Remember when Reagan met with Taliban leaders in the White House?

Posted on | April 20, 2009 | 22 Comments

No? Here’s a picture of the meeting between Reagan and the ‘freedom fighters’ (which is what Reagan referred to the Taliban as back in the 80’s and also considered them to be no different than America’s Founding Fathers)…

(picture)

Nice huh? The American Taliban (today’s republic party) is going batshit crazy with the idea President Obama shook hands (and received a book! The nerve of that ‘dictator’!!!) with Hugo Chavez, you know, the guy George Bush labeled an enemy of America without any proof as to why. Anyway, Newt Gingrich is now claiming that republicans never meet with dictators (especially the Russian ones!) or the bad guys (nor do they shake hands, kiss, bow, or look them in the eye to see their soul!). Uh huh.

Here’s what Newt Who Needs Gingko Biloba said (quotes copied from Think Progress):

Q: But do you think he should not be trying to mend relationships with other world leaders?

GINGRICH: How do you mend relationships with somebody who hates your country, who actively calls for the destruction of your country and who wants to undermine you?

Q: But we certainly have mended relationships with countries that have hated us in the past. Russia comes to mind, China comes to mind.

GINGRICH: But we didn’t rush over, smile, and greet Russian dictators. We understood who they were.

Interesting Newty, because George Bush said he could see Vladamir Putin’s soul upon meeting him for the first time…

(picture)

Bush & Putin were basically in love with each other, but according to Newty, republicans never reach out to the Russians or dictators in general.

Here’s Newt Gingrich meeting with Russia’s former Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin…

Ooooopsie. And they’re smiling and carrying on too! Oh boy. HYPOCRITE/LIAR.

Then there was the time George Bush met with Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan….you know….the brutal dictator who likes to BOIL PEOPLE ALIVE for shits and giggles (and the country where George Bush sent some of the prisoners to be tortured at the secret CIA prisons there!)….

Of course, everyone remembers the time Donald Rumsfeld under Ronald Reagan couldn’t wait to meet their new buddy, Saddam Hussein….

Every time I see this photo of Rummy shaking hands with Saddam, all I can hear is him saying to Saddam, “Man, am I glad to meet you! I can’t wait to start selling you arms and helping you any way I can! So nice to meet ya Saddam!”.

Republican leaders most definitely smile at Russian dictators…

(picture)

…so don’t let Newt fool ya. In fact, every picture I’ve come across online of the right wingers with dictators(HERE and HERE especially!), I see lots of smiling!!! Tons of it!!!!

The funniest part about the right wing’s made up controversy over President Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez? Chavez isn’t a dictator. He was duly elected overwhelmingly by the people of Venezuala. Dictators don’t allow free elections!

Comments

22 Responses to “Remember when Reagan met with Taliban leaders in the White House?”

Insidious Prophet
April 20th, 2009 @ 6:28 pm

On Hardball, Lawrence O’Donnell handed Pat Buchanan his ass today as he pointed out that Nixon bought Soviet Union leader Brezhnev a new car after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in the 70’s. O’Donnell also pointed out Rumsfeld infamous handshake with Saddam Hussein.

Buchanan went on an on about all the great things America did for Central and South America but he conveniently forgot how the CIA assassinated the democratically elected President of Guatemala because he was going to take land back from the United Fruit Company and give it to the peasants.

America is in no way saints. We have used the CIA and our military to help our corporations steal the natural resources of other countries for decades. Yet Buchanan and other asshats are upset because Daniel Ortega ripped on the US and Obama didn’t defend our country. How the phuck do you defend some of the hideous actions our government have done over the years. Iran/Contra, death squads, CIA drug running, assisting in dictators controlling countries.
kayinmaine
April 20th, 2009 @ 6:33 pm

Our country is not a saint, Insidious, that’s for sure. Oh, but you can’t tell the American Taliban that! They think America is always just, pure, and good.

I love the picture above of Newt Gingrich smiling & laughing with the former Russian Prime Minister! So hysterical! Poor Newty. He must have forgotten about this picture. Oooopsie.

