"The apology tour never happened"

[impik]

The Fact Checker senses a campaign theme emerging: Obama the apologist. As the above quotes illustrate, it is an article of faith among top Republicans that President Obama has repeatedly apologized for the United States and its behavior. Even more, the argument goes, he does not believe in American strength and greatness. The assertion feeds into a subterranean narrative that Obama, with his exotic, mixed-race background, is not really American in the first place.

The claim that Obama repeatedly has apologized for the United States is not borne out by the facts, especially if his full quotes are viewed in context …. in other cases, Obama’s quotes have been selectively trimmed for political purposes …. Republicans may certainly disagree with Obama’s handling of foreign policy or particular policies he has pursued, but they should not invent a storyline that does not appear to exist.

Note to GOP speechwriters and campaign ad makers: The apology tour never happened.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2011/02/obamas_apology_tour.html

[Pirate Smile]

1. K & R. We really need to fight back against this meme. It is hard to because Republicans just spew

it and you don't know what or when they are referring to - they just say it over and over again.

A strong counter would be helpful because this is one of those memes that will just get accepted by the pundits, the middle and even the left - it actually kind of already has been accepted.

edit to add - we should probably bookmark this article - some details from it:

The Facts

Most of the criticism stems from a series of speeches that Obama made shortly after taking office, when he was trying to introduce himself to the world and also signify a break with the Bush administration with new policies, such as pledging to close the detainee facility at Guantanamo Bay.

This is typical of many new presidents. George W. Bush, for instance, quickly broke with Clinton administration policy on dealings with North Korea, the Kyoto climate change treaty and the international criminal court, to name a few.

Rove built his case around four quotes made by Obama:

Mr. Obama told the French (the French!) that America "has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive" toward Europe. In Prague, he said America has "a moral responsibility to act" on arms control because only the U.S. had "used a nuclear weapon." In London, he said that decisions about the world financial system were no longer made by "just Roosevelt and Churchill sitting in a room with a brandy" -- as if that were a bad thing. And in Latin America, he said the U.S. had not "pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors" because we "failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas."

In none of these cases does Obama actually use a word at all similar to "apologize." The Latin American comment might have resonance with Rove's old boss, since that was Bush's charge against the Clinton administration in the 2000 campaign. The Prague and London quotes are not apologies at all. The Paris quote, which is often cited as an apology, is taken out of context.

-snip-
The two sentences are a matched pair; there is no apology.

-snip-
But compare what Obama said to what George W. Bush said at Senegal's Goree Island in 2003. Bush called the U.S. constitution flawed and said that America is still troubled by the legacy of slavery. This does not seem like an apology, either -- but it is even more sharply framed than Obama's comments.

-snip-
Why would Obama's comment on slavery be considered an apology and not Bush's?

-snip-
But Bush on several occasions apologized to foreign governments for actions taken by U.S. soldiers, such as for the shooting of a Koran or prisoner abuse in Iraq. "I told him I was sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners and the humiliation suffered by their families," Bush said at a news conference with Jordan's King Abdullah.

-snip-
In the early months of his presidency, Obama had a way of backing into his answers, starting off with a humble tone ("just as I suspect the Brits...") that some supporters of American power may have found grating. But snippets of his answers do not do justice to his complete remarks.

The Pinocchio Test

The claim that Obama repeatedly has apologized for the United States is not borne out by the facts, especially if his full quotes are viewed in context.
Obama often was trying to draw a rhetorical distinction between his policies and that of President Bush, a common practice when the presidency changes parties. The shift in policies, in fact, might have been more dramatic from Clinton to Bush than from Bush to Obama, given how Obama has largely maintained Bush's approach to fighting terrorism.

In other cases, Obama's quotes have been selectively trimmed for political purposes. Or they were not much different than sentiments expressed by Bush or his secretary of state. Republicans may certainly disagree with Obama's handling of foreign policy or particular policies he has pursued, but they should not invent a storyline that does not appear to exist.
Note to GOP speechwriters and campaign ad makers: The apology tour never happened.

Four Pinocchios

[jaxx]

2. It never happened. We knew that.

The pubs don't need facts, they just need the red meat of the day.

For those who insist on calling the President an apologist and an appeaser...among other things...pay attention. It didn't happen.

K&R

[emulatorloo]

3. Strategy - tell a lie enough times until it is true. I find this one pretty despicable, but I was

not surprised to hear that Iowa Caucus Voter focus group parroting it. The right wing opinion makers have been pushing this a while. A variation is that "Obama apologized to terrorists"

[drm604]

4. I saw Rumsfeld obediently spewing this talking point on TV recently.

He says it so matter-of-factly and with such a reasonable tone that people will, unfortunately, fall for it.

He didn't give any examples and I don't recall the interviewer asking for any. The media is complicit in this lie.

[wolfgirl]

5. This is just another in a long line of

the GOP twisting words, taking statements out of context, fabricating & lying.

I've been hearing lately how the Democrats are wanting to shutdown government....this is a lie that the uninformed and viewers of FOX will repeate ad infinitum if the federal govt does in fact shut down. It would be laughable how predictable to spot the lies if it wasn't so tragic for our Country....

[otohara]

6. Glad To See This Thread

get a better response than mine did... a couple weeks ago.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=433&topic_id=610165

This particular lie makes me ill.

Thanks for posting this.

[Pirate Smile]

12. I tweeted it to a bunch of reporters & asked them to make sure they call it out when they see it.

We can only hope - although I did bookmark this article so I can find it fast when the Republicans spout this as one of their standard jokes. This one really pisses me off too.

[cooolandrew]

7. They would rather he had an A-hole tour if that is their thinking. Only the humble inherit the earth

and the romantics inherit the moon and the stars. As when we all become romantics all troubles will end. Loving is caring and caring isloving.


"Boom, boom, boom even brighter than the moon, moon, mon."

[WolfoftheWild]

8. it wasn't apologetic, it was a "hi, we're the US. we're clinically sane again." Tour

[Kdillard]

10. Exactly.

[Pirate Smile]

9. kick

[TheBigotBasher]

11. The rihgt wing blogosphere makes up a story,

it gets repeated on Fox, it becomes fact to Republicans.

Break that link.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

13. We need to talk about George W. Bush's "FU tour"

that he was on nearly all of the eight years in office. He honked off most of our allies during the first few months of his (p)residency, we got the world back on our side after 9/11, and then he went and pissed everybody, particularly every western European country except for the British over Iraq. His second term was a *little* better though appointing John Bolton to be Ambassador to the UN could be considered a huge FU to the UN. :puke: