Reporters in N Korea pardoned
- Thread starter Cajungal
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Am I the only one that, upon reading "private mission" immediately pictured Bill doing a James Bond type action all over Korea? The dude's already halfway there, when it comes to the women.
Hold on. Why can't Bill Clinton run for President again? Is it the impeachment thing? If he wasn't removed from office, I would have figured that meant he could run again. But I'm Canadian. I don't really know how it works.
With regards to Bill being awesome ... I basically grew up enough to understand politics right around when the Sex scandal was going on. As a result, I've always seen Bill Clinton as a joke of a human being. But after coming farther in my political maturity, and looking back at his presidency ... the man did a damn good job.
The only really negative thing I've heard about Bill Clinton, is that I have heard the problem in Rwanda essentially being blamed on his inaction. I've never taken the time to investigate whether there's merit to this. If that's the case, it's a huge black mark against him, but he's still a winning president in my books.
With regards to Bill being awesome ... I basically grew up enough to understand politics right around when the Sex scandal was going on. As a result, I've always seen Bill Clinton as a joke of a human being. But after coming farther in my political maturity, and looking back at his presidency ... the man did a damn good job.
The only really negative thing I've heard about Bill Clinton, is that I have heard the problem in Rwanda essentially being blamed on his inaction. I've never taken the time to investigate whether there's merit to this. If that's the case, it's a huge black mark against him, but he's still a winning president in my books.
Indeed. Man probably could have become King or president for life, but chose to step down after two terms. IIRC, that presidential precedent was followed until FDR (who had World War II and the Great Depression as an excuse@Li3n said:
). It was fairly controversial, again IIRC, when Teddy Roosevelt tried for a third term with his "Bull Moose Party".
I am glad the people are safe, but should we be bailing people out for being stupid? It sends the wrong message to the rest of the stupid people. Don't go to N. Korea, Iran/Iraq, Compton, Watts, etc. I thought that would be common sense.
I'll keep the rest of my political comments to myself.
I'll keep the rest of my political comments to myself.
Washington saw himself as the modern Cincinatus, serve for a short time and move back to the farm when the Emergency was over. His subordinates felt the same way and followed the precedent/president when they gained office.Dorko said:Indeed. Man probably could have become King or president for life, but chose to step down after two terms. IIRC, that presidential precedent was followed until FDR (who had World War II and the Great Depression as an excuse@Li3n said:
FDR elected 4 times served 3. The controversy was that FDR had nearly the dictatorial powers of Hitler, Mussolini and Tojo. He represented a Democratic Nation but hanging on to power so long looked bad for the nation. (I am still a big fan of FDR)
TR was only elected once, but he served the majority of McKinley's term. So he served a little over 7 years. He stepped down to let his protege Taft take over. Taft turned out to be an old school big money Republican, not the Reform Candidate that TR thought he was. So TR ran again, split the Party vote and put Wilson in office.
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WolfOfOdin
Say what you will of Clinton, but Bill is near god-like when it comes to diplomacy and making impossible situations work when they shouldn't.
About loosing face/breaking down:
Any mission with North Korea by a US official at this point can be construed as a 'private' mission. Why? We don't have an embassy in North Korea, and thus have no true diplomatic relations with them, thus no diplomatic immunity for our folks. That in and of itself is a MASSIVE negative to an official mission by anyone who isn't high enough up to be missed if they have an 'accident'.
Currently we have to use the Swiss Embassy/United Nations to actually talk to North Korea in official ways.
About loosing face/breaking down:
Any mission with North Korea by a US official at this point can be construed as a 'private' mission. Why? We don't have an embassy in North Korea, and thus have no true diplomatic relations with them, thus no diplomatic immunity for our folks. That in and of itself is a MASSIVE negative to an official mission by anyone who isn't high enough up to be missed if they have an 'accident'.
Currently we have to use the Swiss Embassy/United Nations to actually talk to North Korea in official ways.
A
Alex B.
It's probably so they can look magnanimous and seem like good guys. I doubt they wanted to keep the prisoners for long. All we had to do was give them an opportunity to look like they weren't jerks.bhamv3 said:
If I remember correctly, there was some confusion as to where they were arrested, and I don't think it was in North Korean territory. If it turns out they'd gone into North Korea, then yeah...their own stupidity, they should pay for it. However, North Korea has a nasty little history of kidnappings in decidedly NOT North Korean territory (such as Denmark and Spain): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanesedrawn_inward said:
I doubt they'd have qualms kidnapping somebody within a few miles of their border.
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Alex B.
For those of you who argued with me when I was vociferous about my views that these two broke the law and were paying for it, I'll take your apology and admitting that I was right all along in small, non-sequential, unmarked bills.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/07/journa ... index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/07/journa ... index.html
Good for Clinton, but had they had to stay the whole time in prison it would have served them right.
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