From the Huffington Post:
The White House said President Barack Obama misspoke on Tuesday when he referred to a “Polish death camp” while honoring a Polish war hero.
The president’s remark had drawn immediate complaints from Poles who said Obama should have called it a “German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland,” to distinguish the perpetrators from the location. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called it a matter of “ignorance and incompetence.”
Obama made the comment while awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. Karski died in 2000.
During an East Room ceremony honoring 13 Medal of Freedom recipients, Obama said that Karski “served as a courier for the Polish resistance during the darkest days of World War II. Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action.”
Sikorski tweeted that the White House would apologize for “this outrageous error” and that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk would address the matter on Wednesday.
“It’s a pity that such a dignified ceremony was overshadowed by ignorance and incompetence.”
Alex Storozynski, president of the Kosciuszko Foundation, said Obama’s comment “shocked the Poles present at the White House and those watching on C-SPAN. … Karski would have cringed if he heard this.”
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: “The president misspoke. He was referring to Nazi death camps in Poland. We regret this misstatement, which should not detract from the clear intention to honor Mr. Karski and those brave citizens who stood on the side of human dignity in the face of tyranny.”
Anxious to quell the controversy, the White House also noted that the president had visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial while in Poland and that he has repeatedly discussed the bravery of Poles during World War II.
Then there is the SCREW YOU that comes after the apology for misspeaking. Good grief. The president obviously, to even the dumbest rube, intended to honor Jan Karski and other Poles who fought with the resistance during WWII. Why would some low class moron [read “communist bastard”] call the President of the United States of America “incompetent” and “ignorant?” Perhaps the Poles have forgotten who helped bail their asses out of a sling some 65-70 years ago? They seem awfully defensive.
Foreign Minister Sikorski needs to be sent home in disgrace for failing Diplomacy 101 and Appreciation to Host Country. There are ways to handle things like this. Mr. Sikorski chose the wrong way as did any other Pole who publicly criticized this gesture of honor and good will from the United States of America. A quiet message through diplomatic channels could have cleared this issue up without incident. Sikorski got out a cannon to kill a fly. Not a good decision.
Obama is just sooooo smart!
Ooooohhhhhhh yes he is. Glad you are finally admitting it. It would be a grave mistake to not recognize that fact.
It is unfathomable for anyone to criticize the anointed one for being a doofus! I mean really, nobody ever criticized any other President for being a moron!
I spent 8 years defending George Bush. I would defend him for this also. Screw the Poles who criticized. They did it the wrong way. NO class.
OK, lets be fair here. It is the polish community that is upset not some rabid Republican group. Why are they upset, well, becuase they are professionals and expect Obama to be the same. They expect Obama to know – to see, get and correct the error as it is coming accross the teleprompter. All too often – even on the stump – he acts like a puppet, a front man, a cardboard image. Corpsman anyone? Is he even real? But the bigger problem is the paper thin depth of his research aand writing staff. One or two gaffs like this are a problem, but they continue time and time again for him and for Biden. Its a managment problem. I do not think he relies on his professional staff at State or OMB. Something is wrong behind Obama’s alabaster pillored gates.
No, they aren’t professional or they would have handled their gripe professionally. they committed the unforgiveable: They looked a gift horse in the mouth.
So let me get something straight….our country, the United States of America awards one of their freedom fighters from last century the highest civilian honor out nation can give and the communist government, now in control, criticizes us? Remember, the President acts on behalf of US. You think this is ok?
Do you usually side with communist countries against your own? I do not.
Get over the teleprompter. If that is the most you have to criticize Obama over, then you have it good.
I expect any country to act appreciative and to handle things diplomatically.
You sure make no secret of your Obama-hatred. Have you explored the roots of that hatred?
@Moon-howler
Errr? Poland is not communist. But, now that you raise it, the medal of freedom to a polish freedom fighter is odd. I assume he is an American now, but still. As to pointing out the gaff, no, I don’t think that was overly sensitive.
There it is, if you are not blindly for Obama you must be a racist.
It’s pretty bad when the Poles are calling you out for being “ignorant and incompetent”. I don’t think this is going to be too big of a deal. All the Poles are asking for is an apology. Obama has apologized for much less.
I didn’t say that. Are you feeling defensive.
Communist, post-communist, with Poland, I see little difference. Some countries took the cure a little better than others. I hardly consider Poland a cradle of democracy. They still have some real strong comrade thinking going on there.
He should have said SCREW YOU.
