March 19, 2011

As 3 women push him into war, President Obama goes to Brazil, with 5 women, to see Brazil's female President, who gives him the cold shoulder.

"One of the main reasons for my trip is to strengthen economic partnerships abroad so that we create good jobs at home," Obama said, using what could be a stock justification for any presidential trip. I'm not buying it. In times of crisis, the President belongs in the White House.

The NYT channels the insipid campaign 2012 PR:
Mr. Obama’s visit has also been billed as way for him to connect more generally with Latin Americans, especially in Brazil, a multiracial society where he has been wildly popular since his presidential campaign. But the White House’s plans to stage a speech in a plaza where thousands of Brazilians could see him were aborted in favor of one indoors, at the Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, because of the Secret Service’s security concerns.
Oh, the theater — the teatro —  didn't even work out. Obama in Brazil was supposed to look like Obama in Berlin. The photo-op... botched. My advice: You're President. The security in the White House is ideal. The imagery is ideal. Be President.

Ugh. I can't believe I'm reading this on the same day I'm reading about 3 women prodding him into action in Libya. Accompanying him on his trip to South America are: his wife, Michelle Obama; his daughters, Sasha and Malia; his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson; and his daughters’ godmother, Eleanor Kaye Wilson. 5 women.

And why is he going to Brazil?
The Brazilians under the new presidency of Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s first female president, are eager to build closer economic and political ties to the Obama administration. 
Females, females, females!
But their occasional differences on the international stage were reflected on Thursday night when Brazil was one of five nations to abstain in the vote of the United Nations Security Council to authorize force against Libya.
There's imagery for you: The male, emasculated by female abstention.
After a bilateral get-acquainted meeting with Ms. Rousseff, Mr. Obama was to [blah blah]...

“She has been very positive about the type of relationship that she wants to pursue with the United States,” said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, in a briefing before the trip.

But the Obama-Rousseff relationship-building got off to an inauspicious start when, before Mr. Obama boarded Air Force One, came word that Ms. Rousseff was refusing to hold the scheduled joint press conference with Mr. Obama here on Saturday after their first meeting. 
Looks like that first date bilateral get-acquainted meeting didn't go too well. One world leader is playing this relationship for powerful imagery, and it's not Obama. He must feel so used. He went all the way to South America, and all he got was a lousy indoor stage show. No massive, multiracial crowd scene, no presser with Dilma.

I'm picturing Obama banging on a closed door yelling "Dilma!" — like this.

85 comments:

Carol_Herman said...

Rio? Mardi Gras?

Yeah, the cold shoulder reception has made it to the Net; where "the gifted orator" couldn't give his teleprompter's speech.

Does this get lost in translation?

Don't Brazilians speak Portuguese?

You know, Reagan had Deaver. No matter that the press was hostile. The White House visuals were memorable and gorgeous.

Obama is paying the price, now, for having incompetents on his staff.

On the other hand, a lot of people feel more secure ... since the beer summit. When it looked like Obama fell off track. Stupidly so.

We can still get a very close election in 2012 ... because it's hard for only one group of people to influence the tides. And, yes. If Obama wins re-election it can only be done because the republicans are more stupid. You want to bet that the inside elite are more intelligent?

Unknown said...

Margaret Thatcher he ain't.

Henry said...

From the article: The Obama administration from the start has described the trip, especially its Brazil leg, in terms of its potential job-creating benefits for the United States — in keeping with Mr. Obama’s main domestic theme.

What is it with Obama always creating potential jobs?

That does seem to be his main domestic theme: all the jobs he's going to create.

Ron said...

Next time we send Meade.

Anonymous said...

You know, this goes in to the Clinton/Obama fatherless theory as well. Which is to say, it's just a theory.

Keep on keeping art, politics, and independence of thought and mind out of of the hands of the lefty ideologues and fools who surround you in Madison and we seem to have the MSM sink into by default, and that's quite enough for me.

George said...

I don't think this is just an idle observation. There is an interesting pattern of female-centric backgrounds in several prominent male Democrats. Like male puppies raised in all female litters, they do tend to be "squatters"...in more ways than one.

Anonymous said...

Actually it seems like he was met with protests
http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/03/media-blackout-protesters-firebomb-us-consulate-in-brazil-ahead-of-obama-trip/

vbspurs said...

