"I've gone head to head with the North Koreans"

[Mr Rabble]

Wow. You are some brave soul there Bill.

You went head to head with a country that would be a good fight for the LAPD.

Some achievement...

We spend what, 1000 times what NK does on military assets?

[daleo]

1. He went head to head with a whole country

I mean, I knew he had a big head.

[originalpckelly]

3. Oh so that's what is blocking the camera from seeing everyone else on the stage?

[smalll]

2. Why didn't he just sit on them?

Them being so malnourished and everything. And him not.

[undercutter2006]

4. it's like a deer

going head to head with a car

[SharonAnn]

5. Hey, give him credit. He was called in to negotiate with the madman, Kim Jeongh Il, and succeeded

Richardson really is one of the United States' best negotiators. Really.

[Mr Rabble]

6. On behalf of who?

On behalf of the most powerful man in the world by an order of magnitude. The US could crush NK in a matter of hours.

NK is a threat to the US in the same way that, well, I cant even think of an analog.

NK last year spent an estimated.....$5 billion on their military.
The US last year spent just about $750 billion on the military.

Do you see how negotiating might not have been all that difficult?
Do you see how NK couldn't possibly be a threat to the US?

[OzarkDem]

10. Kim Jong Il is a madman w/ nukes

No they're not a superpower, but they're crazy and mean as junkyard dogs and have no compunction about using the weapons at their disposal to kill a lot of people.

As a nation they are incredibly difficult to negotiate with and very dangerous.

[Mr Rabble]

15. Again, they didnt have nukes then.... Next?

[treestar]

7. It has WMD - that makes it dangerous

And a nutty ruler who conceivably might use them.

[Mr Rabble]

13. It did not have nukes when Richardson dealt with them.

Remind me again which country NK has invaded recently?

[greguganus]

8. And Kim the madman has his finger on the nuke button. n/t

[Naturyl]

9. Why take cheap shots?

Richardson isn't my candidate, but I don't get the point of this. Taking on the nasty dictator Kim Jong-Il is a genuine credential, regardless of the DPRK's military capabilities (which aren't quite as non-existent as some seem to think). North Korea is a rogue totalitarian state that has concentration camps, and Richardson dealt with the regime effectively. That's not nothing.

[Mr Rabble]

12. Cheap shot?

Would you be saying that if a Republican said they dealt with NK effectively?

Nasty dictator? Tell me, which country has invaded more other countries in the last 20 years? Which country is responsible for more deaths, the US or NK?

[Naturyl]

16. I won't go there

I'm no fan of American foreign policy, but apologetics that favor Kim Jong-Il over America are not something I'm willing to engage in.

There's a reason Repukes are able to smear Democrats effectively - and things like this are it.

[Mr Rabble]

17. So then you wont address this?

Which country has caused more deaths in the last 10 years?

Which country has invaded another country?

Simple question.

What exactly makes NK such a massive threat, other than that our leaders say so?

[Naturyl]

18. I didn't say it was a "threat"

I said it was a crazy totalitarian state with a nasty dictator and concentration camps.

Has the US starved millions of its own people? Has it imprisoned 200,000 of them in camps every bit as abominable as Auschwitz and Treblinka? Does it force citizens to hang pictures of Bush in every room and keep them dust-free or be sent to a gulag? Does it stifle all free speech and inundate its population with non-stop propaganda that compares its leader to a god?

Look, I'm about as critical of America as it's possible to get without becoming a total loon. Our nation has a lot to answer for. But comparing America to North Korea in a way that favors Kim Jong-Il is just ridiculous.

Seriously, this kind of thing helps Republicans more than you (apparently) realize.

[Mr Rabble]

19. Change starts here, with what we can do. Not in NK.

Are you suggesting that we dont have millions of starving people in the US?

Non-stop propaganda that compares its leader to god? Where were you between 2002 and 2006? What do you call corporate media?

"every bit as abominable as Auschwitz and Treblinka" Do you have any proof of that? At all?

Look, Im sure that Kim is a very nasty individual, but to compare him with US leadership is like comparing a pick-pocket with John Gotti.

There is literally no comparison.

The only country that we have any chance of changing is this one. Our country. The sooner we acknowledge who and what we are, the sooner we can make change.

Stop repeating official doctrine, when it is either shown to be false, or totally unproven. And our leaders saying so, isnt proof.

[Naturyl]

20. Okay, because you endorsed the Gatto book elsewhere...

I won't push this further. What you said in the other thread shows me you are a thoughtful individual, regardless of what I think about your views here.

For information on the DPRK camps, these are good places to start:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/korea/article/0,2763,1136483,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_22

Prepare to read some very ugly things.

[Mr Rabble]

23. Just being truthful

Im not trying to be intentionally antagonistic. Im simply trying to point out what people outside of the US seem to take for granted.

Ask yourself this: if Kim were really that horrible, why has nothing been done in terms of helping the NK people? Think it through.

And that Wiki article does not have a single reference to substantiate claims of abuses, or even the number of "political prisoners" at Camp 22.
It does mention chemical experimentation on humans, again without citation. We would never do that, would we?

Well, since we were the first people in history to use biological warfare as a tactic, you could say yes.

Of course, we could look at Tuskegee, or MK Ultra, or any of the other documented CIA run human experiments.

And then there were in "internment camps" during WW2. Should I go on?

Richardson is a very intelligent man, who would be an excellent ambassador of US Imperial power. Much like myself, he is probably a thoughtful individual.

That does not change my assertion that his use of NK as a bogey man is laughable.

[Rosemary2205]

11. Hey - knock it off

Richardson is talented and a very good man who did a HELL of a good job under horrible circumstances -- belittling one of the good guys just makes you look like an empty headed asshole.

[Mr Rabble]

14. If telling the truth is somehow belittling...

we are in big trouble.

I happen to think he is a smart guy, which makes what he is saying all the more disingenuous.

[Rosemary2205]

21. ...

:eyes:

[kurth]

22. He also kicked Chuck Norris' ass

from behind