Bush Won’t Expess Opinions On Genocide Olympics: ‘I View The Olympics As A Sporting Event’
Bush Won’t Expess Opinions On Genocide Olympics: ‘I View The Olympics As A Sporting Event’
During a recent interview with the BBC, President Bush boasted that the United States is the “only nation” to have called the situation in Darfur “genocide.”
Yet later in the interview, Bush was asked if he would “applaud” Steven Speilberg’s recent decision to withdraw as artistic director of the Beijing Olympics because China is not doing enough to pressure Sudan to end the genocide in Darfur. “That’s up to him,” Bush said dismissively, adding, “I’m going to the Olympics. I view the Olympics as a sporting event.” Watch it:
Bush took a subtle jab at human rights activists who will want to “opine” during the Olympics. “I mean, you got the Dalai Lama crowd. You’ve got global warming folks. You’ve got, you know, Darfur,” he said. “I am not gonna you know, go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way.”
Transcript:
MATT FREI: You were very tough in your speech about Darfur. And, yet again, you called what’s happening there genocide?
BUSH: Yeah.
FREI: Is enough being done by your administration to stop that?
BUSH: I think we are. Yeah. You know, I had to make a seminal decision. And that is whether or not I would commit US troops into Darfur. And I was pretty well backed off of it by – you know, a lot of folks – here in America that care deeply about the issue. And so, once you make that decision, then you have to rely upon an international organisation like the United Nations to provide the oomph – necessary manpower… You know, I read – did call it genocide, and I think we’re the only nation that has done so.
[...]
FREI: Yesterday, Steven Spielberg – the Hollywood director – pulled out of the Beijing Olympics over Darfur. He said the Chinese aren’t doing enough to stop the killing in Darfur. Do you applaud his move?
BUSH: That’s up to him. I’m going to the Olympics. I view the Olympics as a sporting event. On the other hand, I have a little different platform than Steven Spielberg so, I get to talk to President Hu Jintao. And I do remind him that he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur. There’s a lot of issues that I suspect people are gonna, you know, opine, about during the Olympics. I mean, you got the Dali Lama crowd. You’ve got global warming folks. You’ve got, you know, Darfur and… I am not gonna you know, go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way ’cause I do it all the time with the president. I mean. So, people are gonna be able to choose – pick and choose how they view the Olympics.
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Could you please just not go and keep your damn mouth shut and not embarrass the country anymore than you have already.
Bush/Cheney
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Buck Fush
February 16th, 2008 at 11:21 amThe man is an idiot.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:22 amWell, if not now, then when?
Although, I have to say, this White House isn’t doing much for Sudan either.
And to have this administration try to take the higher moral ground on any issue at all is sheer hypocrisy.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:24 am“One of those” Darfur types…
Bush may actually be too stupid to be allowed a seat at Satan’s table.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:25 amYou’ve got, you know, Darfur and… I am not gonna you know, go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way ’cause I do it all the time with the president. I mean. So, people are gonna be able to choose – pick and choose how they view the Olympics.
” ‘Specially since the Chinese would give my administration a real wedgie if I made a peep…”
February 16th, 2008 at 11:28 amI want to repeat this quote because it speaks volumes for a generation of sound government lost during the Bush years:
Senator Arlen Specter:
“We have a right to have honest football games”
February 16th, 2008 at 11:29 amHow are we any better than China?
Why shouldn’t our presense be protested?
February 16th, 2008 at 11:31 amSpoken like the true “leader” he is.
Pathetic!
February 16th, 2008 at 11:33 amBush may actually be too stupid to be allowed a seat at Satan’s table.
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover — February 16, 2008 @ 11:25 am
How about the children’s table?
February 16th, 2008 at 11:36 amWell, they may be wrong about almost everything else, but the wingnuts were right when they said about Bush, “what you see is what you get”.
You see a callous, shallow idiot, and you get a callous, shallow idiot.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:39 amoh…
“Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country.”
WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!!
February 16th, 2008 at 11:45 amI see those stupid looks on Bush’s face. He has so many. And you see and hear over and over how just how stupid he is and how shocking it is that he became a president. Twice. Albeit barely and barely legally.
And you are overwhelmed with the thought of how many stupid people there are in this country.
Your average Republican who votes to give away their jobs and elects people who make friends with cultures that create terrorists who attack America. This can only be explained through effective brainwashing and media control.
But I will never lose faith in the true spirit of America. And I will always have faith that the light will shine on Americans and they will reject Republicans once and for all. Even if it’s only at the last minute to save their own hides.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:47 amFrom the Official website of the International Olympic Committee:
The Olympic Games have always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles.
“Genocide is immoral” is a principle I hope would be universal, but apparently it isn’t as universal as it should be.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:51 am“Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country.â€
WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!!
