Hillary on Blitzer...If she was College President she would not invite Ahmadinejad

[KoKo]

to speak but she felt that was up to Columbia's President to decide and "it's a travesty" that he wanted to visit the site of 9/ll. She also said she voted for the Boxer Amendment which condemned all the ads.. Also, Iran is supplying weapons and arms that kill our troops.

HUH? :wow:

[global1]

1. What Is Everybody Afraid Of With Respect To Ahmadinejad?.....

Are they afraid that he will say something to prevent them from making a case to attack Iran?

I want to hear from this guy. I want to ask him questions. I want to know what we're dealing with and I don't want it slanted by politicians or talking heads.

Isn't this what we should be doing is talking?

[Captain Hilts]

14. His own country is sick of his looniness. They drubbed his party in the last election.

And his Holocaust denial did nothing to help him internationally.

[aquart]

19. Iran's George Bush can only help us to fellow feeling with the Iranians.

We all know how it feels to be led by a blustering asshole.

[Mojorabbit]

2. Oh no she did not

please tell me she didn't

[KoKo]

6. When Blitzer get's a transcript up...folks can read it there.

Blitzer pressed her on the Columbia visit. First she answered it was up to any college president to decide who to invite...then Blitzer went back and her and said: So, you would not condemn (or something like that)Columbia's President for inviting him? That's when she said that if she were College President she would not have invited him...but it's up to the College President to make that choice.

She didn't explain why Ahmandinejad should be allowed to view Ground Zero, though. It was just left hanging out there. I wish he had pressed her on that one.

[Eric J in MN]

10. She previously said that it's because Iran supports terrorism.

According to that logic, US officials shouldn't be allowed to visit the WTC site since the US also supports terrorism.

[leftchick]

20. yep, she said they were "a state sponser of terror"

now the US is arming terrorists in anbar province, one of many instances that we do the same. Her argument is ridiculous and reflects the neocon/aipac/dlc right wing foreign policies THAT I DESPISE!

[Eric J in MN]

22. The US is also supporting MEK in Iran.

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Kucinich_asks_Bush_about_alleged_US_support_for_armed_insurgency_in_Iran

[The Straight Story]

25. Actually - she had a press release on that:

http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=283682&&



Statement of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Potential Visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Ground Zero

Washington, DC – In response to reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has requested to visit Ground Zero while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meetings, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton issued the following statement:

"It is unacceptable for Iranian President Ahmadinejad, who refuses to renounce and end his own country’s support of terrorism, to visit the site of the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil in our nation’s history."

[KoKo]

39. Thanks for the Press Statement...n/t

[napi21]

12. When Wolf first asked her if she thought Columbia should have invited

the Iranian leader to speak there, she said that decision was the College's to make. Of course Wolfie pushed her, and again asked but what do YOU think about it? She said if I were the College President, I wouldn't have.

I think a lot of people object to anyone giving him a voice and a forum in the US. It appears to be giving him standing and recognition.

Personally I like the US College forum because I don't trust the people who interpreted his past statements. Who were they? Are they Admin. hacks? A few times, I've heard that his statements about the Holocaust never happening and he wanted to erase Israel off the map were interpreted wrong, and what he really said was that the current leaders of Israel should be replaced. I don't undeersetand the language he speaks, so I am told to believe what the media SAYS he meant. I'm hoping someone or several people that attend his speech will understand the language he speaks and be more likely to accurately interpret his words and tell the truth!

[KoKo]

15. I find it hard to believe that when Hillary was a Wellsley...and a controversial

person came to speak...she would have lead a march to stop them. Universities and Colleges used to be the place one went to hear controversial speechs which would lead to debate of issues.

I guess in Bush America that isn't allowed anymore. That was very disappointing for me to hear her say..and that he shouldn't be allowed to go to Ground Zero. What the Hell did Iran have to do with 9/11? It reminded me of Bush what she was saying.. It made me more convinced that Congress will allow Bush to bomb Iran. There's no reason she would make those comments given her background unless she knows we are going to do it.

