Dems backing away from Zelaya?
posted at 5:00 pm on July 11, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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The Obama administration jumped quickly into the fray over the removal and expulsion of president Manuel Zelaya from Honduras, calling the action a “coup” and demanding his reinstatement. Fellow Democrats in Congress followed suit, but The Hill reports that they may be changing their minds. Suddenly, they have begun acknowledging the crimes Zelaya committed and stopped calling for his return to office:
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of a key House subcommittee with jurisdiction over Honduras, roundly criticized both factions at a Friday hearing. But he also stopped short of calling for Zelaya’s immediate reinstatement, which he’d done in previous statements.
While Engel said the United States and its allies in the Western Hemisphere could not tolerate what appeared to be a military coup, he said Zelaya had ignored his country’s own Supreme Court, legislature and even members of his political party when he sought to change the constitution by seeking a second term as president.
“When the entire political establishment speaks and expresses dire concerns, the President needed to listen. From everything I can see, he did not,” Engel said during the hearing of his House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
In a statement on June 29, a day after Zelaya was removed, Engel called for Zelaya’s immediate reinstatement.
“I strongly condemn the removal of President Zelaya and believe that he should be reinstated without delay,” Engel said in the statement.
Maybe the national media can finally follow suit and report the entire story on the Honduran crisis. While the Hondurans made a big mistake in forcibly exiling Zelaya, they had ample reason to arrest him and try him for several violations of their constitution. It’s entirely possible to criticize the manner of Zelaya’s removal while still recognizing the necessity of protecting the nation from a dictatorship in its nascent stages.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration didn’t bother to get the facts before racing to the conclusion that Zelaya was a victimized democrat, whose main political allies in the region include such luminary defenders of liberty and democracy as Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, and the Castro brothers. They ignored the lawful promulgation of the arrest warrant and the legitimate defense of the rule of law undertaken almost unanimously by the legislature and the Supreme Court. Obama helped Chavez and Raul Castro isolate the poverty-stricken nation of Honduras for defending its own constitution.
Engel has belatedly awoken to the news that the Hondurans have a case. For that, we can thank Republicans in Congress who have insisted on explaining that case, working around the White House and the State Department to do so. Let’s hope that the rest of the Democrats back off of Honduras and convince the Obama administration to end its partnership with Cuba and Venezuela in isolating Honduras.
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These leftist Dems are attempting to hide their communist leanings but don’t worry they’ll be back.
rplat on July 11, 2009 at 5:04 PM
They had no other choice. This isn’t the US we’re talking about, it’s latin America. Where one day he’s the “President” and the next day he’s figured out how to get the military to install him as Dictator for life. Trials don’t work down there. Forced exile was the nice way to do it. They could have (and perhaps should have) just summarily executed him in his sleep and been done with it.
KSgop on July 11, 2009 at 5:06 PM
It needs to be pounded back at the Democrats and The Precedent that Zelaya attempted to perpetrate a coup and they backed him – to the hilt. It is not enough to get the Dems to back off of their position on Honduras. They cannot be alllowed to skate away from their complicity in Zelaya’s attempted coup and desired destruction of Constitutional Law in Honduras. They Dems must be forced to acknowledge their anti-Constitutional position and beg forgiveness … which I would not give them.
progressoverpeace on July 11, 2009 at 5:07 PM
I’d like to see you back this wild assertion with a solid argument. I’m not convinced that it was a ‘big mistake’ at all.
fossten on July 11, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Hope! No Change!
burt on July 11, 2009 at 5:09 PM
Total. Amateur Hour.
Fricken’ trend-chasing, superficial, conformist, snobby gits! This is what happens when people start going off based on what the pretty people are saying, then going back and looking at the situation as it actually stands.
Sekhmet on July 11, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Fixed it for ya
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Congress has to get re-elected. Obama doesn’t seem to be worried about his re-election. Perhaps it is the same self confidence he displayed in the campaign?