Ouch. That was flawless. 🙂
I can see both sides of this. On Obama’s side it was just a mistake. A small verbal gaffe. When you speak long enough you’ll have them. It happens.
I can understand the Poles wanting a quick appology. I think they should get one. Just be done with it. The longer it lingers it goes from being a verbal slip to something else..
Hell, even a “MY BAD!” should smooth some feathers.
Have you all ever heard of displomacy and how it is handled? You can be like Kruschev and bang your shoe on the table or you can have your diplomats contact their diplomats. It wasn’t that big of a deal. Name me one person who missed that it was Nazi camps IN Poland.
Mountain, meet molehill.
Point: the Poles were rude and unappreciative and confrontational. the gaffe, if it even was one, was a one. They tried making it a 9.
@Blue
recipients of the Medal of Freedom award do not have to be American. ex Elie Wiesel
My suggestion would be for this hystrionic Polish leader to stand down and show a significant amount of humility. Who is he to deign the cloak of indignation when it comes to the Holocaust and atrocities? Lets not forget the purvasive anti semitism that existed pre AND post Holocaust in Poland. What hypocrisy.
President Obama was honoring a brave Pole and this Polish rube has totally deflected the amazing bravery of this man that Obama was acknowledging into a nothing grammar police story.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,201966,00.html
Historians call it Europe’s last pogrom — neighbors and police setting upon Jewish Holocaust survivors in the Polish town of Kielce with guns, clubs and metal bars in a murderous rampage little more than a year after the defeat of Nazi Germany.
Even as officials prepared to mark its 60th anniversary Tuesday with wailing sirens and Hebrew prayers in the town’s Jewish cemetery, the Kielce massacre still darkens relations between Jews and Poles.
“How a normal population could indulge in such massive criminal behavior — this was and is the most important question that Kielce raises,” said Jan T. Gross, the author of “Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz.”
@Moon-howler “Communist, post-communist, with Poland, I see little difference. Some countries took the cure a little better than others. I hardly consider Poland a cradle of democracy. They still have some real strong comrade thinking going on there.”
I am…almost speechless at this statement. Overall, I think you would find the Poles to be some of the most liberal and tolerant people in the world. “Peaceful coexistence” seems to be an operating cultural philosophy. Education and the arts are highly valued. I believe university education is free. I’ve been to Warsaw, and it’s a vibrant, modern European city that the Poles are very proud of. I don’t get what you mean by the “comrade thinking.” Look at their geography–it was a little hard for them to fight back against the Nazi and then Communist forces.
Some were, some weren’t. Have I missed something or was Poland not a communist country? These places don’t just poof…now we are a democracy. There are lingering sentiments of communism everywhere and it seems that is who spoke out against the United States yesterday. The Poland that helped us in Afghanistan obviously is not the Poland that rudely lambasted us in an attempt to honor.
Ever dealt with some of those KGB sorts? I have and what I heard was KBG mentality, thus comrade thinking.
Regardless…if Poland is the motherland of democracy, their representative was freaking rude to our country and HE deserves to be expelled.
Of course, I am speaking present day, but I have to ask if you have also condemned the modern Germans for all time for their WWII atrocities, as well?
Not condemned but….let’s just say I have a trust but verify mentality.
This is not about the Polish government or Polish culture, although I can see why diverting the issue to polish anti-semitism and Obama racism is useful to the Obama faithful. It is about continued incompetence and arrogance. I agree, a “My Bad ” would be somewhat helpful, but its coming from his stooges not from him. He, Obama, needs to say that he gets it and, yet, he can’t because he really did miss it. Worse, for Poland this is not the first insult, so this time they really needed to speak up. Obama managed to scrap the missle defense shield that was to be installed in Poland on the very day of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland and now he manages to confligurate Polish and Nazi death camps. Its enoguth to make a polish official drink and its all poor staff work. Fire somebody!
Blue, it is all about the rudeness of the representative of the Polish government. I expect him to be recalled soon. I have no problem with their culture.
Why are you droning on about Obama racism? YOU are the only one talking about it.
I remain outraged that Americans would side with a foreign country over a misplaced modifier at worse, because they hate their own president so much.
Obama is under no obligation to continue what he saw as a flawed missile defense shield. I believe the word his administration used was “revamp.” Concern is over Iranian short ranged missiles. it has nothing to do with this discussion. There was nothing to install. If Bush wanted it, where is it?
Its all about bad manners and ingratitude.
@Blue The thing is, the modern Poles are probably farthest away from racism and intolerance than many other Europeans. It’s even apparently a great place to be LGBT. That’s why the whole must-be-hatred-for-Obama-based-in-racism thing just doesn’t really fly when it comes to the Poles.
