Karen Hughes seeks better U.S. image in Latin America

[sabra]

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/nation/14368770.htm

Karen Hughes seeks better U.S. image in Latin America

Karen Hughes, the Bush administration's chief image strategist, is well aware that many Latin Americans hold a dim view of U.S. policies. So she has launched a campaign to make her government simpático.

Better known for her efforts to improve the Muslim world's view of Washington and as a Bush confidante, Hughes is boosting the region's student exchange programs, allowing ambassadors to speak out more, deploying new public relations specialists and revising aid programs to make a bigger impact.

The State Department's under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Hughes returned last month from her second trip to the region, which included stops in Brazil, Panama, El Salvador, Chile and Colombia.

There, she underscored the central U.S. message to Latin Americans: We are friends, we are neighbors, and we can do more for our people working together.

[rodeodance]

1. good gawd. she failed in the ME-now she has her sites on Lat. Amer.

Help us all.

[IndianaGreen]

58. She is a miserable failure in everything she does, like her boss

All the PR bullshit in the world cannot change Latin America's views on America which are rooted in history.

[Nomen Tuum]

64. She's 0 for 1, now let her go to 0 for 2

You know Chavez is just sitting there in Caracas laughing his ass off at that cheap whore!

[SharonAnn]

71. Brazil has great plastic surgeons. They could improve her image.

[saigon68]

2. " All your Base are belong to us", she concluded

[CottonBear]

3. Someone throw a net over her. How many people did she piss off

on her latest diplomatic jaunt across the Americas? :(

[Quakerfriend]

4. I guess her chit chat with the girls of the ME did not go so well.

So, she's going to move to another play group.

[babylonsister]

5. Bwhahaha! She failed in the mideast, so she's moving on!

I imagine she'll receive as warm a reception in Latin America as she got in 'the Muslim world'.

[Rose Siding]

47. The ME gig is part time. For this one, one hand's tied behind her back

How hard can it be?

:banghead:

[Zynx]

6. This ought to be really really funny.

Get some popcorn.

[TAPat]

7. No Venezuela???

:P

[Zynx]

8. Bush has something like a 98% unfavorable rating in Brazil.

I want to see them try to sell Bush down there.

[Bridget Burke]

20. Perhaps she will show up in a thong?

Just to show she appreciates Brazilian culture...

[mark11727]

23. Oh thank you very much for THAT image...!

GACK!

[Zynx]

26. Okay, now you forced me to gouge out my own eyeballs.

Thanks a lot.

[Ilsa]

52. How much ya wanna bet she goes to Brazil and tries to woo them

by speaking Spanish, or worse, Tex-Mex Spanish?

[Supersedeas]

9. better known for her efforts in the Muslim world...known for WHAT

[Ilsa]

51. Showing how the rude Americans can talk down to people, Bush-style. eom

[wtmusic]

10. She'd like to teach the world to sing...in perfect harmony...

the rest of the world would like her to go home

[saltpoint]

11. Perhaps Karen could extoll U.S. virtues from atop the huge border wall.

She could stand on the cat walk over a banner reading: "English Only."

[ugarte]

13. Yeah, Fortress USA is tough to spin...nt

[hlthe2b]

12. Ahh, the "delicate flower," Karen Hughes....

catapulting the propaganda to our southern neighbors now. So nice that she is moving on from her Middle Eastern success>...:sarcasm:

[Roland99]

14. So *that's* where she went.

:rofl:

[xxqqqzme]

15. SOP for the criminals is *world.

Fail at the initial stated mission, do it again somewhere else. Maybe it will work this time.

That old 'insanity' definition is a ball 'n chain for these rat bastards.

[Virginia Dare]

16. Oh yeah, that'll work, just like it did in the Middle East..

she is the worst misuse for taxpayer money in the government today, possibly second only to Karl Rove.

[napi21]

17. Good Lord! What a waste of taxpayer money just paying this idiot!

When I first heard her on the campaign trail with Shrub, I thought she was a smart woman, and very capable of handling the Press questions the way SHE wanted, and shutting them up! I still think she went back to TX the first time because there was an inside the WH conflict that she got pissed at and "took her ball and went home".

Since she was appointed "image repairer" she's failed miserably! I think this should be the job of the State Department anyway. Shrub should tell her that her hubby needs here back in Austin!!!!!

[Cha]

75. Yes, it is a BIG WASTE OF

TAXPAYERS MONEY! Especially since our "image" in Latin America is a direct result of her so called boss supporting a coup in a certain lefty South AMerican Country.

