David Gregory Calls President Obama A Liar On Meet The Press

Well not exactly. Gregory interviewed Rick Santorum today on Meet the Press and took the role of Obama's defender.

Gregory argued against Santorum's assertion that Obama has appeased Iran saying, “There is no material difference in terms of how the Bush Administration sought to disarm Iran and what the Obama Administration has done.”

This of course is contradicted by facts and the words of one Barack Husein Obama.

President-elect Barack Obama addressed some of the most delicate foreign policy issues over the weekend, confirming that he intended to pursue a clear policy of engagement with Iran and to press immediately for peace in the Middle East.

Speaking on the ABC News program “This Week,” Mr. Obama reiterated that he wanted to work directly with Iran — a country whose president has called for Israel’s destruction — to improve relations and halt a nuclear program that Tehran describes as peaceful, but that the West believes is not.

“We are going to have to take a new approach,” he told the program’s host, George Stephanopoulos. “My belief is that engagement is the place to start.”

As President, Obama sent friendly messages to Iran that differed sharply from Bush's approach.

Obama, in a three-minute speech made available on the Internet and sent to international broadcasters, twice referred to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the country's official name, signaling an apparent break from President George W. Bush's unstated promotion of a change of leadership. Bush routinely called the Iranian government a "regime" that should not be trusted by its people and said the country was part of an "axis of evil."

Obama has also cut aid to Iranian dissident groups and in general have taken a softer stand on the Iranian government.

Unlike the Bush administration, neither Obama nor his chief advisers have accused the Iranian government of arming the anti-American insurgencies in those countries, nor have they highlighted Tehran's links with foreign terrorist movements. As president, Obama also dropped the rhetoric of regime change. In his March 2009 Norwuz message, he explicitly referred to "the Islamic Republic of Iran" and stated that his administration would seek "engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect." Obama has sent two personal letters to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the hopes of initiating a dialogue at the highest level. In addition to its declaratory statements, the administration also arranged for senior American diplomats to meet with their Iranian counterparts in various multilateral settings and made a generous offer of nuclear collaboration regarding Iran's medical reactor.

The Obama administration also released members of Iran's Qods Force captured in Iraq.

When faced with the violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters this was the response of the Obama Administration.

The State Department strongly rejected claims that the U.S. was interfering in the disputed June 12 election, pointing out that diplomats from other countries had also been summoned.

"I suspect we are in good company. As the president has said, we are not interfering in the debate that Iranians are having about their election and its aftermath," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. "This is not about the United States."

Mowing down peaceful protesters in the streets of Tehran and around Iran is a "debate" according to Obama's team.

The funniest thing about Gregory's full throated defense of his candidate isn't that "journalists" are still willing to go to the mattresses for Obama, it's that their defense of Obama is..."he's just like George Bush!".

Second look at Cowboy Diplomacy?

posted by DrewM. at 02:19 PM

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