The area where the majestic Teatro Municipal is located is called by Cariocas "Cinelândia", due to having had a profusion of movie palaces.

How ironic that he won't have the Hollywood ending for his little photo op.

Cheers,
Victoria

Unknown said...

The Brazilians should be all mellowed out after Carnaval, but Barry needs another Reset.

I guess Hillary has it, trying to figure out what our role will be in Libya. Or maybe trying to make sure The Zero gets the blame when this one explodes.

Somehow the words Bokara Market come to mind come to mind. Bet they do to her, too.

Carol_Herman said...

Obama is paying the price, now, for having incompetents on his staff.

It takes one to hire them in the first place. he wants worshippers and yes-men.

We can still get a very close election in 2012 ... because it's hard for only one group of people to influence the tides. And, yes. If Obama wins re-election it can only be done because the republicans are more stupid. You want to bet that the inside elite are more intelligent?

The way the economy is going, even the Lefties are getting antsy. Some remember Bucketmouth.

And then there's foreign policy...

I think it's out of The Zero's hands now.

Seriously.

He's making such a joke out of the numbers, soon it's going to be a given everything he says is a lie.

shiloh said...

In a little over (2) hours, two posts about "three women" as AA sounds very jealous. But not to worry as AA goes on radio in a bit to whine about her alleged stalker ;).

She's gonna be famous one way or the other dagnamit, much like mama grizzly lol.

vbspurs said...

Don't make too much of the protests, Merig00. 99% of Brazilians love Obama. The molotov cocktails were thrown by the usual far-left suspects, would come out to protest Pelé himself, if he were American.

The Crack Emcee said...

Your glee that 3 women pushed him into war is a bit bewildering, not to mention disconcerting:

This guy is not exactly considered a fighter, y'know.

vbspurs said...

Ann Althouse wrote:

I'm picturing Obama banging on a closed door yelling "Dilma!" — like this.

A-hahahaha!

wv: sagra (! In Portuguese, sogra with an "o" is mother-in-law. That's what Dilma is acting like)

Michael K said...

Like so many people, a lot of Brazilians may love the idea of Obama but they are still drilling in deep water using oil rigs that have been shifted out of the Gulf as Obama destroys the US oil industry.

I understand George Soros has a lot invested in Brazil's oil industry. Coincidence ?

X said...

Obama is our first female president and he's got sand in his vagina.

MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...

Dilma was a hard core radical Marxist earlier. Clearly, her ideology is much closer to that of Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright and the spoiled brats at Obama's alma mater, Columbia Univeristy, than it is to mainstream Americans.

I don't understand why she and Obama don't get along wonderfully.

Anonymous said...

Your glee that 3 women pushed him into war is a bit bewildering, not to mention disconcerting:

This guy is not exactly considered a fighter, y'know.


Glee? I interpreted Althouse's interest more as being appalled at the supposed reason for Obama's pivot.

The psychology of the pivot also may reveal aspects of our President's character that he might not want revealed.

ricpic said...

Rouseff: As a hard leftist and a Latin American I thumb my nose at you, Mister President Gringo!

Obama: But but, Senora Rouseff...I hate the gringos too!!

Ann Althouse said...

By the way, if you do a Google video search with the word "bangs" in it, Google assumes you're looking for sex videos. Even if you say "bangs on door."

My original search was "wilma fred bangs on door," and I got video of Fred and Barney with the "Raging Bull" "you fuck my wife" audio track and then on to real pornography.

vbspurs said...

Maggot, because he's an American. Please understand this, one and all.

To hard-core Leftists around the world, no matter how Left an American is, s/he represents the Evil Empire by his very presence.

Another thing is that they don't take American Democrat Presidents seriously. They loathe right-wing US Presidents, obviously. But they're also scared of them.

vbspurs said...

Dilma (pronounced Jihw-ma in Portuguese) greeting Obama at the airport.

cubanbob said...

"MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...
Dilma was a hard core radical Marxist earlier. Clearly, her ideology is much closer to that of Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright and the spoiled brats at Obama's alma mater, Columbia Univeristy, than it is to mainstream Americans.

I don't understand why she and Obama don't get along wonderfully.

