August 4, 2009

Enough photos of me and Meade. Let's look at this picture of Bill Clinton and Kim Jong-Il.



Thanks to Bill Clinton for saving the journalists and submitting to this surreal photograph.

I just wish I could see the "Team America" song Kim Jong-Il sang when he heard that Bill Clinton was coming. Lyrics anyone?

76 comments:

Bruce Hayden said...

Every time I see him, I think of him singing "I'm so lonely". Great movie.

Bruce Hayden said...

When I said "him", I meant Kim Jong-Il, the antagonist in Team America, and not our 42nd President.

Steven said...

Did they just solemnize their marriage too? They sure look solemn...

garage mahal said...

Should be interesting to see how the CDS flaks in the media react to this. I'm guessing "upstaged" "propaganda tool" will be the major themes.

The Dude said...

I would like to know how much money was exchanged for the prisoners. Was it millions? Billions? Thirty seven fifty and a bag of rice? What are the facts behind this release?

Freeman Hunt said...

Crashing waves break furiously behind political leader still life.

Meade said...

Glad for the journalists.
Too bad about Hans Brix.

garage mahal said...

Wonder if there were any tea bag mobs outside protesting the release?

Balfegor said...

The Dear Leader (Kim Jong-Il, not Obama) looks surprisingly healthy here. His son may have a few years yet before he claims his nuclear throne.

AllenS said...

All along the North Korean Border
by
AllenS and Bob Dylan

Blows on harmonica: ♪ ♫

"There must be some way out of here," said the journalists to BJ Clinton,
"There's too much confusion, I can't get no food.
Jongie, he drink my wine, soldiers dig earthworms,
None of them along the demilitarized zone know what any of it is worth."

"No reason to get excited," BJ, he kindly spoke,
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late."

All along the watchtower, BJ kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too, because they had no shoes.
Outside in the distance Hillary did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.

Blows on harmonica: ♪ ♫

XWL said...

"Every time I see him, I think of him singing "I'm so lonely". Great movie.

Figured you were speaking of the Il-nasty one, and not our former President.

This song, is the more obvious choice for immediately springing to mind when confronted with him.

When the reports say that Clinton picked them up on a private jet, why am I picturing some Tony Stark style number with stripper pole?

Great that they're getting returned, Ling and Lee, but what's the final price?

(can't you just imagine Pres. Clinton saying during the flight home, "after all I did for y'all, there's something y'all can do for me...")

If the price was just these stilted photo-ops, that's acceptable.

I suspect if reaction is positive, the Obama folks will take all the credit, if it turns out the price was steep and reaction is poor, I bet there will be many fingers pointed from the White House towards Foggy Bottom.

(and Foggy Bottom is the location of the State Department offices, not some new nickname for Hillary)

kjbe said...

When I saw it earlier, I thought it was some photoshopped mashup. It is a very odd picture.

Automatic_Wing said...

Good job by Clinton. I guess lardass Al Gore couldn't be bothered to go over there and spring the two reporters from his own vanity TV network.

SteveR said...

Did they have Southern Chicken for lunch?

Scott M said...

Maguro said...

"Good job by Clinton. I guess lardass Al Gore couldn't be bothered to go over there and spring the two reporters from his own vanity TV network.

best...comment...ever (read as Comicbook Guy from the Simpsons)

A couple of quick thoughts on this. I would heap kudos on Slick Willy for this if I hadn't lived through the 90's and this here current decade, in which only a handful of truly selfless and un-triangulated actions can be attributed to Der Schlikmeister. Perhaps this is one of them, in which case we'll have to start counting his good deeds on two hands.

Secondly, what is it that NK has been screaming for over the past 15 years? Bi-lateral talks with the US. They just got them, defacto or not.

@garage mahal

I assume you're dovetailing with the rest of the left over the apparent growing number of people showing up pissed to Q&A's with their reps. Why is that only the left get to protest loudly? Why is it when there's a bunch of leftist rallies going on, its a grass-roots movement, but when it's coming from the right, it's a mob?

It appears you have a large streak of Tory in you, sir.

Methadras said...

