Newsweek: Comparing Bush's rhetoric on Saddam and Kim Jong Il

[Human Torch]

2nd-Term Blues: Confronting a litany of bad news, President Bush seeks to refocus Americans on taxes and homeland security.

By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 3:21 p.m. MT Oct 11, 2006

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15227335/site/newsweek /



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15227335/site/newsweek /

For anyone wondering why President Bush treats Kim Jong Il so differently from Saddam Hussein, there was one big clue at Wednesday’s press conference. When he talks about North Korea, the president clings to the side of his lectern and sounds like he’s reading from his script. When he talks about Iraq, he raises his voice, leans into his microphone and tears into the Democrats. Take one answer, in which the president raised the following doomsday scenario: “When you throw into that mix a nuclear weapon in the hands of a sworn enemy of the United States, you begin to see an environment that would cause some later on in history to look back and say, ‘How come they couldn’t see the problem? What happened to them in the year 2006? Why weren’t they able to see the problems now and deal with them before it came too late?’”

You could be forgiven for thinking he was talking about Kim Jong Il, who is, after all, a sworn enemy of the United States with several nuclear weapons in his hands. But no. The president was once again talking about a hypothetical Middle Eastern enemy, perhaps Iran, with its hands on a nuke. For Bush, the prospect that is truly scary is a nuclear-armed mullah.

It’s a strangely fatalistic and passive approach to what is now the very real prospect of a nuclear arms race in Asia. Bush’s approach seems to be that it’s already too late to deal with the problems of North Korea. “Obviously, I’m listening very carefully to this debate,” he explained on Wednesday—as if he was just part of the audience on North Korea. Even when it came to political criticism of his approach to North Korea, the president responded meekly. “This is a serious issue,” he noted. “But I want to remind our fellow citizens that the North Korea issue was serious for years.”

Compare that with his response to his Democratic critics on Iraq and domestic legislation on terrorism. The president accused his opponents of wanting to wait for more terrorist attacks and wanting to run away from Iraq. “When you pull out before the job is done, that’s cut and run as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “And that’s cut and run as far as most Americans are concerned.”

[leftchick]

1. that photo is almost as scary

as his words. The man is clearly insane.

[freedomchips]

2. seems almost pointless to analyze him anymore....

we all know that he says nothing but nonsensical, inconsistent, partisan, inflamatory, counterproductive, crazy BS

[newyawker99]

3. Hi freedomchips!!

Welcome to DU!!

[Supersedeas]

4. his actions towards Korea are exactly same as those * critizes with

respect to Pre-War Iraq. Odd, ain't it?