corianderstem
Blue Crack Distributor
Someone behind the scenes probably went "Oh shit, a toast! Play the song!"
Hey, W would probably have started singing along. "My country 'tis of thee ..... "
You'd think that's the sort of tradition detail that someone would tell the president about.
"Hey, when that song starts playing, just stand there and look serious, okay? Thanks."
I can not fathom the reaction that would have ensued had W done this.
I'm confused as to why they started playing the song while he was still speaking.
I think a few conservative commentators would genuinely feel very ill if they were here and copping the 24/7 glowing coverage he is actually getting.
The reason for this close friendship doesn’t just have to do with our shared history, our shared heritage; our ties of language and culture; or even the strong partnership between our governments. Our relationship is special because of the values and beliefs that have united our people through the ages.
Centuries ago, when kings, emperors, and warlords reigned over much of the world, it was the English who first spelled out the rights and liberties of man in the Magna Carta. It was here, in this very hall, where the rule of law first developed, courts were established, disputes were settled, and citizens came to petition their leaders.
Over time, the people of this nation waged a long and sometimes bloody struggle to expand and secure their freedom from the crown. Propelled by the ideals of the Enlightenment, they would ultimately forge an English Bill of Rights, and invest the power to govern in an elected parliament that’s gathered here today.
What began on this island would inspire millions throughout the continent of Europe and across the world. But perhaps no one drew greater inspiration from these notions of freedom than your rabble-rousing colonists on the other side of the Atlantic. As Winston Churchill said, the “…Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, Habeas Corpus, trial by jury, and English common law find their most famous expression in the American Declaration of Independence.”
For both of our nations, living up to the ideals enshrined in these founding documents has sometimes been difficult, has always been a work in progress. The path has never been perfect. But through the struggles of slaves and immigrants, women and ethnic minorities, former colonies and persecuted religions, we have learned better than most that the longing for freedom and human dignity is not English or American or Western –- it is universal, and it beats in every heart. Perhaps that’s why there are few nations that stand firmer, speak louder, and fight harder to defend democratic values around the world than the United States and the United Kingdom.
We are the allies who landed at Omaha and Gold, who sacrificed side by side to free a continent from the march of tyranny, and help prosperity flourish from the ruins of war. And with the founding of NATO –- a British idea –- we joined a transatlantic alliance that has ensured our security for over half a century.
Together with our allies, we forged a lasting peace from a cold war. When the Iron Curtain lifted, we expanded our alliance to include the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, and built new bridges to Russia and the former states of the Soviet Union. And when there was strife in the Balkans, we worked together to keep the peace.
Today, after a difficult decade that began with war and ended in recession, our nations have arrived at a pivotal moment once more. A global economy that once stood on the brink of depression is now stable and recovering. After years of conflict, the United States has removed 100,000 troops from Iraq, the United Kingdom has removed its forces, and our combat mission there has ended. In Afghanistan, we’ve broken the Taliban’s momentum and will soon begin a transition to Afghan lead. And nearly 10 years after 9/11, we have disrupted terrorist networks and dealt al Qaeda a huge blow by killing its leader –- Osama bin Laden.
Together, we have met great challenges. But as we enter this new chapter in our shared history, profound challenges stretch before us. In a world where the prosperity of all nations is now inextricably linked, a new era of cooperation is required to ensure the growth and stability of the global economy. As new threats spread across borders and oceans, we must dismantle terrorist networks and stop the spread of nuclear weapons, confront climate change and combat famine and disease. And as a revolution races through the streets of the Middle East and North Africa, the entire world has a stake in the aspirations of a generation that longs to determine its own destiny.
Remarks by the President to Parliament in London, United Kingdom | The White House
^ Yeah...one can't imagine a British PM getting Congress to spring to their feet like trained monkeys with every other turn of phrase. Especially not when his speech is one big defiant finger in the eye to the President (which a British PM wouldn't do).
This is not a new line of attack--Beck and various rightwing bloggers have been working it for a few years now--but we're going to hear more and more of it from the right heading into the elections (great wedge issue). This is all part of the broader pattern you commented on yourself awhile back, re: Huckabee's and Palin's Israel trips--this co-opting by the religious right of the whole discourse of Jews/Israel/Zionism as all-purpose militant-Islamophobic buzzwords. Then if necessary, to smooth over any contradictions, they can always pull out the trustworthy "Well, you see, there are good, faithful Jews, like my friend and donor Abe Foxman, then there are godless leftists like J Street, JVP and [name of most recent Jewish pundit to defend Obama's Israel policy]..."). Hell, even Jeffrey Goldberg--pro-Iraq War, Iran-obsessed Jeffrey Goldberg!--now gets hundreds of hate mails a day branding him a Nazi, a Bolshevik, and a JINO for expressing the view that Israel's status quo on settlements is untenable.Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) questioned why US Jews have not expressed more outrage over President Obama's demand that the Israeli-Palestinian peace process be based around the 1967 borders, with mutually agreeable land swaps. "The short answer is that most American Jews are liberal, and most American liberals side with the Palestinians and vague notions of 'peace' instead of with Israel’s well-being and security," Walsh wrote in an op-ed for the conservative Daily Caller. Walsh, who is Catholic, added that the American Jewish community should be more pro-Israel.
you're right.
when you're intelligent, articulate, knowledgeable about the world and other cultures, treat other leaders with respect, have an effective foreign policy, treat Muslims like people, and generally have earned the good faith of the rest of the world that you aren't an ignorant, idiot cowboy who invades other countries out of petty revenge or stupidity, people are more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt when you fuck up from time to time.