America...
America...
America, FUCK YEAH!
Coming again, to save the mother fucking day yeah,
America, FUCK YEAH!
Freedom is the only way yeah,
Terrorist your game is through cause now you have to answer too,
America, FUCK YEAH!
So lick my butt, and suck on my balls,
America, FUCK YEAH!
What you going to do when we come for you now,
it’s the dream that we all share; it’s the hope for tomorrow

FUCK YEAH!

McDonalds, FUCK YEAH!
Wal-Mart, FUCK YEAH!
The Gap, FUCK YEAH!
Baseball, FUCK YEAH!
NFL, FUCK, YEAH!
Rock and roll, FUCK YEAH!
The Internet, FUCK YEAH!
Slavery, FUCK YEAH!

FUCK YEAH!

Starbucks, FUCK YEAH!
Disney world, FUCK YEAH!
Porno, FUCK YEAH!
Valium, FUCK YEAH!
Reeboks, FUCK YEAH!
Fake Tits, FUCK YEAH!
Sushi, FUCK YEAH!
Taco Bell, FUCK YEAH!
Rodeos, FUCK YEAH!
Bed bath and beyond (Fuck yeah, Fuck yeah)

Liberty, FUCK YEAH!
White Slips, FUCK YEAH!
The Alamo, FUCK YEAH!
Band-aids, FUCK YEAH!
Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH!
Christmas, FUCK YEAH!
Immigrants, FUCK YEAH!
Popeye, FUCK YEAH!
Democrats, FUCK YEAH!
Republicans (republicans)
(fuck yeah, fuck yeah)
Sportsmanship
Books

Methadras said...

garage mahal said...

Wonder if there were any tea bag mobs outside protesting the release?


Oh look everybody, it's another liberal pussy bemoaning how much sand he has in his vagina and that right wingers put it there. Garage, when are you going to learn the golden rule of stupidity; It's better to keep your gob shut and be thought of as a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

garage mahal said...

Touch touchy!

Scott M said...

...well, that's certainly keeping the level of discourse up around the W.F.Buckley-an level...

Paul said...

"Garage, when are you going to learn the golden rule of stupidity; It's better to keep your gob shut and be thought of as a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

That ship has long since sailed. There is no measure of the stupidity of those that stand up and cheer for the biggest transfer of power from the individual to the state in history.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

You know as a part of the agreement Clinton requested Rice Cooch on the plane ride home.

Also, he could easily run around Poontang all night and had sex and would not have to worry about some loud mouth slut telling all his dirty little secrets.

I bet he had a bevy of Rice Chex during the 24 hours he was there.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

Who makes those awful suits that Kim Long Duck Dong wears?

So unflattering.

garage mahal said...

That ship has long since sailed. There is no measure of the stupidity of those that stand up and cheer for the biggest transfer of power from the individual to the state in history..

What does that even mean? What power has been taken away from you and handed over to the "state"? And why are you here and not out with the rest of the Birther Brigades marching with signs asking for a birth certificate?

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

Shit us republicans don't have the latinos, blacks, jews or gays.

Now we lost the Asians for an entire generation.

Larry J said...

Team America - I'm So Ronery.

Balfegor said...

From the article:

Relations with the North deteriorated rapidly under the Bush administration, with the North renouncing the 1994 nuclear agreement, harvesting enough plutonium for approximately eight nuclear weapons and conducting a nuclear test.

I know the narrative the author is trying to push here, but it doesn't line up too well with the facts. Relations with North Korea brightened (slightly) 1998-2000 because of the Sunshine policy pursued by Kim Dae-Jung (and because we were starting from a local nadir after the missile tests in 1998), not by virtue of any efforts undertaken by the Clinton administration. Indeed, if you look at the sequence of events, it's clear that in 2000, relations with North Korea worsened as a result of North Korean frustration with the Clinton administration's (entirely defensible) foot-dragging on the Light Water Reactor we promised them back in 1994. In April 2000, for example, North Korea removed about half of their personnel from the Kumho LWR site. The Bush II administration went forward with development at the LWR site until October 2002, when North Korea admitted that it had an undeclared uranium enrichment program. In November, KEDO suspended shipments of fuel oil (intended, theoretically, to replace the energey North Korea would have got from the Yongbyon facility), prompting North Korea to kick out the IAEA from Yongbyon (December 2002), and ultimately to withdraw from the NPT (January 2003), which they'd been violating with their uranium program anyway. It really wasn't a function of the Bush II administration -- it's hard to imagine the Clinton administration behaving differently in response to that kind of information. Indeed, the Clinton administration would probably have continued not-taking-seriously the sham confidence-building exercises in Kumho.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

"I want my country back"

"Get government hands off my medicare".

