Something happened this week that makes me wonder if I'm living in the same world I thought I was in - or if perhaps I've warped into some alternate universe. Briefly, here's the gist of what happened:
Our esteemed President goes overseas and visits Israel.
In honor of Israel's 60th birthday he gives a speech to the Knesset - the Israeli parliament.
In this speech he invokes Nazi Germany, the 1939 invasion of Poland, and the "false comfort of appeasement."
OK, up until this point everything seems pretty much like the world I was used to ... George Bush makes moronic statement - nothing to see here ... move along. BUT ... the ensuing week sees a whole host of reactions and yet nowhere can I find a blogger, reporter, or columnist point out the obvious ... I mean, c'mon ... he was standing in Israel, right? OK, let's connect the dots one time, just to see if I've really been transported to an alternate universe.
Here's the relevant paragraph from Dubya's Knesset speech:
Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.
This resulted in a hue and cry from Democrats. Many said this was a direct attack on Barack Obama. Others criticized the President for violating the bipartisan tradition that foreign policy disputes should not be taken outside our own borders. Chris Matthews famously slapped down one frightwing bloviator for not even knowing what appeasement vis a vis Neville Chamberlain and Nazi Germany even means.
These reactions are fairly predictable - though Matthews actually making a conservative blowhard stop and explain himself might in itself cause some people to wonder if the they've been transported to an alternate reality ...
While you were gone
these spaces filled with darkness
The obvious was hid
With nothing to believe in
the compass always points to Terrapin
-- Grateful Dead
Yes, the obvious is hidden. We're in Israel. We're talking appeasement. We're talking Nazi Germany. What the Munich Accords did was give Hitler the Sudetenland (i.e., half of Czechoslovakia) to prevent war. Land for peace.
Israel. Land for peace. Palestine. Gaza. West Bank. Two-state solution. Is anybody listening? Are we there yet? Does anybody want to go there ... connect the dots, it's not that hard ...
Since the early 1970's the American, European, and U.N. policy for resolving the Palestinian question has been 'Land for Peace.' George Bush has just said this is a discredited policy and not one person has commented upon it ...
Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore ....
Update:
In the comments, LanceBoyle points out another important dot - Syria and the Golan Heights.