Skandia Recluse on July 11, 2009 at 5:12 PM
No, executing Zelaya would have been a Bad Idea—If Zelaya were dead, people could have made up 50 kinds of fish story as to how and why it happened, and turn him, literally, into the next Allende.
Sekhmet on July 11, 2009 at 5:13 PM
It’s in Obama’s nature for his knee to jerk to the left.
ProfessorMiao on July 11, 2009 at 5:13 PM
Obama: “As I said all along…” and then Obama will follow up with a lot of double talking, double negatives straw-man gobbledegook that “unlike others, of course I never ever had a problem with Zelaya not staying in Honduras all along.”
Shuckin’ and jivin’ – all the old bamboozle – all the time. It’s getting old.
marybel on July 11, 2009 at 5:14 PM
It wasn’t a “mistake” by obama , it just some sane dems waking up to reality.
the_nile on July 11, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Don’t confuse me with the FACTS, my mind is already MADE UP.
TruthToBeTold on July 11, 2009 at 5:15 PM
Well, after committing suicide by shooting himself 27 times, Allende ceased to be a player, you know?
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 5:16 PM
Engle must have done some polling among his Hispanic constituents and discovered that there are phone and internet links between Honduras and the US…and that his latino voters have gotten the real story by now.
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 5:18 PM
The Precedent doesn’t care about re-election. He just wants to hurt the US as much as possible before he’s forcibly thrown out. That’s why he’s been shoving stuff through at a breakneck pace, without any care. I would venture that he’s surprised he hasn’t been tossed, yet.
progressoverpeace on July 11, 2009 at 5:19 PM
My point is, Allende was trying something similar and was shot instead of exiled. And this many years later, all you ever hear about Allende is how he was just the biggest freedom-lover you done ever met, and was all the hope and change the evilevil Pinochet could not abide. Oh no—he wasn’t backed by Cuba, that was just Cold War paranoia.
By leaving Zelaya alive, Honduras has exposed his agenda.
Sekhmet on July 11, 2009 at 5:19 PM
You are being much to generous to the Repubs. While it is true, thank god, that the Repubs ultimately rallied to Honduras’s defense they did so only after repeated calls from sites such as HA.
Some can argue that you personally have been splitting hairs on the technical merits of Zelaya’s removal–handcuffs and a cell vs a flight to Costa Rica–the fact still remains that you have posted a piece almost everyday that allowed some of us commentators to rail against Repub inaction. The Repub staffers read HA just as they read Captain’s Quarters before.
A job well done.
patrick neid on July 11, 2009 at 5:23 PM
It would have been better if they had arrested him, put him in jail and tried him for crimes against the constitution. Bucket ears would have had a little harder time (little harder) in defending him then.
One thing to consider though is that his commie supporters would have been in the streets even longer if he was still in the country. Yelling and chanting for his freedom. That increases the chance of a shooting or beating to be caught by the media and would look bad for them. Getting him out and keeping him out allows them to regain control faster and continue making the case for his ouster.
conservnut on July 11, 2009 at 5:23 PM
What’s really happening here is that the Dems had this big Plan that if they ever got back in power, they would consolidate power and game the electorate in a way that would keep them in power long after the Boomers retire. Sort of a re-do of the ’30s.
Sekhmet on July 11, 2009 at 5:25 PM
By the way, I support our military dealing with bucket ears the same way. Perhaps we can exile him to some other left wing country like………Vermont……Mass…….Mexifornia…….?
conservnut on July 11, 2009 at 5:28 PM
I’ve gotta disagree on that one, too, Ed. There’s a certain logic in removing him from the country, without giving him a martyr platform, as I believe he may have had in prison. Of course, it won’t be long before we all have a much better, first-hand understanding of how these banana republics work.
