Raddatz slams Saudi record on women’s rights.
By on Jan 15th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Raddatz slams Saudi record on women’s rights.
ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz notes that while covering President Bush’s trip in Saudi Arabia, she was barred from “the hotel gym” at “an American-owned Marriott” in the country because she is “a woman”:
I respect other cultures and am a seasoned traveler in the Mideast. [...]
But this is the first time in decades I was made to feel like a second-class citizen, and it is not a pleasant feeling.
Of course, my experience of being turned away at the hotel gym pales in comparison to the suffering of many Saudi women. [...]
But I wondered how President Bush, a self-avowed exercise fanatic, would feel if he were turned away from a gym.
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I believe it’s spelled “Radditz.”
January 15th, 2008 at 10:54 amBut yet he preaches the wonders of Democracy right in that very country?
Oh the irony
January 15th, 2008 at 10:55 amWho needs a workout? George has found that invading soverign nations and threats of invasion are a superior endorphin rush.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:56 amHe needs to go to the gym, ’cause Arabia don’t have much brush to clear.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:58 amI wish our local gym had a no farting fratboy exclusion.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:01 amThe Bush family’s relationship with the Saudi royal family trumps all other considerations. Even though Bush is married to a woman, and both of his children are women, I doubt that the fact that his wife and daughters would be regarded as second-class citizens in this country would even register with him.
Just keep the oil flowing, please…
January 15th, 2008 at 11:04 amwhat’s up TP?
an hour after FAST, we get kristol … an hour later, this…
hope it’s a good one…
January 15th, 2008 at 11:05 ami guess w’s freedom and democracy has not spread to that little corner of the Mid East.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:11 amChimpy doesn’t give a crap about ANYONE but himself. Why should he care?
January 15th, 2008 at 11:13 amWhats the point of going to the gym if there aren’t any half-dressed women there?
January 15th, 2008 at 11:16 amI wonder where Condi goes to work out when in Saudi Arabia? Radditz should ask her.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:21 amMartha felt mistreated as a woman by being barred from a Gym…. poor Martha…!!!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:21 amDid she try to see how the Palestinians of all ages,gender and races are they treated by Israel…?,
or how the Iraqis live now in Iraq..?!!
Bush also doesn’t seem to mind that the Saudi people can’t vote and are ruled by a hereditary KING – a system that even our women-oppressing, slaveholding Founding Fathers found unacceptable.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:26 amIts a good thing that we live in America so that we don’t have religious bigotry and ignorance shaping our lives….
oh wait…
VIDEO
January 15th, 2008 at 11:32 amhttp://services.redlasso.com/svc/clip/playClip?fid=3c8bb132-a820-4f6c-95c3-3cf9c976f4f9
Bush also doesn’t seem to mind that the Saudi people can’t vote and are ruled by a hereditary KING – a system that even our women-oppressing, slaveholding Founding Fathers found unacceptable.
Comment by gulfwargrunt — January 15, 2008 @ 11:26 am
But Bush thinks the Prince kisses and holds hands well, thats all that matters to him.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:35 am15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi. How does herr dubyah reward the Saudis? He brokers an arms deal. Brilliant.
Comment by Dr. Matt — January 15, 2008 @ 11:35 am
you beat me to it, Dr. Matt!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:41 am“…and here, i’ll toss in blueprints to some of our skyscrapers at no extra charge!”
Did she try to see how the Palestinians of all ages,gender and races are they treated by Israel…?,
or how the Iraqis live now in Iraq..?!!
Comment by tarazan
Yeah, I wondered about that too.
Once you are the subject of unjustice, then you start whining about it…but in the meantime, collateral damage, Palestinians taken out from their places and having to work in Israel illegal settlements for subhuman wages, are just “bad things in the world”.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:42 am15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi. How does herr dubyah reward the Saudis? He brokers an arms deal. Brilliant.
Comment by Dr. Matt — January 15, 2008 @ 11:35 am
Don’t forget the Port Security contracts… true, they went to Dubai, not to Saudi Arabia, but hey, if all arabs look alike to right wingers…
January 15th, 2008 at 11:46 amBush most likely agrees with S.A.’s approach to women and personal rights.