3/19/11 12:36 PM"

Communists are only internationalist to the extent it serves their nationalist (as perceived by them ) interest. Stalin and Mao. Stalin played Mao for a chump in Korea, a lesson Mao took to heart. Brazilians like most Latin American's are reflexively anti-American so for Dilma dissing Obama is just business as usual and with Obama there is no downside in being anti-American.

shiloh said...

and then on to real pornography.

At the very least, your search was fruitful!

Carol_Herman said...

Again, even Carter had a "chance" back in 1980. What happened to Carter is that Reagan came in FROM THE OUTSIDE!

I'm not writing Obama off. Though, yes, I think the liberals in his party are crazy enough, and unhappy enough ... since the "gimme's" didn't gel for them. Not on the stimulus. Not on Obamacare. Not on anything they thought would bring them great press.

I also noticed his original staff was given the booth. Including the ballerina, Rahm Emanuel. Who landed softly in Chicago. But then, again, the powers that be put Carol Mosely Braun up as a "choice" against Emanuel. And, that's how the votes for Emanuel got created. In Chicago.

Given that lots of Americans feel safe "splitting their ballots" ... I'm not taking any bets on 2012.

But for some reason I think White People, in general, are losing numbers. And, what we don't see are the other communities. (Where I happen to think those who live next to ghettos are more hostile to the "core" of the democrapic party, than anyone thinks.) This is just a gut reaction. Based on nothing more, perhaps, than wishful thinking.

We are all prey to reading more into events ... than actually comes down the pike.

For me, the worst situation of an Obama re-election is that he gets to stuff the Federal government with his appointees. And, even if the entire Congress goes into republican hands ... politicians become deal makers 'par exelance.' Or as it was once said about Nixon: "He'd sell his own grandma down the river."

Yup. I'd hate to see our Supreme Court adding liberal judges; while others "retire" off the bench.

Ann Althouse said...

"At the very least, your search was fruitful!"

I have frequently seen pornography in search results, but I have never once clicked through to look at it or had the slightest inclination to do so. Sorry, I find it offputting. I'm not morally opposed to it. I just think it's unappealing and dumb.

vet66 said...

Dima just gave the "O" the political equivalent of a 'Brazilian' leaving him alone to rip his bodice wailing "Stella" outside her door. What a metro-sexual.

He seems to enjoy launching missiles and unmanned drones which says more about his wussy manhood than his manly manhood. Can you imagine being outgunned by the french for crying out loud?

Lucius said...

I'm willing to make peace with the threat of a multi-polar world-- to a point. I think the Pax Americana has been a great boon to the planet, but if other democracies want to truly cooperate in sharing responsibilities and influence, that's fine.

But I'm skeptical whenever geopolitical prognosticators forecast the likes of Turkey and Brazil as "major powers" in the 21st Century. Even if they went AWOL and built their own nukes, they've got a hell of a climb putting their societies in order as leading economic/etc. powers.

But Obama just feeds their vanity, the pretensions of being "emerging players." It's not an unpopular suspicion that Obama masochistically savors the prospect of letting America get humiliated by the leaders of ramshackle societies.

Nor a groundless suspicion. What the hell does South America have to do with the boiling crises of the week? His Presidency is on a pivot, and he wants to go play multiculti vaudeville in a land whose internecine drug violence qualifies as a low-grade civil war?

I'm not surprised he got dicked around by her. Call it a "teachable moment".

shiloh said...

AA, interesting of all the posts you choose to reply to, you choose my snark re: porn.

But I do believe the veracity of your reply, your compulsive need to explain how you go out of your way to avoid porn notwithstanding.

vbspurs said...

Ann Althouse wrote:

Sorry, I find it offputting. I'm not morally opposed to it. I just think it's unappealing and dumb.

Even sextoons? I find human porno laughable and yes, unappealing, but sextoons are HOT.

Carol_Herman said...

You know, as soon as Axelrod was shoved out the door, and Daley came in ... I expected the White House to "play" a different hand.

Is "pivot" the word?

Is this trip to Rio a chance to change the subject? Since no one knew the reception would be disastrous ... those who planned the trip went back to "square one."

Yes, the democraps are aware ... And, I am sure Daley, now chief of staff, is very aware ... of the drop off of Independent voters.

While I don't think Libya amounts to a hill of beans in this regard. The saud's, however, must be plenty pissed ... having to depend more heavily these days on the french!

garage mahal said...


What is it with Obama always creating potential jobs?