I think it’s safe to say the right wingers are all hypocrites.
Grant in Texas
April 20th, 2009 @ 6:43 pm

Gov. George W. Bush’s oil buddies wined and dined the Taliban when they visited Texas in the late 90’s when trying to negotiate for a pipeline through Afghanistan.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/FE18Aa03.html

Unocal – which had put the CentGas Pipeline Consortium in place – hired Henry Kissinger as a consultant. Unocal also hired two very well-connected Afghans: Zalmay Khalilzad, a Pashtun with a PhD from the University of Chicago and former Paul Wolfowitz aide, and Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun from Kandahar. In 1996, both Khalilzad and Karzai were ultra-pro-Taliban. Karzai is now Afghanistan’s US-backed ruler. Khalilzad also made splendid career moves: Bush-appointed National Security Council member (working under Condoleezza Rice), “special envoy” to Afghanistan (only nine days after the Karzai government was sworn in), and current US ambassador.
kayinmaine
April 20th, 2009 @ 7:06 pm

Unocal, Grant? Isn’t Hamid Karzai the current president of Afghanistan an ex-employee of Unocal? My, my, my…
kayinmaine
April 20th, 2009 @ 7:12 pm

Oh wait. You wrote that info! Sorry. I’m very tired tonight and am going to bed shortly.
JFH
April 20th, 2009 @ 8:24 pm

Hee, that’s so cute, you think that Chavez’s last election was legitimate…and so were Castro’s and Saddam Hussein’s
Clif
April 20th, 2009 @ 9:17 pm

Here are the results from the 2006 presidential election in Venezuela;

Hugo Chávez 7,309,080 62.84%
Manuel Rosales 4,292,466 36.9%

Turnout: 11,729,158 voters (74.75% of the registered to vote), null votes: 159,377 (1.35% of all votes).

There is more then one political party allowed, in facts then opposition to Chavez holds power in, Caracas

Governorships of; Carabobo, Miranda, Nueva Esparta, Táchira, Zulia

Cities like, Maracaibo, Sucre,

On February 15, 2009 a referendum lifting term limits for the President, governors, mayors and deputies was approved by 55% of the electorate in which the 70% of registered voters participated.

Not exactly a one party system or state, and if trends are any indication, Chavez is losing the support of the people.

The 2012 presidential election could turn out to be a losing one for him.

On the other hand here are the results from the last election Saddam claims he held:

Saddam ‘wins 100% of vote’ 16 October, 2002

Iraqi officials say President Saddam Hussein has won 100% backing in a referendum on whether he should rule for another seven years.

There were 11,445,638 eligible voters – and every one of them voted for the president, according to Izzat Ibrahim, Vice-Chairman of Iraq’s Revolutionary Command Council.

Saddam Hussein – who has ruled Iraq since 1979 – was the only candidate.

Cuba is a one party state which doesn’t allow opposition parties of much dissent.

So you are not correct.
Clif
April 20th, 2009 @ 9:36 pm

Oh,

THE HUMANITY,

he ……

(gasp)

Call fake noise,

drudge,

the fat drug addict,

the WSJ,

Moonie times

charge up the ranting reich wingbat screeching machine;

because Obama shakes hands and bows to;

Dogs

Humans are no longer safe ………..

this needs hyperventilation

like none other

they have done

since November.
Chris from Maine
April 20th, 2009 @ 10:48 pm

Reagan was probably at the very least senile by that point.

And yes.. Republicans love dictators. Thats beyond dispute. Bush acted like one, and would have become one if he could, even he himself admitted that.
Insidious Prophet
April 20th, 2009 @ 10:54 pm

JFH
April 20th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

Hee, that’s so cute, you think that Chavez’s last election was legitimate…and so were Castro’s and Saddam Hussein’s
“““““““““““““““““““““““““““““`
Castro’s and Hussein’s elections were about as legitimate as Bush 43’s election….I mean selection in 2000.
Insidious Prophet
April 20th, 2009 @ 10:57 pm

It was because of the US puppet Batista that Cubans turned to Fidel Castro. Our government has a long, long history of meddling with other countries affairs and politics which have led directly to the hatred these countries now have for us.
JFH
April 21st, 2009 @ 4:43 pm

Batista was a US puppet? … Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha… The US government had an very active role as an OPPONENT of Batista (and YES, it is true that we were meddling in the affairs of this country at the time), better check your history IP.

“Republicans love dictators. Thats beyond dispute. Bush acted like one, and would have become one if he could, even he himself admitted that.”

Oh, boy, that just doesn’t square with history. Realpolitik didn’t just start with the Nixon administration, but was the defacto policy of all presidencies in the 20th Century. FDR and JFK were perhaps were the most naive in practicing this in that they assumed that they could convince the “good” dictators (ie non-communist) to eventually allow free elections.
kayinmaine
April 21st, 2009 @ 4:55 pm

JFH, isn’t it so endearing that Ronnie Reagan thought of the Taliban as America’s Founding Fathers…you know….freedom fighters? What are your thoughts on this? Do you love the Taliban and their cause and is this why you belong to the American Taliban (the republic party of today) still?
kayinmaine
April 21st, 2009 @ 4:57 pm

Bush said, “I’m the Decider” and also said, “Money trumps peace” and also said this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD3xfT0c99g

He was the dictator, wanted so badly to be referred to as the dictator and ruled America like one too.
Clif
April 21st, 2009 @ 5:15 pm

Um junior foole, Eisenhower wins the most gullible, thunking Vietnam was gonna accept our hand picked dictator (Deim), after they just defeated both the Japanese, and French from ruling over them, oh yea and the undermining democracy in Iran to emplace a brutal dictator (the Shah), whom made Saddam seem childlike by comparison.

Oh and the fact he allowed the Dulles brothers to screw up American foreign policy so bad, the repercussions are still felt today.

And um Batista was a Mafia pup[pet, which the CIA and state under the Dulles brothers seemed like the same thing.

Remember Johnny E Hoover, refused to admit the “mafia” even existed during the 50’s to help them help the Dulles traitors …………………………….. sorta a quid pro quo if you will.
JFH
April 21st, 2009 @ 5:23 pm

Uh, the “Taliban” was only part of the Afghan resistance movement.

It IS a bit upsetting to be labeled the American Taliban just because I am a republican and a conservative, but that’s probably your purpose in using that invective. But then again, I can take it. How you can compare even the most devout evangelical (which I certainly am not, hell I’d vote for gay marriage if it came up) with the Taliban baffles me. There is a HUGE difference between an idiot that thinks that AIDS is God’s curse on homosexuals, compared to someone who wants and will execute someone for that supposed sin.
Clif
April 21st, 2009 @ 5:28 pm

There is a HUGE difference between an idiot that thinks that AIDS is God’s curse on homosexuals, compared to someone who wants and will execute someone for that supposed sin.

No there is not because the blood disease AIDS which afflicts far to many humans, gay, straight, American, African, Asian, European, rich, poor, famous, commoner, adult and child is NO plague from God at all, totherwise he wouldn’t allow simple blood transfusions to save lives to cause infections of AIDS that you claim he wants to punsih people with for a supposed sin.

To believe that is to demean him and the claims of belief.

All you have shown is a very bigoted way of looking at a disease, nothing else.
JFH
April 21st, 2009 @ 5:31 pm

Clif, you’ve been reading too many Puzoesque novels or conspiracy books.(Then again, you probably think the Mofia killed Kennedy, which would be really strange based on your theory, as Kennedy wanted to Batista type people back into Cuba).

Yes, Ike was AS BAD AS JFK and FDR with his foreign policy blunders, but it was still ALL realpolitik…

BTW, I’m 47, how old are YOU, as you call me “junior” and “son”?
Clif
April 21st, 2009 @ 5:37 pm

The Mafia used Havana like they used Las Vegas.

As for the rest of your cry baby post GFY
kayinmaine
April 21st, 2009 @ 6:57 pm

Ha ha. Clif is older than you….and a lot smarter too. Clif served our nation honorably. You JFH? Still serving hamburgers, fries, and cokes to the public after all these years?
kayinmaine
April 21st, 2009 @ 7:01 pm

JFH, you and your cohorts get the title “American Taliban” because of the way your party treats everyone who isn’t a straight white man. See?
JFH
April 22nd, 2009 @ 4:34 pm

Hmm, I treat try to treat everyone with dignity and respect, though it is difficult at times when being called names and accused of not serving my country in the military (which is false).

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

GLENN BECK AT CPAC 2010: ‘Hello, my name is the Republican Party, and I’ve got a problem. I’m addicted to spending and big government…I’m addicted to spending and I just don’t want to spend today.’ (CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO QUOTE)

"If by a “Liberal” they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a “Liberal,” then I’m proud to say I’m a “Liberal.” ~ John F. Kennedy, 1960