Bush joins McCain/Clinton Obama tag-team act

[BeyondGeography]

Bush raps Obama pledge to meet hostile leaders

By Steve Holland
Reuters
Thursday, February 28, 2008; 12:23 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Thursday sharply criticized Democratic front-runner Barack Obama's pledge to meet Cuban leader Raul Castro without preconditions, leaping squarely into the race to succeed him.

"I'm not suggesting there's never a time to talk, but I'm suggesting now is not the time ... to talk with Raul Castro," Bush told a White House news conference.

It was the first major instance of Bush injecting himself into the presidential race to choose who will succeed him in the November election, with his unpopular Iraq war a major debating point on the campaign trail. His comments also reflected how closely he is watching the campaign and how eager he is to guard his legacy. He has yet to formally endorse the Republican front-runner, Arizona Sen. John McCain, but is expected to do so.

Bush also appeared to join McCain in rebuking Obama for his remarks about Iraq at a Tuesday night debate. Obama said during the debate with rival Hillary Clinton in Ohio that once he followed through on his pledge to speedily withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, he might have to send troops back in if al Qaeda were to form a base there.

McCain on Wednesday all but called Obama naive for making the comment, saying al Qaeda was already in Iraq, prompting Obama to blame Bush and McCain for al Qaeda being there.

"I believe Sen. Obama better stay focused on his campaign with Sen. Clinton, neither of whom has secured their party's nomination yet," Bush said...

Asked at the news conference about Obama's position on meeting leaders of Cuba and Iran, Bush said it would be a mistake to hold talks with them.

"I just remind people that the decisions of the U.S. president to have discussions with certain international figures can be extremely counterproductive. It can send chilling signals and messages to our allies. It can send confusion about our foreign policy," he said.

He said the actions of Raul Castro, brother of ailing former President Fidel Castro, amount to "nothing more than the extension of what his brother did, which was to ruin an island and imprison people because of their beliefs."

His position was similar to that of New York Sen. Clinton, who argued at a debate with Obama last week in Texas that there should be no talks with Cuba until it makes progress on releasing political prisoners and improving human rights.

"The idea of embracing a leader who has done this without any attempt on his part to, you know, release prisoners and free their society would be counterproductive and send the wrong signal," he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/28/AR2008022801889.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. Personally, I think three's a crowd

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. Bush is using their island to imprison his people!

that's makes Castro and Bush the same

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

3. Yeah, I mean we've been ignoring Cuba for 40 years now

and just look how great it's going! Freedom is on the march!


Just in case it's not obvious:
:sarcasm: