Frankenstein's back, with a resounding endorsement of Barack Obama. I refer, of course, to the reemergence in public of former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Albright chastized Bush and defended Obama's statement that he would be happy to talk to Iran and other enemies of the United States. Albright blasted the current approach to the Middle East and made the anodyne point that it is just as important to converse with one's adversaries as it is to converse with one's friends.
The problem, of course, is not with talking with folks like Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. The problem is: who is going to do the talking? Certainly a President McCain has the experience and resolve to sit across the table with the bad guys and not fall for their deceptions or give in to their pressures. With an unseasoned guy like Obama, whose global experience may be confined to an occasional visit to the International House of Pancakes, who knows?
With Albright too it is credibility that becomes an issue. On May 11, 1996 this woman was asked by a television interviewer for "60 Minutes" whether she was troubled by the fact that Clinton-supported sanctions had resulted in the death of 500,000 Iraqi children. "It's a hard choice," she replied, "but we think it's worth it."
Leftists should keep Albright's response in mind when they wail about civilian casualties as a consequence of Bush's war in Iraq. Iraq Body Count keeps track of these casualties, and they are less than one-fifth the number of innocent civilians (mostly children) killed in the aftermath of sanctions. Sanctions had no effect on Saddam or his henchmen, who didn't miss a meal. Rather, they hurt the most vulnerable members of Iraqi society.
These facts remind us not only of the shortcomings of sanctions, which are not likely to work better with Iran than they did with Iraq. They also remind us that bad things in the world must be measured not against utopia but against what came before. Bush's Iraq war has resulted in a steep reduction of Iraqi deaths compared to the 300,000 people Saddam deposited in the mass graves and compared to the even greater number of deaths that Clinton's policies seem to have produced.
Still, I come back to Albright's original dismissal of half a million deaths with the calm affirmation: it's worth it. Can you recall another secretary of state making a remark more shockingly callous than Albright's? How this Frankenstein became the first female secretary of state remains a mystery.
And it is this same person who would presume to lecture us on what we should now be doing with Iran. I don't think we need more advice from Albright. Rather, what we need from her is an apology, followed by an overdue withdrawal from public life.
Reader Comments ( Page 6 of 14)
76. Buckeroo Bottzia,
The cheesesteak and tastykakes await. Good to see you around~!
T.Brough at 1:09AM on Jun 30th 2008
77. 55. which wife Maggie? McCains fist or second?
Dennis at 5:55PM on Jun 29th 2008
xxx
Whoo! glad I wasn't drinking coffee!
Fists don't count as wives or girlfriends, even if they wear your ring and have a name, like Rosy Palm. (or harry palm?)
However if you are Eric Cartmann, and your fist is named Miss Lopez, perhaps an exception could be made.
I know you didn't mean it, but what a too cool typo!
Terrorist wife jab to ya and I can't get the image of Mcsame making love to his fist wife outta my mind!
Maybe with a little wine,a fingerlakes pinot noir, and possibly a little music, willie and the hand jive?
S'alright? s'alright, deeeficult but alright!
Perhaps Cindy caught them and ran sobbing out of the room while mcsame tries to get a grip, or take hold of himself or whatever.
Clif Kuplen at 1:01AM on Jun 30th 2008
78. I think the reference to Frankenstein's monster is about her resurrection as a public figure.
I only slightly disagree with DD about the Iraq sanctions under Clinton.
While it was a mis calculation to think that Saddam would go hungry because of economic sanctions.
Lets not lose focus on the fact that Saddam in his stubbornness did not do the things that would allow food and other goods for his people
Alex C at 2:32AM on Jun 30th 2008
79. Hey Dinesh, I don't know why you are referring to Madelaine Albright as Frankenstein. You're kinda ugly and look like someone even the real Frankenstein wouldn't want to show up with.
Judy at 3:05AM on Jun 30th 2008
80. Good morning! Oh laughingstock, you can't even tell the difference between Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster! Unless Albright has been working on occultic resurrection precedures, I miss the news some days...
Mokele Mbembe at 8:59AM on Jun 30th 2008
81. Obama does not even have a chance without Hillary. I am ashamed of the way polotis is going and to expect those of us who supported Hillary for more reasons than just because we liked her or she was a woman or even (white) We did not support Obama because he was a disaster and Hillary won the popular vote. I don't trust Obama and I say Bush is even right about him. Without Hillary as vice then no Dice!