[DURHAM D]

21. Your "disappointment" is noted.

:cry:

[tabasco]

3. Ladling out that kool-aid for mass consumption.

Pandering as usual.

[jobycom]

9. Yep. Pandering. Like every single candidate running. Always.

[glowing]

4. Well, so much for being open-minded and creating peaceful negotiations

between regions in the middle east. I guess all options really are on the table... and sending a nuclear weapon on over to Iran is ok. I wish people would wake-up about her... she's no better than ghouliani.

[KoKo]

8. She did say that the region was so destabilized that's why it's important

to get diplomacy started in the ME...but she was pretty clear in saying that Iran was involved in killing our troops. I guess she's trying to have it both ways. :shrug:

[madfloridian]

5. That is so sad. Our Democrats are just so afraid.

Now the NYT is backing down about the MoveOn ad.

I feel hopeless.

[rucky]

7. Schoolyard Bully Bahavior:

Target someone to pick on.
Isolate them. Talk shit.
Ridicule and provoke them.
Tell the teacher (UN) if they try to defend themselves.

[montanacowboy]

11. I can't wait till the primary so I can

vote against her; good old Hill, our resident Republican (Democrat).... she was born and bred a Repuke and has not changed; she talks out of all sides of her mouth, and I personally am sick and tired of her and Bill.

How many decades of Clinton/Bush do you want? The war will not end if she is selected in fact it will go on and probably go onto Iran. Listening that that grating monotone is almost as bad as listening to Bushco.

[jobycom]

13. Pisses me off, but it's easy to see why she's doing it.

If she says one nice thing about Ahmadinejad, the Republicans will run continuous commercials accusing her of being a Holocaust denier and wanting to wipe Israel off the map. I know, and many of you know, that Ahmadinejad didn't deny the Holocaust or call for Israel to be wiped off the map, but the majority of voters won't care.

Still, it's a notch against her in my book.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. He Did Sponsor A Conference Of Holocaust Deniers Including David Duke

eom

[jobycom]

23. He sponsored a conference on the Holocaust and did not exclude David Duke.

quote

The gathering, titled "Study of Holocaust: A Global Perspective", has been scheduled to coincide with international Human Rights Day on December 10, it said.

"This conference fully respects the Jewish religion and is away from politicization and propaganda," the statement said.

Topics include "anti-Semitism, Nazism and Zionism: collaboration or animosity; the concept of Holocaust and its roots; views of revisionists; denial or admittance of gas chambers," it added.

"The laws against those who deny Holocaust and killing of the Palestinians," are also to be discussed.

end quote

--------------------

I agree he had an agenda and it was a political statement more than a legite conference. His original point was that the West was using the Holocaust story to excuse its militaristic actions in the Middle East, which had nothing to do with the Holocaust.

He's obviously not our ally. But that doesn't make him our enemy, unless we want to make him so. He's the leader of a nation whose best interest lies in a different direction than ours. As a nation, we have to learn to deal with that without killing people.

---------

for context, his actual statements about the Holocaust:

The Iranian press agency IRNA renders Ahmadinejad on 2005-12-14 as follows: "'If the Europeans are telling the truth in their claim that they have killed six million Jews in the Holocaust during the World War II - which seems they are right in their claim because they insist on it and arrest and imprison those who oppose it, why the Palestinian nation should pay for the crime. Why have they come to the very heart of the Islamic world and are committing crimes against the dear Palestine using their bombs, rockets, missiles and sanctions.' (snip) 'If you have committed the crimes so give a piece of your land somewhere in Europe or America and Canada or Alaska to them to set up their own state there.' (snip) Ahmadinejad said some have created a myth on holocaust and hold it even higher than the very belief in religion and prophets (snip) The president further said, 'If your civilization consists of aggression, displacing the oppressed nations, suppressing justice-seeking voices and spreading injustice and poverty for the majority of people on the earth, then we say it out loud that we despise your hollow civilization.'"


