Mark Kleiman posts the following picture of Bush shaking hands with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad:
Kleiman captions this picture as “Leader of the Free World smiles at noted Jew-baiter Mahathir Mohammed.”
Most rational people, particularly those who have paid attention to Bush’s policies in the Middle East, would fail to see George Bush as an anti-semite or one who enables anti-semites. Most reasonable people would consider this to be a cheapshot, as Conrad of the Gweilo Diaries did. Rather than heap scorn on Mark, Conrad instead chose to show Mark visually why this was such a cheap and unfair accusation:
Leader of the Free World gazes soulfully at noted Jew-killer Yasser Arafat
Conrad has several others that are just as amusing, and just as instructive to Mark why his outburst was a cheap shot and a low blow. Granted, Conrad is blogging from Hong Kong (suspiciously near Asia), and not the lofty moral enclave that is the School of Public Policy and Social Research at UCLA, so he probably lacks the perspective to understand that while Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is a scumbag, he is also the leading voice of all of Asia’s developing countries.
At any rate, Kleiman later responds, channeling Greg Easterbrook:
This seems to have struck a nerve, judging from the angry emails. But none of my correspondents specified which word in the phrase “noted Jew-baiter Mahathir Mohammed” needed to be more carefully explained. The Prime Minister’s career has relied from its beginning on whipping up hatred of Jews (despite the fact that Malaysia has no Jews). Nor did anyone explain why it was wrong to blame George W. Bush for giving such a warm greeting to such a thoroughgoing scoundrel.
First, Matt Stinson (my blogging better half), has some excellent background on Mahathir Mohammed and his importance in the region, as well as some remarks on the ‘reckless unilateralism’ of French Prime Minister Chirac, who was instrumental in blocking the UN censure of Dr. Mahathir. Dr. Kleiman must have missed that, and I would recommend that you all read both of Matt’s posts to get the full scoop (his permalinks are down, so just go to his website and search for “Holy Guilt-by-Association, Batman!” and “Sins of Omission”).
Second, since it is clear that Mark intends to be willfully obtuse, I will lay it out here in plain English:
Sometimes when you are the President of the United States and the leader of the free world, you have to deal with scummy people.
In fact, Mark, that is precisely what Conrad tried to illustrate and you either ignored or pretended to not understand. His point was that President Bill Clinton also had to deal with thoroughgoing scoundrels at times. In fact, these pictures will probably shock you:
President Bill Clinton Enjoys a Laugh With Racist Son of the South
President Bill Clinton Passes Notes to Leader of the Impeachment Coup, Speaker Newt Gingrich
Understand now, Mark? Sometimes you just have to deal with people you don’t like when you are President. Now go apologize, because you are better than that childish cheap shot you took at Bush. At least you used to be, according to all the great work you have done regarding drug policy.
Ricky
Lemme fetch my copy of the picture of Rosalyn Carter & John Wayne Gacy….
Kimmitt
I maintain the Mahathir’s speech was a form of confused pro-Semitism.
Sandy from Missouri
This whole thing makes me want to vomit!!!
My mom has worked hard most of her life. She NEVER had to get help from the government when she was young, even when she was a single parent she worked and PAID her TAXES.
Now she is disabled, 60 years old with many illnesses and living with chronic pain and memory loss.
She is on social security/disability living on 520 dollars a month.
HUD paid $250 of her 350 dollar rent, until she had to move her 81 year old mother in with her.
The house is a two bedroom home and my mom did not want her mother paying any rent so she could have a little something extra in her last years which is NOT much BTW, even though my now deceased grandfather was in WW2.
My Granny had no where else to go (only a nursing home)..
HUD had a hissy fit and cut my mom off completely when she told them about having her mom living with her.
I found out HUD pays single YOUNG able bodied mothers of children much more for rent and some of these young women even have part time JOBS and still get HUD.
My mother cant work even if she wanted to, and HUD gave her NO chance or time to explain about her elderly mother, and wont help her at all now.
