Megyn Kelly: C’mon, you can’t blame Obama for this North Korea situation

posted at 8:08 pm on November 24, 2010 by Allahpundit

Via Mediaite. Alternate headline: “Confirmed: Megyn Kelly’s a RINO.” Seriously, though, explain to me (and her, by proxy) how the NorKs would have behaved differently over the past two years with Bush in office, especially given that their first nuclear test came on his watch. When they went ahead with their ICBM test launch in April 2009, The One demanded that they be punished with the same ceremonial wrist slap that all U.S. presidents resort to, i.e. a Security Council statement. They responded by breaking off from six-party talks, and not only has he refused to re-engage them — even after their nuclear test last year (and notwithstanding his nonsense during the campaign about talking with anyone without preconditions) — but officials in the White House are already warning that they won’t reward bad behavior by rushing into new talks after yesterday’s incident either. On the contrary, Obama’s going ahead with a joint carrier exercise with South Korea in the Yellow Sea this weekend, which is bound to annoy China as much as it will North Korea. What reason is there to think North Korea’s been more erratic lately because of who’s in the White House than because of the instability created by the succession of power from Kim pere to Kim fils?

As for Crowley’s point about ultimate responsibility falling on China, it’s well taken — so much so, in fact, that she sounds a lot like the State Department’s own spokesman. Two things, though. First, and ominously, it’s an open question of whether China has as much control over North Korea as we think they do:

The shelling, however, could not have come at a worst time for China. President Hu Jintao is scheduled to make his first state visit to the United States in January, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will travel to China that same month to smooth out tensions that have complicated the military’s relationship with its Chinese counterpart. The Chinese government was as surprised as the United States to learn last week that North Korea was much further along in its uranium-enrichment project than previously thought–the exact type of unexpected announcement that Beijing officials had hoped their recent meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il would prevent.

Second, even if NK is operating as a proxy here, China’s bound to test the United States more in the coming years because we’re heavily invested militarily in other parts of the world and, after all, as a growing power the Chinese want to assert themselves in their region. Having a president who’s perceived as weak is an added inducement to do so, but there are already plenty of inducements present.

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Megyn’s objective magnanimity is a large as her other recently seen attributes.

Mason on November 25, 2010 at 12:07 AM

“China is firmly committed to maintaining the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and opposes any provocative military acts,”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

sharrukin on November 24, 2010 at 11:51 PM

I’m sure you put some time and effort into compiling all that, but it’s wasted on me. All I hear is: “propaganda, propaganda, propaganda….”

The same people who wrote Tass also wrote Pravda — and apparently were pretty damned influential with the NYT and the hundreds of “independent” “news” “sources” that aped them as well.

Your hobbies are your own business but trust me: trying to “analyze” “various” “competing” propaganda outlets is worse than a waste of time – it is a trap. Nothing good can possibly come of it.

logis on November 25, 2010 at 12:45 AM

logis on November 25, 2010 at 12:45 AM

Well it is propaganda, but they often reveal something even in what they lie about. What they don’t say, or what they think needs to be emphasized tells you what matters to them.

The Yellow Sea keeps coming up whenever North Korea and China are mentioned.

Hopefully we won’t have to bring out Admiral Achbar to tell us its a trap.

sharrukin on November 25, 2010 at 12:49 AM

Doubt NorKo would have pulled this crap if Dubya was still President.

jawkneemusic on November 25, 2010 at 1:02 AM

She can point to incidents under the Bush Administration, all she wants, however, that does nothing to change the ground truth. Under the Bush Administration, you did not have South Korean sailors being murdered by NORK sailors, when their military vessels were torpedoed. Under the Bush Administration, you didn’t have the NORKS feeling so confident that they would actually launch an artillery bombardment of a South Korean civilian population center. No, Crowley was absolutely right. This all occurred at the magnitude it has, simply because the NORKS, and their benefactors (the Red Chinese), did not feel threatened by the Manchild Administration, in the least. Even Joe Biden said, himself, that people would literally rush to challenge Obama, and that’s precisely what happened. Not long after taking office, look what the Iranians did: they launched an ICBM. And when the NORKS torpedoed that ship, what did the Manchild Administation do? He hid under his desk, while Hillary Clinton gave a lackluster, half-assed, phone-it-in condemnation of those actions. Yeah, the NORKS were really hurt by that one. I’m not saying the Dalai Obama is responsible for it, but he is very clearly a weakling, and the bad guys aren’t afraid of weaklings. He projects no strength, whatsoever, except against American citizens that do not bow down to his Marxist agenda. He’s made more of an effort to run roughshod over political and military allies (the UK, Israel, etc.), than over any enemy state (Iran, Russia, Venezuela, North Korea, etc.). He did nothing when the Russians had a pair of ballistic missile submarines surface off the coast of Washington DC. He did nothing when the Iranians were playing footsie while building nuclear weapons. He did nothing, while the Soviets (Russians, as you call them) began selling arms to Venezuela. He did nothing, really, when the South Korean sailors were murdered after their ship was torpedoed, and now this soft-bodied, gutless, mollusk-like creature will do nothing in the face of innocent civilians coming under unprovoked attack by an enemy artillery barrage (and he certainly doesn’t care that South Korean military personnel were murdered). This is the time for enemies to be brazen, and they know it. The manchild, the Dalai Obama, is more a menace to national security, than some of the other enemies of the state are. As long as he continues this stupidity of trying to talk to enemies that are completely disinterested in honest discussion (or are really unqualified for it, like terrorist groups), this is what will happen. He is responsible for creating and fostering the climate in which the enemies of America, the world and freedom feel safe and free to go on the march.

