Armitage: Obama conducting foreign policy ‘in a more intelligent way’ than Bush.
Armitage: Obama conducting foreign policy ‘in a more intelligent way’ than Bush.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage spoke earlier this week at the Missouri Boys State, an event that was held on the campus of the University of Central Missouri. During the question and answer period, Armitage was asked about President Obama’s “softer force when dealing with other nations.” “Mr. Obama is in some ways presenting a much better face to the world. I wouldn’t call it a soft face, I’d call it a smart face,” Armitage replied. He then took a subtle dig at President Bush:
ARMITAGE: I think he’s using both our soft and hard power in a more intelligent way. [...] I think he’s using our power more intelligently. And using all the tools in our kit box now, in our tool box. Mr. Bush just used sanctions and force. And I think this gives us a better opportunity to prevail. What is soft power? It’s the ability to attract. You want to persuade, you want to attract them. Hard power is coercive. Well, force them to do something. If you can attract people I think it’s always better. It seems to last longer.
Earlier in the discussion, Armitage said he disagrees with Vice President Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration adding that he should “pipe down.” “I think it’s unseemly,” Armitage said. Later, referring to Colin Powell’s criticism of Republican Party, Armitage said that Powell is just trying to get the GOP to stop acting “like a bunch of knuckleheads.”
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That’s weird, a “Project for the New American Century” neocon extolling soft power. Either he’s a born-again sane person or he never really believed in anything.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:22 pmAnything Obama would have chosen to do would have been more intelligent than Bush. This is not a stretch.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pmI’ve got to get to work. When American Patriot shows up can somebody remind em that they are a poser and a scared one at that. Assure the little one that I will see them soon…
June 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pmThanks and best-
Where was this guy for the last 8 years? And why didnt he speak up earlier?
June 18th, 2009 at 5:27 pmOk, somebody fess up. Who put the Ritalin the the kool aid?
June 18th, 2009 at 5:31 pmOh slap,
Another sane Republican,
Cue slavering religious fanatics denouncing him as a idiot.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:31 pmGod help me, but I’m always more than a little suspicious when a neocon offers a reasonable opinion in support of the President.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:39 pmIf by intelligent you mean bowing down to the whole world and saying hes sorry for america, then yes…
June 18th, 2009 at 5:39 pmI’d love to, but I’m on an American Parrot diet this week. Trying to observe the OFnF, and enjoying its effects.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pmIf they were all sane we wouldn’t have to remind them of their minority status for the long run (20 yrs. +).
June 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pmI’m also on a Jimmy Bug Balls diet.
Too many empty calories…
June 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pmJimmy Big Bucks Says:
If by intelligent you mean bowing down to the whole world and saying hes sorry for america, then yes…
You think Obama should bow down to the whole world and say he’s sorry? I can’t get behind that.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pmO/T, but Glenn Greenwald just wrote that the Washington Post has fired Dan Froomkin.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:41 pmJimmy Big Bucks Says:
If by intelligent you mean bowing down to the whole world and saying hes sorry for america, then yes…
Under your reign of destruction, yes, apologies are necessary. Eight years is a long time for the U.S. under George Bush’s leadership to make the tyrannical elements of the world worse.
Were you expecting a chopped-up Iraqi souvenir and a pat on the back?
June 18th, 2009 at 5:46 pm…
“like a bunch of knuckleheads.”
cue the knuckleheads.
Jimmy Big Bucks Says:
If by intelligent you mean bowing down to the whole world and saying hes sorry for america, then yes…
***
perfect timing.
:)
June 18th, 2009 at 5:51 pmralph the wonder locust Says:
God help me, but I’m always more than a little suspicious when a neocon offers a reasonable opinion in support of the President.
I agree ralph! What’s going on?
June 18th, 2009 at 5:52 pmJimmy Big Bucks Says:
If by intelligent you mean bowing down to the whole world and saying hes sorry for america, then yes…
President Obama is sorry for the ignorant teabaggers like yourself.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:54 pmIt makes sense that Armitage has flashes of sanity — he worked for Colin Powell and is probably one of those Reagan Republicans that has kept the GOP from achieving its dream of ideological purity.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:54 pmPowell had people around him who were not necessarily “yes men.” Armitage and Wilkerson have both spoken up against the Republican twitdom.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:56 pmIf by intelligent you mean bowing down to the whole world and saying hes sorry for america,
So true. One should only offer apologies if they had, say, trashed the global economy, invaded multiple countries, ignored allies, brought torture back, imprisoned people for years without charges, convinced a vocal portion of the population that racism and bigotry is cool again.
Good thing we haven’t done anything like that.
June 18th, 2009 at 5:56 pmIts curious that this neocon creep sounds intelligent and insightful now. Where was he when the Chimp wasstrutting around acting like a school yard bully?
June 18th, 2009 at 5:57 pmHow long before Armitage gets his letter from Limbaugh that he is no longer welcome in the GOP? And how long before Jimmy Sucks Bucks realizes … know what? Never mind. Jimmy Sucks Bucks will never get it…
June 18th, 2009 at 5:57 pmThis guy is a RINO
June 18th, 2009 at 6:02 pmMeanwhile, let’s not forget a few facts about Richard Armitage.
