Now what in the world could possibly cause Bush to even go there? I thought we don't play politics with terrorists. To even hint at any possibility of giving political legitimacy to this despicable group should be insulting to the American people.

Someone please..... give me the spin, I find this most appalling.

And yet , I fear there are those among you (besides the odious funtime69) who will see this as a good thing.

Actually, I think this is a step in the right direction.  I'm usually on the hard-line relative to "diplomacy" with terrorists, but I see this as one of the zillion little compromises necessary to make peace.  As the quote in the article read,

"They are a force to be reckoned with inside Lebanon, and they're going to make it very difficult for America if they see America as an enemy."

To me, this is the "diplomacy" and compromise that the detractors of the war have been asking for.  It is probably also a bit of gamesmanship - offer hezbollah a role if they lay down their arms, but also send a message that they don't have a role if they keep up their nonsense.  Who knows where this will go, but when I read it in the paper, I was encouraged that the neocons are showing appreciation for more practical and pluralistic means.

Am I smoking something or do others agree?

What's the difference between a revoloution and a revolt?

Where suddenly his veneer of unshakeable principle, his unchanging  moral compass, and his stalwart stance against terror is revealed as a mirror trick set up by Carl Rove to get him into the White House-- twice.  Really, without the mirrors, he's a puddle.  

Let me tell you, those Marines in Iraq have got to be thrilled with Bush's statement, too!  A few veterans were probably present for the original '82 barracks bombing.  

Liberals could see this one coming.  Too bad conservatives had to elect him again before it happened.  Now we're all stuck with him, but at least we can maybe share the same bottle of Maalox for the next four years.  They're going to be long.      

-- Modified on 3/17/2005 2:00:35 AM

silent on this one?

-- Modified on 3/17/2005 9:07:22 AM

Where is Bush's statement that Hezbollah is a political organization? Here is the only quote attributed to Bush..

"We view Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, and I would hope that Hezbollah would prove that they're not by laying down arms and not threatening peace," Bush told reporters.

The rest of the article is based on speculation by people who are not part of the Administration.

Answerman gets it right in his above post. The rest of you should get a grip. There are plenty of legitimate issues to gripe about, rather than trying to make shit up.

RLTW

"Copy editor speculates that Bush sees Hezbollah in politics. Bush-haters Jump the Shark."

RLTW

"...prove that their not???"  As though it's debatable?  

Now, in the attribution, please substitute Bush with Clinton and tell us honestly what your response is.  

Also, doesn't "laying down arms" have slight Carteresque ring to your conservative ears?  A bit naive, say? Like being shocked that a Soviet leader would lie to him over the Red-phone?  

Please, do tells us? Would you say the same about Al Qaeda or Osama? I certainly hope not!

If you want to know what is actually happening, skip the headline, the first two and last two paragraphs in any article.  Those areas ALWAYS reveal the bias of the writer/editor.

Headlines are written for a dumbed down populace, present company included?

Great question.  Of course, my gut is no way.  However, if bringing Al Qaeda into a government would co-opt their terrorism, then I think we'd all have to consider it.

Although I'm not that well informed on the two organizations, I think the distinction between Al Qaeda and Hezbollah is that Hezbollah seems to be more of a legitimate political movement (albeit one with deplorable means), with land claims, etc.  Whereas, Al Qaeda seems to exist solely to execute terrorist acts.  As such, there is actually a slim prospect of co-opting Hezbollah but not Al Qaeda.

BTW, let me couch this by also saying that I don't think that Hezbollah will take us up on the offer - and we knew that when we made it.  The offer was purely a political move to make them show their hand and expose their agenda to more moderate middle eastern factions.

which is what that Spanish thing last week was really all about. If y'all would give more than a nanosecond's thought to it, and not trust that hypnotizing corporate media brainwashing they're doing on you, you'd eventually come to that conclusion, too.

...so put his/her real bias in between the first two and the last two paragraphs, and use those as a camoflage?  Maybe that's what conservatives always do.  Thus they completely camoflage their bias from you...

You gotta stay ahead of them...