Virus-X on November 25, 2010 at 1:40 AM

China is well aware that the Dear Leader of NK is a crazy man. But it continues to support NK because it is a useful thorn in the side for the US-South Korea-Japanese alliance and it buys the Chinese an assurance that NK’s missiles are not pointed in the direction of the Chinese mainland. Testing ballistic missiles or underground nuclear tests are not the same as actually firing missiles into the South and killing people. Would NK have done the same thing during the Bush years if they had the same capability back then? I think it all depends on how they perceive the US president – strong or weak. The answer is pretty obvious where Obama is concerned. Debating about Bush is moot since the conditions are not the same.

Birdseye on November 25, 2010 at 1:52 AM

What … no black leather bustier?

Jaibones on November 25, 2010 at 2:00 AM

Sigh.

Cylor on November 25, 2010 at 3:03 AM

C’mon, you can’t blame Obama for this North Korea situation.
-Megyn Kelly

This is yet another problem I inherited from George Bush.
-Barack Obama

Boxy_Brown on November 25, 2010 at 7:49 AM

Megyn is big on logic.

SilentWatcher on November 25, 2010 at 8:23 AM

Allah is a RINO of course, but this stuff from the Norks has been going on a long time. What I want to know is why you and I have to pay for the defense of super rich South Korea and Japan??

james23 on November 25, 2010 at 9:08 AM

Advice to Megyn:

go skimpier next time. Show a little more bleep.

PappyD61 on November 25, 2010 at 9:09 AM

Megan’s trying to make up for all those “racist” attacks she was directing at the DOJ.

JellyToast on November 25, 2010 at 9:11 AM

After the liberation of the German death camps, we realized we should have entered WW II sooner.

How long are we going to allow these deranged killers destroy their people.

The ComNorKs have starved their people to the point of cannibalism. It is time to put a stop to this madness.

davidk on November 25, 2010 at 9:13 AM

I was under the impression that one of China’s reasons for supporting NK was becasue they sell a lot of stuff to them–and I don’t mean weapons and such, I refer to vital stuff such as food , medicine et al. Suppose we stopped buying from China, just suppose. It would mean higher prices and shortages here but in the future it may become our only option depending on how this plays out? In the end, China needs us as consumers more than we need them as overseers and producers.

jeanie on November 25, 2010 at 9:17 AM

What didn’t Bush get blamed for?

albill on November 25, 2010 at 9:49 AM

Love that Megyn but this is my view. N Korea sees a weak sister (Lord forgive my political incorrectness)in the WH and knows they will suffer no consequences and get Zero to kiss their a$$ if they will come to the bargaining table.

Herb on November 25, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Herb on November 25, 2010 at 10:11 AM

Unfortunatelythe whole world knows we have the Cojoneless Wonder.

katy the mean old lady on November 25, 2010 at 10:31 AM

NKorea is China’s Billy Carter. They really hate their crap but they are in the family so…

faol on November 25, 2010 at 10:40 AM

jeanie on November 25, 2010 at 9:17 AM

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS21834.pdf

davidk on November 25, 2010 at 10:42 AM

The Norks can initiate an assault but their economy is so weak that they won’t be able to sustain a long term battle. My guess is they have about 30 days of battle in them.

Of course Obama’s policies have weakened our economy to the point we don’t have the capability to stop them. We need to talk to the Chinese ASAP. A full blown war on the Asian front could be catastrophic for the entire world.

roux on November 25, 2010 at 10:42 AM

I was one of the guys, way back in the 1980s, who would have flown a nuke into North Korea in a Second Korean War. The North Koreans have been raiding South Korea and killing South Koreans since the Korean War. This artillery attack is new only its form. The North Koreans haven’t used artillery before. They’ve mostly used commandoes.

When I was in Korea during the Reagan administration, the North Koreans were infiltrating commandos into South Korea. At Kunsan Air Base, from where I flew, the Korean army would go down to the beach every day to check for footprints. If they found any, they’d track the infiltrator down and kill him. Every morning, each private would rearrange the rocks on his section of the beach as a measure to detect intrusions.

Under Reagan, a North Korean commando infiltrated South Korea to observe the Team Spirit war games and shot it out to the death with the South Koreans.