@Emma
Agree Emma. That is why I am still stunned by the suggestion that the Polish Prime Minister is a Rube? In fairness to Obama, he was talking about the Polish resistance. Given that and the above, are all Poles now rubes? Poles might be a little sensitive here. During Nazi occupation 6 MILLION Poles died – about half of them Jewish, but the point is its a huge mistake to say that they were responsible for the systematic genocide. Yes, there was anti-semitism before and after the war in Poland, throughout Germany and Europe and yes here in the United States. There are ass-holes everywhere and in every group. There still are, but that is not sufficient to wave off this mistake as a slip of the toungue. He read it off the teleprompter. That is ultimately a management and staff competency problem that has become all too repetitive and needs to be corrected. Fire somebody.
Oh PUHLEEZE. Stop making up crap. No one said all Poles were rubes. I said the foreign minister was a rube–a rude rube at that.
No one said all poles were responisble for systematic anything any more than all Americans lynched blacks. Let’s not play that game.
No one needs to be fired. The Polish govt needs to thank the United States and try using better manners, after that recall the rude rube.
When your ambassador or whatever he is, calls the President of the United States “incompetent” when he is honoring one of your citizens, we have a problem. That is one of the strongest breaches of protocol I have ever heard. Wars have been started over less.
This entire story is a fabricated bunch of silliness. President Obama, in the future, I guess should not honor the good deeds of others.
Once again, given the history of Poland, this leader missed an opportunity to highlight the goodness of his countrymen and instead diverted the intent of the medal of honor onto a fabricated political “crisis”. What a rube.
@Moon-howler
It is not about rudeness or hate. It is about continued repetitive incompetence. Nobody is going to be recalled and the Obama Administration will continue to apologize. I fear, however, that the incompetency will continue.
As to the racism, hey you started it. I just rejected it. And how should I read the line in Post # 6 “You sure make no secret of your Obama-hatred. Have you explored the roots of that hatred? “Roots” really Moon.
I started nothing over racism. I never mentioned or aluded to it. You say Roots? Do mean Alex Haley “Roots?” Now that is a true stretch. I am not that clever. i would have just asked you if you had ironed your sheets if I wanted to imply anything.
I just think you are projecting a lot and seem to hate the man. I don’t hate any president I have lived under. There some I like better than others but that’s about it. All presidents have had good and bad points. I even like a lot about Nixon.
Do you know why you hate Obama so much? That is a serious question. You have sided with a foreign country over your own.
And yes, I wrote the thread I get to name the theme ….and the theme is major rudeness and lack and appreciation.
You can always expect that people like Slowpoke and Blue will take the low road. It’s about as good as they can do on any given day. If you were making some comment about Ghandi’s life and work, they would find something wrong with it–you can be sure.
I can only imagine how WWII might have been different if leaders were tweeting and facebooking their unscripted thoughts.
Maybe many of the horrible things wouldn’t have happened if communication had been better….or maybe it would have been worse. Hard to say.
@Elena, regardless of how one feels about George Bush, I never once doubted his sincerity.
I can tell you exactly what policy beliefs I totally disagreed with during Bush’s presidency. What I did not do is get on the bandwagon and pick at every stupid little thing that people picked at. I did not hate Bush nor did I question his patriotism, I just had a different world view. I believe people lose credibility when they fabricate a “crisis” when there is none.
How would it have been different Emma?
On the contrary! Loves me some Ghandi! He was the man for his time and place. And hey, I left your Monday ludicrous-gushing fan club alone on Monday!
I sound like a Mamas and Pappas song…..Monday, Monday!
Obama gets his facts wrong and people get their feelings hurt. Bush gets his facts wrong and we invade a country, start a decade-long war, spend a trillion US tax dollars, and tens of thousands of people die. Obama should do like Bush: strut around in a military uniform, declare “mission accomplished,” and leave it to someone else to come along later and shovel up the mess.
So we issue a paper appology and the Poles tell us to shove it up our asses. Love it.
What I like about this isn’t that it’s a “fabricated right wing story” but something playing out on the international stage for all to see. This tickles me a bit.
Why should you like it? Do you like your country being reprimanded? I do not, especially from a country with a less than sterling past. Does it not bother you that our country was honoring one of their countrymen?
Blue, where can we expect to hear you deliver a flawless speech? I’m dying to attend and listen for the flub. I guess you expect Obama to differ from past Presidents and write his own speeches.