[seafan]

18. Oh, a WONDERFUL idea.

CRAIG T. KOJIMA / [e-mail]
Protesters with Not in Our Name-Hawaii, in association with the World Can't Wait Movement and concerned University of Hawaii faculty and students, demonstrated yesterday against the war in Iraq as Karen Hughes, adviser to President Bush, visited the East-West Center. 10-27-05

[xxqqqzme]

49. her hands look very old

[tanyev]

19. Dear Karen,

I'm very worried about the U.S. image in Antarctica. Please go there and don't come back until you have fixed everything.

[mark11727]

24. Noooo! Think of the poor PENGUINS...!

[UpInArms]

21. Maybe it would improve it this maladministration would remove it

fugly face from the planet.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

22. I FUCKING GIVE THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHERE THE FUCK DOES THIS IDIOCY END?????????????

WHERE ARE OUR REPRESENTATIVES SCREAMING THAT THIS BULLSHIT IS LESS THAN WORTHLESS, THAT IT'S NOTHING BUT WINDOWDRESSING, THAT IT ONLY HURTS OUR IMAGE EVERYWHERE???????????

WHY IS ALL OF THIS ALLOWED TO GO ON WITHOUT ONE FUCKING SENATOR OR CONGRESSMAN OR GOVERNOR OR SOME ELECTED OFFICIAL STANDING UP AND STARTING TO SCREAM ABOUT IT AND NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER STOPPING UNTIL PEOPLE JOIN IN??????????????

MORE DEAD IN IRAQ, EVERY DAY, MORE DEAD AND MAIMED AND CRUSHED, EVERY DAY, AND PEOPLE ARE WORRIED ABOUT SOME DEAD WHITE CHICK IN ARUBA AND WHETHER OR NOT PEOPLE THEY'LL NEVER KNOW RAPED SOME DANCER IN DURHAM, NC??????????????

GAS IS GOING TO GO TO FOUR BUCKS A GALLON, 50,000,000 DON'T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE, AND NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING!!!!!

I AM FUCKING LOSING IT HERE, AND I NO LONGER EVEN GIVE A FUCK.

THIS IS HOW PEOPLE GET GUNS AND END UP ON TOP OF TOWERS ON THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS CAMPUS. I AM NOW IDENTIFYING WITH SNIPERS, GOD HELP ME.

WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS????????????????

WHERE IS MY AMERICA?????????

[BlueInPhilly]

25. Send Bea Arthur instead

She's more loveable and no one will know the difference. I :loveya: Bea!

[Gidney N Cloyd]

45. And Bea could sing the Golden Girls theme to the crowds there...

"Thank you for bein' our friennnnnnnnnds... "

[leftchick]

28. AND DON"T FORGET!

THAT FUCKING MESSIANIC SQUATER IN THE WHITE HOUSE HAS NOT RULED OUT A NUCLEAR STRIKE ON IRAN! WTF? WHERE ARE THE STRAIGHT JACKETS FOR THESE CRIMINALS??? :argh:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-04-18T151553Z_01_L17370115_RTRUKOC_0_US-NUCLEAR-IRAN.xml

TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Bush refused on Tuesday to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions.

[EFerrari]

29. Pelosi, my congresscritter, told a San Francisco audience

to forget impeachment and to use the ballot box to show where we stand.

And she said that WHILE an APPOINTED Thug Sec of State is busy rigging CA to out-Ohio Ohio. Certifying machines that don't meet the standards, putting in a database that EXCLUDES voters illegally. How does this woman expect to keep her job once our vote is hardwired for Republicans?

Maybe Karen Hughes should come to San Francisco next. :nuke:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

31. SEE? SEE WHY I'M IN TOTAL MELTDOWN?????

WHERE DO THESE PEOPLE GET OFF DOING NOTHING, AND THEN HAVING THE UTTER GALL TO TELL US TO DO IT, VIA THE BALLOT BOXES, WHILE THEY SIT ON THEIR FAT INCUMBENT ASSES????

I FUCKING GIVE THE FUCK UP. MEET ME AT COIT TOWER. BRING A KEG.

[EFerrari]

34. OLL, you don't want to get us arrested in SF County.

They have REALLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYY bad baloney there.

Come out to the beach. Betcha my friend from the forrest service will help us out with that keg. :)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

35. Is there a tower there?

I'll be needing a tower. I know you understand.

Charles Whitman and me. We're taking back America.

Anchor Steam, do ya think?

[EFerrari]

39. Um, there are the Sutro Baths. They're not as tall but will

mostly like serve the purpose.