Obama has created more jobs in one year (2010) than Bush did in 8.

The Crack Emcee said...

he would've had more luck with Arianna.

A lot more.

Carol_Herman said...

Oh, yeah. Sing the "created jobs" mantra.

There's always unemployment, ya know?

What makes the current situation so much worse is that people lose jobs they can't replace!

Did you know Starbuck's got off to a roaring start, because some people who couldn't find a good job, decided to take money out of the bank, and open a franchise.

Not the same economy, anymore.

By the way, all the republicans swept into Congress could have been a big disappointment, except for the fact that Boehner really wants to hold onto the Speaker's office. And, he saw what happened to Pelosi when she euthanized her Blue Dogs.

Politicians still stink to the high heavens. But the group that can "read the winds" will do better.

You know it was working with the grass roots from the day he left California's governorship ... back in 1972 ... That gave Reagan the support he needed to kick in the elite's country club tent.

Lucius said...

Aaaand speaking of multipolarity: the French have started shooting.

Anonymous said...

It may be that this is all preparation to pin a failure on Hillary, if things don't work out well (and they probably won't):

Obama Takes Hard Line With Libya After Shift by Clinton

The Times puts forth the party line, and it probably was disseminated on JournoList II earlier this morning:

She pushed him into it! Against his better judgment!

vbspurs said...

Murgatroyd wrote:

It may be that this is all preparation to pin a failure on Hillary, if things don't work out well (and they probably won't):

Just like Hillary's old man pinned the blame on Janet Reno? Possibly. And that may explain Hillary's pre-emptive recusal to serve a further term as SecState.

The Rascal said...

I love this blog mainly because the Obamaphobia is so incredibly silly.

Ann Althouse and her cheerleaders here seem to be the slightly better-educated spawn of Floyd R. Turbo, the old Johnny Carson character.

Keep it up, gang. You're always good for a few laughs.

Oh, and say hello to Scott Walker, Ann. He seems like your kind of guy.

Indigo Red said...

vbspurs said...
Dilma (pronounced Jihw-ma in Portuguese) ...

Then, why don't they just spell it that way? Foreigners! They've got a different word for everything.

former law student said...

In times of crisis, the President belongs in the White House.

Not like the good old days, when W. took his mountain bike on all his world travels in times of crisis.

former law student said...

http://www.bicyclekingdom.com
/bikerentalbush.htm

No men in shorts comments back then, either.

zbogwan99 said...

I'm melting! melting! Oh, what a world! What a world! Who would have thought a good little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?

This is what Pres. Obama is probably saying while he's punching a mirror he's looking into?

vbspurs said...

Indigo Red wrote:

Then, why don't they just spell it that way? Foreigners! They've got a different word for everything.

Hey! That's what foreigners say about many English words!

"If they didn't want to pronounce the 'gh' in daughter, why didn't they just spell it that way!"

Anonymous said...

I love this blog mainly because the Obamaphobia is so incredibly silly.

That isn't the appropriate word. Criticism, dislike, and contempt are not the same as fear.

We no more suffer from Obamaphobia than we suffer from scatophobia because we refuse to eat what you do.

Unknown said...

Rascal is one of my favorite commenters, mainly because he's smug and dumb, the perfect lefty glib dumbshit.

Old Rascal reminds me of an even stupider Keith Olberman, or that Dave Letterman character--you know, the dumb ass who gives the humorless opening monologue--what's his name?

Keep it Rascal, you charmer you.

And say hello to your ass next time you pull your head out.

shiloh said...

