korea about its nuclear program — said the test was in “blatant defiance” of the Security Council.
“North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community,” the White House said. “The danger posed by North Korea’s threatening activities warrants action by the international community.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/24/nkorea.nuclear/index.html
(O’Bama is so tough!)
Terrorists are like the Mob, you have to keep your payments current, or they will attack you again.
There should be an annually budgeted expense to pay off all of our enemies, including N.Korea, Iran, Talian, Al Queda, etc…..
No need to fight wars and destroy your enemy when you can simply continue to bow down to extortion, buy your way to security with worthless borrowed greenbacks, and HOPE they don’t attack you again.
Which is exactly why we must not cut off the money supply to “The Sons of Iraq”. They’ll just go back to the other side!
(Con Think)
Sure Clinton secured the release of the two female journalist, but did he get N.K. to disarm? Where’s the success in that!
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