In a predictable roll out of yet another Republican big lie, John McCain, John Bolton, and Tony Snow today all simultaneously tried to blame President Bill Clinton for the fact that North Korea has been able to develop a nuclear weapon. And so another set of Republican talking points makes its debut....
Campaigning Southfield, Michigan today,
John McCain lashed out at Bill Clinton:
"I would remind Senator (Hillary) Clinton and other Democrats critical of the Bush administration's policies that the framework agreement her husband's administration negotiated was a failure," McCain said at a news conference after a campaign appearance for Republican Senate candidate Mike Bouchard.
"The Koreans received millions and millions in energy assistance. They've diverted millions of dollars of food assistance to their military," he said.
There you go again, Senator McCain...
I couldn't find much on Senator Clinton's response to the North Korean nuclear test, but I did find this item in the Long Island Business News, reporting on a coffee klatch Clinton attended with a group of Island reporters at the Crest Hollow Country Club. No doubt gulping down a cafe latte (cinnamon sprinkles, no foam) as she spoke, Clinton said:
"I consider the North Korean leadership to be the equivalent of a teenage gang. They are desperate for respect. They are desperate for some acknowledgement that they are the toughest guys in the neighborhood. They are immature and indifferent to their own people ... If I was able to lay down a policy, I would send more inspectors in, I would put more pressure on them, offer some help with their energy and their food. It may be emotionally gratifying to say `you're bad people and we don't want to have anything to do with you,' but I don't think you weaken yourself by talking to people you're trying to contain, deter, defeat or even, eventually, remove from office."
Not to be outdone,
John Bolton opened fire as well on Bill Clinton in the pages of the New York Times:
Bolton responded today to criticism from Democrats and others that the nuclear test represented a failure of the Bush administration's policy on North Korea.
He said that the Communist regime in Pyongyang began a secret nuclear program after having negotiated an agreement not to do so with President Clinton.
"They probably began violating that before the ink was dry," said Bolton. "The nuclear threat was really uncovered during the Bush administration."
He also fended off criticism that President Bush has contributed to the crisis by refusing North Korea's request for one-on-one meetings. Asked about former Secretary of State James A. Baker III's recent comment that "it's not appeasement to talk to your enemies," Bolton said, "If they want to talk to us, all they have to do is buy a plane ticket to Beijing."
OK, I get it now. Ambassador Bolton is saying that Bill Clinton was a weakling who couldn't stand up to North Korea, which forced Bush to come in and talk tough with Kim Jong-il, and that's how North Korea got the atomic bomb? I got it.
And to repeat the big lie, Tony Snow held a White House press briefing in which explained Bush administration foreign policy in response to a reporter's question:
MR. SNOW :You know what, the old policy of appeasing these guys apparently isn't going to work anymore. So you have to look prospectively now, and say, okay, what is going to be happening in the future that we think is going to enable us to modify the behavior of the North Koreans?
Question: Just one more, I just want to be clear. You're suggesting the Clinton approach was appeasement?
MR. SNOW: No, what I'm saying is that in the past what has happened is the attempt to say to the North Koreans -- because I think the Clinton administration, again, tried something and it was worth trying, which is to say, okay, we're going to give you a bunch of carrots: You guys renounce; we're going to try to give you a light-water breeder reactor, we'll give you incentives. And the North Koreans took it and ran away with it....
Question: And your belief is that the march to war against Iraq in no way limited this administration's ability to dissuade North Korea from developing nuclear weapons?
MR. SNOW: Absolutely right, absolutely right, absolutely right
Repeating the big lie one more time, Snow drilled the point home at another press briefing (Quicktime video):
I understand what the Clinton administration wanted to do. They wanted to talk reason to the government of Pyongyang, and they engaged in bilateral conversations. And Bill Richardson went with flowers and chocolates, and he went with light water nuclear reactors, and he went with promises of heavy oil and a basketball signed by Michael Jordan, and many other inducements for the dear leader to try to agree not to develop nuclear weapons, and it failed....But there was at least a good faith effort on the part of some very smart people to use that as an approach.
We've learned from that mistake. One reason not to go bilateral with the North Koreans is what we're seeing right now, which is that you need to have concerted pressure, especially from those who have very close and ongoing ties with the government of North Korea, so that you can get results. So this is not a continuation of the Clinton program.
So does everyone have this straight? It's Bill Clinton's fault that North Korea has the bomb (because the Democrats are soft on national security). Flowers and chocolates definitely won't work. And it's Michael Jordan's fault, to boot...