The right wing screech machine would be in overdrive and it would have an effect. Teflon Donny is probably compromised and being black mailed and nary a peep.

(02-06-2017 05:58 PM)JMUDunk Wrote:  

(02-06-2017 01:40 PM)Machiavelli Wrote:  Can you imagine the right wing screech machine if Obama did anything close to this? It's amazing the hypocrisy so many of you show.

Did what?

What exactly did he do in this interview?

Do you not agree we are all better off if we can work with Putin? Like him or not? Yea, he's a commie thug, so was Stalin. But, if we have a/several common enemies, are we not better off fighting them together instead if fighting them too?

Don't you dare insult Stalin, he didn't kill that many. *sarcasm*

There's an old saying, "politics make for strange bedfellows". Yes, even everyone knew Stalin was a murderer we still became friends, so to speak, during WWII. We needed him to conquer from the east while we came from the west. Afterward, it was a different story. The U.S. and the USSR became enemies until the wall came down when the Cold War cooled but never warmed. It's there right now and Iran is the old N.K and China in the Korean War, but it's morphed into Iran and Russia.

Yep, as a superpower, we have never used that power to grab land. Well, not directly anyway. We have chosen not to fly an American flag over our conquest, but that doesn't make them any less of a conquest. We have installed our hand picked leaders into foreign lands for nearly a century. It goes well for a while and then, when they have run their course either by developing their own thoughts or become drunk off the power we have bestowed upon them, we finance a rebellion to remove them from power.

No, we are not innocent. We act in our own interests.

just stop commenting on ******* Putin, please.

(02-06-2017 11:39 AM)Fitbud Wrote:  Last night, I caught part of Bill O’Reilly’s interview with President Trump, including an exchange that drained the moderate amount of enthusiasm I’ve been able to muster for the new president. O’Reilly asked Trump whether he respects Vladimir Putin. Trump said he does, but that this doesn’t mean he will get along with him.
No major problem so far. In a sense, I think you have to respect what Putin, operating from a position of weakness, has been able to accomplish at the expense of the United States.
However, O’Reilly followed up with an obvious objection: “But he’s a killer, though; Putin’s a killer.”
Trump answered this charge basically the same way he did as a presidential candidate:
There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot killers. What do you think? Our country is so innocent.
Trump was now suggesting that there is a moral equivalence between the U.S. and Russia under Putin. Would he back this up with specifics; if so, which ones?
The U.S. isn’t entirely innocent. Trump might have cited our treatment of the American Indians in the 19th century, for example. Andrew Jackson can be thought of as a “killer” we respect.
But this isn’t what Trump had in mind. Instead, he cited the Iraq War, and repeated his false claim that he opposed it from the beginning.
The Iraq War may have been a mistake — it was, in all events, fought under a mistaken premise. However, fighting that war in an order to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction does not make the U.S. and its then-president “killers.”
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/20...valent.php

We fought in Iraq because Saddam was violating the case-fire provisions. That was not a mistaken premise. The issue of NBC weapons was brought up to try to get the UN to authorize it specifically. Colin Powell's presentation was to the UN, not to congress, remember, and it was in February 2003. The whole NBC issue was kind of a side show until then. Congress had already given its authorization three months earlier. I thought it was both unnecessary and really stupid for us to go back to the UN, who were not going to support us in any event, to try to get a second resolution when we already had all the legal basis we needed because Saddam had violated the cease-fire and UN sanctions, which already authorized further military intervention if he violated them. In hindsight, Powell's trip to the UN caused the whole operation to be linked much more closely to NBC weapons in perception than it was in reality.

OK, I'm not a supporter of the Iraq invasion, at least not when it occurred. We went in half-assed instead of fully committed, and we should never have gone in there until we finished the work in Afghanistan--meaning bin Laden and Mullah Omar and the rest of the al-Qaeda leadership dead, among other things. Of course, we went into Afghanistan half-assed too, which is one reason why we still arguably have not accomplished our objective there. We need to quit worrying about winning their hearts and minds--we're not going to--and worry more about killing everybody who needs killing, blowing up everything that needs blowing up, and making sure that whoever is left in charge fully understands that if you piss us off, we will be back to kill you.