Ann Althouse and her cheerleaders here seem to be the slightly better-educated spawn of Floyd R. Turbo, the old Johnny Carson character.
~~~~~


Too funny!

btw, Bush43 said it's hard work.

Anonymous said...

Obama has created more jobs in one year (2010) than Bush did in 8.

Did those jobs contribute to the economy by providing goods and services that people paid for voluntarily? Or did the paychecks for those jobs come from money taken from taxpayers?

bagoh20 said...

He needs Cyrano de Bergerac as an adviser.

bagoh20 said...

Just because a person collects a check does not mean he has a real job.

Unknown said...

What Garage meant:

Obama lost more private sector jobs during his two year watch, than Bush did in eight.

The kid's got talent.

vbspurs said...

Should I order Globo TV just to keep Althousians informed about Obama's trip? Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

"Should I order Globo TV just to keep Althousians informed about Obama's trip? Hmmm."

Your most important contribution of the day has been to stop me form seeing "Rango".

vbspurs said...

Oh, Lars, thank God. It wasn't even FUNNY. And the parents of kids around me, after a mention of "prostate" by a character, whispered, "REALLY? REALLY?".

Hope to watch the Adjustment Bureau tomoz. :)

Anonymous said...

vbspurs said...

" Oh, Lars, thank God..."

Keep me posted with your mini-reviews. I hate having to 'sell' a movie to the wife to get her to go, fight traffic to the multiplex, pay good money, watch 1/2h hour of wide screen commercials, and then find out the flick is a dog.

This is a more important public service than tracking the ramblings of an irrelevant elected official.

BO is more and more irrel

Big Mike said...

This trip is yet another example of the amateurishness of the Obama White House support staff. When the President makes a foreign trip there should be no surprises.

vbspurs said...

Before I head out, then, for those poor souls who want my opinion:

"Battle: Los Angeles" was amazingly violent, but not unsatisfying. It was a typical invasion flick, Us versus Them, but unlike most PC Hollywood versions today, didn't spare the sentimental patriotism. RATING: B.

"Beastly" had stilted acting by the model-turned-actor they're trying to pump up to be the new Shia LeBoeuf, but it likewise wasn't AWFUL. The Olsen girl impressed. RATING: C+.

"Just Go With It" had terrific chemistry between Aniston and Sandler, and featured a quirky cameo by Nicole Kidman, but it was still a bit lame. RATING: C-.

Big Momma's House...I have no idea how I wind up watching this...but I walked out. I also walked out of I Am Number Four. Smelt like Number 2.

Anonymous said...

vbspurs said...

Before I head out, then, for those poor souls who want my opinion:

"Battle: Los Angeles" was amazingly violent, but not unsatisfying. It was a typical invasion flick, Us versus Them, but unlike most PC Hollywood versions today, didn't spare the sentimental patriotism. RATING: B.

"Beastly" had stilted acting by the model-turned-actor they're trying to pump up to be the new Shia LeBoeuf, but it likewise wasn't AWFUL. The Olsen girl impressed. RATING: C+.

"Just Go With It" had terrific chemistry between Aniston and Sandler, and featured a quirky cameo by Nicole Kidman, but it was still a bit lame. RATING: C-.

Big Momma's House...I have no idea how I wind up watching this...but I walked out. I also walked out of I Am Number Four. Smelt like Number 2.

Sweet baby Jesus, Vicky!! So much time in the dark!

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

OK, is there a way to bypass Joe Biden and John Boehner? Nothing against the Speaker, but we probably shouldn't have the Presidency switch parties without an election.

Almost Ali said...

It's hard to imagine the deep and utter disappointment of all the women who imbued greatness in a man who turned out to be what he always was; a jive turkey.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

And Inouye. I guess there are too many to bypass.

David said...

We already knew that Obama is not a man's man.

Clearly he is also not a ladies man.

We've seen his dog pull him around by the leash. Definitely not a dog man.

Perhaps he is a cat person, though they have no cat. (You can not me a cat man.)

Perhaps he is no man at all.

I do not say that lightly.

Cedarford said...

"murgatroyd666 said...
Obama has created more jobs in one year (2010) than Bush did in 8.

Did those jobs contribute to the economy by providing goods and services that people paid for voluntarily? Or did the paychecks for those jobs come from money taken from taxpayers?
==================
Both Obama and Bush's massive borrowing have failed to create new jobs for those destroyed by Free Trade For Freedom Lovers!, and Globalization.

Along the way, we have come to understand the folly of supply side economics and tax cuts for the rich as job creators..the folly of drilling bans and green jobs and new layers of Fed Gov factotums and new state employee union members as making for a healthy US economy.