There's also the possibility that our current president, "Navy Corpse-Man,""call the president of Canada," is not as sophisticated and knowledgeable as advertised and that his predecessor wasn't the idiot his political enemies imagined he was.
This is not a new line of attack--Beck and various rightwing bloggers have been working it for a few years now--but we're going to hear more and more of it from the right heading into the elections (great wedge issue). This is all part of the broader pattern you commented on yourself awhile back, re: Huckabee's and Palin's Israel trips--this co-opting by the religious right of the whole discourse of Jews/Israel/Zionism as all-purpose militant-Islamophobic buzzwords.
Cable TV and the internet are just new voices for a union that has been growing since the rebirth of conservatism in American politics 50 years ago. As conservatives (which came to include the Religious Right) embraced our Founding Fathers and Principles they formed a natural alliance with a democratic state of Israel. Conservatives proudly spoke of American exceptionalism which itself was borne out of our founders' belief that the United States unique destiny was to be "a New Israel." The Left has largely abandoned this belief.
At the same time conservatives speak of our heritage of Judeo-Christian values much of liberalism was embracing non-traditional values and views as its members became more secular.
50 years ago the home of antisemitism was largely on the Right. Now it is the Left, especially internationally, that contains groups hostile to Israel and Jews while sympathetic to the demands of Arab nations and Palestinian rights.
Somehow blaming America and trashing Israel go hand in hand in many leftist think tanks, academia and universities, Black Liberation churches, the U.N. and many other segments of the Left.
In 2011 his isn't about "buzz words" or "wedge issues" but something much deeper. Something a great many people in the world would like to see eradicated.
Little Satan and the Great Satan.
That would doubtless all go over very well at a certain kind of rally, but it really doesn't at all address the Obama Administration's Israel policy, which differs very little from that of Bush's, Clinton's and Bush Sr.'s.Cable TV and the internet are just new voices for a union that has been growing since the rebirth of conservatism in American politics 50 years ago. As conservatives (which came to include the Religious Right) embraced our Founding Fathers and Principles they formed a natural alliance with a democratic state of Israel. Conservatives proudly spoke of American exceptionalism which itself was borne out of our founders' belief that the United States unique destiny was to be "a New Israel." The Left has largely abandoned this belief.
At the same time conservatives speak of our heritage of Judeo-Christian values much of liberalism was embracing non-traditional values and views as its members became more secular.
50 years ago the home of antisemitism was largely on the Right. Now it is the Left, especially internationally, that contains groups hostile to Israel and Jews while sympathetic to the demands of Arab nations and Palestinian rights.
Somehow blaming America and trashing Israel go hand in hand in many leftist think tanks, academia and universities, Black Liberation churches, the U.N. and many other segments of the Left.
In 2011 his isn't about "buzz words" or "wedge issues" but something much deeper. Something a great many people in the world would like to see eradicated.
Little Satan and the Great Satan.
Cable TV and the internet are just new voices for a union that has been growing since the rebirth of conservatism in American politics 50 years ago. As conservatives (which came to include the Religious Right) embraced our Founding Fathers and Principles they formed a natural alliance with a democratic state of Israel. Conservatives proudly spoke of American exceptionalism which itself was borne out of our founders' belief that the United States unique destiny was to be "a New Israel." The Left has largely abandoned this belief.
At the same time conservatives speak of our heritage of Judeo-Christian values much of liberalism was embracing non-traditional values and views as its members became more secular.
50 years ago the home of antisemitism was largely on the Right. Now it is the Left, especially internationally, that contains groups hostile to Israel and Jews while sympathetic to the demands of Arab nations and Palestinian rights.
Somehow blaming America and trashing Israel go hand in hand in many leftist think tanks, academia and universities, Black Liberation churches, the U.N. and many other segments of the Left.
In 2011 his isn't about "buzz words" or "wedge issues" but something much deeper. Something a great many people in the world would like to see eradicated.
Little Satan and the Great Satan.
Maybe because David Cameron looks like an oiled up leg of ham stuffed into a condom? No-one wants to see that on tv.
Not mine unfortunately, it's how he's drawn here by the cartoonist for the Guardian. Every week.