WP: Bush Doctrine Is Expected to Get Chilly Reception

[kskiska]

Sunday, January 23, 2005; Page A01

When President Bush flew to Canada in his first international trip following his reelection, the White House portrayed it as the beginning of a fence-mending tour to bring allies back into the fold after a tense first term. But after Bush left, the Canadians were more furious than before.

They were stunned when Bush leaned across a table in a private meeting and lectured Prime Minister Paul Martin about opposing the U.S. missile defense system. And they were later taken aback by a speech filled with what they considered the same "old Bush" foreign policy pronouncements that opened the divide with the allies in the first place.

"If he's going to take that speech to Europe," said a top Canadian official who attended the meeting between Bush and Martin, "he's not going to get a good reception."

For all the talk of fresh diplomacy and rebuilding frayed alliances, Bush heads into his second term still demanding that the rest of the world meet him on his terms -- and now he has redefined those terms to an even more provocative degree with an inaugural address articulating a grand vision for spreading democracy and "ending tyranny" in "every nation." With his eye on history, Bush wants to change the world. The rest of the world is not necessarily so eager to be changed.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29413-2005Jan22.html

[givemebackmycountry]

1. Bush is an asshole

And it's only a matter of time before one of these leaders tells him so.

[bagnana]

4. took the words out of my mouth.

He is a belligerent asshole. Three years ago I realized I couldn't stand listening to him and had to turn off the sound when I heard his voice on the television. Then I realized I couldn't stand seeing his face, and had to change the channel. I have now gotten to the point where I can't even stand reading about him.

[Just Me]

10. Yup. A morally arrogant, military-corporatist ASSHOLE!!!

Either he thinks himself ridiculously "special" or he is actually incredibly insecure. Either way,...he is a complete ASS.

I have noted how he treats other leaders in a patronizing manner,...as if they are somehow below him.

[Dover]

11. Just think what this says about the corporations that chose him & Cheney..

as their bag men. "Assholes" doesn't even begin to cover it....

Much darker than that.

[kskiska]

2. Wow!

Further down:

But Bush did confront Martin and used the sort of language that sets Canadians on edge. "He leaned across the table and said, 'I'm not taking this position, but some future president is going to say, 'Why are we paying to defend Canada?' " said the senior Canadian official who was in the room and noted that he had been assured by Rice and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell personally that Bush would avoid the subject.

"Most of our side was trying to explain the politics, how it was difficult to do," the official said. But Bush "waved his hands and said, 'I don't understand this. Are you saying that if you got up and said this is necessary for the defense of Canada it wouldn't be accepted?

[Ekova]

5. Unnerving.

The last quote is very telling. Very dangerous thought process.

[Dover]

13. A direct threat. Bushco is like the Mafia, extorting protection payment

and making threats....

That's all they know. And when you have no comrads, it's all they have in their diplomatic arsenal.

[AuntiBush]

27. Good Grief!

His speech the other day was "chilling," in deed! You'd have to be a complete idiot, or diluted, and void of thought, blind from ignorance, and wallowing in self-greed to "not" see through his words.

You can see it in his eyes... His and Cheney's! Their souls are rooted deep with extreme wickedness. Frightning. I can't for the life of me figure out why some "one" up-high hasn't pulled the plug on this before it's too late.

Don't any of them love their children, too?

[Redstone]

33. No, their souls are NOT "rooted deep with wickedness"

because they HAVE no souls.

Redstone

[zann725]

20. He's always gotten his way. Never heard "no." How frightening

and dangerous that is.

[BeHereNow]

3. CLUELESS AND FECKLESS...

It is a well known fact that the "handlers" prevent
their puppet from exposure to anything negative
regarding his performance.
This includes global public opinion regarding
his delusions of "changing the world."
This is going to end VERY badly for all, I fear.
BHN

[baby_bear]

6. Interesting quote from a Rome newspaper editorial

Today's NYTimes has snips from a number of international newspapers commenting on the inaugural address. This one from "La Repubblica" in Rome struck me:

(Bush) finally feels at peace with himself, is satisfied with himself and thus is even more disturbing...There is the sense of a man who now considers the entire world as his own parish.

The arrogance is astounding, and frightening.

b_b

[zann725]

19. Right on the mark! Others outside the U.S. are acknowledging it in print.

That's important.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

7. Does anyone know who exactly wrote his coronation speech??

It even scared Piggy Noonan

[kskiska]

9. Gerson started out writing it

but a bunch of others added stuff – William Kristol, in particular. Kristol later wrote a glowing review of the speech in his column.

[Fenris]

8. Some great bullshit from former Israeli spy Richard Perle

"His importance as a world leader will turn out to be far larger than the sort of tactical issues that are widely debated and for which he is sometimes reviled," said Richard Perle, an influential former adviser to the Pentagon. "Put this in a historic perspective: He's already created profound change. All around the Middle East, they're talking about the issue of democracy. They're talking about his agenda. It's an extraordinary thing."

Yes. Yes they are talking about his agenda. They're also blowing up shit because of his agenda. And murdering because of his agenda. And dying because of his agenda.

[Just Me]

12. Perle is a dark, destructive sociopath!!!

He is the proponent for waging all out war. He really does impact me as a demonic individual.

[fshrink]

16. Exact same impression here! Word for word.

This is really scary but since we're all getting use to it, it looses its reality.

