Rice shame-faced by Bush over UN Gaza vote: Olmert

[kpete]

Source: AFP

Rice shame-faced by Bush over UN Gaza vote: Olmert

JERUSALEM (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was left shame-faced after President George W. Bush ordered her to abstain in a key UN vote on the Gaza war, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.

"She was left shamed. A resolution that she prepared and arranged, and in the end she did not vote in favour," Olmert said in a speech in the southern town of Ashkelon.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution last Thursday calling for an immediate ceasefire in the three-week-old conflict in the Gaza Strip and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza where hundreds have been killed.

Fourteen of the council's 15 members voted in favour of the resolution, which was later rejected by both Israel and Hamas.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gD-Q...

[NOW tense]

1. Why would her husband do that to her?

[theophilus]

2. So, is Mr. Olmert bragging or complaining?

This seems a cheap shot adding insult to injury. I don't think Israel is winning a lot of friends or influencing many at this point.

[liberalmuse]

3. Hamas seems to have a better PR aparatus intact and that is why they win.

Not that it is difficult to be sympathetic towards the people of Gaza. Israel may have the best weapons, but they have shitty PR.

[bowens43]

32. yes, the truth does make Isreal look like evil bastards. nt.

[fascisthunter]

41. No Amount of PR can Help Israel DUe to their own Actions

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[skyounkin]

4. Oh well,

she deserves nothing less for her loyalty to bush.

[thunder rising]

5. She's been a laughing stock since she accepted the assignment.

[Faygo Kid]

6. Exactly. Condoleeza Rice goes into history as a joke. And a war criminal.

G'bye, Condi. You hitched your star to W., Rove and Cheney. And they will laugh at you the remainder of their ugly lives.

[balantz]

8. Here's a laughing stock that should fit Condi:

[ejbr]

15. Cute!

Did you tickle her feet?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

25. Princess Sparkle Pony "Bush Subjects Condi to One Final (If She's Lucky) Indignity"

Princess Sparkle Pony is a blog dedicated to Condi's hair-dos.

Bush Subjects Condi to One Final (If She's Lucky) Indignity

....But the most embarrassing thing for Dr. Ferragamo ever was revealed today. Bush sent Condi to the UN, where she burned the midnight oil to craft a Gaza ceasefire resolution. This is interesting, because this is one of the few times that anything resembling "effort" or "work" is mentioned in conjunction with America's Princess Diplomat.

But anyway! So, OK, Condi does all this work to put together the resolution, and then Olmert is all, totally, nuh-uh, do not want, etc. So he calls George Bush and says, you know, ixnay on the esolutionray, and Bush is all, OMG, and calls Condi and tells her she has to abstain from voting on the resolution. And so, humiliated, she sits on her hands during the vote and everybody is all, like, OMG, WTF, Condi didn't vote on her own resolution! The resolution she helped write. Because Bush sent her there to help write it. And then told her not to vote on it. Oh, snap!

Seriously, Condi, it's only, what, like two or three more working days? You can make it.
Posted by Princess Sparkle Pony at Monday, January 12, 2009

[Generator]

7. Here's a tip, Ms. Rice:

Don't hitch your wagon to a shit train, and you won't get covered in it. But YOU, for all your supposed education and smarts-hitched your future to this man, Bush and you have achieved nothing. I guess she never noticed he was an immoral idiot. I try to avoid those as bosses and especially as mentors.

OH NO, Ms. Rice- history will not look "with sweetness" on you.

[dolphinsong285]

9. Ms. Chevron of the 9/11 Lies....

is right up there (or is it down there?) with the immorals. And was all along.

[NBachers]

29. She's got a fine future at Stanford

Yes, there'll be some faculty and student resistance, but she'll be a prestige faculty member and can write whatever ticket she wants from there. Too bad. I'd rather see her down with the rest of us toiling proles.

[davidthegnome]

10. I think

it's a good sign that she at least had the grace to be ashamed. I wonder what Bush was thinking this time around.

[whistle]

11. Can we get a video of that moment?

[disndat]

12. She's a disgrace

to her race and gender.

[balantz]

13. Shame on you Condi!

[llmart]

14. She has a lot more to be ashamed of......

in my opinion. She's worthless. Go buy some expensive shoes, you waste.

[MadMaddie]

16. Rice's legacy will be that of "Faragomo shoes" while

Americans drowned in the Gulf Coast!

She has had absolutly no impact on World Policies...it's as if she was never there.