It’s pathetic that you can guess the posters who will come rushing in to denounce Obama over any minor thing – even when it comes to defending another country over a verbal flub. The last time I checked “Polish” could imply the country in which the camps were located and not necessarily the country whose soldiers created them. This pissiness should have been handled diplomatically.
While we’re on he subject of comments abt “other” people, there’s a column in today’s WashPost on A4, “Ann Romney talks German”. It’s 2010; she’s into “horse ballet”. Asked whether she was ever unhappy with her coach, the German-born Jan Ebeling, she answered,
“I think that is not a fair question because we all get upset at certain times with anybody that is – you know, especially a German.”
ah ha! so we sdhould exapect a gaffe or two should the Romenys end up in the WH?
Because, just like him the people on here defending the action of the President aren’t looking to common sense. You hurt someone’s feelings – you say you’re sorry. Hopefully you even mean it. He made an error. To me a small one because I could care less about a country I can’t even find on the map. But, because a lot of Poles tend to get irked off when you are a world leader and then say that the camps were run by the Poles… that I can see pissing them off.
So we have a pissed off ally. Whats the first thing I would do? Call them up OR get Hillary on the phone and tell her to stroke the client (ego! get your heads out of the gutter)
Instead he does it by edict through one of his National Security flunkees.
” Does it not bother you that our country was honoring one of their countrymen?”
We shouldn’t be honoring foreign citizens. But if we are and are doing so to stroke an ally (because we pissed them off earlier for something else) at least…do it right.
I am almost sorry I asked. @marin
There is protocol to handle problems like this. No one should have been pissed off. The camps were in Poland. No one said they ran them.
Why shouldn’t we honor a foreign citizen? When did we become that isolated? there are several foreigners on the list.
I would defend any US president. Is that wrong in your mind?
Yep, This election cycle is clearly going to be great for this country. I can see that it is already pulling us together. I really did think we could agree that this gaff-proness (:) needs to be dealt with. My mistake. Apparantly we cannot even question the competence of the annointed one’s staff anymore without being labled here a racist and an Obama hater. I also think you will find that this was a bigger diplomatic and frankly a larger domestic election gaff than most people think it is. It is not the first or the most serious one the Obama folks have made re Poland and that makes it all the more serious and interesting. His fub was that he totally missed it. Oh, and BTW, according to the Polish press, the speech has yet to be corrected on-line so it is still building in intensity.
@Blue
Gaffe proness? After 8 years of George Bush, I am hysterical with laughter.
That wasn’t even a gaffe. Screw Poland and screw their prime minister. They protest too much. All one has to do is scratch the surface of history during that time period to understand why. Nearly all accounts from Holocaust survivors in Poland speak of atrocities committed by Poles–not all Poles, but some Poles. Perhaps it is these thousands of accounts that make the Polish government so paranoid.
At any rate, their reaction is diplomatically unacceptable and unbefitting a country whose citizen was just awarded recognition of the highest honor. The Polish people should be ashamed because of the uncomplementary attention PM Tusk has called to their nation. Where is the Thank you. Obviously if the United States thought Poland were responsible for death camps there would be no award, now would there be? doh!
For the record, if I wanted to call you a racist, you would know it. You wouldn’t have to extrapolate some bullshit out of nothingness. I have, however, called you an Obama hater. Everything you have said indicates that. Are you denying that you dislike the president a great deal? At least man up and admit it.
There was no flub. Get over it. As a novelty, try putting your country before your politics.
@marinm
“So we have a pissed off ally. Whats the first thing I would do? Call them up OR get Hillary on the phone and tell her to stroke the client (ego! get your heads out of the gutter)”
That IMHO is the second thing. First we need to fire somebody in the WH speech writing research and vetting office to stop the embarassments. No Obama supporter here, but for the good of the country do something — and the tell the Poles that you threw another one under the bus for it.
I’ve never been to Poland, but after Emma’s rave reviews I think perhaps we do need to make a special effort to reach out and make amends for Obama’s gaff. I have an idea. A few months ago the Polish government filed criminal charges against the former head of their intelligence service for kidnapping and torture because of his role in facilitating a secret CIA black site north of Warsaw during the Bush administration. Abyu Zubaydah, among others, is alleged to have been held and abused at the Polish site. The Obama administration, the Holder Justice Department in particular, has refused to cooperate with the Polish government and tried to stop them from pursuing this case. To show that we really do value our relationship with Poland, the administration should reverse course and agree to cooperate with our Polish colleagues in their criminal prosecution. http://www.harpers.org/archive/2012/03/hbc-90008514
@Moon-howler
“No one said they ran them.”
