► Nixon with one of history's greatest monsters -- Chairman Mao.
► Reagan strolls into Bitburg cemetery to lay a wreath for German soldiers lost in World War II, including 49 SS troops.
► This photo is VERY disturbing. It's from September 13, 2001.
As the ashes of 3,000 Americans rise above Ground Zero; Bush, Cheney, and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia joke around on the White House balcony.
Look closely, Bush is bantering as he pets his dog; Bandar has a cigar in his left hand; and they're drinking mint-juleps.
Once again, they're having a gay ole time, as cinders from the dead fill the skies of New York City.
And while flights across the country have been grounded, here is Bandar arranging to have the Bin Laden family flown out of the USA.
*
NOTE: All of the photos are real. They have not been altered.
*
Rachel: As the end of his first 100 days draws near, President Obama remains frustratingly, defiantly, almost pathologically, popular.
Faced with such a crisis, the venerable Republican party, the party of Lincoln, the bastion of conservatism, has chosen to respond by FREAKING OUT, (emphasis original).
Governor Rendell (PA): The RNC has become a radical fringe group.
The total collapse of rationality of the RNC is frightening.
The Republicans are literally destroying themselves, they're eating themselves alive.
All week long, the usual suspects (Cheney, Gingrich, Buchanan, the Fixxed News Nazis) have been screaming on top of their lungs over Obama's handshake with Hugo Chavez.
Cheney: The position we took in my administration was to ignore him (Chavez).
(Penguin Waaah sound) I think that was the right thing to do.
Stewart: But you were always wrong.
(Audience Roars)
Why do we continue asking Cheney questions? Do we ask the Wile E Coyote how to catch the Road Runner?
(Laughter)
*
Mockery is priceless and a preferable way to deflate an opponent.
But when appropriate, Old Skool rules calls for ramming the opponents’ smears straight down their throat!!!
Bring, it!!!
******************
On Monday, Lawrence O'Donnell called Buchanan a phony, noting that his boss, Richard Nixon gave Leonid Brezhnev a brand new Cadillac as a present, only a few years after he invaded Czechoslovakia, crushing the political liberalization known as Prague Spring.
Chris Matthews got some licks in, calling Buchanan, Nixon's gas station attendant, and asking Pat, if Nixon made him gas up Brezhnev's Caddy.
They crushed him. But as I watched, I kept saying, "hit him with Mao!"
As everyone, except BillO knows, Nixon traveled to communist China in 1972, and bowed down to a man responsible for tens of millions of deaths.
Furthermore, 21 years earlier, Mao invaded Korea, fighting directly against the U.S. and U.N. coalition, leading to the deaths of 38,000 Americans, and hundred of thousands others.
American blood was on Mao hands. And Nixon vigorously shook those hands.
In fact, admirers of Hitler, like Pat Buchanan have tried to rehabilitate Hitler through moral relativism, saying Mao and Stalin were far, far worse than Hitler. I know it's sick, but in his Hitler love letter, A Republic, Not an Empire, Buchanan invoked a filthy slogan, "Better Hitler than Stalin". It's a grotesque absurdity and an indictment of the Corporate Media™, that his Nazi (Buchanan) has such prominence.
To that end, here is a photo of the lousy hypocrite in China.
As his boss Richard Nixon bows down and toasts a communist leader, Buchanan (in circle) stands by, in loving approval.
Hey Pat, don't fuck with us.
*****************
Of course their outrage is all bullshit. The Republicans have never met a dictator or genocidal murder they didn't dig.
*
I. Reagan Was The Worst
By my count, the only murder Reagan never embraced was Salvadoran Death Squad leader, Roberto D'Aubuisson.
► The Gipper and Bush Sr. in the Oval Office with Tariq Aziz on November 26, 1984.
The occasion -- to reestablish diplomatic ties with Saddam Hussen. Ties that Iraq had broke in 1967 after the Six Day War.
► Saint Ronnie dancing with Saudi King Fahdin 1981. Yet, they wring their hands that Obama paid respects to the current Saudi king.
► The Gipper with the Philippines dictator, Ferdinand Marcos.
► Zaire's dictator, Mobutu was invited to the White House.
► Dutch with Guatemalan mass murderer Efraín Ríos Montt in 1983.
► This is REALLY grisly. Bonzo brings disgrace to the Oval Office by inviting in Angolan terrorist Jonas Savimbi in 1986.
He was so vile, that when MoveOn.Org revealed John McCain's campaign manager, Charlie Black had served as Savimbi's lobbyist, he was forced to leave the campaign.
► With South African Apartheid leader, Pik Botha in 1981.
► This is a hoot! Reagan in Red Square, and behind him, Lenin's Tomb. HA!
► With the titular heads of the terrorist organization, The Contras in early 1986.
Boy, revealing the Iran-Contra/Arms-for-Hostages scandal in October 1986, was the best October Surprise the Dems ever pulled off. We cleaned up, that fall. We won EIGHT freak'n Senates seats. I mean, you don't think that story surfaced week before the midterms, by accident, do ya? Ooops -- is this mic on!?
► "Reagan loves my ass!!" ~ Oliver North. Reagan's bud. This is the actual mug shot.
*
*
II. Also-Rans
Phew!!! I told you the list was looooooooooooooooong.
► Bush negotiating prices with the pineapple -- CIA asset and drug runner, Manuel Noriega in 1986.
► Bush presenting boots to the butcher of Tiananmen Square, Li Peng in 1989.
► No Joke! Republican President Herbert Hoover visits Hitler in Berlin on March 8, 1938.
You can't make this shit up!
► Kissinger with the Chilean monster, Augusto Pinochet.
► Tariq Aziz and James A. Baker III in 1991.
► Bush frenching a king.
► Iranian spy, Ahmed Chalabi sets as an honored guest during 2004 State of the Union address.
► Bush with his dear friend, the notorious Ken Lay.
► Brezhnev whispering sweet nothing into Nixon ear, on the White House balcony, June 1973.
► Castro with Nixon in the Capitol, after a 2 hour and 20 minute meeting. April 18, 1959.
► MacAruther meets Emperor Hirohito, the man who authorized the raid on Pearl Harbor, killing 3,000 Americans, only a month after the end of the war.
► Fascists love the anti-Semitic Charles Lindbergh, seen here receiving a sword, in addition to medals, from fellow pilot, Herman Goering. August 3, 1936. Lindbergh refused to return the Nazi decorations, even after Hitler declared war on the United States.
► Last, but not least, Rumsfeld and Saddam.
*********************************************************
Meanwhile the photo is a WORLD WIDE sensation.
Have no illusions about Chavez, but recognize that he cultivated the world’s leading anti-hero persona, which makes him incredibly popular world wide, not only in Europe, but more importantly, in so-called third world nations, including Latin America, Africa, and in Muslin nations -- countries we need with us, not against us.
► Spain. The headlines says, "Obama also seduces Latin America."
*
*
► The front page in Tunisia.
*
► The photo was splashed across the front pages of Damascus, Beirut, Jerusalem, Riyad, etc.
*
► Even in Indonesia.
*
Winning Hearts and Minds
Presiden Obama inspires a lot of confidence and a lot of optimism and hope for our region. And people in the Arab world are sitting and waiting to see him articulate his plan for the Arab world.
That said, he has already come up with some good, encouraging signs.
I think the core issue in our region is the Middle East conflict. And that's the key to unlocking a lot of the instability that is present in our region.
So people are optimistic. He certainly has a lot of credibility in the Arab world. And he has political capital, and I hope that he can expend that in the issues that really matter to us.
Queen Rania of Jordan -- April 21st.
Appendix
--------------
► Bitburg
► Korean War
► I dug these photos out of government archives and the invaluable historical repository, Corbis.