Comment by katy — February 16, 2008 @ 11:45 am
You forgot to add, “…and that’s why we have to make the tax cuts permanent.“
February 16th, 2008 at 11:53 amLet me show Bush how the free markey works. I wanted to buy Indiana Jones last week but you can’t buy just the first one. I went to several places. You can only buy all of themin a box set. And normally I would not do this.
But I did. And I did because Speilberg rejected China. And I will reject the Olympics, too.
Speilberg deserves my money because he chose a path that in my opinion best exemplifies God’s desires. This is not “just about sports”.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:55 amGeorge W. Bush needs to sit down and watch Schindler’s List about 3 or 4 times and hope his soul opens up because if not then God will reject him.
Bush prefers a guitar lesson to helping the drowning people of New Orleans, so why be surprised that he prefers an uninterrupted sporting event to stopping genocide? Wishes he never gave up cheer leading. Pathetic.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:55 amoh yea… thanks for that wayne…
February 16th, 2008 at 11:55 am:-)
How many more days left that the world has to tolerate this miserable excuse for a human being as “the leader of the free world”?
February 16th, 2008 at 11:59 amWhat a great leader.
February 16th, 2008 at 11:59 amSo what would Obama do, boycott the Olympics?
That’d be “change.”
LMAO
February 16th, 2008 at 12:01 pmThat’d be “change.â€
LMAO
Comment by muckdog
Bush can’t even change his socks without an aide there, telling him if they clash or not.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:03 pmSo what would suckdog do? Continue to fellate the losers of the GOP?
LMAO
February 16th, 2008 at 12:04 pmComment by muckdog — February 16, 2008 @ 12:01 pm
Wow. A troll decides it can’t shoehorn “Clinton Dit Itâ„¢” in to fit the situation, so instead, it criticizes Obama for what it imagines Obama would do in the same situation.
Nicely done, as troll strategies go.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:05 pmI am so happy to hear that GDumbya is going to the Olympics in China.
I sure hope that he enters the javelin-catching competition.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:05 pm“I am so happy to hear that GDumbya is going to the Olympics in China.”
His fondest college memories are of all the shots he has put… away.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:08 pmRepublicans reward bad behavior from their trade partners while they give away American jobs.
If you’ve noticed, it is merely impossible now to purchase a solid, complete product. Anywhere from cars to computers. Everything is manufactured with inferior parts that require servicing the very moment it comes off the assembly line. My lawn mower is the perfect example. It’s a 6 HP moster. The best. And I spent an assload of money on it. But it had plastic parts.
It had a plastic gas tank and choke assembly. The tank had to be replaced for a defect within one year. And it was not covered in the warranty. Cost me additional $20. And this was a $400 lawnmower.
This is what Republicans call “the service industry”. A workforce dedicated to finishing products in a sort of “beta testing” mode after products have been sold. And China is an integral part of this.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:16 pmWhat a boob! The Dalai Lama crowd? This just makes me sad. It’s not like he’s the President or the leader of the free world or anything. Just some guy who likes him the sports.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:20 pmWhat about the stupid a$$wipe ex-cheer-leader crowd?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:23 pmWhat about the stupid a$$wipe ex-cheer-leader crowd?
Comment by jb — February 16, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Oh yeah, there is only one that I’m aware of.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:24 pmWhat a boob! The Dalai Lama crowd? This just makes me sad. It’s not like he’s the President or the leader of the free world or anything. Just some guy who likes him the sports.
Comment by fletc3her — February 16, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
Good point, fletc3her.
How does anyone in any kind of responsible position get away with such a dismissive attitude toward the Dalai frickin’ Lama?
Oh wait, that’s right — he’s a Republican. They FEED on noble victims. Men of peace are objects of ridicule to them.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:25 pmagain……how exactly are we better than the Chinese?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:25 pmPlease just print highlights of this interview. OMG he is such a freaking moron! Even after 8 years he can’t get out a single coherent sentence.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:26 pmBaseball is just a sport, right? So why is our congress wasting time and money on hearings about steriod use?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pmagain……how exactly are we better than the Chinese?
Comment by Fred — February 16, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
We are better at waterboarding.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:27 pmPerhaps Bush thinks water-boarding is a new Olympic event.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:30 pmagain……how exactly are we better than the Chinese?
Comment by Fred — February 16, 2008 @ 12:25 pm
Umm… because we export freedom at the point of a gun?
Because we support the workers of China through our deficit spending and imports?
Because we “view the Olympics as a sporting event” and not as a gathering of all the nations of the world in a spirit of cameraderie and an opportunity to focus on world issues?