Obama simply wanted some precedent for an elected official shredding a constitution and disregarding a supreme court. Always thinking ahead, that one.
califcon on July 11, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Let’s hope that the rest of the Democrats back off of Honduras and convince the Obama administration to end its partnership with Cuba and Venezuela in isolating Honduras.
how about we get the demonrats in congress to convince oboobi to end his relationship with cuba and venezuela permanently. yeah i know no hope or change.
SHARPTOOTH on July 11, 2009 at 5:29 PM
I agree. But the Dems’ desires and The Precedent’s are not the same – at least not by my reckoning. The Dems still haven’t figured this out.
progressoverpeace on July 11, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Amen Ed. It is beyond immoral what Obama is doing by siding with Chavez. The Honduran people and their democracy are being sold down the river by their strongest protector and ally.
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 5:31 PM
Bring the dirtbag back and get him Ward Churchill’s attorney.
whitetop on July 11, 2009 at 5:33 PM
I’m with Joe Stalin on this one: “No man, no problem.”
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 5:34 PM
The Democrats realize they have a losing fight on their hands now. If they did manage to get Zelaya reinstated, they would then have to take all the blame for what he will become.
The Dems know they won’t get far with the “We support Zelaya’s dictator for life aspirations over the rule of law in Honduras because we disagree with him” claptrap that Obama was spewing a couple of days ago.
Buddahpundit on July 11, 2009 at 5:35 PM
While the Hondurans made a big mistake in forcibly exiling not shooting Zelaya in the head
Fixed it for ya
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 5:12 PM
Thanks, I was meaning to get around to that!
Archimedes on July 11, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Actually, by law, they could have cancelled his citizenship. Instead, they just deported him. Had they put him in jail, he would have been a “political prisoner” in the eyes of the leftards. They did the right thing in kicking him out.
RobCon on July 11, 2009 at 5:36 PM
Let’s face it: Obama owes something politically to Chavez and the rest of the communists that eased him into the presidency. After all, Honduras (in Obama’s mind) is a small country.
onlineanalyst on July 11, 2009 at 5:39 PM
BZZZZT! Wrong, Ed.
The Obama administration had been aware of the situation for a few weeks before Zelaya was finally ousted. The Honduran government finally gave up trying to explain, since Obama clearly wasn’t willing to listen, and finally ousted him anyway. So obviously the Obama administration did “bother to get the facts”, but decided to support the wannabe dictator anyway.
FloatingRock on July 11, 2009 at 5:39 PM
and the reason that obama doesn’t seem concerned about re-election is because he’s got the media & ACORN & the mysterious money pot working for him. he can say & do anything!
kelley in virginia on July 11, 2009 at 5:47 PM
“O” Dumbo was just afraid it would happen here also the way he is trashing our Constitution!!!!
Rick007 on July 11, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Dems backing away from Zelaya:
This is less supportive of Al Gore’s doctrine that political force is a renewable resource, and falls within GWBush’s analogy of so much political capital. The Democrats don’t want to squander their own falling support on the nuevo dictator Zelaya. Rather, spend what they have on themselves, the least popular characters in government now, trying to subvert the USA into Marxist feudalism.
maverick muse on July 11, 2009 at 5:51 PM
Well, you need to remember what happened in Venezuela in 2002; Chavez was arrested after ordered to massacre the people then a group of soldiers release him and put him back in power.
The mistake was that Congress should have get him remove then put him under arrest.
Falz on July 11, 2009 at 6:04 PM
It took a while for our congresscritters to get this Zelaya-Honduras story correct because the media were presenting and repeating a false narrative, especially by referring to Zelaya’s ouster as a military coup.
onlineanalyst on July 11, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Castro has watched what Obama has done with Zelaya and warned that more such tyrants will be rising. They know they have a backer in the WH. Expect more dominos to fall.
promachus on July 11, 2009 at 6:07 PM
Did Michael Jackson kill the magic?
tarpon on July 11, 2009 at 6:07 PM
Precisely correct. Why Ed assumes that Obama didn’t know, I just cannot understand. And I still disagree that this was a “botched coup”. And no one is giving Honduras credit for not shooting this creep…which is a time-honored tradtion of Latin American juntas.