Oh well you can't miss what you never had!

[Baby Snooks]

21. Now, now...

Don't forget all the piano recitals!

[MadMaddie]

27. This is true...performances that can actually be graded....

[orleans]

17. message to condi:

[Doctor_J]

18. How can she have any shame left ofter 8 years?

this is BS. she went shoe shopping while Gaza burned, just like when NOLA was under water.

[cambie]

20. Like bush just said,

"Sometimes the biggest disappointments will come from your so-called friends". But hey we know how it is, sometimes you just pick the side that looks like they will win even when you know that they are a pack of monsters.

[IndianaGreen]

22. So Israel is now running the American government. What are we to do about this outrage?

Here is the evidence:

"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a ceasefire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," Olmert said.

"I said 'get me President Bush on the phone'. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now'. He got off the podium and spoke to me.

"I told him the United States could not vote in favour. It cannot vote in favour of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favour."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090112/pl_afp/mideastconf...

Thank you Israel for showing that those paranoid claims that Israel controls America, are probably not that paranoid after all.

[oneruncanwinagame]

23. Exactly

People need to stop bashing Condi and have enough self interest (assuming you are US citizens) to be outraged by the fact a foreign leader is BRAGGING PUBLICLY that he CONTROLS US foreign Policy.

This is an outrage. And Olmert is a war criminal. I assume Barack has been paying close attention to what the Israeli's have been up to since, oh about November 5th, and will hand it to them on a platter.

Step 1: "Look guys, you need to get rid of settlements in x,y, and z, and you need to give up land that you took by FORCE in x,y,and z and Jerusalem will be an international city just like the Vatican and that is the deal. You don't like it? Well . . . (that's when the real conversation and reality hit the Israeli egomaniacs hellbent on some sort of macho revenge for WWII).

[oneruncanwinagame]

24. Oh Wait

Weren't you the guy posting articles about how Israeli officials were criticizing the Indian military for their response at Nariman house? Ha ha ha!!!!! Oh, that is downright hilarious now : ) Indian Commandos go in for life-threatening intimate combat with Lakshar e Taiba terrorists trained by Pak ISI in the hope the terrorists haven't killed all the civilians. And when the found out they have, Israel is the first and only country to criticize the Indian N.S.G. response.

What would the Israeli's have done is the question that begs??????????

I'm guessing a water-borne missile strike with that phosphorous stuff in the bomb.

[Frank Booth]

28. Yep. I can't believe it took 22 posts for anyone to even notice.

Olmert's bragging about dictating US policy.

This is disgusting. I guess we're just supposed to be fine with being told what to do by Israel?

[LeftishBrit]

30. Thank people like YOU...

for making that much more difficult for those of us who oppose the Gaza bombing and many of Israel's policies and want an immediate ceasefire to be trusted and taken seriously.

There are (rightly) complaints that some Israelis and pro-Israelis equate any criticism of Israel with antisemitism. You've just given such people that much more evidence for their own paranoia.

Remarks like yours are also, of course, giving aid and comfort to those extreme-right groups who really do hate Jews and blame them for everything.

Sometimes I actually wonder if there are two people using your username, and one of them is an extreme right-winger.

Israel does NOT run the USA! The accusation that it does is truly vile. And when it concerns Olmert, a fool and lame duck who can't even run his own country, it's also ridiculous.

[Name removed]

31. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

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[SOS]

33. "Mr. Olmert has said Ms. Rice sometimes had to be reined in."

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel said Monday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been forced to abstain from a United Nations resolution after Mr. Olmert placed a phone call to President Bush."

I said, ‘Get me President Bush on the phone,’ ” Mr. Olmert said in a speech in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, according to The Associated Press. “They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn’t care: ‘I need to talk to him now,’ ” Mr. Olmert continued. “He got off the podium and spoke to me.”

Mr. Olmert claimed that once he made his case to Mr. Bush, the president called Ms. Rice and told her to abstain. “She was left pretty embarrassed,” Mr. Olmert said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/washington/13olmert.h...

It sounds like Olmert is saying that he decides how the US votes at the UN.
Is he truly crazy or is he telling the truth?

[JohnyCanuck]

35. What a quandary. Who should I believe -

LeftishBrit or my own lying eyes?

From JTA describing itself as "The Global News Service of the Jewish People":

Olmert, according to AFP, said he learned on the day of the vote that the United States would line up behind the resolution.