Actually that’s the reason we have this thread because the gaffe is that Obama said the camp belonged to the Poles.
No it’s not wrong to defend any American President. But they are not demigods. They make mistakes. Its ok for them to admit a mistake and learn from it. This is a teachable moment. Do you not agree?
Blue. I agree with you but I would issue the apology first and then fire the idiot that wrote that speech and the editor he worked for. MSNBC can simply hire them anyways.
Firing seems to be your answer to everything. It is actually a horrible waste of money when one things about training time and getting a person up to speed.
We have this thread because *I* needed to put something up and this story pissed me off sufficiently to rise to the occassion. I think Poland has its nerve.
Bring the French out of the naughty chair and give Poland a permanet seat there. I think I will refuse to say Polish Sausage any more. Do they have other cliams to fame?
Perhaps a little quick study of Holocaust history might inform you of why I am not in a hurry to punish anyone but the Polish “diplomats.”
@Moon-howler
I can’t believe that the Poles are making such a big thing of this. Most people who have been to Krakow and taken a tour to Auschwitz would say that they had been to a Polish concentration camp, not a nazi-run death camp in Poland.
In October 1989 (abt 2 months before the Berlin wall fell) I visited Poland and toured
Auschwitz (Arbeit macht Frei) and when I talked about it, yes, I said I had visited a Polish concentration camp. The Nazis ran the camp, but a lot of Poles were working there. When our guide was asked how the local people could have not known what was going on, he became very defensive. One in our group had the nerve to ask how come the neighbors could have missed the smell from the ovens.
Well enought of that but I find it incredible that the people at the top in Poland have made such a big deal out of a very understandable gaffe by the President or his speech writer.
Thank you for setting the record straight, Punchak. What you just said confirms everything I have ever read about the subject.
Tusk also said that Poland suffered the worst during WWII. Interesting. Tell that to the Germans who had nearly every city leveled (and deservedly so). Tell that to the Soviets who lost over 20 million people during WWII and who had its citizens eating rats and chairs to stay alive.
Enough Polish revisionist history. The country doth protest too much, methinks.
I just listened to the slip-up. Man, that was a borderline slip-up at best. In face, given the particulars of what he was talking about…..it was just barely a slip-up. You have to be LOOKING to bash Obama over that. But then again, that’s what the left does to us…..so I’m afraid that’s how it’s gotta be.
To set the record straight on the matter of the Poles:
From Wiki:
The government of nations are not the people. The people are not the government.
Like all countries, there are good people and bad people.
@SlowpokeRodriguez
Pokie, thanks for admitting that it was a tiny gaffe in the world of gaffes, especially considering the context.
There are people who are going to pick at everything, regardless. Far left and far right seem to do it best. You are right. I just resent it coming from a country whose citizen we are awarding.
I hate those who lie in wait for that gotcha moment. Its one thing to state policy you hate. Its another to misspeak. That happens to all of us from time to time. (and mistype)
Again, thanks.
I’m no WW2 expert, but didn’t the Nazis set up at least one or two death camps in Poland? In that case, if Obama is referring to location, then it could be Polish death camp. Like I said, it’s a real thin gaffe at best.
Yeah, there were six of them, so there’s even an instance where what Obama said wasn’t all that terribly wrong. Of course the Poles might do well to remember that they could very well be singing the German or Russian national anthems!
I see punchak was talking about that very thing in post #49.
Moon, I absolutely would NOT trust wikipedia. For one thing, the Danish gov’t asked that the ENTIRE country be counted as one since the entire country refused to cooperate with the Germans. The Jewish population in Poland 1939…approx 3.3 million. Killed 2.9-3 million.
http://www.humanitas-international.org/holocaust/jwlosses.htm
That said, this whole hullabaloo is a joke. Obama miffed it. Should apologize. Poland’s gov’t needs to get a grip, but is understandably upset. Between this and our betrayal over the missile shield…..
Cargo, I am sorry you think I am such a rube that my research skills don’t venture past wiki. I have held a degree from a fairly decent liberal arts school for almost a half century. Well, not quite THAT long, but getting there.
Wiki will do for research that highlights the uncommon valor of the people of Poland.
Denmark has an incredible record. Elena and I discussed that today. We aren’t talking about Denmark. We are talking about the country that needs to sit in the naughty chair, Poland. Denmark is pretty much above reproach on protecting Jews.