---------------------

Here, btw, is Iran's response to these misinterpretations and mischaracterizations:

A dispatch by Reuters confirms 2006-02-21: "The Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki has (snip) repudiated that his state would want the Jewish state Israel 'wiped off the map'. (snip) Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been misunderstood. 'Nobody can erase a country from the map.' Ahmadinejad was not thinking of the state of Israel but of their regime (snip). 'We do not accredit this regime to be legitimate.' (snip) Mottaki also accepted that the Holocaust really took place in a way that six million Jews were murdered during the era of National Socialism."

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12790.h...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

28. What Was The Point Of Gathering A Bunch Of Holocaust Deniers?

It has nothing to do with where Mr. Ahmadinejad meets or doesn't meet ...


Holocaust denial is just so, well, messed up... It's analogous to the argument that slavery was a benign institution because it introduced Christianity to Africa and brought Africans to America where they could eventually enjoy liberty...

[jobycom]

40. The whole post was to prove that that's not what he did.

He called a conference on the Holocaust, and did not exclude Holocaust deniers.

Understand that the Holocaust is a western story. It's not part of the usual history people learn in the Middle East, the way it is here. They don't know as much about it, or about the facts and evidence. And they don't have the same sacred image of it that we do here. You can't question the Holocaust in the West. In some countries, it's flat out illegal. Even in America, if you were to introduce a serious paper at a conference which questioned any aspect of it, you would be castigated, at least. You'd probably be forever labeled as a denier.

But that's not the case in the Middle East. Massive slaughters and genocides have happened there that we don't bother learning about here. To them, it's just another aspect of WW II, and their main connection to it is the way the Holocaust story was used to justify Israel.

It's a different story for them than it is for us. They don't have the sacred image we do, they don't understand why Holocaust deniers are banned, and they probably do give them more weight than we would. At the same time, Ahmadinejad said that he had no reason to doubt it happened, only that he didn't like the way the story was used to justify Israel's dominance over him. He just doesn't see it as his history.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. You Are Infantalizing Mr. Ahmadinejad

I was working on my PHD in Government at FSU* in the early eighties...Some of my classmates were from Libya, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Morocco...They were at least as informed as Mr. Ahmadinejad and none of them were under any illusion that the Holocaust didn't occur...

Whether the west uses the Holocaust as a rationale for supporting Israel is a separate question...

Any conference that has Mr. Duke as a guest is a priori, fucked...





*something to my regret I never finished

[cali]

36. Please.

Iranian leader denies Holocaust

Ahmadinejad's remarks echo other recent statements
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has courted further controversy by explicitly calling the Nazi Holocaust of European Jewry a "myth".
"They have created a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a principle above God, religions and the prophets," he said.

On live TV, he called for Europe or North America - even Alaska - to host a Jewish state, not the Middle East.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4527142.stm


Link to recent interview with Ahmadinejad:

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/full+transcript+ahmadinejad+interview/797347


And it was absolutely without question a Holocaust DENIAL Conference.

That said, I believe he should be allowed to visit Ground Zero and I have no problem with him speaking at Columbia, but that he's a vile man is illustrated by his own words.

[EFerrari]

24. Just you wait until she moves back to the center.

:(

[jobycom]

26. Where she campaigns and where she moves aren't the same thing.

Any winning candidate has to try to appeal to the middle, but that doesn't mean that's where they are. Hell, JFK, our great liberal champion, campaigned to the right of Nixon. Doesn't mean he was a right winger.

[EFerrari]

29. And, he ran as a hawk.. That's right. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. JFK Said There Was A Missile Gap And Our Defense Had Weakened Under Ike And Nixon...

eom

[KoKo]

38. So we should expect Dem Nominee to Always go with the Republican views to get elected?

I don't remember JFK ever advocating anyone not be allowed to speak at a College or to visit any site in America if they were visiting. Perhaps the opportunity just never came up for him...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. He Was Wlling To Blow Cuba To Kingdom Come In 1962

Would he have let Castro lay a wreath at the Iwo Jima Monument during his UN trips?

I'm not convinced...

[SOS]

17. Was it a travesty

when Nixon visited China in 1972?
when Kennedy brokered a deal with Khrushev in 1962?
when American Presidents had summit meetings with the Soviets in the 1960s and 1970s?

Talking to current foes and healing old wounds is what statesmen and women do.

