Can someone please tell me the point of that speech?

[Enraged_Ape]

I don't get it. We paid good money for that moron and his entourage, who are supposedly representing the great nation of the United States, to plea for the world's help in extricating us from the mess that is the war in Iraq. Basically, all we got is a 20-some-minute free-associative diatribe about "sex slavery".

(This, BTW, is the first time I've heard about "sex slavery" in relation to our reasons for invading Iraq. I seem to recall that our invasion had more to do with weapons of mass DEATH poised to destroy us all within 45 minutes than it did with nonconsensual sex.)

So what on Earth was he trying to accomplish with this? Maybe it's just me, but it didn't seem to do anything.

[grytpype]

1. So what is the connection between Iraq and sex slavery?

Is this the new rationale for the invasion? I didn't listen to the speech (I can't stand to see or hear that imbecile), so can someone explain what the connection (supposedly) is?

[kentuck]

2. Domestic right-wing consumption...

That's why he added the part about "sex-slavery"....Nothing gets the attention of right-wingers like "sex"...

[arcane1]

4. and "slavery"

.

[Don_G]

3. Strictly For The GOP Faithful

He didn't want help or to negotiate anything. It was a cover so he could say See, I tried" during the 2004 campaign with the sex trade thrown in after that National Geographic program that recently aired in the US.

[WilliamPitt]

5. It was a Fox news soundbyte writ large

It was for the American media. The United Nations delegates were mere props.

[kentuck]

6. Absolutely right!

Political feedsacks for the sheeple...most especially those that vote Republican.

[JHB]

9. Going to the UN was cheaper than Lucasfilm...

...though I'm sure they were tempted to portray Kofi Annan as Jarjar Binks.

[Iverson]

7. OK, here's the point

Having set up failure at the UN, this administration establishes a pretext for further unilateral action. It's a way to say "we tried" without trying at all.

Have a nice day.

[Junkdrawer]

8. Now Bush can say "well, we ASKED for UN help, but they turned us down"

as Bush installs a Chalabi dictatorship with a thin veneer of democracy.

[Don_G]

13. And Don't Forget

He can throw money hand-over-fist at Halliburton until he's thrown out of office....

[Junkdrawer]

15. An that is, one of the main reasons why the UN is not welcome...

in Iraq. If they wanted to give us troops and money with no strings attached, that would be one thing - but sharing the authority for Iraq's future is quite another.

[forgethell]

20. Eveybody

wants money with "no strings attached".

[aquart]

24. Which will last how long?

[Junkdrawer]

26. The neocons always blamed Iran on Carter....

Let's see how well they do when a dictator with a massive repressive apparatus is pitted against a popular Islamic uprising.

[FreedomSpirit]

10. It made no sense to me

It sounded like a lot of blathering "we did this we did that we're doing this" and then all of a sudden he's blabbering about slavery and then sex slavery. What on earth did any of that have to do with Iraq? What must the world think of this idiot?

I tuned out during the blathering so I don't know if he asked for any kind of resolution from the UN ... Did he ask them to end sex slavery in Iraq?

Truly bizarre

[newyawker99]

22. Hi FreedomSpirit!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[underpants]

11. Micronesia is going after W on global warming

"those bearing the responsibilities must take the leadership in solving it....Mr.President I have to ask you Where is that leadersip?"

[havocmom]

12. Neil Bush can deduct his Thailand party expenses?

Research.

[kentuck]

14. The reality is the same after the speech as it was before....

ALthough Bush did his best to convince us that it was an honorable act to invade Iraq and kill thousands of Iraqis, all under a huge umbrella of lies. It was purely political.

[IrateCitizen]

16. It was meant solely for the consumption of the American media

The UN was only a backdrop. The media (CNN, Faux, MSNBC, etc.) can then give THEIR interpretation to the average person on the street who tunes them in to get their news.

That way, everything is packaged very neatly for their consumption. The US is out front in the world, trying to do all of these good things, and it's the damned UN that is keeping them from acting in the name of freedom!

The number of people who actually listen to all of this WITHOUT the spin will be quite small. Ergo, the speech will be used to rally support to a presidency that is failing miserably on every front imaginable.

[FDRrocks]

17. Am I mistaken... C-SPAN Micronesian President...

Just said the worst US president was Franklin Delano? *head blows up*

[glarius]

18. Hey.....he didn't back down...Isn't that what counts? (sarcasm)

Now we have all the right wingnuts telling us what a great speech it was!...I must say...this has made my morning! (more sarcasm)

[LeahMira]

19. Wrapping it all up in one package...

He's taking every world problem there is and blaming the terrorists for the problems.
How can the U.N. not help the U.S. in this all-out attack on evil... as it were?
So, he's positioning the U.N. as a group that won't act to end sex slavery and won't act to end poverty, plague, pestilence, and the rest of the things that are wrong in the world, but the U.S., by gum, isn't going to stand by and let it continue.
He thinks he's calling the U.N. bluff. We shall see...

BTW, did anyone stay tuned to watch the President of Peru for a little while? Wow! How impressive! And what a contrast to the alleged leader of the "most powerful nation on earth."

[forgethell]

21. Where

did you get the idea that Bush was going to beg the UN for anything?? I've seen comments to that effect on DU, but not from the WH or the government. When you get right down to it, do you expect GWB to admit he was wrong, and grovel?? That would certainly destroy his credibility with his base, and nothing he can do will gain him credibility with the Democratic base, so why would he bother??

That doesn't mean that he's right, it just means that if we expect Bush to self-destruct for the benefit of his politcial enemies, we're living in OZ.

[underpants]

23. Sounds to me as if it was packaged for US media and public

I missed it because our internet connection went down but everything I am reading about it seems to indicate that it was for the domestice market. W knows that he won't get what he wants at the UN (the are now holding the trump card) but he has to put on a face of not backing down.

[pbeal]

25. I guess Thiland is now part of the Axis of Evil

I just read the transcripts it looks like he is trying to Link Afghanistan and Iraq by never mentioning Iraq without prefacing it with Afghanistan I know that tactic worked with the "Morans" here in the US but I hope that it wont work with the worlds top diplomats.


anyway here is a tally of new spending he is purposing I never ever want to hear about fiscally responsible republicans from a pundit again where the hell is this money supposed to come from.
They are all good causes but president tax cut already gave all of our money to his friends.

$1.2 billion for the Afghan reconstruction
$10 billion for anti proliferation
$15 billion over five years to fight AIDS
$1.4 billion in global emergency food aid
$200 million for a new famine fund
$50 million to support the good work of organizations that are rescuing women and children from exploitation

[mlawson]

27. It was scheduled for a while. He had to go through with it.

And it might have been hoped that it would somehow shore up his RW base. Bet it didn't....