What should they have done? Had a troop of Girl Scouts serenade him out of office? Had Hillary come down and express her concerns? Or just sat on their hands like good little brown people while he – with the help of ballots flown in from Venezuela – installed himself as Presidente for Life?
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 6:07 PM
It is all in the part of the political game. Zelaya cries wolf and then the other like minded leaders circle the wagons for him. The problem is that one of those wagons has a U.S. stamp on it. The English Idiom: ‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread’ applies so well to this Honduran situation. This English idiom is used where people who are inexperienced or lack knowledge do something that more informed people would avoid. Obama suits this notation of being the fool who is inexperienced and was very misinformed.
.
Zelaya will probably lose his bid to be DFL (dictator for life) in the end of this tumult of events. The problem remains still with our POTUS and his strange foreign relations with the remaining dictators [e.g.] Chavez/Ortega. When will the state run media stop adoring our POTUS like he is King Canute? Maybe Obama needs to take a trip to the sea shore with the SRM and once there Obama can order the sea to stop moving towards the land. Maybe then we’ll get back to the term “fourth Estate” and our journalist will start protecting America for Americans again.
Americannodash on July 11, 2009 at 6:08 PM
What makes you say that, Ed? From what I’ve read, the State Department had their nose in the door on this political controversy prior Zelaya’s arrest and deportation. This political fight between Zelaya vs everyone else did not pop up overnight. If they didn’t have the facts, it’s either willful blindness, aka Epic Fail, or a clear taking of sides — and the despot’s side to be sure — wrt to this fight.
I know which one it is and these folks are not incompetent, regardless of how much you may think they appear to be.
Dusty on July 11, 2009 at 6:11 PM
That is one of the most depressing posts I’ve ever seen. So our elected representatives cannot be bothered to do poa little inquiring on their own? They just follow the MSM meme?
Sigh, you’re probably right. That would certainly explain how they were swept up in the popular “groundswell” for McCain/Feingold. (2% of Americans gave a crap about campaign finance, but by the time Soros, the Pew Foundation and the MSM got through with Congress, they thought we were gonna march on DC with pitchforks if they didn’t “reform” campaign finance, pronto.)
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 6:12 PM
They didn’t forcibly exile him. They arrested him and gave him the choice of staying and facing charges or leaving. He asked to leave so the military flew him out of the country. The decision was entirely Zelayas.
Sic Puppy on July 11, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Just think of how many political decisions were made in the past without citizens’ timely access to information and other sources via the Internet.
onlineanalyst on July 11, 2009 at 6:22 PM
.
SP, you make your point well. Now please give us here your link that backs up your claim.
[ps] send your link to Ed via the HA e-mail.
[pss] Ed will add an update if/as req’d to this post.
Americannodash on July 11, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Now I call on all you guys to keep an eye on Elvin Santos…he was Zelaya’s VP who resigned last fall in order to campaign for the presidency, but in my opinion, his loyalties are suspect since he served under Zelaya and with Chavez’s blessings…he could turn out to be a Zelaya clone that is also beholden to Chavez and marxism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvin_Ernesto_Santos
He has stayed out of this mess by calling for dialogue and not supporting one side or another. He has a chance to win the presidential elections in Novemeber or sooner if they are held early.
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 6:30 PM
This is entirely OT but related in regard to the issue of whoever controls the narrative determines how the public and history books perceive an event. NRO’s Andy McCarthy describes another of the predictable Obama “news dumps” that try to hide the reality of a situation.In this latest example, the revelation that Bush’s post-911 security measures were effective will supposedly be lost in the news cycle. The Dem smear job on the inarticulate Gonzales and the blatant backpeddling of informed Dem leadership should be shouted from the rooftops. The craven Dems have been playing partisan politics at the expense of our national security for too long.
onlineanalyst on July 11, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Get your facts straight, Ed.
