Below The Beltway

Brendan Loy puts it exactly the way I would:
President Bush’s comment, by contrast, is not within the realm of rationality. He is claiming that the mere act of sitting down and negotiating with an enemy is tantamount to “appeasement.” That is absolutely absurd. Bush needs to look up a dictionary definition of the damn word […]

Ladies and gentlemen, the General Election campaign has officially started:
WATERTOWN, S.D. — Barack Obama rebuked Republican rival John McCain and President Bush for “dishonest and divisive” attacks in hinting that the Democratic presidential candidate would appease terrorists, staunchly defending his national security credentials for the general election campaign.
Obama responded Friday to Bush’s speech to the […]

President Bush is back in Saudi Arabia meeting with our “friend” King Abdullah:
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — With the price of oil hitting record highs, President Bush will use a private visit to King Abdullah’s ranch here Friday to make a second attempt to persuade the Saudi government to increase oil production so that American […]

James Rubin talks about an interview he did with John McCain two years ago:
Two years ago, just after Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary elections, I interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News’s “World News Tonight” program. Here is the crucial part of our exchange:
I asked: “Do you think that American diplomats should be operating […]

It may be early, but this appearance by idiot radio talk show host Kevin James on Hardball last night fits the definition of dumbass in so many ways:

Here’s a clue, if you are going to talk about appeasement, at least know your history.

John McCain weighs in on today’s controversy:
“The belief that somehow communications and positions and willingness to sit down and have serious negotiations need to be done in a face to face fashion as Senator Obama wants to do, which then enhances the prestige of a nation that’s a sponsor of terrorists and is directly responsible […]

Apparently, some Republicans aren’t ready to give up on diplomacy just yet:
 The United States should construct a combination of incentives and pressure to engage Iran, and may have missed earlier opportunities to begin a useful dialogue with Tehran, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday.
“We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage […]

Suffice it to say that Democrats aren’t happy at all with President Bush’s remarks before the Israeli Knesset.
The Obama campaign was the first to respond:
In a statement, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., shot across the bow: “It is sad that President Bush would use a speech to the Knesset on the 6Oth anniversary of Israel’s independence […]

Usually sitting Presidents who are nearing the end of their final term in office don’t inject themselves too much into the battles between the men, or women, who would succeed them. They’ll campaign for the candidate of their party, of course, and be the guest of honor at $ 5,000 a plate fundraising dinners, but […]

Apparently, the Burmese junta’s aversion to anyone but the military providing aid to cyclone victims extends even to citizens of Burma itself:
MA NGAY GYI, Myanmar — When one of Myanmar’s best-known movie stars, Kyaw Dhyu, traveled through the Irrawaddy Delta in recent days to deliver aid to the victims of the May 3 cyclone, a […]