Revisionist History Lives

Today's Post had a piece by a fellow who is saying that the US is on the right side of the Honduras affair. I posted a comment to his piece (see below) and if you want to see the piece itself (with a link to my response), go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/26/AR2009112602086.html. Makes for interesting and informative reading.
Mr. Schumacher's piece failed to point out that the US has been on the wrong side of this issue since day 1 and makes it seem like we had it right all along. I imagine Mr. Schumacher works for the State Department in the Department of Covering Up Stupid Things We Have Done (DCUSTWHD). Maybe the US should do the right thing and admit we made a mistake and acknowledge how the Hondurans are on the right path - maybe that will cause others in the world to validate the free and fair elections to be held by Honduras. I thought our foreign policy under Bush was pretty bad in a lot of ways, but under Obama we are plumbing new depths of ineptitude and silliness.

tlamb1 wrote:

This was a very nice rewriting of history - my compliments to the author. It is true to say that the United States is now on the right side of this sordid affair, but extremely misleading not to mention that it was on the wrong side for the entire period of time leading up to elections. The author neglected to mention that the State Department did everything it could to reinstate Zelaya over the wishes of the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress (a majority of which was from Zelaya's own party) based on his defying of the Honduran Constitution. The US cut off aid, froze assets and suspended visas - all in an attempt to force the small, poor, democratic nation of Honduras to bow to the will of Morales, Chavez, Ortega, Kirchner and their ilk. It was clear to anyone that was paying attention (but not State or Hillary Clinton or President Obama) that Zelaya was lawfully removed from his Presidency. The method by which he was removed from the country in the middle of the night did not play well for the world cameras, but in hindsight was done for the right reasons (i.e. to stop Zelaya from fomenting the riots that eventually occurred).
So now the State Department recognizes the error of its ways and they get a free pass? God forbid the State Department (and Mrs. Clinton and President Obama) admit it was wrong in the first place - perhaps that would help to further legitimize the election.

Man Bites Dog! Washington Post Op-Ed Writer Questions Obama Plan's Ludicrous Claims

I do some of my best thinking while running (too bad I don't run much anymore) and this morning I was wondering 1) how it can be that President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, their fellow Democrats and their journalistic enablers can talk with straight faces about how the Obama health plan will lower the deficit, and 2) more importantly, how anyone can possibly believe that nonsense. The Wall Street Journal points this out with great regularity, but in the other paper I read (the Washington Post), other than pieces by Charles Krauthammer, George Will and Robert Samuelson, there are only glowing words and fluff pieces trumpeting the fantastic claims of Obama, et al, by the rest of the Opinion writers (Ruth Marcus, David Broder, Eugene Robinson, Anne Applebaum, Richard Cohen, the Post's editorial board, etc., etc., etc.)
I just opened up today's Post and read (twice - I didn't believe what I was reading the first time) a piece by predictably liberal stalwart David Broder (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/20/AR2009112002618.html). And what was he writing about? Well, read it for yourself, but he talks about two things I rarely (I would say "never", but I am not that into hyperbole) see liberals mention: 1) a (vast) majority of Americans are against the Obama plan, and 2) any talk of cost savings or deficit reduction are just that - talk, preposterous talk at that.
The good news is that maybe some on the left really do see the flaws in the Obama plan, and I imagine the Obama administration really knows how unpopular this legislation is. The bad news is that I don't think this makes a whit of difference to Obama, Reid and Pelosi - they will do whatever it takes and tell as many lies as they can to get this legislative monstrosity passed. But then the good news (and I firmly believe this) is that the Democrats are going to suffer greatly in the polls in 2010 and again in 2012. To paraphrase the immortal words of Carl Spackler "so we've got that going for us...which is nice". Let's just hope the Republican president and Congress can roll back the abortion the Democrats are cooking up for us.

[Note: I am still working off and on (more off than on, as I have been busy on other things) on a piece called "Hooray for Honduras" which I will post soon. The news about Honduras will be a bit dated when I post it, but a large part of the piece reflects on my time in Latin America and how Americans are really perceived there.]