February 16th, 2008 at 12:30 pmi wonder if the BBC asked him about this little story…
this one’s gonna get juicy (via C&L):
The Mother of All Mideast Scandals
February 16th, 2008 at 12:32 pmHuge bribes, arms deals and threats of terrorism are the elements of an unfolding plot centering on the good friend of both Presidents Bush, Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia.
oh wow – start here:
February 16th, 2008 at 12:34 pmhttp://susiemadrak.com/2008/02/15/20/25/my-head-hurts/
Comment by katy — February 16, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
The GOP use threats of terrorism to get their way. So why shouldn’t W’s hand holding chum Prince Bandar? Seems to be the way business is conducted by the world’s elite.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:40 pmI guess you can’t be a player on the world’s stage unless you wield the threat of terror.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:45 pm“I am not gonna you know, go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to express Dick Cheney’s opinions to the Chinese people in a public way.â€
There. Fixed that.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:48 pmShooting down the errant satellite will be Bush’s perfect demo of Rummy’s space war and his “message” to China.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:02 pmOff topic, but…..I already knew this, but read it again this morning in David McCullouch’s book TRUMAN:
….”Reichstag, seat of parliament, where a fire was set by the Nazis in 1933 and blamed on the Communists [that gave] Hitler the excuse he needed to seize dictatorial power.” p.414
Beware of Busch
A∞Ω
February 16th, 2008 at 1:13 pmTwo words come to mind as I watch him stammer and bumble through that pathetic explanation.
Functional (barely) Illiterate.
OK, three words.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:17 pmkaty, what’s a little blackmail among sweeties, eh?
February 16th, 2008 at 1:19 pm“I’m like, you know, the President of the United States, and like, you know, I can, I mean, you know, do whatever, like, you know… I want.”
What an embarrassment. You read the eloquent speeches of Presidents like Andrew Jackson and you realize how STUPID Americans have become.
DEVO was right… we are devolving.
February 16th, 2008 at 1:45 pmMakes perfect Sense
February 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pmBush views Genocide as a sport.
Whenever I see him talk these days, with that nasty smirk on his face, I keep expecting his head to float right off his shoulders and start drifting around the room, like an helium filled balloon.
And the mouth just keeps on saying words it doesn’t understand.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:06 pmwhy is anyone asking his opinion on anything?
he’s irrelevant.
besides, *everyone* knows how up China’s ass he is.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:12 pmWell, JPV, without intending to offer the Shrub any defense, Andrew Jackson never had to face television cameras or radios (to say nothing of the internet) with their (mostly) unfettered coverage.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:32 pmThen, too, we don’t really have very many complete transcripts of reporters’ questions at “press conferences” (which, incidentally, didn’t come until Woodrow Wilson came along); most press reporting also were respectful of the President and the Presidency, even to the point of keeping personal scandalous behavior under wraps, so it’s unlikely that any transcripts would have included whatever then-current mannerisms were used to allow the President a chance to collect his thoughts while answering unscripted questions. (Back then, it’s more likely that a person would’ve used “um” or “er” a lot.)
Incidentally, I’d point out that Andrew Jackson was EXACTLY the same type of President we all chide the Shrub about. Jackson was NOT a well-educated man and was the victim of many Washington elitists for his “backwoodsy” and “folksy” ways and mannerisms. (Those ways and mannerisms were largely responsible for his being elected by the people in the first place; he was regarded as being “one of them”.)
FU(KING IDIOT.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:33 pmbesides, *everyone* knows how up China’s ass he is.
Oh man, you got that right! Bush gives almost as many hummers to the Chinese as he does to the House of Saud (and I don’t mean automobiles!).
I just wonder how much longer China’s going to keep supporting our national debt financially, with the dollar being as weak as it is.
February 16th, 2008 at 2:38 pmI guess GWDumbass sees the Holocaust as a sporting event as well. Isn’t there some Nazi in Chimpy’s family history?
February 16th, 2008 at 2:47 pmIsn’t there some Nazi in Chimpy’s family history?
Comment by GL2814
No, no way, not in the Busch family tree. /sarc.
A∞Ω
February 16th, 2008 at 3:07 pm“I mean, you got the Dalai Lama crowd. You’ve got global warming folks. You’ve got, you know, Darfur,†he said.
And obviously none of these people have any merit to this buffoon. With that quote he has proved (again) that groups who hope to make the world better are just trivial write-offs. Anyone who disagrees with this pathetic man is obviously a joke to him. Remember, according to Bush, it’s all about oil, war, and rich friends. Making things better is something to trivialize and sneer at. He’s hopeless as a leader.