They're quite beautiful, actually.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

40. You sweetheart..........

I'll only be able to take them on from the East, but that'll be all right.

And then, my very own version of Masada.

:yourock:

[EFerrari]

41. Maybe we can have our last meal at the Cliff House.

:hi:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

42. Uh...........

The last time I was there, uh, well, there was an incident with a Porsche and, uh, a bad ending to a passionate relationship, and there wasn't exactly a fire, but there were lots of Porsche parts missing from the car in the dawn and I was at the airport, heading East on a one-way first-class ticket purchased with his credit card.

Oh, and the keys to the Porsche were in a trash can at the airport, where he wasn't.

I could wear sunglasses, I suppose. And a hat.

OK, we're on.

You truly do, you know: :yourock:

[leftchick]

61. this is why I have given up all hope for this country

ALL hope. I want the fuck outa here NOW! :(

[EFerrari]

62. You know, I feel the same way. But my partner can only live

in this town. That's just the way he is. You could drop me pretty much anywhere and I'd be fine but he's not that way.

So, that leaves making it work as my only option. Nancy needs a clue, at best. At worst, this is a sham and it needs to be outted.

[pagam]

27. Karen Hughes in Panama???

I am sure she was well received (sarcasm) After all, many of us have not forgotten that it was bushito's papi(daddy) who invaded Panama in order to shut up Noriega. Ifshe met with the elite, or as we like to call them "rabi-blancos" then she was well received. After all, it was them who supported the invasion, and had their maids and nannies banging pots and pans in support of the US.

[roody]

53. And we made sure Torrijos' plane

went down with him in it.

[Zorra]

30. A cognitively impaired race of extraterrestrial shapeshifting turnips

has taken control of our government.

All other plausible explanations for the actions of this deluded administration have been thoroughly exhausted.

[EFerrari]

63. Supported by "dumbass snakehandling crackers"

:rofl:

[kskiska]

32. "And she wants all U.S. ambassadors everywhere to speak out more. "

Maybe if the ambassadors were better qualified and spoke the languages of their host countries, they'd be more effective. Most ambassadors got their jobs for being Bush "Pioneers."

[supernova]

33. And that they could say something worthwhile

and earnest, not Bushpropaganda.

God, I would not want to be an ambassator for this admin.

Karen, do the planet and us a favor and STAY HOME!

[Javaman]

36. Why do they insist on sending the Ugly American on these

"good will" trips?????

She is the anti-goodwill witch. Wicked witch of the north?

[Robb]

37. The "don't be such a dick" option always last on the table. n/t

[arikara]

38. You mean she's not going to Venezuela?

Why ever not?

:rofl:

[0007]

43. Karen could start by offering Henry A. Kissinger up to Chile

and turn Orlando Bosch to Cuba and Luis Posada Carriles to Venezuela.

[Canuckistanian]

74. Good idea!

And don't forget Negroponte to Nicaragua or Honduras.

[warrens]

44. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Just noticed that every country in Latin America has gone left except Colombia, and it might dump its fascist thug next month? Hmmmmm?

As long as Bush or anyone who even knows him remains in our govt, there is no way to regain our prestige in Latin America. None.

[EFerrari]

46. It was already eroding in 1968 when I visited as a kid.

And, it's very probably that even earlier our predations were not, um, welcomed.

[DUHandle]

48. Caption this here, please

[Bush_MUST_Go]

70. Caption, you say?

You see that deaf, dumb & blind guy over there? Concentrate on him when you talk & you should do fine.

[symbolman]

72. "SEE?

I TOLD you there were Black People in South America, remember?"

Uh..duh..dribble..cack cack.. hula jaw, hula jaw.. blink blink blink..

"Hey, Karen.. is that you? I thought you quit?".. Hula jaw blink blink..

She is the QUEEN of TV reporter "banter".. she was a TV person, and you know how they go off on jags where they say really wierd shit, like they are trying to connect, with each other or the audience, and it really doesn't make any sense? Then somehow one of them will come up with a non sequitor or a really dumb metaphor.." Another DOG DAY at the POUND TODAY.."

And all of a sudden they'll grin like retards, THRILLED that they made a mental poo in their mental toilet..

That's what SHE does. and Badly.

SHE is the one that taught Bush to look around the room like he just invented anti gravity boots when he actually finishes a sentence that makes any sense at all... Seriously, if you've ever watched him it makes your stomach turn when he gets that "look", that he DONE GOOD with some words, it's that basic and subtle all at once.

It really does look just like the face of a kid in the middle of a happy toilet training event.

