by Mark Silva
“You know,’’ Sen. Hillary Clinton said today, “I've been called a lot of things in my life, but I've never been called George Bush or Dick Cheney, certainly.’’
It came to this during a long-distance back-and-forth with Sen. Barack Obama featured on CNN’s “The Situation Room,’’ in which the two Democratic candidates for president pursued a debate started Monday night on their willingess to personally meet with controversial world leaders, should either be elected next year.
CNN’s John King showed footage of Obama campaigning in New Hampshire and explaining his willingness to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez or Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“I don't want a continuation of Bush/Cheney,’’ said Obama (D-Ill.) “I don't want Bush-Cheney lite. I want a fundamental change. It's time to turn the page on how we do business and say to the world, we are ready to lead. We are ready to lead by deed and example.’’
Now, King reported, “it's safe to assume being compared to the current president and vice president didn't go down too well with Mrs. Clinton. In an interview with CNN, she suggested her rival was abandoning his promise of smear-free campaigning.’’
“This is getting kind of silly,’’ Clinton (D-N.Y.) told King, in an interview. “You know, I've been called a lot of things in my life, but I've never been called George Bush or Dick Cheney, certainly.
“You know, you have to ask, whatever has happened to the politics of hope?,’’ she asked.
Yet the debate over direct negotiations with rogue national leaders remains.
“If we want fundamental change, then we can't be afraid to talk to our enemies,’’ Obama said. “We can't be afraid. I'm not afraid of losing the P.R. war to a dictators. I'm happy to look them in the eye and say what needs to be said. I'm happy to tell them what I think.I'm not going to avoid them. I'm not going to… hide behind a bunch
of rhetoric.’’
Clinton said: “I have been saying consistently for a number of years now, we have to end the Bush era of ignoring problems, ignoring enemies and adversaries. And I have been absolutely clear that we've got to return to robust and effective diplomacy. But I don't want to see the power and prestige of the United States president put at risk by rushing in to meetings with the likes of Chavez and Castro and Ahmadinejad.’’
• 
• 
• 
Comments
So what is he suppose to do? Sit back and take it? He has to move agresively against her BS. This whole thing started when she inflated an arguement she knew to be bogus.
Besides, he's right. She is Bush/Cheney light.
Posted by: nisleib | July 26, 2007 5:46 PM
At least the Democrats aren't afraid to speak their minds and disagree with each other.
Calling what the Republicans do a "debate" is a joke, the Repubs pat each other on the back and agree with each other in typical Wingnut "lockstep" fashion.
Posted by: John E | July 26, 2007 6:23 PM
The one whith the fat ankles is at least making a little sense. Once you get around her lies that is.
Posted by: whatnow | July 26, 2007 6:47 PM
Posted by: John E | July 26, 2007 6:23 PM
That's right Republicans all agree with each other, and Ron Paul is merely a figment of my imagination.
Posted by: John W. | July 26, 2007 6:56 PM
Calling her Bush or Cheney? Actually, calling her Hillary Clinton is insult enough.
Posted by: Fran Cisco | July 26, 2007 7:10 PM
Bummer:
It's ashame that both presidential candidates were not having these types of kit gloves backlashes inside a lost Parish in Louisiana or near the Green Zone in Iraq. They would have had some impact when comparing one or the other to George Bush. The comparison alone outlines the did nothing do nothing mentality that goes hand in hand in any reflection of George Bush or Dick Cheney.
Now that the gloves are off, keep on swinging. Find a swing state like Arizona and come point out what the Department of Homeland Security hasn't done but dangle that Grant Money carrot to local officials to do the GOP bidding when it comes to the only jobs that they will have after this administration is retreated back to Crawford. Border Security.
Keep up the fight, but any reflection of being like George or Dick should be unconstitutional.
Think Katrina: Think Immigration: Think Womens Voter rights that are at risk under any new legislation from this administration.
Think Health Care. Think Denny Hastert. Think Mark Foley. Think "Caging". Think budget after budget after budget that is only meant for Homeland Security. Think why no oversight for the last five years.
Posted by: Roger Morris | July 26, 2007 7:15 PM
That's right John E, call everyone who does not agree with you a name or group together in some convenient stereotype. I am not a Republican, but hate these gross generalizations. There are many good people who are Republican, just as there are many good Democrats and Independents.
I agree with what Obama has said, and to offer a willingness to confront opponents (including Hillary Clinton). I find Senator Obama refreshing, even though I disagree with him on some issues.
What really turns off many Americans to politics is the name calling and stereotypes (from both sides). It is why we distrust and disapprove of both our President and the congress. This nation is in a funk, and we need some changes, starting with civility.
Posted by: Liz | July 26, 2007 7:21 PM
Hillary/Bill elevates an argument and turns around and says "This is getting kind of silly." They should know because they started the silliness by calling Obama naive and irresponsible for espousing a view that is the more rational. To listen to Hillary/Bill ducking conversations with troublesome leaders to avoid being used for propaganda is the height of silliness. Hillary/Bill's nonsense is going to fly back in their faces if they continue the kind of irrational attacks they continue to make to try to make it seem that he lacks experience and she has it all. Being first lady is something that Obama certainly does not have.
