The Afghan leaders have been struggling to throw off the impression that they are merely lackeys to the American government or worse. Vice President Joe Biden did not exactly help that image by describing them on Larry King as like children to the American parentage. Biden told Larry King “Daddy is going to start to take the training wheels off in October — I mean in next July, so you’d better practice riding.” That should go over well with the kiddies in Kandahar.
Biden also had a bit of difficulty (understandable difficulty) in answering the question Do you have faith in President Karzai?”
Biden responded “I’ve known President Karzai for a long, long time. I think he’s in a very difficult position,” the vice president said. “You know, we could argue that there could be a stronger leader, but you deal with the hand you’re dealt, as the old saying goes.” Now there is a roaring endorsement.
I do not blame Biden for the second statement because the true answer is that Karzai is an utter disaster and seems better at enriching his family than guiding his nation. However, the first statement is quite insulting for any country and the world’s worst thing to say at this time of tension with Afghan officials.
Source: ABC
Jonathan Turley
Daddy gonna take the training wheels off. He must be talking about Obama’s.
KABUL, Afghanistan — For months, the secret talks unfolding between Taliban and Afghan leaders to end the war appeared to be showing promise, if only because of the appearance of a certain insurgent leader at one end of the table: Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour, one of the most senior commanders in the Taliban movement.
But now, it turns out, Mr. Mansour was apparently not Mr. Mansour at all. In an episode that could have been lifted from a spy novel, United States and Afghan officials now say the Afghan man was an impostor, and high-level discussions conducted with the assistance of NATO appear to have achieved little.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23kabul.html?_r=2
Bda,
Thanks … great site and I went right to my little town … I’ll bookmark this one and explore tomorrow
No problem. Here this is for you.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/cle/
click the map where you live for up to date discussion. Can help with navigation if you are looking for particulars.
Bda,
Gotcha … thanks … I’m picking up on this info
Biden should raise taxes on everyone making over $65k per year. raise the marginal rate to 75% like we had in the 50’s and 60’s and eliminate the mortgage interest deduction. That should grow the economy.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/rick-perry-soon-gov-of-tx-will-be-more-powerful-than-potus-video.php
Yes Blouise that is correct. Easy way to think about it is High Pressure gives you a clockwise rotation and Big Bermuda Highs typical in summer bring ESE winds over the Atlantic for hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles. This constant flow pushes the water creating swell that eventually ends with it hitting the coastline.
S M & a n
Now if we could just get some photogenic people to run in the Democrat Party and quit fussing around with all these earnest but non-hot candidates we might make more of an “impression” on the voters.
People have postulated that Abraham Lincoln would never have gained the presidency if television had been in existence, but I discount that because R. Nixon made it – twice.
I’m reminded of the Sci Fi story about a charismatic alien running for president and winning because they could only see his face on TV and he was irresistible. I have no idea of the name of the story – it’s just tumbled around with the rest of the junk in the attic I call my mind.
Swarthmore mom
“Biden will look good compared to Palin’s V.P. pick. I think there is a strong possibility it could be Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, the executioner.”
————
…now there’s a real “dream team”…as in nightmare.
(I hadn’t thought about it, but having seen them together at various times, I think you might be right, Swarthmore mom.)
Bda,
Fetch (geography), the length of water over which a given wind has blown … do I have that right?
SwM,
Wasn’t Bush II also known for his love of executing … 131 deaths during his 5 years as Governor.
In June of 2000 The Chicago Tribune published an article on the 131 executed :
“In one-third of those cases, the report showed, the lawyer who represented the death penalty defendant at trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned. In 40 cases the lawyers presented no evidence at all or only one witness at the sentencing phase of the trial.
In 29 cases, the prosecution used testimony from a psychiatrist who — based on a hypothetical question about the defendant’s past — predicted he would commit future violence. Most of those psychiatrists testified without having examined the defendant: a practice condemned professionally as unethical.
Other witnesses included one who was temporarily released from a psychiatric ward to testify, a pathologist who had admitted faking autopsies and a judge who had been reprimanded for lying about his credentials.
Asked about the Tribune study, Governor Bush said, ‘We’ve adequately answered innocence or guilt in every case. The defendants, he said, “had full access to a fair trial.'”
Biden will look good compared to Palin’s V.P. pick. I think there is a strong possibility it could be Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, the executioner.
Don’t forget this is the same condescending dipstick that told an ice cream store manager “don’t be a smartass” when the manager asked him about lowering taxes.
http://jonathanturley.org/2010/06/27/biden-calls-manager-a-smart-ass-for-asking-him-to-lower-taxes/
doctorskillet,
Why don’t Obama and co. show off their worldliness and cultural sensitivity by having an opium summit instead?
What a choice the Afghan people have – the Taliban or the Karzai government.
BEER SUMMIT!
So how is the President of that country any different than what we have elected here in the US in the last 30 years, heck take it all the way back to Johnson….he I know personally ripped off the US….so in reality what has anyone outside the US the right to complain….
After all this time the Afghans should know that’s just Joe being Joe. He shoots from the lip and seems to lack impulse control. If we are lucky the Afghans respect their vice-president as much as we respect ours. Just let it roll off your back people. He didn’t mean anything by it and he never does.