I love those quotes. They are hilarious.

I'm married too Althouse.

Scott M said...

@garage mahal

"And why are you here and not out with the rest of the Birther Brigades marching with signs asking for a birth certificate?"

So one cannot disagree with single-payer health care without being lumped in with those people?

Does that mean every time you disagree with a conservative policy I can lump you in with the Bush-Bombed-The-WTC crowd?

How do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you make comments like that?

Big Mike said...

Any truth to the rumors that Clinton arranged to swap Paula Jones and Linda Tripp for the two journalists?

Couldn't resist, though I should have. A well done to him.

Though [scratches head] I thought it was the other Clinton who is Secretary of State.

garage mahal said...

So one cannot disagree with single-payer health care without being lumped in with those people?.

Single payer is not even being discussed at the moment in Congress. You knew that right?

Does that mean every time you disagree with a conservative policy I can lump you in with the Bush-Bombed-The-WTC crowd?.

No liberals I know of, or read anywhere, ever bought into that nonsense.

Nichevo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nichevo said...

ScottM,

How do you expect anyone to take you seriously when you make comments like that?

Psssst...he doesn't.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

Seriously how many women did Clinton pork on this trip?

I am guessing that lady in the picture got a little love from the Big Dog.

Clinton is really an American treasure.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

I love the Puppet Sex Scene in that movie. Didn't the female puppet pinch a loaf on the male? That was great. Tour de force.

Scott M said...

@garage mahal

First, I would consider this...

What power has been taken away from you and handed over to the "state"

...to be part of the health care issue. In fact, I would consider it THE biggest issue right now regarding individual vs federal authority.

Second...

"No liberals I know of, or read anywhere, ever bought into that nonsense."

...lol...I don't even know where to start with that one other than to suggest that you don't know about or read any other liberals.

And you still didn't answer my question, so fine. I'll rephrase. If I'm concerned about the consolidation of federal power at the cost of the states and individual liberty, does that make me lockstep with the Birthers?

Big Mike said...

Scott and Paul, please don't feed the trolls.

Methadras, you know you know better.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

That female puppet was kind of hot.

Nice eyes.

Also, she was able to take it every which way. I like that in a puppet.

Scott M said...

Big Mike said...

"Scott and Paul, please don't feed the trolls"

Bah...I'm bored and he's intellectually low-hanging fruit.

garage mahal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

Need some examples Scott. What liberals were/are Truthers? I don't know how to respond to the powers that are being taken away from you on the health care "issue". Nothing has been enacted, for starters.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

We have also still got the south.

don't forget that fellow republicans.

AllenS said...

In The North Korean Ghetto
by
AllenS and Elvis Presley

Strums guitar: ♪ ♫

As the snow flies
On a cold and gray North Korean Ghetto mornin'
Two little baby journalists cry
In the North Korean Ghetto
And his wife cries', God, she cries a lot
Cause if there's one thing that she don't need
It's another hungry intern to feed
In the North Korean Ghetto
People, don't you understand
The journalists need a helping hand
Or they'll be eaten by an angry young population
Take a look at you and me,
Are we too blind to see,
Do we simply turn our heads
And look the other way
Well the world turns
And a hungry North Korean Ghetto with a runny nose
Plays in the street as the cold wind blows
In the North Korean Ghetto
And their hunger burns
So BJ starts to roam the streets at night
That Clinton, he's always roaming the streets
Probably looking for action
In The North Korean Ghetto

Strums guitar: ♪ ♫

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

Helen Thomas is 89 today.

You know that is a smelly dirty cooch.

Scott M said...

@garage mahal

"Need some examples Scott. What liberals were/are Truthers? I don't know how to respond to the powers that are being taken away from on the health care "issue". Nothing has been enacted, for starters."