The argument so far is headed for a conclusion that Both men are terible, Carteresque level Presidents. America worse off for Bush in office, worse off for Obama in office. Worse off for the control over the masses by Wall Street bankers AND government employee unions. Worse off from Free Trade, Bush's Open Borders, Globalization, Obama's Borrow From China to please constituencies. Worse from Bush's unfunded new entitlement of full price prescription drugs bought on loans and given to seniors.

David said...

Garage: Obama did not create any jobs. Neither did Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, etc. The Presidents can, to a degree, influence the overall environment that allows individuals and corporations to create jobs (and to pay the taxes that allows for government jobs.) Only private capital and private labor can create a job. Every job that every existed is a function, in one way or another, of a private enterprise aimed at creating wealth. There are no exceptions to this rule.

Unknown said...

I think he went to ask for a price break on oil, since we...er, he loaned them billions to drill.

In a word: no.

http://tinyurl.com/4qtjgom

former law student said...

Another thing is that they don't take American Democrat Presidents seriously. They loathe right-wing US Presidents, obviously. But they're also scared of them.

How soon people forget how "they" treated Republicanic Richard Nixon:

May 9, 1958 - Vice President Richard Nixon is unhurt after groups of angry student protesters threw stones and garbage and spat at him during his visit to Lima, Peru, the previous day. "The Communists who inspired these demonstrations are not Peruvian," Nixon claimed in a response to the crowd, "because like all who owe loyalty to the international conspiracy of Communism they cannot have loyalty to any country."

No fear there.

Phil 314 said...

Victoria;
Dilma (pronounced Jihw-ma in Portuguese) greeting Obama at the airport.

Funny, you got me.

Although maybe Pres. Rousseff is simply declaring Obama as

the One

(Wow reading Rousseff's biography in Wikipedia makes me wonder
Is Brazil really that far left?

Big Mike said...

@FLS, does the fact that you had to reach back 53 years for a "recent" counterexample suggest that Victoria is onto something? Just askin'

vbspurs said...

Phil 3:14 wrote:

Is Brazil really that far left?

Not at all. Its intellectual class is the kind who meet at McDonald's because it's got the most modern lighting and decor in Ipanema, wear Nikes, and rush out to buy the latest iPhone, without thinking that is in the least incongruous to their beliefs.

Trust me when I tell you, Brazilians of all political stripes love money. It's what separates them from the povĂŁo (masses).

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

Ann wrote: There's imagery for you: The male, emasculated by female abstention.

There's something about that sentence that just doesn't ring true...

former law student said...

does the fact that you had to reach back 53 years for a "recent" counterexample suggest that Victoria is onto something?

Violent anti-Bush protests mar Americas summit's start (Update)

By Maria Isabel Rivero Nov 4, 2005, 22:56 GMT


Protestors set fires in the streets of Mar del Plata, Argentina, during a series of marches and rallies here denouncing the United States, its policies and its president, one of the leaders taking part in the Summit of the Americas on Friday, 04 November 2005. Pumped up by speeches from retired Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, among others, a crowd estimated at anywhere from 25,000 to 40,000 signaled an emphatic "no" to George W. Bush. EPA/CĂ©zaro De Luca

As Bush’s motorcade passed the entrance to the Granja do Torto presidential retreat where he met with Silva and was being treated to Brazilian barbecue, about 150 demonstrators shouted “Fora Bush,” which means “Get out Bush.” They burned a small effigy of Bush while chanting “Bush fascist, you are a terrorist!”

Synova said...

"No fear there."

Well, who would be scared of a Republican US President? It's not like someone's going to get shot for throwing a shoe, and everyone knows it.

You know very well, FLS, that "scared of them" is scared of what they might do. And no wonder. When the opposition does everything possible to portray Republicans as war mongering psychotics about to nuke the world, someone is going to believe it.

Bush was *supposed* to respond to 9-11 by nuking something or at least bombing Mecca, causing untold outrage among moderate Muslims and thus shaking them from their apathy to rise up and conquer in order to usher in the Caliphate. He responded quite moderately, all told, which must have confused Bin Laden who did, after all, have the word of Americans that Bush was a dangerous lunatic.

(And anyone who thinks that Gore would not have gotten us into war there and that it would not have spread hasn't looked at what Democrats wanted to happen and approved or what Obama's done lately.)

Synova said...

"They loathe right-wing US Presidents, obviously."

And what have you offered, FLS, that disputes this?

Synova said...

