I'm troubled by the way that Bush is able to generate hate by Americans

[Poiuyt]

OK, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not the Person of the Year and has some wacky ideas. I'm not going to deny that. But seeing the protesters holding signs with Ahmadinejad's face saying "Go to Hell," and the rude introduction from the president of Columbia Univ. bothered me. I'm sure there are other people in the world with similar view as Ahmadinejad, if not worse. Do we feel the same way towards those people? I don't think so. The last several months, Bush has been demonizing Ahmadinejad the same way he did to Saddam and the results were quite evident in New York today. As unpopular as Bush is, he is still able to inspire Americans to hate. How petty for a great nation to treat a guest like that. I think that America and Americans should be bigger than that.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. As much of an evil, ignorant piece of shit that Shrubbie is, he's right about Ahmadinejad.

It's the pot calling the kettle black, and reeks of hypocrisy - but, I hate to admit it, Shrubbie is right - Ahmadinejad is a foul, evil human being, just as much as Shrubbie is.

[goclark]

2. I agree! K and R

[Lerkfish]

3. evil men appeal to the basest elements of others

[MADem]

4. Hey, it's just hyperbole. Have you ever seen the signs in Teheran?

Same shit. Boosh is the SHATAN!! Boosh DEBBIL!!! Amrika EVIL!

It's all idiotic. A big play with images for the media. US signs, generally, are rather mild in the big scheme. And we don't do half of the lameass 'make a fake flag out of a piece of bedsheet and set it on fire' horseshit that they do in southwest asia and other regions.

You've gotta ask yourself, what asshole is so exorcised, or paid by the RNC, to stand out on the street carrying a stupid sign protesting a tinpot fool who's not really in charge of his country, AND plainly deranged? Doesn't that person have a life?

I'm not troubled at all. It's an asshole with a sign, expressing an opinion.

It'll be a sad day in America when assholes can't carry stupid signs expressing their idiotic opinions. I hope that day never comes.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. I think Ahmadinejad shoulders some of the blame for that reaction

Perhaps not all of it, but his words alone do warrant anger without the help of bush.

No, that reaction to Ahmadinejad was not entirely manufactured here in the USA.

Bollinger's actions were a different story. Considering who he was he could have handled the situation better by waited until after Ahmadinejad had spoken to rebuke him.

[PoiBoy]

6. It's the reichwing megaphone MSM that's enables BushCo to

push it's talking points... without that megaphone, they'd be talking to the walls, IMO...

It was posted here on DU a while back (sorry, no link) that the media was held accountable after WWII at the Nuremburg Trials for their role in leading up to the war... I can only hope that the same would apply to our current crop of media whores...

JMO..

[Atman]

7. Americans are stupid

Don't believe the Ditech commercials. Americans are NOT smart. Watch any news program...have you ever seen the reporters interview a witness to anything who wasn't wearing a Budweiser t-shirt and missing three teeth? Most DUers, I'd guess (totally guess!) are posting from the Northeast or the West Coast. When the local Quicky Mart blows up, how come an articulate, intelligent American isn't there to talk about it on-camera? Why are the only people ever interviewed in "eye witness reports" fucking morans? Because that's who America is. Check the stats. Most 'Murkins can't even name their own Senators. They'll tell you all about Britney's shaved vag, but they can't tell you the capital of their state.

I truly believe that this is exactly what the Republicans want, and why they're so hard pressed to get a school voucher system in place. By doing so, they can continue the down-slide of the average American, while indoctrinating their own into a life of privilege and religio-political brainwashing.

There are 300,000,000 people in the United States. Fewer than two million of them watch even Fox News. Fewer than two million out of three hundred million. The remaining few who do watch "news" get the GOP corporate-owned versions. And then there's the handful of us (relatively speaking) reading the real, actual news online.

Given these facts, isn't it easy to see why Americans can so easily be whipped into line? They're ignorant. Maybe not actually stupid, as I said before, but certainly ignorant. By design.

.

[bdamomma]

20. definitely ignorant or willfully ignorant, the dumbing down continues

of Americans so sad.

[superkia]

8. You are correct. The government and their media has pulled the stings again.

Its like we are a country of puppets and our government tugs at our strings and we jump to whatever they want us to. So Saddam is gone, Ahmadinejad is on the list next in line, who is after that? I wish our government cared about what is happening to our own country as much as we do others, maybe they could stop attacking others for their wrong doings and focus on what they are doing wrong here in America. Oh, I forgot, it doesn't pay.

