Just so you know. Obama either didn’t understand what Kissinger meant or intentionally lied about it.
Henry Kissinger believes Barack Obama misstated his views on diplomacy with US adversaries and is not happy about being mischaracterized. He says: “Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.”
This is a ridiculous amount of parsing by Team McCain. Look at what Kissinger actually said that Obama cited: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4DwMGdWaDc
You’re right. Kissinger surely doesn’t know what his own words meant and doesn’t have a record in foreign policy stretching back several decades in which he adhered to this policy.
It’s nice of Henry to back his friend, but John has flipped and flopped from his “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” song.
Well, Kissinger also has a long track record as a liar.
The only way you can claim Kissinger and McCain are right is if you believe their version of what Obama said. The GOP wants to characterize Obama’s position as that of advocating talks between himself and hostile dictators. That is not an accurat portrayal of Obama’s position. I know McCain needs to spin it that way, but the difference between Obama and Kissinger on this point only exists if you believe that Obama’s position is what the McCain camp says it is. It was deft by Obama last night, and served him well.
It also turns out the trade missions to Russia that Ms. Palin spliced into her talking points with Ms. Couric appear to never have happened:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/the-odd-lies—6.html
I agree with John Marshall at TalkingPointsMemo
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/220806.php
“When Bob Dole lost to Bill Clinton in 1996, if anything it enhanced his reputation and popularity. His reputation, what people thought of him, wasn’t wrecked or even damaged by the campaign. The future seems quite different for McCain if he loses this election.
My verdict may be a severe one but I think a lot of people—a lot of former admirers—are coming around to agreeing with the general outlines. McCain has revealed himself as a liar well outside the permissive standards applied to politicians. He’s shown himself to be reckless to the point of instability, repeatedly putting the country at risk (exploiting the Georgia crisis, picking Palin, storming the bailout negotiations) for transparently self-serving reasons. And in too many ways to count, he’s conducted his campaign in disgraceful and dishonorable ways.
Perhaps the most telling thing is that McCain was willing flush that reputation down the drain, betray everything he pretended to stand for, all to be president. If he wins, it will all have been worth it. He was happy to sacrifice one for the other. And now he may end up with neither.”
Of course you do.