King + Democracy…yeah, that model should work well.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:47 amMore Bible thiming women in America need to know the long Republican record of courting world “leaders” who treat women as dogs.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:49 amKing + Democracy…yeah, that model should work well.
Comment by Zimzone
Hahahaha. Good catch…it was so obvious!!
January 15th, 2008 at 11:52 amMore Bible thiming women in America need to know the long Republican record of courting world “leaders†who treat women as dogs.
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover — January 15, 2008 @ 11:49 am
Less than that, because dogs can walk outside on their own without the risk of being stoned to death.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:52 amCourting “leaders” who don’t even allow women to vote.
America should be ashamed.
What a pathetic disgracefull display of hypocrisy. These Republicans will dine with Satan for an eternity. Pharisees every last one of them.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:53 amShe might try the Marriot in Bagdad. The rules under Sadamn were more secular. And George hasn’t been able to change a thing.
January 15th, 2008 at 11:56 amIsn’t this the same President who vetoed a pay raise for our soldiers?
Why does Bush hate our troops?
January 15th, 2008 at 11:57 amthe events transpiring after 9/11 have caused the world to focus on the middle east more than any other time in recent history.
Comment by CaptainwoMantastic
Is that you, Rudy?
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 pmdecades of killing, rape and overall oppression of Saudi Arabian women…..ahhh not such a big deal…..
but if you restrict an american woman from the gym……well who is going to DARE stand in the way of the revolution?
January 15th, 2008 at 12:01 pmRE: Democracy, freedom, and rewarding the Saudis (who composed a large share of the 9/11 hijackers) – Multiple Posts above
First Draft has an interesting comment on Shrub’s speech where he actually said that post 9/11 restrictions made it too hard for Saudis to get into the US. (see the comment on that one !)
Also, if Shrub is spreading democracy, would it be a dumb question to ask how many of the rewarded Arab countries are arranged according to a democracy or republic ?
January 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pmA$$ backwards culture, what do you expect? To them women are no more than dogs, which is quite a primitive way of thinking.
Buck Fush
January 15th, 2008 at 12:11 pmThe so called ’seasoned traveler to the Middle East’ should have covered more important subject in the area than her trip to the gym….
The Middle East full of many important issues and stories..from political to cultural to religion.
Who cares about her trip to the gym…!!
It is their country and their culture…It is not up to us to tell them how to live.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:15 pmI lived in Saudi Arbaia myself for sometime…They are very generous and very friendly..What is between their men and their women is not our business.
There are many things they don’t like about our own culture…but it is not up to them to change us..and we would not have liked them criticising our culture.
Martha, you are a guest…so live by their own cultural rules…this does not change over night.
Martha, find you a better topic…
What is between their men and their women is not our business.
Comment by tarazan — January 15, 2008 @ 12:15 pm
“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me– and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
-Pastor Martin Niemöller, 1945
You do the math.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:23 pmFirst Draft has an interesting comment on Shrub’s speech where he actually said that post 9/11 restrictions made it too hard for Saudis to get into the US. (see the comment on that one !)
Comment by MapleStreet — January 15, 2008 @ 12:10 pm
Having trouble accessing. Do you have a link? Thanks!
January 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm…she was barred from “the hotel gym†at “an American-owned Marriott†in the country because she is “a womanâ€
Can some right wing ignoramus say, “Islamofascism?”
As far as Dinkledorf’s reaction, he would bomb the gym. That is his answer for everything.
January 15th, 2008 at 1:07 pm“But I wondered how President Bush, a self-avowed exercise fanatic, would feel if he were turned away from a gym. ”
He’d just stamp his foot and yell, “Wait’ll I tell my Daddy on you!”
January 15th, 2008 at 1:34 pmBush is about to send missiles to Saudi Arabia… are stuck fighting in Iraq, which had no connection to 9/11, and selling missiles to the country that did!
Saudi Arabia is a brutal dictatorship… Bush spoke these words about Saddam before attacking Iraq… so, to be consistent, Bush should be planning to liberate Saudis next…
January 15th, 2008 at 1:53 pmIsn’t the Marriot chain owned by Mormons? If so, that’s another group that treats its women as second- and third-class citizens.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:31 pmLet Freedom Reign!
Unless, of course, it’s a nation that has oil, then Bushco will let them do whatever they want. Including flying airliners into buildings and letting them get away with it.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:02 pm