[Hydra]

9. I'm more troubled about the reaction here at DU

the amount of sheer hate here today was breathtaking. It made the Moveon Day(which I felt was completely justified) seem like a picnic.

Ahmadinejad was treated to the worst side of America today, and many people here cheered...on the words of the RW spin machine.

Honestly, I was speechless at the number of calls to have his right to speak today taken away.

[Bluerthanblue]

13. you

said it well-
I agree-

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

17. Me too. Free speech?

MKJ

[bdamomma]

21. * must have loved some people's reaction today to having

Ahmadinejad here and showing him such hate, one thing I don't want to hear is * saying Americans want Iran to have a democracy. I do not want any part of *'s murder plot plan.

[Hydra]

26. He probably had a good laugh at our expense yesterday

"Look at these idiots! I tell them who to hate, and they do it on cue! Selling the war on Iran will be easier than I thought!"

[Scriptor Ignotus]

10. Bush doesn't generate hate

he uncovers it.

[1620rock]

12. And Americans relish their ignorance. They take pride in their

utter stupidity.

[Scriptor Ignotus]

14. they hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool...nt

[KoKo]

18. No he creates an Atmosphere of the BULLY who's always looking for a Fight

and someone to pick on. He brings out the worst in everyone...

[gateley]

11. Hate is a result of fear. Bush has made us a fearful people. Nice legacy. nt

[MLFerrell]

15. BILVET!

Good to SEE you! :)

"I think that America and Americans should be bigger than that."

That says it all, for me. Bush is an infinitely bigger asshole than Ahmadinejad, who is a tin-pot figurehead in the truest sense of the term.

What * the decider says goes. Not so much for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

What's more egregious? Ahmadinejad questioning, and yes, at times, suggestively denying the Holocaust, or waging an illegal war of conquest on an innocent nation, a war predicated on lies?

The answer to that inquiry is self-evident, I should think...

Ahmadinejad isn't going to win any prizes other than asshole of the year, but just the same, while he's a guest of the United States, wanted or not, we should have the decency to treat him with the dignity accorded to a sovereign representative of a foreign nation, which he indisputably is. Other nations treat * the tard-in-chief with th dignity of which I speak. Should the United States do any less for Ahmadinejad?

Flame away. I don't give much of a fuck after today's festival of bullshit.

[bemildred]

16. Hate makes you stupid. It's like watching Pavlov's dogs salivate. nt

[bdamomma]

19. yes, that sign was rude, whatever happened to diplomacy.

and also the NY Post that had a picture of him calling him evil, what propaganda, our media is just fuelling the fire for the sheeple. Ahmadinejad is still a head of state, shit, did he kill as many people as * did?

[CoffeeCat]

22. If George Bush told America that...

...they all needed to hate the President of the Three Stooges Fan Club for the greater Cleveland area...29 percent
of this country would be up in arms about this guy and parroting the right-wing hysteria generated from talk radio.

It's just what America is these days...one quarter ridiculous lemming with a side of gullible goofball.

[Canuckistanian]

23. I call it "the giant head"

The American RW only seems to be able to focus on one bad guy at a time. It may change from one year to another, but those giant eyes seem to turn on only one foe. And then project their own troubles on to him (or her).

But what I find amazing is how they get everyone else to look in the same direction.

And whoever that gaze falls upon will be attacked and made to look like the next Hitler.

They've done the same thing with Castro, Ghadaffi, Noriega, Saddam, Kim Jong Il, etc., etc. These small dictators were often in power for years with nobody paying the least attention to them.

Suddenly, something happens and the mighty Wurlitzer creaks into action again.

It's almost amusing to watch.

[Orangeone]

24. What has he done to us?

Ahmadinejad hasn't done anything to us, just like Saddam never actually did anything to us but according to some HE'S WORSE THAN HITLER! Somehow Holocaust denial is worse than killing a million Iraqis.

[Spazito]

25. Agree! It has been an 'education' to read DU today

and while it has been enlightening, it has not been particularly encouraging as regards to doing one's own homework but, on the bright side, the lack of study seems to have affected a minority of participants here while most have been providing the actual facts.

All in all, as usual, DU has been educating those who need it and debunking those who would rather not know the facts because they conflict with preconceived, albeit mistaken, impressions.