Whew… Glad Obama’s Fourth of July BBQ Is Still on with Those Iranian Diplomats (updated)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on June 23, 2009
Breaking development, updated June 24, 2009:
Hot Air: Weenie diplomacy now out?
Less than 24 hours after Barack Obama insisted that an invite to America’s July 4th celebrations remained open to Iranian diplomats, the State Department has begun to realize what a bad idea it truly is…
Click here for updated story on canceling the BBQ at Hot Air or at Michelle Malkin: “Hot Dogs for Syria and Venezuela!” or American Pundit: Report: Obama Reconsidering July 4th Invitation to Iranian Diplomats or FOX News: U.S. Takes Back July 4 Invitations to Iranians.
Snippet from American Pundit’s piece on the Iranian Fourth of July BBQ invite:
Excuse me, but Iran was a murderous, oppressive regime long before the protest violence violence the world has witnessed as of late. Iran beats women for inappropriate clothing, hangs its citizens for being gay, has been declared a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Department, and supported the insurgency in Iraq that killed American soldiers. It’s not like we just discovered that a close friend is a serial killer.
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Original post: June 23, 2009
Catastrophe averted for Barack Obama: Iranian revolution nearly ruined Fourth of July BBQ plans with Iranian diplomats
Fourth of July is our nation’s Independence Day, a day that commemorates our nation’s stance and brave fight for freedom, a day celebrating our nation asserting itself to be free from the tyranny and oppression of the British Empire with the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
This past weekend, Iranian citizens bravely denounced the nation’s fraudulent election, and demanded liberty and human rights justice. Thousands protested the tyranny and oppression of the Iranian government, and the government brutally attacked, wounding or killing its own citizens.
President Barack Obama’s administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
So now, members of the administration are acting like “Nervous Nellies,” wanting to make sure that the diplomats of a country that has been murdering its citizens in the streets know that the country’s diplomats are still welcomed to have hot dogs and watermelon and fresh corn on the cob at US embassies parties.
Don’t tell me that I’m one of the only people who’s wincing at the macabre, twisted irony here with Obama’s Embassy Independence Day BBQs for the Iranian head honchos.
Just wondering: Do we have any pending invitations out to the North Koreans?
Associated Press: US says hot dog diplomacy still on with Iran
The United States said Monday its invitations were still standing for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4 celebrations at US embassies despite the crackdown on opposition supporters.
President Barack Obama’s administration said earlier this month it would invite Iran to US embassy barbecues for the national holiday for the first time since the two nations severed relations following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
“There’s no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
“We have made a strategic decision to engage on a number of fronts with Iran,” Kelly said. “We tried many years of isolation, and we’re pursuing a different path now.”
But he said it was not clear if Iranian diplomats had accepted the invitations.
The State Department has said that the invitations are largely a symbolic gesture of goodwill and that the July 4 barbecues were not intended to take up substantive policy matters.
Obama has walked a tightrope since the violence broke out in Iran, urging the Islamic regime to end its repression of protests but insisting he will not let Tehran’s leaders cast the United States as a bogeyman.
From The Weekly Standard: Guess Who’s Still Coming to Dinner
While the regime murders its own people in the streets, the Obama administration reassures Iranian diplomats that they’re still welcome at Fourth of July barbecues at U.S. embassies across the world — it’s all good:
“There’s no thought to rescinding the invitations to Iranian diplomats,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters.
“We have made a strategic decision to engage on a number of fronts with Iran,” Kelly said. “We tried many years of isolation, and we’re pursuing a different path now.”
Cherry on the Proverbial Sundae: Obama is now suddenly taking CREDIT for the Iranian uprising because of his speech, two weeks ago, in Cairo. The White House says HE inspired their desire for liberty… never mind that the Iranian people say it is because of the crooked presidential election and the cruel, totalitarian regime. Critics and some supporters are shaking their heads in disbelief at this newest scrambling, at BHO’s blatant, self-serving attempt at damage control for his lack of support of the Iranian citizens. What an imagination… Snippet from Hot Air:
Never mind that two weeks passed between the speech and the uprising, and that the very obvious trigger for the unrest was the incompetent manner in which the mullahs rigged the election for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Never mind the fact that this President took a full week to even sound like a watered-down Nicolas Sarkozy, let alone the leader of the free world.