The thing that liberals don't get is that popularity is not possible and attempting to be popular is not only prone to failure, for a US President, but the attempt will make things worse.

Everyone wants to be liked.

All the embarrassment over Bush (previous to 9-11, I'm sure few remember how it was) that he was loud, uncouth, didn't know how to behave in company and how horrifying it was to imagine him on the international stage asking for ketchup or laughing too loud, it said far more about those who felt that it was about being sophisticated enough than it said about reality.

Everyone will love us if we elect Obama.

Right.

vbspurs said...

Synova, in their minds, what I said, that South Americans are scared of right-wing Presidents means that I suggest they're cowering mice in a corner, afraid to confront the big bad Republican American President.

So they offer examples of manifold protests and let's not forget that grapefruit someone threw at Dick Nixon's head in Venezuela (when he was VICE-PRESIDENT...just a minor quibble).

From an interview of my current fave British television actress, Maxine Peake. She is starring in "Silk", a British legal drama which I HIGHLY recommend to all on Althouse.

When asked who her real-life villain is, she replied:

"George Bush. The man scares the life out of me; his policies, his arrogance, his eyes. I have sleepless nights about the things that he might do to the world."

She is scared by him, despite having attended the protest when Bush went to the UK on a State Visit.

Get it now? Jesus, you have pre-masticate everything for this lot.

Quaestor said...

From an interview of my current fave British television actress, Maxine Peake. She is starring in "Silk", a British legal drama which I HIGHLY recommend to all on Althouse.

And why should we patronize a TV series that pays a handsome living to such a person as Maxine Peake?

vbspurs said...

Well, Quaestor, because for me at least, it's silly to boycott artists because of their political beliefs. I don't like her politics at ALL, I mean, at all. But Glenda Jackson can act the hell out of a role.

former law student said...

"George Bush. The man scares the life out of me; his policies, his arrogance, his eyes. I have sleepless nights about the things that he might do to the world."

She is scared by him, despite having attended the protest when Bush went to the UK on a State Visit.


Well of course she was scared of George Bush. A man who had been propped up by his daddy's pals his whole life, a C-student who had to settle for Harvard Business School because his daddy couldn't pull strings at UT Law, a man who invaded Iraq in retaliation for a Saudi's destruction of two skyscrapers in New York -- this guy had his finger on the nuclear trigger.

Any reasonable person would have been scared.

Synova said...

And Obama has just as much power and far less sense.

What might he do, trying to act tough with Libya?

"W" said "boo" half a continent away and Qaddafi gave up his nuclear program.

WestVirginiaRebel said...

Maybe it's Obama looking for mother figures? And Mom said, "son, you got to go to Brazil. Bomb Libya! Don't take any of their guff!" Or maybe it's, as the first metrosexual President, he's a lot more comfortable being prodded by the womenfolk in his life?

vbspurs said...

FLS wrote:

Any reasonable person would have been scared.

And no person, reasonable or otherwise, is scared of Barack Obama.

THAT is the point................

Gary Rosen said...

"Any reasonable person would have been scared."

And exactly what were BO's substantive accomplishments prior to November 2008? I've been asking libs this question for two years and not getting any answers.

hugely said...

oh look:

http://pewglobal.org/database/?indicator=1

brazilions really hate the US dont they?

Anonymous said...

@David: "We already knew that Obama is not a man's man."

Sure. He throws a baseball like a little girl, remember? Baseball's opening day is March 31st, less than two weeks away. Are we going to be treated to another girly-man spectacle from Obama, or has he been secretly working on his delivery in the WH gym?

Why did Obama go to Brazil? Was it because Palin is doing her world tour and he couldn't stand to be upstaged by someone who possesses a better grasp of foreign policy than he is?

Unknown said...

Is this what you do all day? Must be nice. Unlike you, The president and his "women have a job to do. Why don't you get one?

jim said...

Shorter AA: Ewww, gurlz are ICKY! If Obambi was a REAL man he'd blow up one of Quaddafi's kids in prime-time just like Ronald Reagan (PBUH) did, & announce it from the Oval Office!

Obama has created more jobs in one year (2010) than Bush did in 8.

Your treasonous "facts" have no place here, infidel! CONSERVATIVES REJECT YOUR REALITY, & REPLACE IT WITH THEIR OWN!

Good thing you didn't bring up the record profits the private sector now enjoys under the merciless jackboot of the infamous socialist Obama - let alone their ongoing massive campaign of lobbying & agitprop to bite the hand of the President that keeps feeding them truffles & caviar. Head-explosions are SO messy.