The Obama administration knew what was happening in Honduras. They were trying to negotiate a settlement. Zelaya wouldn’t settle for anything less than presidency for life. A couple of days before they arrested and deported Zelaya, the Honduran military chief quit taking Obama’s calls.
Obama has a soft spot for authoritarian socialists (there’s a shocker)and he was pissed that the Hondurans wouldn’t let him play the savior and force them to let Zelaya run again. He knew exactly what he was doing, and apparently thought he could bully the Hondurans with the help of Chavez and the OAS. But the Hondurans to their everlasting credit told Obama, Chavez and the OAS to buzz off. Then the truth began to get out, despite all the efforts by Obama and his body slaves in the MSM to misrepresent what was happening.
Now public opinion is clearly backing the Honduran government, and Obama and the dumbass Demos who followed his lead are squirming like cockroaches on a hot plate. \
novaculus on July 11, 2009 at 6:33 PM
I have to agree with FloatingRock. There is no way he could not have been informed on the situation. Recall that Hilliary would not say that they would withdraw support from Honduras when asked if the state department would follow policy that called for that to happen when a coup resulted in a change of government. With as many real news sources clearly stating what should have been easily verified information that this was a removal of a president based vaild law in their constitution and the minor role of the military in carrying out a legal arrest warrent. Yet he ignored the facts and took a stand that was supported by several dictatorships; calling it a military coup and a violation of the rule of law. For that we have reason to be concerned about our own president and more reason to question the veracity of anything he says.
Personally I feel that he is looking to set a precident for ignoring constitutional law when he make his moves to remain in office as long as he wants. Keep in mind that our constitution establishes a Republic. It does not support socialism. For that he needs a Democracy, which is what we are not and never have been. He needs a new constitution or the ability to igonore the one we have through activist judical laws, liberal ruleings of the Supreme court and control of the Congress. These were the goals that Zelaya was trying to establish.
Franklyn on July 11, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Something’s fishy. Zelaya’s attempted coup was illegal enough in and of itself, so why did Honduras play the DEA card, especially so early in the crisis? Did certain Dem supporters’ Honduran distribution channels get threatened?
If they back off Zelaya so quickly, follow the money.
Christien on July 11, 2009 at 6:47 PM
I think we ought to start an award:
The Precedent Barack Hussein Obama/Harvard Law School Meritorious Honor For Distinction In Constitutional Ignorance
(note: I’m being extra-extra-nice by categorizing it as “ignorance”)
progressoverpeace on July 11, 2009 at 6:51 PM
Exactly! Obama, certain Leftists in Congress and at State, and the newest nominee as chief attorney for the State Department who describes himself as a transnationalist all appeal to international organizations like the UN or the OAS
as the determinant of legal order or “social justice.” National constitutions and law carry no weight with them.
Obamao and his fellow-travelers are working overtime to trump national sovereignty with international “jurisprudence”— and we know how corrupt that method is, elected by no one and answerable to no one. (Sort of like the court of “Czars” surrounding our Emperor-in-Chief.
onlineanalyst on July 11, 2009 at 6:55 PM
.
You say to keep an eye on Elvin Santos. That is all well and good. The problem with Santos for us is nothing. It is what the Honduran people want is what matters to me anyway. If as you say Santos has connections with Zelaya as you suspect then the Honduran’s are the one’s who would be aware of that fact. I perhaps presume to much that the Honduran people are an informed people. I don’t know how they get their information down there. You have any ideas yourself how the population in Honduras gets their information? Is it like here where we get the All Barack Channels? Maybe the Hondurans have the Chavez News Networks. You tell me & we’ll both know.
Americannodash on July 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM
Things are shaping up nicely.
Pelosi & Reid used Obama’s popularity and his thuggery to get porkulus passed (for which they will be slaughtered in the 2010 election).
