White House corrects NASA chief on Muslim comment

[nick1985]

Bolden was probably exaggerating because he was talking to Al Jazeera...

Since he said that's what Obama told him, he is a liar?

 

[Throckmorton]

Since he said that's what Obama told him, he is a liar?

Are you unfamiliar with the concept of exaggeration too? "One of the highest priorities" is completely ambiguous and can technically mean anything other than the lowest priority, hence it's completely reasonable to think he would exaggerate about that without lying.

Or do you think officials engaged in foreign relations (which is what being interviewed by Al Jazeera is) don't exaggerate and bend the truth? If so, maybe you'd like to buy some oceanfront property in Colorado.

 

[Throckmorton]

What's really mind boggling is how the right seems to be undermining our efforts to play the foreign policy game with the Muslim world and everyone else. For example we're resetting relations with Russia, and the right wants to execute their spies instead of do an exchange, knowing full well we have nothing to gain from making enemies.


Come to think of it, that happened under Bush too. Remember when GWB said "We are not at war with Islam"? The response from the far right was "BUT but but we ARE at war with Islam rabble rabble!!!" And still in 2010 you guys persist in ridiculing his "religion of peace" statement. It's like you completely fail to get it... Whether or not Islam itself is a religion of peace, we have nothing to gain from antagonizing ordinary members of that religion and everything to lose. If you think it's BS, fine, accept that and stop undermining our bullshitting the Muslims.

In other words, stop being conservative Jane Fondas.

 

[werepossum]

Bolden was probably exaggerating because he was talking to Al Jazeera...

Quite possibly. Although the fact that he was talking to Al Jazeera at all bolsters his point.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Millions of monkeys can be trained to hit the bars of their cages in unison at the utterance of words like Muslim or world citizen.

Mooney - Isn't this what you meant to say?

Millions of monkeys can be trained to shit all over their cages in unison
at the utterance of words like 'Muslim' or 'World Citizen'.

 

[boomerang]

No matter which version is the truth of the matter, this is one of the lamest right wing anti-Obama talking points I've heard yet. Seriously, don't you guys have anything better to do?

- wolf

Lame? Maybe.

I hope you're not buying this explanation that Bolden misunderstood his directive. The first reference I can find without doing any digging is that Bolden spoke to Al-Jazeera on the first of this month. It's absurd to think that after nearly two weeks the administration suddenly realized what he'd said. What's really happened is that after nearly two weeks of well deserved ridicule, they've gone into damage control mode and have thrown Bolden to the wolves.

You may have noticed that my previous post in this thread was of a humorous nature. I did that because I personally don't think this is a big deal. Misguided - yes. Inappropriate - absolutely.

This administration just talked down to Muslims like they were children and I've expressed that thought already in one of the other threads about this. You don't say to adults from whom you would like to achieve mutual respect that you think that they need to start feeling good about themselves. You surely don't do it publicly, and you'd better think it through before you say it privately.

After having this pointed out to them for nearly two weeks, they realize their mistake and do damage control. It's a rookie mistake that should never have happened and most certainly shouldn't have happened after a year and a half in office. These are childish mistakes made by people who think like children.

These reasons are why it's a talking point. It's a talking point because it's another in a long succession of missteps by this administration. Missteps that are based in their core beliefs. Beliefs that are counter to those of mainstream America, beliefs that are counter to those of the majority of Americans. You think it's lame and others of us see it as being essential.

As long as Mr. Obama continues to attack my beliefs, he will get no quarter from me.

 

[CPA]

No matter which version is the truth of the matter, this is one of the lamest right wing anti-Obama talking points I've heard yet. Seriously, don't you guys have anything better to do?

- wolf

Doesn't NASA have anything better to do than make the "Muslim world" feel better about themselves?

 

[MovingTarget]

How the fuck is reaching out to muslim nations to make them feel good a goal of NASA?

It is more of an administration general goal, and as others have said, it just happened to be mentioned with regards to NASA first. Bringing muslims back into the scientific fold helps us by 1) allowing us to reap the future mathematical and scientific benefits/contributions of muslim nations to augment our own space program efforts, 2) reducing long-term costs because of said contributions, 3) spreading scientific knowledge, which tends to reverse the spread of radicalism, and 4) ultimately reducing tensions in a volatile part of the world. Is NASA the primary organization to be doing this? No. It isn't/wasn't supposed to be. But many "conservatives" would shit their pants no matter what department this was mentioned with - dept of education, dept of state, etc etc.

 

[Jaskalas]

Millions of monkeys can be trained to hit the bars of their cages in unison at the utterance of words like Muslim or world citizen.

Millions more can be trained to bend over.

 

[FerrelGeek]

This typical Obama backpedaling damage control isn't going to work any better than the previous ones. In fact, it makes them look like outright liars.

They are outright liars.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

Since he said that's what Obama told him, he is a liar?

Do none of you understand PR? He was doing PR on Al Jazeera. It wasn't meant for an american audience. So of course when the less gifted in our country get a hold of the quote they don't understand and run with it.

 

[umbrella39]

Do none of you understand PR? He was doing PR on Al Jazeera. It wasn't meant for an american audience. So of course when the less gifted in our country get a hold of the quote they don't understand and run with it.

Bolded for too kind.

 

[Munky]

I don't know if you're familiar with the space program, but it's all about science. What organization do you think is better suited to getting Muslims to realize that science is good?

It seems to work on Christians. A lot of you hate and mistrust science, but you think NASA is "freakin awesome".

Why the hell should we waste money and science resources on Muslims in the first place? NASA was established and funded for the benefit of this country, not "global science redistribution"

 

[shira]

About 40 posts - and counting - on this utterly worthless thread, and fewer than 10 on the one addressing whether the Supreme Court can actually rise above personal ideology in making decisions that actually have something to do with our lives.

Yep, about right for ATPN.