Posted by: GW | July 26, 2007 8:59 PM
I love all the hate sent to Hillary from the Left.
Weird, demented, Johnnny E., there is more disagreement of issues and policy among the Republicans running for prez than there is among the one-note Dems.
But then why am I trying to reason with someone who has all the intelligence and class of a bad drunk at a cheap bar?
Posted by: John D | July 26, 2007 9:07 PM
Hillary is no different than GW and will continue the path of stern resistance. She was for the war up until everyone but the 26ers were against it. Only recently has she complained that the execution was wrong.
What was wrong was that the idea was foolhardy with which to begin. And what Hillary did wrong was 1. She didn't read the NIE and 2. She gave Bush the keys to the car and closed her eyes.
That's not leadership. That's Hillaryship. And she will continue to pass the buck when she's president, as I have no doubt she will be.
Hillary will praise the Clinton presidency to the hilt, but she will never admit that her husband's foolishness squandered an opportunity for the nation to make even greater leaps forward.
Posted by: Bud McFarlin | July 26, 2007 9:55 PM
Gee. There are more Johns here than in a bordello. John W makes a good point about Ron Paul. All people (R or D) should at least listen to Paul's views.
Posted by: Mrs. Jesus | July 26, 2007 10:56 PM
John W,
You mean the same "Ron Paul" whom the Republican Party nitwits are currently trying to keep out of the debates because he disagree's with the party line?...that guy?
Posted by: John E | July 26, 2007 11:34 PM
This one is a winner for Clinton. I like Obama but his staff needs help.
But then why am I trying to reason with someone who has all the intelligence and class of a bad drunk at a cheap bar?
Posted by: John D | July 26, 2007 9:07 PM
John D, your a DOLT!!! Pathetic.
Posted by: Logic Prisoner | July 27, 2007 12:11 AM
Liz,
While I agree with you regarding civility, please bare in mind that we Democrats have been called cowards and cut and runners for having the temerity of not walking lockstep behind Bush off the Iraqi cliff.
Posted by: Doug Zook | July 27, 2007 1:57 AM
Subway (Sheryl Crow)
Do do do do, do do do do
Do do do do, do do do do
I was riding on the e-train
I was whistling to the rhythm
I was thinking about my live-in
I was feeling pretty fine
I asked the time
Got a poke in the eye
When I read the latest news
How we can't believe he wore those shoes
Should we have the man impeached
Or should we shoot him in the foot
Well you waste my time
You waste my time
Looking for two hundred ways to hang a guy
Chorus
Allegations
Interrogations
Investigations
Then more taxation
National past time is aggravation
I think I'll move out to a desert isle
Just for a while
To avoid all that's distracting
Like newspapers and magazines
Insipid propagandizing
To tell me what a loser I've elected
But you've neglected to tell the truth
That your politics is tied around his foot
And we too are dangling
Chorus Twice
Do you think that we are crazy
Low I.Q., that we are lazy
That we sit here watching sitcoms
That we have no clue to what is going on
Well you got that wrong
Wait and see, the boom will fall
The morning eggs will hit the wall
And everyone I know will call
To say that change is hanging in the air
You'd best beware
You'll wake up and average Joe is in your chair
Just because he'd kinda like to do what's right
But more cause all you politicians do is fight
Posted by: dt | July 27, 2007 4:21 AM
"there is more disagreement of issues and policy among the Republicans running for prez than there is among the one-note Dems"
Posted by: John D | July 26, 2007 9:07 PM
You're right, John. Your guys can't agree whether Darwinian evolution is a fact. Thank G-d for that debate!
As for the big things, like continuing Bush's war indefinitely, granting full personhood to blatocysts, and acting as if the Democrats are the nation's real enemies, only Ron Paul stands apart from the group, and as a result Giuliani and company have tried to force him out of the debates. Real diverse group of middle-aged white men you've got there.
Posted by: Bryan | July 27, 2007 11:29 AM
HillaryInc. went prematurely ballistic back when David Geffen dared back Obama.
Same thing here. Again it has only made Obama look better.
I love it, too. Obama's position is absolutely correct. This Hillary hissyfit proves it. She's wrong, now she's hissing. Oh - wait - now she's calling it 'silliness.' Uh huh.
Please stop! This is (now) silly! Where is hope, people?!
Hillary stands before us people, with no clothes, so to speak.
Obama should hammer her with this. Hillary foreign policy = Neo Conservative rule.
GORE/OBAMA '08!
Posted by: Bailey | July 27, 2007 1:10 PM
I love how you dingbat brainwashed Loony Lefties talk about trying to keep folks out of debates. Not the LIBune covered it, but just last week, Hillary and the Breck Girl were plotting how to get rid of all the lower-tiered candidates from the debates.
Go back to sleep, Loons, it's the only you losers can get through life.
Posted by: John D | July 27, 2007 1:17 PM
John E:
You were the one who said "all" Republicans agree with each other. Ron Paul is a Republican, and he doesn't agree with many of the things the others are saying. He is still up there, and he is still a Republican, regardless of who doesn't want him on the stage. I was merely pointing out the fact that your categorical assertions about "all" Republicans wasn't true.
Posted by: John W. | July 27, 2007 3:31 PM