The Big Dawg visits the land of the crazy
WASHINGTON — The White House took a tight-lipped stance Tuesday on former President Clinton’s visit to North Korea to press for the release of two jailed Americans arrested in March.
“While this solely private mission to secure the release of the two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment,” said a statement by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. “We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton’s mission.”
Clinton earlier landed in North Korea on a private jet.
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., said earlier Tuesday he hoped that Clinton’s visit to Pyongyang would yield some progress on the difficult standoff between the United States and North Korea on nuclear issues.
Interviewed on NBC’s “Today” show, Graham said he saw no problem with Clinton taking the lead on resolving the issue of the two women arrested in March. The Clinton visit was reminiscent of some missions that Bill Richardson, now the governor of New Mexico, had taken in the past.
That’s certainly a high-stakes approach to the problem. I hope it works, but personally, I’m a little leery of it given North Korea’s history. They love the attention, and now they’re getting it.
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186 comments Add your comment
Doggone/GA
August 4th, 2009
8:01 am
Maybe we should just send Rambo it there to get them out.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 4th, 2009
8:11 am
Well, sending Clinton over there is a great idea. Keeps him away from the interns.
Have a good day everybody.
Finn McCool
August 4th, 2009
8:11 am
Tell the Koreans to hide their daughters.
Belushi: “How much for your women?”
Father: “Say What?”
Belushi: “How much for the little girl?”
Finn McCool
August 4th, 2009
8:14 am
The Case for Paid Family Leave
Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up that dubious distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2011. I wasn’t surprised when this didn’t make the news here in the United States—we’re now the only wealthy country without such a policy.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/210252?from=rss
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
August 4th, 2009
8:16 am
Maybe they’ll put him in jail with the two reporters.
And maybe then the democrats would have a reason to go to war.
USinUK
August 4th, 2009
8:18 am
“And maybe then the democrats would have a reason to go to war”
yeah, because the last time we were there went so well …
Gandalf - First!
August 4th, 2009
8:21 am
remember O.B.A.M.A?
it’s funny.
George American
August 4th, 2009
8:24 am
We should be sending them a Bush/Cheney special delivery. Not some BS chicken-chik Clinton talking. He is an incompetent liar.
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
8:26 am
The Case for Paid Family Leave
Only two countries in the advanced world provide no guarantee for paid leave from work to care for a newborn child. Last spring one of the two, Australia, gave up that dubious distinction by establishing paid family leave starting in 2011. I wasn’t surprised when this didn’t make the news here in the United States—we’re now the only wealthy country without such a policy.
That’s because our women are tough. They’re like Amazons.
Brad Steel
August 4th, 2009
8:26 am
Is Bush sailing in on an aircraft carrier in his fighting regalia to “work things out”?
WTF?
August 4th, 2009
8:29 am
The Case for Paid Family Leave
Is this a family leave trip for Clinton or are you just a dipstick?
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
8:29 am
I like the idea of sending Bush and Cheney to meet with Kim. They can take turns looking each other in the eyes and into each other’s souls. They could even form their own axis… of eeeeeeevil.
Swami Dave
August 4th, 2009
8:36 am
Regardless of how one may think of the former President, for the sake of the two jailed Americans, I hope his trip is successful.
-SD
mike
August 4th, 2009
8:39 am
So if you are a rogue nation looking for some attention and a Presidential visit, just arrest some American journalists. Lesson learned.
mike
August 4th, 2009
8:41 am
Someone needs to tell the angry liberals that Bush and Cheney have been out of office for months now and that their obsession with them makes them look pretty silly.
Paul
August 4th, 2009
8:41 am
Well, Pres Bush’s policies obviously didn’t ‘work.’
Neither have Pres Obama’s.
Good luck to Pres Clinton. Maybe he’ll get those poor women out of prison.
Maybe we should bar all travel to anyone to N Korea, stop all aid, stop all contact and if they persist, tell China to get them under control or we’ll provide nuke technology to Japan.
Nothing else has worked.
stands for decibels
August 4th, 2009
8:45 am
Regardless of how one may think of the former President, for the sake of the two jailed Americans, I hope his trip is successful.
Wholeheartedly agree with Swami Dave.
(see, it happens, sometimes.)
Bosch
August 4th, 2009
8:47 am
mike,
“Someone needs to tell the angry liberals that Bush and Cheney have been out of office for months now and that their obsession with them makes them look pretty silly.”