We also went in without a plan what to do long term. A viable plan would have been to undo San Remo and partition Iraq into the three countries that it should have been--Kurdistan in the north, Shia Mesopotamia in the east, and Sunni Iraq west of the Euphrates. In that scenario, Sunni Iraq probably allies with Sunni eastern Syria, and Kurdistan probably adds Kurdish northern Syria, so we end up with something similar to ISIS, but with more of an opportunity for us to control the development of it.

Of course, the really stupid idea was that we were going to make Iraq a democracy and that was going to stabilize the ME. We have failed to create a viable democracy, and we have facilitated the Arab Spring and other destabilization throughout the region--ISIS/Syria being the latest example. Like it or not, the bottom line is that most of the ME is probably best in he hands of the least objectionable dictator. They simply lack the market economies and other institutions necessary for democracy to work.

I'm reminded of 4 years ago when a gentleman named Mitt Romney mentioned Russia being an issue and the President at the time made a joke at Romney's expense and all you lefties thought it was the funniest thing you heard. Now four years later we can't go a day without mentioning Russia. What changed? Was it they hacked into machines not hooked up to the internet or was it a DNC employee dished the dirt on your candidate and blamed them?

I reject the premise of the OP. Trump has not denied that Putin is bad guy,no matter how anyone wants to twist or interpret his comments. It is just not so.

(02-07-2017 06:50 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  I reject the premise of the OP. Trump has not denied that Putin is bad guy,no matter how anyone wants to twist or interpret his comments. It is just not so.

I like how Johnny knows what Trump's intent is. Even arguing what the intent is. Is Johnny working for the WH?

(02-07-2017 06:52 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(02-07-2017 06:50 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  I reject the premise of the OP. Trump has not denied that Putin is bad guy,no matter how anyone wants to twist or interpret his comments. It is just not so.

I like how Johnny knows what Trump's intent is. Even arguing what the intent is. Is Johnny working for the WH?

He is just arguing DNC talking points. Trump didn't say anything new. He hates the Bush family. He has argued against the Iraq war.

I like the Bush family. I think invading Iraq was the right thing to do, just done poorly. But the fact is this is just Trump being Trump, not some monumental statement. Obama has talked very negatively of America too, just that Trump confines it to certain people he doesn't like, not our whole country's history.

(02-07-2017 07:47 AM)bullet Wrote:  

(02-07-2017 06:52 AM)gdunn Wrote:  

(02-07-2017 06:50 AM)Fo Shizzle Wrote:  I reject the premise of the OP. Trump has not denied that Putin is bad guy,no matter how anyone wants to twist or interpret his comments. It is just not so.

I like how Johnny knows what Trump's intent is. Even arguing what the intent is. Is Johnny working for the WH?

He is just arguing DNC talking points. Trump didn't say anything new. He hates the Bush family. He has argued against the Iraq war.

I like the Bush family. I think invading Iraq was the right thing to do, just done poorly. But the fact is this is just Trump being Trump, not some monumental statement. Obama has talked very negatively of America too, just that Trump confines it to certain people he doesn't like, not our whole country's history.

Yep. And the lefties got wood when Obama would kowtow and be submissive......plays right into their victimhood needs.

If we had just invaded Iraq, captured Saddam, then left - I would have been okay with it. Trying to set-up a democracy in a place where the people have no cultural concept of it was a failure waiting to happen. "Let's just ignore a thousand years of history and make a democracy, the folks will be soo happy!"

(02-07-2017 06:48 AM)gdunn Wrote:  I'm reminded of 4 years ago when a gentleman named Mitt Romney mentioned Russia being an issue and the President at the time made a joke at Romney's expense and all you lefties thought it was the funniest thing you heard. Now four years later we can't go a day without mentioning Russia. What changed? Was it they hacked into machines not hooked up to the internet or was it a DNC employee dished the dirt on your candidate and blamed them?