They are playing GOD with her life ..the stress is making my mom sicker.
HUD even is lying about how long she has to wait to get back on HUD> they say it will be a two year waiting list for her, it’s a lie and we are fighting them over this issue..many of the people above her on this list are young and able to work, they just made the choice to be poor and to have KIDS and they are *above* my mom who is DISABLED and sick.
The people who work for HUD, could care less if she became homeless over this.
Missouri does not have a priority list for the disabled, the disabled are lumped in with the able bodied who can work but choose not to.
The corruption and WASTE of money in HUD here in Missouri is sickening to see…AND it makes me ILL to see BILLIONS going to help other countries when MY mom is suffering so in poverty because of disability and illness.. who has always worked and paid her taxes without ever going on welfare in her youth.
And this is how our government is treating her?
End of RANT!
Thanks
Andrew | BYTE BACK
What you got to say to Sandy?
It’s OT, but it’s far more interesting than the actual post on which I was simply going to comment – sometimes cheap shots are fun. Take it for what it is and sit down.
If you look past the surface, Mark wasn’t saying anything other than what you said Cole.
Harry
Actually Newt Gingrich is a native of Pennsylavania.
Yellowdog Dhimmicrat
So Sandy what are you and the rest of your family doing to help your mother and grandmother?
Sandy
Sorry, the post in question was meant for the oct 18, ‘More on the loans’ thread ..
As for what I’m doing for my mother.. I’m my mothers only child and all she has, other than her 81 year old mother who I help to take care of also.
I’m married with two children of my own and my husband and I do what we can for my mom. Believe me, if it wasn’t for us she would be put in some kind of boarding home that would cost the government more in the long run to take care of her.
I do all that I can for her gladly.
I give her money when she really needs it, BUT she HATES it because my husband is the who works while I stay at home and take care of my young kids and her and my Granny.
My mom has always been a strong and independent person her whole life never needing handouts.
She feels she paid her taxes to our government and now when she needs help our government ( HUD ) is treating her less than human because she wants to be able to maintain her OWN household. She cant depend on her mother to help pay rent because she is 81years old and could die anytime with congestive heart failure.
Anyway, I don’t know why I’m telling you folks all this?
I’m just frustrated at what HUD is doing to my mother when she cant barely live on what she gets now on soc/disability on top of HUD kicking her off of their program because my Grandmother had nowhere but a nursing home to go to is staying with her.
When I see MANY young women on HUD getting up to $450 dollars of their rent paid just because they CHOOSE to have kids and not work. I have seen some of these same women in my own town working part time jobs and letting boyfriends stay with them.
It is sickening.
Oh, one last bomb….my mom and grandmother are card carrying members of the Potawatomi tribe of Oklahoma.
They lived on the Potawatomi reservation for two years not to long ago, but to get any help you have to live on the reservation.
And to make a LONG story short…they lived in poverty even there and did not get much help from the tribe to overcome living in poverty. Makes me wonder where ALL the millions from the US government the tribes are getting is going?
Sure they are building casino’s and the HEAD of the Potawatomi tribe is living in a mansion and is a millionaire, while most in the tribe are still regulated to low fixed incomes, dealing with crappy housing and low grade commodity food handouts.
Sadly the Indian nations being SOVERN, means the average poor person in the tribe can’t fight the couruption for fear of being kicked off the rez, then getting no help at all.
Which is just what happend to my mom.
I am helping my mom to fight HUD and I hope she will soon be back on the program because we have proof of lies HUD told her and we just have to get it to the right person..
HH
Never mind that Bush personally called Mahathir’s statements “wrong and divisive”…
Dean
I find it interesting that, now that Dubya has, in fact, condemned Mahathir’s comments, there is neither an update nor even commentary at Kleiman’s blog on this.
One would think that he’d at least have said that this was insufficient, or too little too late?
Moe Lane
You sound surprised, Dean… although I suppose that possibly nobody’s told him.
Moe Lane
I stand corrected: update on the main site, but oddly not in the linked post. Must be some sort of web oddity.