Yeah, we’ll get right on that as soon as the neo-cons stop obsessing over Clinton.
stands for decibels
August 4th, 2009
8:48 am
bar all travel to anyone to N Korea, stop all aid, stop all contact
I don’t think we’re exactly encouraging travel these days, and as for aid–looks like that’s not much of a bargaining chip either… (see page 2.)
Gale
August 4th, 2009
8:48 am
Case for Paid Family Leave – Who you gonna call
It isn’t because our women are strong, it’s because we care more about profit than the well-being of our children.
Mrs. Godzilla
August 4th, 2009
8:48 am
I’m with Swami Dave on this too.
EVERYONE OF US SHOULD BE.
GOP is gone
August 4th, 2009
8:50 am
I think Jay is right, Kim is like a toddler stomping his wittle feet and screaming “I won’t, I won’t…..” Unfortunately 2 Americans accidentally wandered down into Kim’s very own rabbit hole and he can scream “off with their heads”. Bill might be the Cheshire cat, but I hope it works for the women’s sake.
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
8:53 am
Clinton has been out of office longer than Bush and he still gets lots of ‘attention’ from the conservatives. Maybe someone should tell them that Clinton is out of office.
By the way, I wish Clinton the best on his trip to North Korea.
Brad Steel
August 4th, 2009
8:53 am
mike,
Clinton has been out of office for years and yet he, and his wife, is still making significant and important contributions. It’s another reminder of the disaster that is Bush/Cheney.
It would be nice if their blunders weren’t such screaming reminders everyday, but they are. Forgetting them would be, in your lacking juvenile term, “silly”.
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
8:55 am
It isn’t because our women are strong, it’s because we care more about profit than the well-being of our children.
Gale,
A person has to be strong to do that. Well, maybe ’strong’ isn’t the best choice of word.
Gale
August 4th, 2009
8:57 am
Who you gonna call, I don’t see your point.
Paul
August 4th, 2009
8:59 am
stands for decibels
(May I abbreviate sfd?)
A complete ban would stop recurrence of the current situation.
Good report – I was wondering if anyone would bring up how the “Axis of Evil” Pres Bush gave aid to N Korea – food aid. Lots of people said ‘we’ can’t ‘let’ them starve, regardless of what their leaders do..
Sure we can. Let China deal with the turmoil.
Turd Ferguson
August 4th, 2009
9:00 am
Darn…Carter shouldve joined Clinton for a hostage swap and as a bonus N Korea could indefintely keep them.
TUESDAY VANDY GIRL
August 4th, 2009
9:00 am
I may be cynical but I think the The Great and Horny Bill is only going because he thinks they will sleep with him if he secures their release.
Paul
August 4th, 2009
9:00 am
stands for decibels
I just did a careful look at page 2
Looks like Pres Obama is letting the citizenry of N Korea starve.
Surprise, surprise.
TnGelding
August 4th, 2009
9:01 am
Well, it’s worth a shot. From what I’ve read the agreement had already pretty much been worked out before he left. With him and Jimmy globe-trotting, the USA is back!
I don’t see this having anything to do with the nuclear issue tho, unless he is truly a miracle worker.
One word of caution, don’t let him anywhere near the women when they’re released!
USinUK
August 4th, 2009
9:02 am
“A person has to be strong to do that. Well, maybe ’strong’ isn’t the best choice of word.”
no, I think “desperate” would be a good word … or “struggling” might work, as well …
stands for decibels
August 4th, 2009
9:03 am
off topic:
Jay, why isn’t your superb dead-tree editorial on the GA/FL/AL water-wars political sitcheeation available online?
(I thought I had it linked downstairs since the other guy’s headline was kinda similar, but turns out I didn’t…)
And if it is online but I just couldn’t see it–well, fix that! make it so! schnell!
stands for decibels
August 4th, 2009
9:04 am
Paul, you can call me “DB” if you like, figured most regulars here would.
getalife
August 4th, 2009
9:05 am
He is over there to see what they want .
Probably oil.
TnGelding
August 4th, 2009
9:05 am
Paul
August 4th, 2009
9:00 am
Is it our responsibility to feed them? If they can’t pay, they don’t eat! It’s the capitalissts way! Maybe we could dispatch the lovely Sarah to teach them to hunt?
Seriously, we need to do what we can to get them food. We throw away enough every day to feed the entire country more than they’re eating now. Throw in the amount we over-consume and we could put a few more acres into conservation.
zeke
August 4th, 2009
9:06 am
Sure Clinton should go! He can tell the commies that, “hey guys, like an idiot we gave you this nuclear technology when I was President, so please deal with us!” WHAT FOOLS DEMOCRATS ARE!
