Doomed to repeat it.

[concertigrossi]

I've really made a point of trying to not include politics in this journal, but this time I have to make an exception. People on the right accuse officials of "appeasement" whenever anyone mentions wanting to talk with Hamas, or Syria, or North Korea. Comparisons to Neville Chamberlain run rife, and as right-wing talk show host Kevin James illustrates so clearly, it's a buzzword talking point that gets tossed around without the first clue of what it means. This is how we get Presidential spokespeople who don't know what the Cuban missile crisis was.

And here, someone finally calls them on it. Go Chris Matthews!

Neville Chamberlain's big mistake wasn't TALKING to Hitler, it was giving away half of Czechoslovakia. Presidents talk to our enemies all the time. Roosevelt talked to Stalin. Truman talked to Khrushchev. Nixon talked to Mao Zedong. Carter talked to the Ayatollah. Reagan talked to the Ayatollah. And Andropov. And Chernenko. And Gorbachev.

And if you think you can make a case for not talking to the heads of foreign powers, (I doubt you can) but go crazy. Just don't mention Neville Chamberlain unless you have clue fucking one what he did.

Comments

[vaxjedi]

OMG, that was beautiful

[porridgebird.livejournal.com]

OMG.. I heard this entire exchange on Air America radio, driving home from work today. "What Chamberlain did... he was an appeaser." *rolls eyes*

Formula:
Step 1 - Answer everything with the buzzword du jour (in this case, appeasment). If that fails...
Step 2 - Don't forget your ABCs! ("Always Blame Clinton")
Rinse, Repeat.

I'm not always the biggest fan of Matthews, but he gets points today.