Long before Reagan, North Korea was attacking South Korea. One older officer told me that he saw the heads of North Korean infiltrators on stakes outside one South Korean army camp.

North Korea has been run by madmen. They don’t care who is the US president. Had McCain been elected, this still would have happenned and we would take the same token response because North Korea has ten thousand artillery tubes pointed at Seoul, a knife to the throat of South Korea.

North Korea is at the point of collapse, bankrupt and starving. The best thing to do when your enemy is committing suicide is to let him. We should hold our fire and adopt a vulture strategy.

I agree Obama is an idiot steering us down the wrong road, but North Korea isn’t one of the reasons why. Conservatives should refrain from taking gratuitous potshots at him and concentrate on aimed fire at his policies.

Tantor on November 25, 2010 at 11:41 AM

She’s right.

The Kim family are going act like assh*les no matter whose in the White House.

Machiavelli Hobbes on November 25, 2010 at 1:48 PM

What didn’t Bush get blamed for?
albill on November 25, 2010 at 9:49 AM

Fair is fair. The media constantly assumed that Bush’s “aggression” forced otherwise peaceful dictators to take action they never would have otherwise.

But Obama not merely treating dictators as defacto sovereigns, but acknowledging them — literally bowing to them — as HIS lord and master? Oh, it’s downright silly to speculate that could never embolden a megalomaniac into thinking he might have some leeway…

logis on November 25, 2010 at 3:10 PM

Oh Megyn. Babe. Such bad acting. Or, your pregnancy induced hormonal imbalance is causing you to think irrationally. It happens often among those in the state of gestation and has over the millennia. It is completely natural. Maybe now might be a good time to begin taking that Family Leave time allowed by law.

Barack Hussein Obama is a weak-kneed Momma’s boy indeed. You certainly don’t need to be a rogue dictator to so easily realize as much and seize the moment.

FlatFoot on November 25, 2010 at 4:06 PM

Tantor on November 25, 2010 at 11:41 AM

As someone who is in Korea right now, in a combat brigade, I agree 100%. South Korea’s capital and economic center of gravity is within artillery range of thousands of enemy guns. This HAS been going on for 60 years… tunnels, submarines, commando raids. nK has over 100,000 special forces. This is just 1 more “incident” in a long line of incidents.

We cannot assume that the nK “leadership” uses the same logic to make decisions that we do.

BadBrad on November 25, 2010 at 7:55 PM

Megyn Kelly’s right.

flataffect on November 25, 2010 at 9:14 PM

I’m sure if Hill just danced with the li’l guy like Mad Albright, relations would normalize lickety split.

misterpeasea on November 26, 2010 at 12:01 AM

I agree with her on this one. North Korea has been pulling these stunts forever, regardless of who is president.

AnninCA on November 26, 2010 at 9:30 AM

Tantor: Great post, thanks

georgealbert on November 26, 2010 at 11:43 AM

Poor Obama getting picked on for being a terrible leader.

Can Fox please start a bimbo channel for these babes?

Hening on November 26, 2010 at 12:09 PM

BIMBO ALERT! Megyn do you think this would be happening if the old war-horse McCain would have been in the POTUS position? Grow up little girl. This is what weak (or in this case non-existing) leadership will bring our nation. The shame is upon those who voted for Obama. And, Megyn, for you to give him a pass on this shows that you’re not using that wonderful brain of yours. DD

Darvin Dowdy on November 26, 2010 at 12:14 PM

Hey Megyn! Screw Obama!

MCGIRV on November 26, 2010 at 1:27 PM

Hey Megyn! Screw Obama!

MCGIRV on November 26, 2010 at 1:27 PM

Is that a suggestion or an order? BJ wants to be included in that thang as well.

bayview on November 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM

when reagan was president:

North Korean Hit Squad, October 9, 1983: North Korean agents blew up a delegation from South Korea in Rangoon, Burma, killing 21 persons and injuring 48.

Kimpo Airport Bombing, September 14, 1986: North Korean agents detonated an explosive device at Seoul’s Kimpo Airport, killing five persons and injuring 29 others.

Downing of Airliner, November 29, 1987: North Korean agents planted a bomb aboard Korean Air Lines Flight 858, which subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean.

CarpalTunnel on November 26, 2010 at 2:50 PM

* Weakness invites attacks.

* Obama exudes weakness.

* Expect more attacks.

landlines on November 27, 2010 at 4:15 PM

North Korea doesn’t care about any military or civilian deaths on it’s side, the only thing it cares about is cash and luxury items for the ruling elite. The social elite in NK eat two meals a day, the poor eat one a day if they are lucky. What options beside war, entanglement, and sanctions do we really have? Neither SK or China want a war since they would take the brunt of it, and entanglement got us thru 2000-2010 (over now) the policies are working, they are just not fast.

Zekecorlain on November 29, 2010 at 6:57 PM

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