I'll get you some examples shortly on the WTC liberal thing. When I do present them to you, will you admit that you're wrong?

And let me get this straight. Your idea of the process of republican (little R) governance is to wait until they pass the laws, erect the bureaucracy to support the new laws, and THEN do something about it?

I suppose you wait until after you pay for and move into a new house before checking to see if it's condemned?

john said...

Good ol' Bill. He's not going to let some tinpot little shit make him look silly. He learned that short chair joke way back in Foreign Relations 101.

Big Mike said...

@Scott, then go for it, I guess, but you and he are hijacking the thread.

I wonder when we'll get the answer to NKVD's question?

Balfegor said...

Mr. Obama never had time to get talks off the ground with the North before it conducted a second nuclear test and terminated the one significant deal it struck with the Bush administration. It is in the process of restarting its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon.

This is also a truly bizarre bit of covering for Obama here. Or rather, the Obama administration's diplomatic posture.

The 6 party talks were ongoing in 2008. There's no getting talks off the ground -- they hit a snag in December/January over a few issues where North Korea refused to yield, but they were still ongoing.

Indeed, 2008 looked like an exceptionally good year for US-North Korean relations. True, it was purchased at the expense of the US folding like a cheap house of cards on all kinds of issues, but the diplomatic signals were broadly encouraging. In May 2008, North Korea handed over extensive documentation on their nuclear program. They demolished a cooling tower at the Yongbyon facility in June 2008, in a purported show of good faith, and made additional disclosure of their nuclear programs to China. Further progress on verification issues was made in October 2008.

The fact that this was all prelude to another nuclear detonation and a bunch of missile tests in early 2009 makes clear what should long ago have been perfectly obvious -- that North Korea just plays us for fools in the diplomatic game. Contra the article, Obama could have continued the Bush-era 6-party talks, if he had been on the ball (they didn't resume missile launches until April, and didn't detonate the second nuclear device until May), but it wouldn't have mattered.

The Dude said...

Given the current suck fest that passes for journalism in this country today, my guess would be never. Is never good for you? It's good for them.

rhhardin said...

Bush had the Chinese releasing the crew of an American spy plane in early 2001.

When they returned, Bush stayed out of the picture, figuring it was their show and he would be a distraction.

There's the standard. Let's see what happens.

john said...

rhhardin - I predict another round of Bud Lites at the White House. Bigger table, of course, because Bill will be there.

And Biden too.

Chip Ahoy said...

Apologies, I cannot help myself.

Clinton, North Korea photo op, it's always so terribly stoic.

BJM said...

rh said:

There's the standard. Let's see what happens.

For some reason this image came to mind.

No doubt Obama will get out ahead of this story at breakneck speed as he desperately needs a feel-good MSM diversion after the past few weeks.

What are the odds that Obama will step on his dick again (ala Gates-gate) or Clinton's?

Anonymous said...

Good job by Clinton. I guess lardass Al Gore couldn't be bothered to go over there and spring the two reporters from his own vanity TV network.

In fairness to former VP Gore, ABC News is reporting that Gore sought out former President Clinton's help in getting the journalists released. You must admit, a former president does have more prominence (and potential propaganda value) than a former vice president.

Balfegor said...

You must admit, a former president does have more prominence (and potential propaganda value) than a former vice president.

Than a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize?

On the other hand, given that Kim Dae Jung got a Nobel for sucking up to the North, the prestige of a "Nobel Peace Prize" may be severely degraded in the eyes of the Dear Leader. I suppose.

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

Prizes are for libtards...until we win one.

MadisonMan said...

Can Chip Ahoy photoshop Jessica V. into this picture?

EKatz said...

I say this photo should appear on the blog at some point too:

"Bare-chested Vladimir Putin strikes a macho pose"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6738969.ece

Soon they'll have one that shows him wrestling a lion, and then wearing its pelt as he hikes through the Siberian wilds.

RLB_IV said...

Once again, Titus slings an arrow from his bow.

"Also, he could easily run around Poontang all night and had sex and would not have to worry ..."

Bingo, jackpot. But then there is snagging another headline.

Time for cocktails.

bagoh20 said...

Thanks, Mr. Clinton.