Damn if this post doesn't hit the nail on the head. +1

OMG....

What's changed?????? Are you guys that obtuse? How about interfering with our electoral process for starters. Kick that one around Rhode scholars. +3 that one..................

(02-07-2017 09:23 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  OMG....

What's changed?????? Are you guys that obtuse. How about interfering with our electoral process for starters. Kick that one around Rhode scholars. +3 that one..................

Putin didn't interfere in our electoral process.

And he didn't leak the DNC servers. That was an inside job by a Bernie supporter. The only person who actually knows-Assange-told us that.

Putin's people probably did leak Podesta and some of the others. But they didn't write the e-mails.

(02-07-2017 09:23 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  OMG....

What's changed?????? Are you guys that obtuse? How about interfering with our electoral process for starters. Kick that one around Rhode scholars. +3 that one..................

(02-07-2017 09:23 AM)Machiavelli Wrote:  OMG....

What's changed?????? Are you guys that obtuse? How about interfering with our electoral process for starters. Kick that one around Rhode scholars. +3 that one..................

The Clintons and the Democrats cheat and they are bad losers and try to blame it on somebody else when they lose.

Gore tried to steal Florida in 2000 by changing rules after the fact. Hillary tried to steal Florida in 2008 against Obama by changing rules after the fact. Hillary cheated against Bernie. She cheated against Trump by having "impartial" moderators help her. She spent 2.5 times what Trump spent. She hired people to incite violence at Trump rallies. She and her people hired people to protest and occasionally even stop Trump rallies. She had the media working full time on her side. They arranged for her to get more votes than voters in Detroit. And she still lost, bigly!

Its all on Hillary and the Democrats. Not anyone else. So get over it. You lost, despite all your cheating.

Liberals taking up for Bushitler McCheneyburton? Never thought I'd see the day. What about all the Bush lied kids died stuff?

(02-07-2017 06:48 AM)gdunn Wrote:  I'm reminded of 4 years ago when a gentleman named Mitt Romney mentioned Russia being an issue and the President at the time made a joke at Romney's expense and all you lefties thought it was the funniest thing you heard. Now four years later we can't go a day without mentioning Russia. What changed? Was it they hacked into machines not hooked up to the internet or was it a DNC employee dished the dirt on your candidate and blamed them?

Russia invaded and annexed part of a sovereign country. shot down a civilian airliner. played a direct role in creating the worst refugee crisis to hit europe since world war II. interfered in our elections. are you really this dense?

when you asked what has changed the answer is simply "everything."

I'd put the Bush family near the bottom of the moral barrel.

(02-07-2017 09:02 AM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(02-07-2017 06:48 AM)gdunn Wrote:  I'm reminded of 4 years ago when a gentleman named Mitt Romney mentioned Russia being an issue and the President at the time made a joke at Romney's expense and all you lefties thought it was the funniest thing you heard. Now four years later we can't go a day without mentioning Russia. What changed? Was it they hacked into machines not hooked up to the internet or was it a DNC employee dished the dirt on your candidate and blamed them?

Damn if this post doesn't hit the nail on the head. +1

the only people who think this post "hit the nail on the head" are complete morons.

(02-07-2017 10:32 AM)john01992 Wrote:  

(02-07-2017 09:02 AM)Hood-rich Wrote:  

(02-07-2017 06:48 AM)gdunn Wrote:  I'm reminded of 4 years ago when a gentleman named Mitt Romney mentioned Russia being an issue and the President at the time made a joke at Romney's expense and all you lefties thought it was the funniest thing you heard. Now four years later we can't go a day without mentioning Russia. What changed? Was it they hacked into machines not hooked up to the internet or was it a DNC employee dished the dirt on your candidate and blamed them?

Damn if this post doesn't hit the nail on the head. +1

the only people who think this post "hit the nail on the head" are complete morons.

They are not morons they are just in denial.