Sandie at 9:06AM on Jun 30th 2008
82. Steep reductions in deaths since Sadam? Are you nuts? What a load of crap. You are one of the most craven apologists for American violence in the Middle East I have ever read. And compared to the skill and accomplishments of Albright, you are but a gnat. Yoy write a blog- she helped solve global problems on a scale that would make you pee your pants. Get a life, accomplish something real then maybe you might have the gravitas to issue such idiotic statements and someone somewhere might actually listen to you.
JTHadeus at 9:29AM on Jun 30th 2008
83. I think calling Albright "Frankenstein" is indicative of what the United States has become. Liberals and Conservatives have fallen in love so much with pointing fingers, that we have forgotten we are on the same side.
As U.S. Citizens we all have a Constitutional Right, to our own narrow minded little opinions.
Lets start keeping them at least polite.
Scott Schenck at 11:32AM on Jun 30th 2008
84. 81. Obama does not even have a chance without Hillary. I am ashamed of the way polotis is going and to expect those of us who supported Hillary for more reasons than just because we liked her or she was a woman or even (white) We did not support Obama because he was a disaster and Hillary won the popular vote. I don't trust Obama and I say Bush is even right about him. Without Hillary as vice then no Dice!
Sandie at 9:06AM on Jun 30th 2008
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It figures. The Hillary nutcakes are so undereducated that they can't even spell "politics" and yet they still want her for vice president. No thanks. Stupid people voting brought on our last disaster, George W. Bush, and so we don't need to go down that road again.
People that can SPELL, like Obama. Strange, isn't it?
Godless Heathen Brian at 11:59AM on Jun 30th 2008
85. Men who allow women to have abortions are not real men. They are cowards because they don't want to offend anyone. These men are brought up to be wimps in today's society. The public schools have definitely.
MEN!! ABORTION HURTS WOMEN!! PROTECT YOUR WOMEN FROM SUCH DEVASTATING RESULTS.
I AM at 12:00PM on Jun 30th 2008
86. Only a misguided Dartmouth grad. A Cornellian would never stoop nor pander to the level of DD.
j gibbons at 12:23PM on Jun 30th 2008
87. and to expect those of us who supported Hillary for more reasons than just because we liked her or she was a woman or even (white)
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Yeah, put that last word in parenthesis and we'll never suspect that you're a bigot. Smart.
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:05PM on Jun 30th 2008
88. 85. Men who allow women to have abortions are not real men. They are cowards because they don't want to offend anyone. These men are brought up to be wimps in today's society. The public schools have definitely.
MEN!! ABORTION HURTS WOMEN!! PROTECT YOUR WOMEN FROM SUCH DEVASTATING RESULTS.
I AM at 12:00PM on Jun 30th 2008
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Men??? What business have MEN in this issue? It's a WOMAN'S issue. Stop trying to FORCE women into conforming to your religious views, you stupid, atavistic morons. Your men are pederasts and users of prostitutes, so you're hardly without sin yourselves, you know. Clean up your own houses before telling others how to clean upi theirs.
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:10PM on Jun 30th 2008
89. Christian men always oppose abortion, except when they're PAYING for one for their girlfriend... Then they shut up and fork over the cash so the wife will never know.
Godless Heathen Brian at 12:18PM on Jun 30th 2008
90. The West is dead, and the East keeps it alive. Why?
Sex...
Then, the East punishes the men of the West, whom they kept alive on sexual grounds. Why?
Because when men of the West have sex with women of the West, people are no longer sexy, loss of power to women.
If the West, having been kept alive by the East, stages a comeback... the world would end because the East won't want to preserve them anymore.
Animals will return to animals, and the equality religious people are looking for would return in population declines and a balanced society.
So, the East invents religion, to keep both sides unhappy... with the exception of those who manipulate others into giving them everything.
You see... Gods do exist... but I am an athiest, one who was born with everything, so everyone who follows religion... has something to take.
Now I am a shell of a man... aborted by women.
Nanotechnology at 12:44PM on Jun 30th 2008