Kansas City said...

I think it probably is unwise to send Clinton to retrieve two prisoners who never should have been in jail in the first place (and the deal already was made before Clinton arrived), but I give Clinton credit for looking glum in the photograph. It would have been inappropriate for him to be flashing his politician's smile in such circumstances.

Balfegor said...

Prizes are for libtards...until we win one.

Pish posh. Roosevelt I got one in 1906. One of the Gascoyne-Cecils got it in 1937 -- I assume he was a Conservative, since his father was, and his family always are. Dr. Strangelove got it in 1973.

All too often, though, it's just a means of rewarding people who could have been monstrously evil, if they wanted to, for forbearing, at least for a little while. See, e.g. Gorbachev, in 1990, F.W. de Klerk in 1993, and Yasser Arafat in 1994. And -- if you're a liberal -- Dr. Strangelove in 1973.

Automatic_Wing said...

Balfegor - One quibble, I don't think Yasser Arafat ever stopped (or even took a break from) being monstrously evil.

Unknown said...

"I'll do what you want, Barry, but I won't enjoy it."

TitusAppalachinSpringthankyou said...

Teddy Roosevelt was a big liberal.

He wanted to create a bunch of parks and shit. Commie bastard. And Eisenhower and all those fucking highways. We don't need parks and highways. I say drill and drill now in Yellowstone!


Now Beauragard Jefford Sessions III and Jim Demint-we are talking some real conservatives. They would of ate Roosevelt and Eisenhower for lunch....in between a couple of lynchings.

"I want my country back".

Matt said...

A photo op in exchange for the release of two American journalists? I'm okay with that.

But more importantly this shows how frickin' easy it is to deal with North Korea. Many Conservatives jump up and down and push for tough actions and yet all it took was a former US President to show up shake hands [without a smile] to get them released.
I know it took a bit more than this - but it shows we don't have to go the John Bolton route to get what we want.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hoosier Daddy said...

Looks like Billyboy is a more effective diplomat than Hillary.

Then again the last time Clinton cut a deal with North Korea they ended up getting nukes.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Should be interesting to see how the CDS flaks in the media react to this. I'm guessing "upstaged" "propaganda tool" will be the major themes.

No garage, he's just a tool. Always was, always will be.

knox said...

Matt, that is quite possibly the most ill-informed comment I've read about NK. Ever.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Many Conservatives jump up and down and push for tough actions and yet all it took was a former US President to show up shake hands [without a smile] to get them released.

I hope that is all it took cause the last time Clinton made a deal with the Norks, they ended up with a nuclear bomb.

Royce said...

Birr Crinton!?

The Dude said...

Woman showed up to haul away firewood this morning - said she was so happy that Clinton got the criminals released. I asked her how much do you think we paid? A billion? She couldn't believe that we would pay to have hostages released. Yep, she's stupid and liberal and an Obama voter.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Yep, she's stupid and liberal and an Obama voter.

That's redundant.

Balfegor said...

I hope that is all it took cause the last time Clinton made a deal with the Norks, they ended up with a nuclear bomb.

From a timeline perspective, I don't think that quite works. They had already removed plutonium from their reactor by 1991, before Clinton was President. And they didn't demonstrate a working bomb until 2006. What they did work on, in the wake of the 1994 Agreed Framework, was ballistic missile delivery systems. They also secretly started a uranium enrichment program.

The 2006 nuclear detonation came on the heels of a September 19, 2005 joint statement (resulting from the six-party talks) where North Korea "committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs and returning, at an early date, to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to IAEA safeguards."

So strictly speaking, it was the Bush II administration that negotiated a North Korean pledge to abandon nuclear weapons only to have North Korea reveal they had played us for suckers less than a year later by detonating a nuclear device. It's not like they weren't still working on the same sorts of projects under Clinton -- they just weren't quite as far along.

Anonymous said...

Me: "You must admit, a former president does have more prominence (and potential propaganda value) than a former vice president."

Balfegor: "Than a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize?"

Me again: According to The Associated Press, a senior Obama administration official says NK rejected Gore as an emissary.

So - yes.

Anonymous said...

His son may have a few years yet before he claims his nuclear throne.
___________________
Julie
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