This is very obviously an attempt at damage control. Obama has gotten hammered for staying behind the curve of Western leaders in the defense of liberty, freedom, and human rights. He has preferred to stay on the sidelines in the hope that silence will make the mullahs like him enough to grant him an audience, while Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, and the Brits slam the mullahcracy for its brutal treatment of political opposition. Now, suddenly, Obama wants to claim credit for getting there first with his Cairo speech — which had nothing to do with overthrowing mullahs, and in fact had only a passing mention of democracy as an official US policy in the Middle East.
On the grand scale of things, I’d say that the establishment of democracy in Iraq had more influence on the Iranians than anything Obama’s managed to say, and I wouldn’t go so far to make it a proximate cause, or much more than a tertiary influence, after the stolen election and decades of repression by the mullahs.
Besides, how impressed do you think Iranians are with Obama’s open invitation to the mullahs for a 4th of July BBQ? Think that inspires them to demand liberty?
Related:
Power Line: Please, pretty please come our party and Hot dog diplomacy still on with Iran
Track-A-’Crat: Fearless At Home, Snivelling Abroad
Michelle Malkin: Reports: Fresh blood on the streets of Tehran and Obama hand-holds Huffington Post blogger, snaps at dissident reporters and Obama-come-lately on Iran; O’s obligatory press conference
A1A South: While Iranian Thug Government Kills Defenseless Students, Obama Invites Them to BBQ
Gateway Pundit: Would the US Invite Hitler or Saddam to the 4th of July?
Hot Air: Khamenei says no compromise
Moe Lane, RedState: Hot dogs in public, credit-taking in private: the White House’s search for an Iranian domestic strategy.
Jihad Watch: The nerve of this guy: “Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters” in Iran
Greg Gutfeld, Big Hollywood: Daily Gut: The Bystander in Chief
Commentary Magazine: Barbecue Diplomacy
Scared Monkeys: Biden was Right, They would Fail … Hot Dog Diplomacy: Barack Obama Still Inviting Iranian Diplomats to July 4 Celebrations at White House as Iranian Protesters are Killed in the Streets
Obama Exposure: Iran: Obama says—No More Hot Dogs for You Guys
The Jabberin’ Wookie: But Will They Serve Kosher Hot Dogs?
The Powers That Be: Obama a Symbol of Hope in Iran?
Politico: Obama calls on HuffPost for Iran question UPDATE (question rigging)
National Review Online: Silence Is Not Neutrality
Gateway Pundit: Ouch! John McCain Not Sure Who Obama’s Siding With In Iran
Politico: What Obama didn’t mention
Mark Levin Fan: Obama on Iran ‘A sad day when we have a sad American President like this’
Beltway Snark: The Iran Protests ARE Our Fault! Holy crap, the mullahs were right! and Iran Still Invited To 4th Of July Party
The Cypress Times: OBAMA’S BBQ DIPLOMACY IS A LOT OF BULL
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I agree with this article. Rather than taking the opportunity to show goodwill to foreign diplomats and/or heads of states in the same way past presidents have casually entertained communist leaders (those responsible for the deaths of millions of their own citizens), Obama should instead cancel the BBQ. Hopefully then, the Iranian diplomats will be so distraught over their deprivation of hot dogs, that they will take their sorry butts back to Iran to tell their Supreme Leader that the satanic nation will not tolerate the clampdowns. Those diplomats must spread the word, that if they ever want to get hot dogs again, then the President of Iran must step down as leader.
If only Obama had the cajones to take some serious action like that.
Nope, wait, its canceled now. Problem averted