February 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pmPresident Bush has not been good for Africa. Some claim otherwise, but his policies on aid, trade, terror and everything else has undermined Africa at every single step of the way. And Africa will continue to suffer for years to come. Who needs enemies with a friend like him? More on this at http://angryafrican.wordpress.com/2008/02/16/bush-in-africa-with-a-friend-like-this/
And the problem with the Olympics and human rights is a joke. Should Harare (Zimbabwe) be the enxt one to get the Olympics? They could based on Olympic values – also on http://www.angryafrican.wordpress.com
February 16th, 2008 at 4:15 pmI think we’re focusing on the wrong issue here. If we’re going to call these the Genocide Olympics, perhaps we should focus on China’s attempts at cultural genocide in Xinjiang and Tibet, rather than the situation in Darfur which, in my opinion, is not genocide. Highly lopsided brutal warfare, yes. Systematic elimination of a people, no.
February 16th, 2008 at 4:31 pm“Genocide Olympics”
February 16th, 2008 at 5:27 pmHow many such athletic activities has the U.S. taken part in while directly or indirectly involved in genocidal activies: Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, East Timor Afghanistan, iraq, Nicaragua, Palestine and others?
How many more days left that the world has to tolerate this miserable excuse for a human being as “the leader of the free world�
Comment by jb — February 16, 2008 @ 11:59 am
338 days and counting.
February 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pmI mean, you got the Dali Lama crowd.
And what exactly is “the Dali Lama crowd”?
Let’s see:
Religious – check
Want their people to be free – check
Crap, I just described the Neocons. So Bush will be going to the Olympics as “the Neocon crowd”. Brilliant leadership.
February 16th, 2008 at 5:59 pmI think we’re missing the point here. Playing chicken with the Olympics is a pretty bad idea considering what the Olympics are supposed to represent. Yeah, sure, they’re in China, and China is doing some horrible things on many fronts from supporting the Sudanese genocide (oh, yeah, we use that word to describe it, big whoop — perhaps we should actually STOP it instead of bickering?) to having unsafe labor conditions to curtailing freedom of speech. There’s a lot we could do to complain if we wanted to. But really, are the Olympics the place to do that? To mar just about the only global sporting event with integrity? In other words, do we want to sacrifice the Olympics, which brings the world together, in order to protest against actions of other countries that they already know are unpopular and immoral around the world? This is, I think, a time when we should be respectful of the Chinese government regardless of how bad it may be, because, really, the Olympic Games ARE a sporting event. It’s not about China, it’s about the thousands of athletes who have been training their entire lives for this. Spielberg has the right to do whatever he wants in that respect, but Bush, as head of state, is I think doing the right thing by not protesting at the Olympics. Let’s let these guys compete and celebrate pure sports without yelling at anyone about anything, and we can berate China in another context in another time.
February 16th, 2008 at 6:26 pmCan anyone explain to me why the neocons demanded we boycott the olympics in Russia, but China is just honkey dorey ?
Admittedly, I have mixed feelings about the effects of boycotting a positive event. But I just can’t see why Russia was so bad while China is soooooo gooooood. Especially as China is strongly touting the olympics as a showcase of the good Chinese society.
February 16th, 2008 at 7:52 pmMaple,
We boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. At least 45 other countries also boyoctted the games as well.
February 16th, 2008 at 9:21 pmForgot the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics
February 16th, 2008 at 9:21 pmi actually agree with bush on this one
and, for european media, he handled himself pretty well. considering….
February 17th, 2008 at 12:26 amThis retard wouldn’t know the historical importance of Jesse Owens.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:01 amOf course the Bush administration wanted to call Darfur Genocide – it had to hide the Yale University report being published in 2004 Indonesian Human Rights Abuses in West Papua: Application of the Law of Genocide to the History of Indonesian Control; and the US forms of Freeport McRoRan & Bechtel Inc. were supporters of G.W. Bush.
February 17th, 2008 at 5:36 amThat idiot, son of a beeotch is out of office in 387 days.
Props to Spielberg on telling the Chinese to stick it. In fact, we should do everything in our power to fu(k up the ‘08 Olympics in Beijing. A boycott would be the best thing, but you know Chimpy is too much of a lapdog to the Chinese to ever do that. He gives them blowjobs the same way he gives them constantly to the Saudi Royal Family.
Speaking of the Saudis, as we all well know by now, 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi. Why didn’t we invade Saudi Arabia instead of Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries that, againas we know by now, had NOTHING to do with the September 11th terrorist attacks?
February 17th, 2008 at 9:21 amI heard the American athletes are ‘pre-returning’ any of the medals we win because of the taint of performance enhancing drugs.
February 17th, 2008 at 1:09 pm65. Another Chris,
But that doesn’t answer my question.
In recent years, China has invaded the peaceful nation of Nepal. There is the question of Darfur. There is the question of who they have supplied weapons to. Internally, there is Tianamen Square and the persecution of clerics.
So I still have to ask, why boycott Russia but China is just honkey dorey ?
February 17th, 2008 at 4:32 pm