The rest of Obama’s socialist agenda is getting tabled.
What does slip through can be rescinded.
I’m glad Obama is failing.
jeff_from_mpls on July 11, 2009 at 7:07 PM
Don’t hold your breath. Mein Fuhrer hasn’t issued the decree yet.
davo on July 11, 2009 at 7:09 PM
“Unfortunately, the Obama administration didn’t bother to get the facts….”
Ed:
The “facts” are what ‘constitutional scholar’ Barry Obama says they are. What
Der FurherBarry says is FACT. Keeps things simple, and you needn’t do any research.GarandFan on July 11, 2009 at 7:10 PM
Hey, totally off topic here, but has anyone else noticed that the US Muslim “community” has gone almost completely silent since BHO took office?
I mean, it used to be they were ranting on about their how oppressed and threatened they were and now…nothing, nada.
Did they suddenly discover that everything is hunkeydory in the USA?
Or has Hussein’s muslimg-outreach apparatus told them to lay low?
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 7:17 PM
He didn’t bother with facts during the campaign either. At the time I wondered if he was just too lazy and show offy and decided noooooo—that can’t be right, after all he’s running for Prz for pete’s sake. Hah! More fool I.
jeanie on July 11, 2009 at 7:18 PM
My guess is they’re a hell of a lot better informed than most of the American people. There are only 7 million of them and they probably aren’t sitting around watching Oprah and Jon and Kate.
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 7:20 PM
I’m completely serious here.
Can somebody name ONE dictator Barak Obama doesn’t like?
logis on July 11, 2009 at 7:24 PM
The nutroots is split too. Half of them want Zelaya back and half think he is a crook.
Speedwagon82 on July 11, 2009 at 7:26 PM
Red State State of Mind on July 11, 2009 at 7:30 PM
What happened to Zelaya was a long time coming and Obama was not caught flat footed in this “crisis” (he knows damn well who he is siding with).
Below is a snapshot of what political life was like in Honduras in the months preceding Zelaya’s aborted coup against the state.
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 7:36 PM
Indeed. The present incarnation of the Republican Party could screw up a two car funeral. Ed and others in the blogosphere are almost solely responsible for keeping this issue alive.
Django on July 11, 2009 at 7:38 PM
Honduras’s armed forces didn’t conduct a coup–they prevented one. They acted lawfully at the behest of the Congress, the Supreme Court and the Attorney General to stop the illegal Communist plot to install a “President-for-Life”. Hondurans banned all “President-for Life”-schemes and the military obeyed the law when the president would not. They should be congratulated. Obama of course knows all this–he’s simply siding with his fellow socialist.
Noel on July 11, 2009 at 7:45 PM
I’m not sure what is going to happen. But you’re completely right, if they elect Santos and he turns into a Zelaya clone they deserve what they get and its back to the drawing board. Santos is up against Porfirio Lobo Sosa who may capitalize on Santos cozy relationship with Zelaya but who knows…
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Kim Jong Il probably makes him a bit queasy, but I doubt he would turn down a photo-op with the little freak.
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 7:48 PM
You know, that’s a good point. Although I think Ed is a bit wrong-headed about Honduras, we do have to give him credit for continuing to keep it front and center.
guntotinglibertarian on July 11, 2009 at 7:49 PM
.
Hey Gun, go to this link.
.
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2009/07/11/conveyer-belt-to-terrorism-will-host-conference-in-chicago/#comment-16779
Americannodash on July 11, 2009 at 7:55 PM
Rushist!!!!
ThereGoesTheNeighborhood on July 11, 2009 at 8:02 PM
It’s Monday morning quarterback – is what it is Ed.
I think sometimes pundits forget that they don’t have all the information nor all the background on things.