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
9:08 am
Gale,
I was simply being sarcastic and cynical of our so-called healthcare system. I think it is a cruel joke to couple the words health and care together and apply that combination to anything here in the USA. The taxpayers cannot even gain access to the same insurance that our tax dollar use to buy coverage for government employees and elected ones — at all levels of government. Why is that and why would some of our Congressmen deny us even that one simple thing.
USinUK
August 4th, 2009
9:09 am
Paul –
“Looks like Pres Obama is letting the citizenry of N Korea starve”
no, that would be Kim Jung Il
Doggone/GA
August 4th, 2009
9:10 am
Here’s what I don’t understand: those women were at the China/N.Korea border – which at that place is a river. You don’t “accidentally” or “inadvertently” cross a river. So, IF they were telling the truth when they said they DIDN’T cross the border…then they were kidnapped from Chinese territory.
If they DID cross the river…then they were lying when they denied it.
So which is the truth? If they DID cross the border, then what complaint do we have against the N. Koreans? They violated the border.
If they DIDN’T cross the border…then why has nothing been said about how the N. Koreans were able to arrest them, if they were in fact on Chinese Territory?
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
9:11 am
stands for decibels,
may I call you dB instead. I’m just a stickler when it comes to certain things.
Paul
August 4th, 2009
9:13 am
TnGelding
I wasn’t saying (or implying, or asserting or whatever) we should not provide food aid. I understand the Bush Administration separated the condition of the people from the causative factors of their leaders. Their pouring so much into the military and leadership lifestyles led to this. In reality, would further starvation cause a revolt? Most probably not. More people would die horrible deaths. Millions already are.
But it gets back to the question: when do we intervene in a country’s affairs?
I still find it interesting Pres Obama is living with zero food aid.
Paul
August 4th, 2009
9:14 am
USinUK
Sure he is (Kim).
But… Pres Obama’s not providing food aid to the starving peoples…. as Pres Bush did…..
pingpingpingpingping
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
9:14 am
Sure Clinton should go! He can tell the commies that, “hey guys, like an idiot we gave you this nuclear technology when I was President, so please deal with us!” WHAT FOOLS DEMOCRATS ARE!
I read somewhere that Rumsfeld was on the board of directors or something like that of the company that ’sold’ the nuclear technology to North Korea. I can’t remember where I saw that though.
stands for decibels
August 4th, 2009
9:15 am
may I call you dB instead.
bUT oF cOURSE.
Later, gators. Try not to starve anyone.
Nan
August 4th, 2009
9:17 am
Doggone – at the time the women crossed the river, it was the middle of the winter. I know this is Georgia, but surely you’ve heard of ice? You know, solid stuff that forms when the temperature of water drops below freezing? News reports at the time said the women had walked out on to the frozen river and apparently went past the mid-way point, which put them in North Korea.
USinUK
August 4th, 2009
9:18 am
Paul -
“North Korea has rejected an offer of further food aid from the US despite its chronic food shortages, the US state department said today.
Pyongyang said it would turn away about 330,000 metric tonnes due to arrive before May and ordered US non-governmental organisations to leave the country.
The US offer was turned down days after a special investigator for the UN human rights council said almost 7 million North Koreans had not received the food aid they desperately need.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/18/north-korea-us-food-aid
don’t confuse us not offering with them not accepting
Doggone/GA
August 4th, 2009
9:19 am
“Doggone – at the time the women crossed the river, it was the middle of the winter. I know this is Georgia, but surely you’ve heard of ice?”
Ice? Never heard of it before ever in my long, long life. Snarkiness doesn’t advance the discussion.
Who You Gonna Call
August 4th, 2009
9:20 am
I thought that paper that dB cited showed that Bush cut off food aid to North Korea for several years and reduced it significantly in other years.
Tank
August 4th, 2009
9:20 am
Ahhhh…. Islam, ask any Muslim and they will tell you theirs is a religion based on peace.
From Fox (that right-wing bastion of lies), “Christian Family Burned to Death in Pakistan After Koran is ‘Defiled’”. Let’s see now… Three teen Christians allegedly (that’s allegedly) burn a copy of the Koran. Clerics (that’s right, their religious leaders) call for the teens deaths. Mobs enter the village and set fire to Christian’s homes killing possibly three dozen.
Ahhhh Islam. Doesn’t Islam mean “peace”? Women subjugated, intolerance, fear and brutality, If you burned the Bible, Christians would probably pray for you.