[bvar22]

38. Pure EVIL

The Prince of Darkness

[bpilgrim]

14. his 2nd failure, iraq, is what we need to hold to the freedom fire

we need to constantly bring up the FACTS-on-the-GROUND to remind everyone of the cost and the constant and prolonged failure of this ILLEGAL WAR.

it's obvious what they fear most since iraq wasn't mentioned once, but at the same time couldn't avoid being alluded to as a background of the success of their current policies :crazy:

this is their greatest weakness and their greatest strength and we must continue to challenge them head on on it and use their own words against them. (freedom, justice, democracy)

if freedom is going to be their mantra we must constantly expose the hypocrisy of their words by revealing their actions and their disastrous consequences by making it plain and for all to see/hear

they will not survive the truth IF its a concerted and unyielding effort.

one by one we must flip the dems to see that the consequence of the great errors of the 'bush doctrine' is for not only foreign peoples the world over but our nations people as well.

i believe with this speech he again has set themselves up for a great and sudden FALL. they like to believe they are the masters of low expectations yet everyone recognizes the loftiness of this speech whether or not they recognize the chill it sent round the world.

psst... pass the word ;->
http://news.globalfreepress.com/mp3/bush/bush-1-20-05.mp3

peace

[thecrow]

23. Very well put, bpilgrim :)

I agree!

[renaissanceguy]

25. I hope Michael Moore is right

when he says that Bush will f*** up so much, that Repugs will lose the next elections.

But then again, there won't be elections if the world is blown up.

Clinton was impeached for lying about sex. WHY isn't Bush impeached for lying about WMD?! I don't care if we have a Repug majority in both houses. We need the articles of impeachment, even if it's symbolic at first.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/472476

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/479727

[BrotherBuzz]

15. So he reads a damn book and gets "town square test", yet....

the village idiot still doesn't understand Kerry' "Global Test". We're in trouble. It's going to be a LONG four years!


<snip
The inspiration for Bush's thinking lately has been Natan Sharansky, the former Soviet political prisoner turned conservative Israeli politician. Bush read Sharansky's book "The Case for Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror" and invited him to the White House in November to talk about its ideas. Since then, Bush has been recommending the book to nearly everyone he sees, from friends to journalists to foreign leaders, telling CNN last week that "this is a book that . . . summarizes how I feel."

In the book, Sharansky outlines what he calls the "town square test," meaning that a country is not free if its citizens cannot go to a public place and express dissent from the ruling power without fear of reprisal -- a test Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice embraced during Senate testimony last week.

The book takes on conservative "realists" who focus on preserving stability and national interests rather than advancing noble causes such as democracy -- the approach espoused by Rice before Bush's 2000 election in a Foreign Affairs magazine article called "Promoting the National Interest." In that article, she defined U.S. national interests as rebuilding military power, expanding free trade agreements, confronting "rogue regimes," renewing relationships with allies and building ties with "great powers" such as Russia and China.

[Toots]

29. Town square,....Is that the same place as free speech zone?

What incredible fucking hypocrites.

[fshrink]

17. The idiot is riding his beautiful chariot.

And shows his wee-wee around, since now he has been told that it's really big and powerful. When you think about it, it is as comical as a Kafka novel. Or the reign of Caligula.

[zann725]

18. Why didn't they just arrest him...on War Crimes charges?

It's the International Community who are ultimately eventually going to act on this, I believe.

[renaissanceguy]

24. I sure hope so.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.15676271
http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues/472476

[DS1]

21. I love the disconnect. Bush is going to end tyranny, so why build SDI?

Or is Bush going to fail?

One would think the press might pick that up. But then, one would have to be living in the 90s for that to happen :eyes:

[genieroze]

22. * is a narrow minded, jerk. eom

[AuntiBush]

26. The World is saying the same thing!

Diluted, Self-Centered, Conceited, Ego-Maniac who's arrogance, and self-rightous bigotry mirrors his Slimy Snippiedy Evilness!

I never in my lifetime thought I'd hate a man like him. Good lord, he's got my elder family members so terrified, it's like they're back in the WWII era.

Seriously! With all the attornies in this country he's had to piss-off on "caps" can't they figure out a way to impeach his ass!?! I just don't get it. And the Clintons, sitting behind them on the 20th like mere muppets.

[MichiganVote]

28. How easily they confuse doctrine with dogma

[franmarz]

30. What do you mean "expected" we already are-most of us-anyway

I am very glad that we have decided to stop traveling to Europe. I am embarrassed about my countrys policies. Even in Germany last year,as we met some friendly people, they avoided the subject altogether. I feel that a lot of people in Europe dont like us and the policies that our country is putting out. I sure hope nothing happens to our way of life here in the USA.

[Spazito]

31. This item just hit the Canadian news and the crap is going to...

to hit the fan. bush just helped the anti-MDS Canadians, myself included, enormously by behaving as he did on his visit to Canada. Martin is going to have to address this a a big meeting this week and in the press. Thank you, bush, your big mouth continues to do damage to the very issues you pursue, keep it up please!

[Kolesar]

32. the Globe and Mail version

The White House refused comment on the surprisingly pointed remarks

[hvn_nbr_2]

34. Fence-mending, bipartisanship, unity, repairing frayed alliances

They all mean the same thing to Shrubler--everybody kowtows to him. We'd have unity if everyone would just agree with me.

fence-mending tour to bring allies back into the fold

fresh diplomacy and rebuilding frayed alliances

[NNguyenMD]

35. Shrub is isolated and alone in the world. His foreign policy is toast and

people had better realize that there is no foreign policy that is successful without the support of the global community. In a way, this is a good demonstration of "global" empowerment against a reckless and arrogant unilateral foreign policy.

[Massachusetts]

36. IMPEACH BU$H!

[fooj]

37. I'm just plain embarrassed!

It's truly unbelievable!