Pandering to special interests is the lair of phony political hacks.

[sandnsea]

18. "stay the course"

She meant what she said in Nov 2003. She'll just occupy the world with a smile on her face.

[Horse with no Name]

27. "At least she will be sober"

I guess we can console ourselves with that thought...

[Totally Committed]

31. I can't believe ANYONE is seriously thinking a vote for her is a good thing!

If a vote for her is not a vote for the staus quo, I don't know what is.

:wow: is right!



TC

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. The Fact That The

The fact that the GOOPERS are one Supreme Court vote away from overruling, Roe, Lawrence v Texas, and Miranda and other Supreme Court precedents is enough reason for me to vote for any Democrat...

[LeftyMom]

45. Considering her pandering comments on choice, I don't trust her to hold the line on Roe

Her ambition far exceeds her principle.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

46. All We Have Is Their History

Bill Clinton appointed Breyer and Ginsburg...They have been reliable center/left judge... And there is nothing in Hillary's history to suggest she would put wingnuts on the bench...

[LeftyMom]

47. Hillary is not Bill.

If she can't run on her own record she has no business running.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

49. You Implied Without Any Evidence That She Would Put Wingnuts On The Court

I don't think her worst enemies, present company excepted , would suggest she will appoint wingnuts to the bench...


on edit- she voted against a late term abortion ban in the Senate...there is nothing in her Senate record to suggest she would reverse Roe or appoint judges who would...

[LeftyMom]

50. Her rhetoric on reproductive rights is hardly inspiring of confidence.

I don't think she'd nominate anybody who was anti-Roe, but I think she'd nom somebody who would continue the chiseling away at Roe (and Griswald.)

[jobycom]

34. So be direct, what are you saying? The majority of Democrats are stupider than you?

It can't be that others understand things you don't, I don't suppose.

[sandnsea]

35. No, they have different values

And are totally sold on free rein capitalism.

[DURHAM D]

37. WOW - what an amazing mis-understanding of your opposition. eom

[sandnsea]

43. My opposition??

Well that's an interesting way of putting it. I'd have never called some of hillary's supporters "my opposition".

[emilyg]

41. I believe it is.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. She's just being bold and decisive and tough.

Or, it could just possibly be that she's pandering to the right wing...as usual.

[KoKo]

48. There's still Bill Clinton in the background wanting to Recover his Legacy...

She's still his wife. But the Bill Clinton I voted for promised change....and even though I was against NAFTA...I gave him a pass because I thought he was the antithesis of Bush I and Reagan and their policies. I got fooled..in retrospect..because he was lazy and he and Hillary allowed the RW to GROW and gave away our Media to the Murdoch's and GE and VIACOM. There were so many instances where he could have intervened to stop what Bush ran down the road with..but the Clinton's were caught up so much in the scandals the RW Manufactured for them they were "hog tied."

Yet, there are photo's and links all over the Web about Hillary and Murdoch...photo's of them smiling and laughing together.

What DEALS DID HILLARY AND BILL MAKE with the BUSH CROWD AND Powers that BE for Bill to be Re-Elected to re-write the Monica thing and his laziness for the History Books?

It's ALL ABOUT POWER...and for the Clinton's their LEGACY. The CHIMP doesn't care about Legacy because as he said..."We'll all be dead." But....there are seeming DEALS between the Bush Regimes and Clintons to MAKE PEACE! And that is very DANGEROUS FOR OUR DEMOCRACY!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

51. Where's The Proof He Was Lazy?

I have heard everything now...

[KoKo]

52. Where's the Progressive Agenda? n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

53. If You Have Proof He Didn't Work Hard Please Adduce It

eom

[Disturbed]

54. "Pandering as usual. "

Sen Clinton is Triangulating, as usual. She knows that this is how the majority of Americans feel, so she goes along because she burns to be the next Pres. of Amerika. There is no doubt that she is Repug LITE, which is why she will garner the Dem nomination. Her team knows how to Triangulate, as well. The US Corp. Media are pushing her because she will cater to them & the rest of Corp. Amerika.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

55. What Does That Have To Do With Bill Clinton Being Lazy?