Appeasement blowup: Could it be this simple?

[Sundoggy]

Poll question: Appeasement blowup: Could it be this simple?

I started to post this yesterday and thought, no, no way this is right, no way Bush is THIS stupid.

But after seeing a righty moron get eviscerated over his utter lack of knowledge about the historical events in question, maybe it's possible.

My theory is this: Bush didn't know he was releasing the A-bomb with the appeasement accusation because he simply doesn't have the history to understand how heinous that accusation is.

In other words, he's so stupid he thought he had simply found a good zinger and not realized the history of this accusation's use in debate.

Let's call it Chamberlain's Corrolary to Godwin's Law. When a winger uses the A-word, the discussion is effectively over.

What do you think? Cold, deliberate, unforgivable insult or simply rock stupid?

[leftofcool]

1. I think he was deliberately setting a trap

not that Bush is smart enough to think of trap on his own. But I think it was deliberate, set up by the GOP as an attempt to make Obama look weak on foreign policy. This will be in the news for the next 3 weeks and will come back around in the GE. Bushco did this deliberately.

[JDPriestly]

12. Bush was trying to set a trap, but because of his stupidity

and the stupidity of his writer and the complete lack of knowledge of history of the two of them, they goofed.

The appeasers were people like his own grandfather and the REPUBLICAN ISOLATIONIST senator who made the statement that Bush quoted.

It was the Democrats who were and are now opposed to appeasement.

And McCain is even stupider than Bush. McCain doesn't seem to remember that Reagan not only negotiated with the Iranians, but he sold them weapons.

Borah may be best known today for having allegedly said, in September 1939, after Germany invaded Poland, "Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided."<9> The quote has been repeatedly cited as evidence of the alleged naivete of attempts to negotiate with one's enemies. Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer has referred to the quote in at least three of his columns, making an analogy to negotiating with China in 1989, with North Korea in 1994 and with Iran in 2006.<10> In August 2006, Secretary of Defense referred to the quote when decrying those who want to "negotiate a separate peace with terrorists".<11>

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

More
In 1919 Borah and other Senate Republicans, notably Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts and Hiram W. Johnson of California, clashed with President Woodrow Wilson over Senate ratification of the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I and establishing the League of Nations. Borah emerged as leader of the "Irreconcilables," a group of senators noted for their uncompromising opposition to the treaty and the League. During 1919 Borah and Johnson toured the country speaking against the treaty in response to Wilson's own speaking tour supporting it. Borah's impassioned November 19, 1919, speech on the Senate floor in opposition to the treaty and League of Nations was considered to be helpful in the Senate's ultimate rejection of it. <1>

From 1925 to 1933, Borah served as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. As Chairman, he became known for his pro-Soviet views, favoring recognition of the Communist regime, and sometimes interceded with that government in an unofficial capacity during the period when Moscow had no official relations with the United States. Purportedly, Kremlin officials held Borah in such high esteem that American citizens could gain permission to travel throughout the Soviet Union with nothing more than a letter from the Senator.

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

And just for the sake of it, the salacious stuff:

Borah conducted a long-time affair with Alice Longworth, the daughter of Theodore Roosevelt and the wife of fellow politician Nicholas Longworth. He was long rumored to be the biological father of Alice Longworth's only child, Paulina Longworth, who was born nearly 20 years into her parents' marriage. Alice Roosevelt's diaries were made available to her biographer, historian Stacy A. Cordery, who found and published Alice's own admission of Borah's paternity.<5> Other historians such as Carol Felsenthal, Betty Boyd Caroli and TIME journalist Rebecca Winters Keegan, have also demonstrated that Paulina Longworth's father was Borah, and that this was generally accepted knowledge in Washington, D.C.<6>

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

[liberal N proud]

2. He is that stupid and that is why he deliberately made those remarks

[Sundoggy]

3. I think it was deliberate, but...

never forget... this is a very, very stupid man we're talking about.

[seabeyond]

4. my first thought.... how fuckin stupid. the people that are walking from repugs

the christian right fundamentalists that are going to the dems are doing it for this very reason. the man refuses to use diplomacy and that is why the world and iraq in such a mess

yes there will be the stupid like on stewarts w virgina clips that say hussein, i am so tired of hussein. or another race scares me. or the macho that thinks beating up is the answer always

but there are many many in this party that exactly has this problem with bush.

[Brotherjohn]

5. They used the word in 2004; I think it's just that the political environment is...

... much different (i.e. more hostile to Bush) this time.

[rocktivity]

6. His "zingers" are deliberately handed to him by his handlers

for a deliberate purpose--reinforcing the stereotype that Dems are weak on defense because they don't shun diplomacy.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Sundoggy]

7. Which begs for the question to be asked...

...am I still right? Are THEY counting on his stupidity?

[rocktivity]

11. Are they COUNTING on him being too stupid to realize what he's saying is stupid?

In a word, yes.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Brotherjohn]

8. How about "Yes, he IS that stupid. AND it was deliberate."

He was obviously saying what his handlers told him to say; he was reading perpared remarks. Of course, that means perhaps THEY are that stupid. I think more appropriately, they are desperate.

[driver8]

14. I agree with you.

Bush is a complete idiot, so had no idea of the impact of his words.

His speech writers should have known better.

[L. Coyote]

9. You forget, he just reads what he is told to say. They are all stupid would be more accurate.

[Sundoggy]

10. As I said to someone else

perhaps his "handlers" understand perfectly well, and are counting on Bush's stupidity.

Gee, we've never seen any evidence of THAT! lol...

[VP505]

13. He is that stupid,

he was thinking how slick and cool he was going to be by throwing a little shit bomb at Obama and the Dem's and as usual without considering facts or consequences. Remember, we are talking about a man who is stuck in a teenage level of mental development due to his past drug and alcohol abuse.

[newmajority]

15. Curious timing that they released another "message" from Bin Laden's corpse today.

I guess if they can still release "new" Jimi Hendrix albums almost 40 years after his death, why shouldn't Osama's vaults see the light of day.

[Wiley50]

16. I just heard the Rest of the Chamberlain story on Hartmann

A caller named Bill from TN related it and Hartmann, the great historian, confirmed it.

When Chamberlain went to Germany to make peace with Hitler it was only to stall for time.

The Allies had already broken the German codes and knew exactly what they were up to.

When he came back England secretly and under the radar began ramping up war production.

England had only 6 Spitfire fighter planes when he came back. They immediately built a new factory

and began cranking them out by the hundreds.

They also switched all shipbuilding to military production.

But, the official history has been more useful in politics.


Welcome to the DU family, Sundoggy!

I see you are getting up to speed just fine.

Hint: Stay out of GD:Primaries and you will find this place a whole lot less crazed

[Vinca]

17. Everything he said was deliberate, but he's so freaking stupid

it never occurred to him we might start dredging up good, old Prescott if he wants to talk appeasement.

[Sundoggy]

18. Oh wow, great catch

Totally forgot that one!

[Truth2Tell]

19. He's just a script reader.

His masters are not stupid. Sadly this kind of rhetoric still sells in AmeriKa. It may not sell to folks on the internets, or even to the very small percentage of people who watch shows like Hardball - but it still sells to most of the rest of the peeps, including those so-called swing voters. I guarantee you will not hear a peep in the MSM about Prescott Bush or about the realities of Munich.

So no, the A-word was deliberate and sadly it was most likely effective.

[malaise]

20. See this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3292621

So the latest Bush Administration talking point is an attempt to equate appeasement (making concessions to enemies) -- with the willingness to meet and confer (i.e., talking to enemies).