He was heavily involved in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan Administration. Along with Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, he was one of three administration officials who outed Valerie Plame’s to reporters, vindictively punishing her because her husband, Amb. Joe Wilson, was the first to publicly pull the rug out from under Bush’s Iraq war justification. And he’s the same man who warned Pakistan in 2001 that it would be “bombed back into the Stone Age” if it didn’t cooperate with the US invasion of Afghanistan.
http://thepoliticalcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2009/04/neocon-dick-armitage-i-should-have.html
If he’s truly sorry that he allowed Cheney to walk all over him then great. Otherwise I’m very suspicious.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:12 pmThere is just no way Obama used his tool kit box to change the plugs or adjust the serpentine belt on his old Chrysler 300 with the gas guzzling Hemi. He took it to Jiffy Lube and Tooooony’s car hospital just like a good little Democrat. The only “tool” here is Armitage who outed Valerie Plame just like he said he did.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:17 pmTaking the leakers word as gospel, now?
June 18th, 2009 at 6:25 pmCan someone tell me why Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage is not working for the current State Dep’t? He has to be one of the most intelligent and direct individuals I’ve seen on TV recently.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:26 pmThe Situation in IRan could end up like Tienamin Square..,
or it could end up the the fall of the Berlin Wall.
No one really knows, but the Grown ups in the Republican Party are wise to not associate themselves with Nuckleheadedness.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:33 pm,,,
“like a bunch of knuckleheads.”
cue the knuckleheads II.
American Patriot Says:
Taking the leakers word as gospel, now?
***
:)
June 18th, 2009 at 6:37 pmSlappyBastinado Says:
There is just no way Obama used his tool kit box to change the plugs or adjust the serpentine belt on his old Chrysler 300 with the gas guzzling Hemi. He took it to Jiffy Lube and Tooooony’s car hospital just like a good little Democrat. The only “tool” here is Armitage who outed Valerie Plame just like he said he did.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:17 pm…
…
he’s not the only tool here.
:)
June 18th, 2009 at 6:41 pmcan’t think, your not taking your marching orders very well. Now, tuck in your brown shirt, lace up your jack boots and stop responding to the trolls, asshat.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:45 pmYou dont adjust a serpentine belt its got an spring loaded tensioner and as for hemi it means hemispherical shaped combustion chamber its not a 426 Hemi found in muscle cars
June 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pmAnd really todays cars can go 100k miles with no plug changes. Someone take Slappys toolkit away before he hurts himself
June 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pmDoesn’t consulting a magic 8 ball give you a more intelligent foreign policy than Bush?
June 18th, 2009 at 6:50 pmDamn hippy.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:53 pmShrubby Dubbies foreign policy was shutup or get bombed
June 18th, 2009 at 6:54 pmbenjaminp Says:
Doesn’t consulting a magic 8 ball give you a more intelligent foreign policy than Bush?
That and reading the patterns from the bumps on his head.
June 18th, 2009 at 6:57 pm…
am. pat.,
hey your spelling’s improved!
remember the trouble you had yesterday?
***
American Patriot Says:
joe canthink Says:
The term is “flip-flop.”
June 17th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
:(
just “sound it out” and
you’ll do much better.
:)
June 18th, 2009 at 6:59 pmSomehow I doubt that Armitage will be apologizing to El Rushbo for straying from the party line.
June 18th, 2009 at 7:34 pmRushbone must be ready to have a corinary, the veins popping out of his neck! Senior Republicans stepping up to the plate and giving coverage to Obama. These guys owe Rush nothing!
Smells like discontent in the big Republican tent.
Could we be getting a loyal opposition, stayed tuned cause this is getting good.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:05 pmWell I welcome these sort of comments from the more reasonable republicans. At least the few they have left.
What Armitage is doing is simply saying things he wasn’t allowed to say during the Bush years, where dissent was squashed like a bug on a jackboot.
The more republicans coming out and speaking reasonably about reality, the less power the unreasonable ones will have to sway the dull witted masses.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:48 pmHey don’t knock Phrenology.
:|
If they’d tried it on Bush’s head they might have found the hole sooner.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:50 pmZooey Says:
Powell had people around him who were not necessarily “yes men.” Armitage and Wilkerson have both spoken up against the Republican twitdom.
Citation please? Everything I could find shows that Armitage has always been a rock-solid neocon. This is the first time I’ve heard of him breaking from mere “chest-thumping” foreign policy.
June 19th, 2009 at 1:45 amSeriously everyone, all we need to do now is shut down and watch how them implode and they come off as the crazies everyone knows they are. When you have kissinger complimenting our president on his handling of Iran, when we have been telling them that the young people of Iran are ready for something more like us (not republican, but democratic, unlike rush and his crew who keep trying to call us the “democrat” party, you cannot have democratic without democrat, being the prefix, subject, suffix, rush you over blessed moron, you are just what it means about shining on a dog’s ass) and actually watching it happen is something sad because we are on the outside lines now and the republicans now want the american public to believe our president Obama wants something other than they do. When all the while (Josh Bolton) and they wanted us to go to war with Iran, because they felt it was hopeless.
June 19th, 2009 at 4:24 am“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.”
June 19th, 2009 at 9:05 am– Will Rogers
Jimmy Big Bucks Says:
This guy is a RINO
Translation:
Jimmy Big Bucks Says:
This guy has more brains than I have.
Ummmmm……… yeah. :D
June 19th, 2009 at 9:11 am