You’ve been saying the Honduran’s “botched” this from the get-go. However, ever stop and think that maybe you aren’t the Honduran “expert” that the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court are? Maybe there were reasons for exiling the guy. I understand he’s popular – not sure how the people would react with a popular guy in prison.
This guy was violating the constitution and trying to set up a Charismachracy a la Hugo Chavez / Obama. The Congress and Supreme Court of the Nation took action when the guy violated the law and refused to stop violating it. That’s a key point Ed – the guy was refusing to yield to the checks and balances of his national Constitution. He was removed by the military – duh! And the VP was put in charge.
How in the hell is that a “botch” ED?
HondaV65 on July 11, 2009 at 8:02 PM
Oh for God’s sake, the simple explanantion is that the Obama administration didn’t even try to analyze the situation for a moment – they just reacted according to the leftist playbook.
I am deeply troubled that after two weeks, members of Congress (ours!) are apparently just beginning to understand this event at the level I was able to understand it at after about what, 48 hours? I realize full well that I still may not know the full picture, but the Democrats in all three branches of the US government certainly knew almost nothing but what the international socialist community wanted them to know, and they are just now starting to suspect that there is more to this than meets the casual glance. More likely, they are just now beginning to realize that everyone else does, and they can no longer pretend they don’t!
Bottom line: we are being led by gullible idiots who are influenced by an elite cadre of treacherous anti-democrats. One of them lives in the White House.
drunyan8315 on July 11, 2009 at 8:03 PM
+1
Misconceptions aside, Ed and AP are on the right side of this issue and giving it the attention it deserves.
FloatingRock on July 11, 2009 at 8:04 PM
drunyan: the people in Congress & the Won get all kinds of briefings & see all types of Int’l “in the know” types. they knew or should have known much more about this than we ever will.
and they still got it wrong.
kelley in virginia on July 11, 2009 at 8:16 PM
Probably 90% of our fossilized senators and representatives are not “internet literate” and get their info entirely from TV networks and the NY Times. They don’t know one end of a computer from another and rely on the brain-dead traditional media for their brain-dead world view.
I think that, as much as anything else, explains how they could be so staggeringly wrong and ignorant about what’s been happening in Honduras.
Django on July 11, 2009 at 8:36 PM
Once again Obama the amateur display his ineptness and ignorance.
bayview on July 11, 2009 at 8:41 PM
For my bretheren here at HA that can speak Spanish there is an excellent hard hitting piece by a pro democracy, anti Chavez, anti FMLN, group from El Salvador… (which is also suffering under a pro Chavez wannabe Mauricio Funes)
This lays out what is going on with Chavez, Marxism and the demise of democracy across Latin America. I wish there was a way to translate and subtitle the entire thing.
http://www.fuerzasolidaria.org/WebFS/Multimedia/NoEntreguemosElSalvador.html
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 8:43 PM
LOL MAYBE DEMS ARE CONSERNED IT IS A PRECUSOR TO WHAT MIGHT AWAIT THEM IN THE NEAR FUTURE
rone5847 on July 11, 2009 at 8:51 PM
Every time Obama does something incredible like this – choosing the side of a would-be dictator over the democracy he seeks to take over – it is assumed that Obama is stupid or naive or didn’t know better.
There are other explanations. Stupid, naive people don’t become POTUS and it is stupid and naive to assume that they do.
Basilsbest on July 11, 2009 at 8:59 PM
Why do you make an excuse for President Obama? This site and it’s contributors still maintain that he is an innocent and naive cherub, when all the facts about him support the contrary. From the vulgarity of ACORN, to his political thuggery in Illinois put him in league with Chavez and many facists.
His actions while President have proven his disdain for the Constitution and rule of law. All of his behaviour has shown to be for nothing more than political expediency to further his goals as a life long politician.
Rode Werk on July 11, 2009 at 9:03 PM
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 9:04 PM
Basilsbest on July 11, 2009 at 8:59 PM
Wow, we are in total agreement about this. I am astonished that this site continues to prop him up on innocense, misunderstanding, and naivete.
