Posted on 03/06/2009 8:30:24 AM PST by Sub-Driver
Tongue-tied Clinton gets warm EU welcome Fri Mar 6, 2009 10:59am EST
By David Brunnstrom
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.
Clinton has set herself a grueling pace on visits to Egypt, Israel and Brussels soon after touring the Far East, attending dozens of meetings and giving speech after speech, with little time worked into her schedule for sleep.
Tiredness appeared to show Friday when she answered questions in front of 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament, where she was the highest-ranking U.S. visitor since the late U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1985.
A veteran politician, Clinton compared the complex European political environment to that of the two-party U.S. system, before adding:
"I have never understood multiparty democracy.
"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Well, I’m certain that she was somewhat ruffled after arriving at the airport under heavy gunfire.....
“she mispronounced her EU counterparts’ names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe’s.”.....
NICE START THERE, THUNDER THIGHS!
Obama wants her as far away from Washington while he crams the new Health Care Fiasco down our throats. Has to make sure she gets no credit.
“Toungue-tied”?
Too much ware and tare on the old sex organ there Hillary?
With the exception of the UK, and they are a monarchy. She's right. Every government in the world (UK excepted) is younger than the USA.
Heavy fire, yes and let’s not forget the stress of the spiral landing.
Well, US representative republic is older than Europe’s examples of the same, unless one means by that an oligarchy like the Republic of Venice in the Middle Ages.
Now US democracy? Well, when did that begin? Late 1800s? If so, I suppose one could argue that France was ahead of us, but just how wide was the franchise in France in 1880?
I think Reuters got at least part of this wrong.
IN many cases that's true....
Does anyone in this Obama administration do their homework?
I may give Hillary a pass on this because she does this all of the time.
The Smartest Woman in the World!
(highlights on Jon Stewart tonight, I’m sure)
Free pass because she’s a liberal woman?
Remember the reporter asking Bush about names of foreign officials?
I didn’t include the UK because it prided itself on not being European. I suppose one could say that England had something of a constitutional republic with a figurehead monarchy in 1789, but not really. At best England and ours are roughly coaeval. And strictly speaking, a constitutional monarchy is not a republic, though I suppose one could say that a form of representative government existed in England from 1688 onward—mixed with elements of oligarchy. Certainly the franchise was very restricted and it was no democracy.
It looks like she was saying a two party democracy was older then the multi-party which it is - Greeks, Romans had two parties - this mishmash of almost every minority get representation in government is newer.
“Obama wants her as far away from Washington while he crams the new Health Care Fiasco down our throats”
I was wondering if Hillary will ever be allowed back in the states.
She has gotten a nice world tour thanks to Obamachev. Probably got a lot of donations for Bill’s massage parlor as well.
Iceland has the oldest continuously intact legislative body - 930 AD.
OK, other than the fact that US is a Republic (or is supposed to be) instead of a Democracy, what’s wrong with her statement? Do the media claim that in 1781 Europe was already democratic?
Team Obama is the T-ball of professional politics.
Uh, there’s ancient Greece.
Our Traveling Moron speaks.
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