Meanwhile all of his pals kill, maim, loot, plunder, pillage, destroy, nuke and steal everything in sight, even souls.

[madmark]

50. the same genius' that decided Miers was qualified to serve on the

Supreme Court apparently discovered that Karen Hughes was a super charismatic diplomat. Who knew.

[jwirr]

54. Let them continue to think as they do because it is true. They

are safer that way - from us.

[sofa king]

55. Eye of Sauron Turns Its Gaze to the South

In 2000, she was on the campaign when the election was stolen.

In 2002, she joined the White House Iraq Group. Iraq was invaded the following year.

In 2004, she re-joined the Bush Campaign late in the season. Two months later the election was stolen in Ohio.

In 2005, she was appointed an undersecretary of state. Her first tour was of the Middle East, and war clouds are converging there.

Now she's going to South America. Good luck, my friends.

[rodeodance]

56. its a good belly laugh!

[peacebuzzard]

57. I 'd love to see her schmooze up to Chavez, that has to be her mission.

Wonder why they don't send Rice?
:rofl: :popcorn: :rofl:

[killbotfactory]

59. Che is laughing in his grave

[Porcupine]

60. Is she hunting for the Easter Bunny or Lost Tribes of Israel?

because a goodwill trip to Latin America is a total loss from the first microsecond after the idea was spoken.

The BFEE ability to be self-delusional is absolutely staggering.

[onager]

65. This should make Bigfoot's ME jaunt seem like a vacation

And I was in the Middle East the last time Bigfoot waddled thru the area. (Egypt, where I still am.)

It was a real hoot. Even the govt-controlled Egyptian newspapers red-assed her without mercy.

One female editorialist saw her speak and was...er...less than impressed. Among MANY other chowderhead moves, Hughes tried to deliver a stirring call for everyone in the Middle East to Think Happy Thoughts about--and always co-operate with--the intelligence services. Since they protect us all by capturing terraists, Global War On Terriers, etc. etc. etc.

As the columnist pointed out, "intelligence service" in this part of the world doesn't conjure up images of James Bond. It usually translates to "secret police"--those nice people who disappear your relatives in the middle of the night.

She pretty much lost her audeience after that. Though the writer noted that Bigfoot was shocked, SHOCKED, during the Q&A to be asked so many rude questions by Uppity Muslim Women.

[Bush_MUST_Go]

66. The ONLY thing that will improve America's image anywhere in this world...

is to rid ourselves of this totally inept & corrupt administration.

Until that time, America is unreliable as an ally AND a laughingstock around the world.

[Supersedeas]

67. Heck of a job in the Middle East...how about a S. American vacation

[Terran1212]

68. Latinos hit her with tomatos!

[Rex]

69. Fail in Egypt, fail in Iraq, fail, fail, failure...

The Chronic Failure Administration.

[onager]

73. I got some first-hand personal diplomacy for her...

Not an hour ago, I was sitting in a little farm village in the Nile Delta.

For any lurking Freepers, that's in Egypt.

One of my Egyptian co-workers stopped at the village butcher's to buy meat. (Cheaper than in Alexandria, and undeniably fresh. So fresh you might see the animal slaughtered right in front of your eyes.)

Because I took some digi-photos of these nice folks a while back and handed out prints, I'm a sort of minor celebrity in this one village. Some of the Egyptians joke that I should run for Mayor. (Today one little girl tried to share her hunk of raw sugar cane with me. That is, the same end she was gnawing on and stuffing in her face. I declined very politely.)

I always like stopping in the villages. Many members of my own family share-cropped cotton in the American South, so I feel some affinity for the fellahin (peasant farmers). And by the way...they have about as many illusions concerning their govt. as we do about ours.

Anyway, I'm sitting there and a guy comes up, looking sort of angry. He makes an exaggerated thumbs-down gesture, and says 3 words I hear a LOT in Egypt: "Boosh no good!"

Enthusiastically agreeing, I added that, indeed, Mr. Boosh was dumber than a homar (donkey). Though considerably less useful and lazier. That was translated to universal glee.

The fellow then changed to a thumbs-up gesture and said something I couldn't understand.

After a few moments, I realized what he was saying: Bill Clinton mea-mea! ("Mea-mea" is a slang Egypto-Arabic phrase meaning "one hundred per cent," or "very very good!")

The fellow went on in this vein for a few minutes, and even threw in: Bill Clinton mea-mea! Monica, mea-mea!

:rofl:

Wish I could have video-taped that little exchange for Karen Hughes.