I belive President Obama knew full well what was going on in Honduras, and allied with the side closest to his political leanings. Why would anyone who has seen his pattern from Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba think he would be different towards Honduras?
Rode Werk on July 11, 2009 at 9:10 PM
Trust me there is one heck of a storm brewing for the Obambi Administration. If anyone has seen the letter from McCotter to the Whitehouse you have only seen the tip of the iceberg. I had a nice chat with my congressional staff, who I know personally and had this confirmed in a tongue in cheek manner.
Knowing them something is brewing far more than McCotter’s letter and evidence already exists for it to do so.
Kermit on July 11, 2009 at 9:12 PM
fixed.
Shay on July 11, 2009 at 9:14 PM
According to one source I read, the reason they arrested and removed him from the country was to avoid the possibility of Chavez’s army coming to Zelaya’s “rescue.”
YankeeinCA on July 11, 2009 at 9:26 PM
Ed’s post is interesting, because my take on the hearing was a little bit different. I listened to most of it, and despite Engel’s comments, it doesn’t seem to me that the dems are backing away from Zelaya. It’s seems that they are too fixed on their false assumptions to hear truth.
But what’s new about that, right?
http://www.therightscoop.com/was-zelaya-a-private-citizen-when-exiled/
therightscoop on July 11, 2009 at 9:30 PM
or maybe we can chalk it up to actual malice instead of plain stupidity. Ideologically driven common cause with the left.
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 9:37 PM
Right…a person can only ‘not know’ a certain amount of things, and with the stunning number of things that Obama has already clearly demonstrated that he doesn’t know, he is, if not already over the line, very quickly approaching it.
James on July 11, 2009 at 9:37 PM
LOL…naive or cunning? Does it matter the rattlesnake’s intent?
Limerick on July 11, 2009 at 9:39 PM
Thanks for reprising those links, elduende. Not all of our Senators are in the dark. They obviously have been trying to educate the uninformed in their ranks.
onlineanalyst on July 11, 2009 at 9:39 PM
Sure, I was being too nice. I do believe there is malice on the part of many of them.
therightscoop on July 11, 2009 at 9:46 PM
Parts of McCotter’s letter:
Maybe drugs will come back to bite Obama’s a**.
JiangxiDad on July 11, 2009 at 9:48 PM
Elduene are you from Honduras?
therightscoop on July 11, 2009 at 9:54 PM
Agree in general, but I’d add that the Senators and Representatives’ STAFFs are internet savvy and are failing to keep their bosses properly and thoroughly informed. As an aside, the longer I sit here watching the Republicans do too little and react to important news too late, the less inclined I am to give them my support.
Slightly off topic, but if Conservatives abandon the R party, are they in effect assuring the Liberals and Obama stay in power for many more years to come?
Red State State of Mind on July 11, 2009 at 9:57 PM
I saw Zelaya, and thought “Dang. It’s Floyd the Barber!”
Mitch_Berg on July 11, 2009 at 9:57 PM
No I’m a proud American. My immediate family is Colombian but I have a myriad of family connections in Honduras.
elduende on July 11, 2009 at 9:58 PM
It’s one thing for a president to have used drugs at some point in his or her past but it’s quite another to use presidential authority to facilitate drug trafficking. Wouldn’t it be interesting if it turns out that Obama has/is benefited from that trade? Did narco-dollars win him the election? Is that why he’s going to cease eradication of poppy fields in Afghanistan?
Hmmmmm….
FloatingRock on July 11, 2009 at 10:06 PM
If the press would do their job of investigate and report they would reach their goal of a better world so much faster then this “I’d like to teach the world to sing” campaign. Their desire to engineer society will be the downfall of us all. Zelaya has Barry’s ear and Barry has the media’s ear. They are Vichy, and I hope that history will remember them as such.
Limerick on July 11, 2009 at 10:08 PM
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