A Ludicrous Denial

Outrage Watch

Steve Holland writes for Reuters: "Democrats erupted in outrage on Thursday after President George W. Bush suggested a pledge by the party's presidential front-runner Barack Obama to meet Iran's leader was akin to appeasement of Nazi Germany.

"Bush's comments, made in Jerusalem to the Israeli parliament during celebrations for Israel's 60th anniversary, stirred up the campaign for the November election and prompted Obama to accuse him of engaging in 'the politics of fear.' . . .

"Many Democrats slammed Bush and pointed out the words of his own defense secretary, Robert Gates, who said on Wednesday: 'We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage with respect to the Iranians and then sit down and talk with them.' . . .

"'If George Bush believes engagement with Iran is appeasement, the first thing he should do when he comes home is demand the resignation of his own Cabinet,' former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, an Obama supporter, said."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jim Rutenberg write in the Times: "The comments created an angry tussle back home, as Democrats accused Mr. Bush of breaching protocol by playing partisan politics overseas. . . .

"Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, called Mr. Bush's remarks 'reckless and irresponsible.' Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said Mr. Bush had behaved in a manner 'beneath the dignity of the office of president.'"

Michael Abramowitz writes in The Washington Post: "Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, used an expletive to describe Bush's comment. He went on to say: 'For this president to leave the country and unleash a political attack on Senator Obama and the Democrats cannot go unanswered. We're not going to tolerate this swiftboating,' he said, referring to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign in 2004 to impugn the war record of Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the Democratic nominee."

Issenberg writes in the Boston Globe: "'I can't imagine there's a precedent for a sitting president to go before the legislative body of a foreign government and launch a political attack on a major-party nominee running to succeed him,' said Brian P. Murphy, a fellow in American history at the University of Pennsylvania."

Bush in 2008

Somewhat lost in all the hubbub was the idea that, for better or worse, Bush finally seemed to be coming out swinging on behalf of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain -- and that he had chosen Israel as the place to do it.

David Lightman and Margaret Talev write for McClatchy Newspapers: "When President Bush on Thursday compared some unidentified political opponents to Nazi appeasers, he seemed to be trying at least in part to woo Jewish voters who've signaled concerns about Barack Obama."

Edward Luce writes in the Financial Times: "Although Mr Bush did not mention Mr Obama by name, many suspect the president's remarks to Israel's parliament offered a foretaste of White House plans to assist John McCain in his goal of painting the likely Democratic nominee as unfit to be commander-in-chief. . . .

"Mr Bush's words, which breached the unwritten US convention that 'partisanship stops at the water's edge', fit into a pattern of Republican criticisms of Mr Obama that have sought to paint him either as too weak to defend America or else as too soft on terrorists."