"In the night between Thursday and Friday, when the secretary of state wanted to lead the vote on a cease-fire at the Security Council, we did not want her to vote in favour," AFP quoted Olmert as saying. "I said 'get me President Bush on the phone'. They said he was in the middle of giving a speech in Philadelphia. I said I didn't care. 'I need to talk to him now'. He got off the podium and spoke to me. I told him the United States could not vote in favor. It cannot vote in favor of such a resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote in favor." (my emphasis /JC)

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/12/1002190/olmert-i...

Bush can't even finish a speech without interrupting it so he can run to the phone to take directions on a UN vote from Olmert. But rest easy America, Israel has no undue influence or control over US Middle East policy, or so they would have you believe.

[coruscate]

38. Unfortunately that's not quite the case

One big thing with the conservatives has always been never giving up US soverignity to the UN... so even though many of them are staunch supporters of Israel, in their gut they could NEVER stomach another nation just calling us up and telling us what we may and may not do. What Olmert has done is taken the "conspiracy" out of conspiracy theory by showing it for what it is; strong influence that reaches the level of control because "no one" dares oppose them. The meme reaches a little too much, but when we're sending *B*illions to this country ever year and they're using *OUR* white phosphorous to burn babies to death there's not a whole lot of wiggle room to say this isn't the case.

[IndianaGreen]

43. Olmert's hubris and the facts show that Israel runs US foreign policy

Could you imagine the outcry in America if that had been the French President calling the shots?

[yurbud]

46. Olmert just signed the death warrant of the power of the Israel lobby

Most Americans don't want our president answering to any other foreign leader.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bdamomma]

34. we are Israel's bitch. they say jump and we say how high.

[NJmaverick]

36. Never in the history of alliances has there been one as lopsided as the one we have with Israel

we give them huge amounts of cash (more than any other Country) and weapons and support. We hurt our world and self interests supporting this nation and get NOTHING in return.

[fla nocount]

40. Who's moderating this discussion? Not being critical but...

some rather innocuous comments are no longer here. I never aim to displease but I realize that personalities and personal biases sometimes dictate what is and is not appropriate. Just asking for future reference.

A real answer and not something pat pulled out of a play book would be appreciated. PM me if something other than honest opinion is involved. I realize that the board's original goal has been achieved and know that consolidation has changed the mission statement but would really like to know the new rules and if they are truly new rules or arbitrary judgments based on ones views.

[Frank Booth]

42. Why do people here seem happy about this turn of events?

Rice was (finally) trying to do the right thing, and instead was embarrassed by the Israeli prime minister. I don't see how this is a good thing for our country.

[The abyss]

44. My opinion

This is not a “turn of events”. This is, and has been the norm of American politics for some time. Olmert is stating the obvious. This is out front and in our face because he knows that the U.S. congress and vast chunks of our government are already bought and paid for. It will remain that way until we, the people, decide to do something about it. Olmert knows that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

[IndianaGreen]

45. People are lashing out at Condi Rice, for valid reasons, but they are missing the underlying story

which is how a foreign government got Bush to disavow a UN ceasefire resolution that the American Secretary of State had written. Olmert's words laid bare the true and ugly nature of our relationship to Israel, that of a subservient lapdog.

[IndianaGreen]

47. UPDATE: Inquiries show Olmert version of UN Gaza vote spat closer to truth than Rice's

Here's the latest update to this story:

Last update - 04:36 16/01/2009

Inquiries show Olmert version of UN Gaza vote spat closer to truth than Rice's

By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent

Inquiries with people uninvolved in the spat between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reveal that his version of the lead-up to America's vote on last week's Security Council resolution is closer to the truth than hers.

<snip>

The U.S. had promised that no cease-fire resolution would be brought to a vote any time soon. An hour and a half later, however, it became clear that not only was the Security Council due to vote on a cease-fire resolution at any minute, but Rice had ordered America's UN ambassador to support it. Olmert promptly telephoned U.S. President George Bush to complain about Rice's behavior and demand that he restrain her. What Bush said to Rice remains unknown. What is known, however, is that the U.S. suddenly changed its vote from "yes" to "abstain."

The whole story would have ended well had Olmert behaved like a responsible adult and restrained his own impulses. Even his close associates admit that he would have done better to skip the public boasting about how he persuaded Bush to overrule Rice. Quite aside from the fact that this embarrassed the U.S. administration, Olmert's associates understand all too well that this story merely provides fresh ammunition to those who claim the Jews are the ones who really control America.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055966.html