Stop apologizing for your country. Betrayal? Since when are we the world’s keeper? Bush started the missile shield talk. Where is it? I thought you wanted to cut spending? We don’t have the money to go around propping up every little piss-ant country in the world. Let’s let the “stop spending” that you always preach start with NOT satisfying every conservative’s wet dream of spending every cent we have as a nation on weapons.
Sorry but I would rather have my social security check in my pocket than diverted to prop up Poland’s defense. The mood I am in with Poland and any of you Poland apologists who think it is perfectly alright for Poland to speak disrespectfully to the head of this country, regardless of who it is is not good. I would favor sending them a daisy cutter or two for their insolence.
Let’s put it this way…I have never been a George W. Bush supporter but he was president of The United States for 8 years. You will not find where I agreed with a foreign nation over my president who represented MY country. Why? It didn’t happen.
Some of the reactions on this blog today have really sickened me. Some of you obviously place your partisanship way over country. I actually thought many people would share my outrage at Poland for being so insulent and low class in the face of honoring one of its citizens.
I apparently see some of you as more American than you see yourselves. I was wrong.
Jan Karski came to the United States and became a naturalized citizen. He was a professor at Georgetown University.
So…he was an American. Who was it that got all bunched up over awarding foreigners the Medal of Freedom? Well, you can calm down.
Good. He was one of ours then. Double Screw Poland. the President of Poland has much more class than old Tusk, the Prime Minister.
Thanks for being objective Slow, a good reminder to us all. I think this prime minister is working over time to embarrass Obama and thus the United States. He has distracted from the bravery of Jan Karksi, we should all take a moment to wonder aloud “would I have been that brave?”
@SlowpokeRodriguez
Am really very glad you didn’t comment on anything I wrote or was written about me on Memorial Day. Thanks very much for not spoiling a perfectly good day, one fille d with many good memories.
@Moon-howler
“Some of the reactions on this blog today have really sickened me. Some of you obviously place your partisanship way over country. I actually thought many people would share my outrage at Poland for being so insulent and low class in the face of honoring one of its citizens.”
I’m with you Moon. I suppose there are people on here who want President Obama to grovel–that would be in keeping with the image they already have of him. Thanks for taking the high road.
@George, I am not so sure my wanting to send in daisy cutters to teach Poland a lesson is really taking the high road, but thanks.
I was truly disappointed yesterday in how many people here sided with a foreign country who didn’t have a leg to stand on.
Actually I said that Poland needs to get a grip. It was a mistake.
What I said was that both sides need to tone it down. Obama can say, “Oops, I misspoke. I meant……” and the Poland needs to get a grip. It wasn’t that big of a deal.
As for the missile defense…..it was promised. And it protects our allies AND us. Early acquisition and all that. But…. that’s ok. We can cut it. And pull the troops out of Europe, Korea, etc. Of course, our allies will no longer look to us but will now make deals with China and Russia. Poland was our ally in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama is good at diplomacy. He’ll smooth it over. I’m sure of it.
China’s feeling so froggy that they’ve literally told Australia to pick one of us…US or China to be their friend. That support for our policies will result in less exports to China.
The white house has already said it regrettably misspoke. You want them to wear a horsehair shirt?
I would like to take back all the comments I made regarding the unfortunate staff incompetencies that appeared to have led to this issue. It was not a flub. As the story continues to develop and be reported on, it is now known that the story began with the WH refusing the Polish Government’s formal request to allow Lech Wlesa to recieve the Medal of Freedom for Karski. A real hero for freedom recieving the medal for a real hero for freedom. Meanwhile, The WH added Dolores Huerta, the honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, to the list of honorees. Preliminary Conclusions: (1) it was part of a larger effort to embarass Poland and they got it and (2) socialist politics are acceptable to the WH, but not the politics of a man who stood up and fought Soviet socialism.
This is far from being over yet.
Do you have a source for this story, Blue? Actually, Jan Karski was an American citizen after the war. Perhaps Poland had no business being in it at that point. Additionally, President Obama has written a letter of apology to the President of Poland. I am sorry he didn’t include SCREW YOU in that letter but the president had been much less offensive than the prime minister.
Why would Lech Welesa upstage the event? He was disrespectful to President Obama in the past. Perhaps he is not welcome.
http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2012/06/01/obama-says-he-regrets-polish-death-camp-gaffe?s_cid=rss:obama-says-he-regrets-polish-death-camp-gaffe.
The NYPost has a complete write up which affirms it is a member of the Hate-Obama club. Check it out, you should feel right at home.