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Barack Obama makes Falklands gaffe by calling Malvinas the Maldives (Dumb and Dumberer)
UK Telegraph ^ | 4-16-12 | Jonathan Gilber

Posted on 04/16/2012 11:56:26 AM PDT by tcrlaf

Barack Obama made an uncharacteristic error, more akin to those of his predecessor George W Bush, by referring to the Falkland Islands as the Maldives.

President Obama erred during a speech at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, when attempting to call the disputed archipelago by its Spanish name.

Instead of saying Malvinas, however, Mr Obama referred to the islands as the Maldives, a group of 26 atolls off that lie off the South coast of India.

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gaffe; hypocrisy; obama; stoopid
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To: Freestate316

Well of course he is familiar with the Maldives. It’s one of the 57 members of the Organization of Islamic Conference.


41 posted on 04/16/2012 1:10:37 PM PDT by Procyon (Decentralize, degovernmentalize, deregulate, demonopolize, decredentialize, disentitle.)
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To: Iron Munro

“I be lookin’ fo’ my home hown here in Kenya”


42 posted on 04/16/2012 1:12:08 PM PDT by Noob1999 (Loose Lips, Sink Ships)
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To: tcrlaf

‘Comrades!’ cried an eager youthful voice. ‘Attention, comrades! We have glorious news for you. In his infinite wisdom Big Bro’ has decided to re-name the countries of the world!
All over Oceania this morning there were irrepressible spontaneous demonstrations when Comrade gerbalists marched out of newsrooms and offices and paraded through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude to Big Bro’ for the new, happy life which his wise leadership has bestowed upon us.
Here are some of the changed names. Malvinas: Maldives. Maldives: Malvinas. Canada: Canukistan. Kenya: The New World Capitol. England: StupidLittleIsland. Europe: USA. USA: The Western Caliphate (You will see Newspeak 11th ed. for remainder).


43 posted on 04/16/2012 1:12:31 PM PDT by tumblindice (Our new, happy lives.)
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To: tcrlaf

We really need badges for that :)


44 posted on 04/16/2012 1:14:10 PM PDT by EnglishCon (Gingrich/Santorum 2012.)
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To: Above My Pay Grade
Argentina has a long history of trying to claim island that clearly are not theirs and never were theirs.
Maybe the British should call in the Pope to mediate, that was what got Argentina to quit trying to claim the Beagle Islands from Chile. Otherwise they are going to have to schlep down there every couple of decades and slap Argentina around a bit. Not that they don't deserve to be slapped.
45 posted on 04/16/2012 1:15:14 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (In most cases, revenge is not a good thing. In other cases, it's the only thing.)
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To: tcrlaf

Understandable that he said The Maldives.... they’re in his old neighborhood.


46 posted on 04/16/2012 1:15:13 PM PDT by Third Person
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To: tcrlaf

His advisors and speech writers are that ignorant?


47 posted on 04/16/2012 1:17:53 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
According to the Wikipedia article on the Falkland Islands, the name "Malvinas" goes back to a French name dating to 1764 (before Argentina was independent), but the Falkland name (originally used of the strait between the two islands) goes back to 1690. There was an even earlier Dutch name for the islands, Sebald.

At the time of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, Argentina claimed the islands but no one was living there. A few years later Argentina sent a garrison which was ousted by the British in 1833. It has been British since then except for the two months of Argentine occupation in 1982.

I don't expect the Latin American countries would side with the UK or the US on this. True, the people living there now want to be British, but the same is true of the majority of the people living in the parts of the US that briefly belonged to Mexico. I imagine that if a poll were taken of public opinion in Latin America and they were asked "should the US return to Mexico the lands it acquired by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Gadsden Purchase," most people would say, "Si."

48 posted on 04/16/2012 1:20:27 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Trust me, we don’t mind doing it.

Sure, it is a little annoying to pay for, but we keep our word. The Islanders wished to stay as British subjects in a free election.

P.S - can we have Grenada back sometime soon? /gentle leg pull.


49 posted on 04/16/2012 1:20:36 PM PDT by EnglishCon (Gingrich/Santorum 2012.)
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To: Verginius Rufus
To clarify my last post, the majority of people living in the parts of the US that used to belong to Mexico would prefer that it remain part of the US...I didn't mean to say that they want to be British although my wording could be construed to mean that.
50 posted on 04/16/2012 1:23:20 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Freestate316

Welcome to Free Republic!


51 posted on 04/16/2012 1:33:29 PM PDT by Lucky9teen (Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.~Thomas Jeffer)
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To: Max in Utah

Nope, but the can keep their own doctor.


52 posted on 04/16/2012 1:33:30 PM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers.....)
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To: tcrlaf
Well, to be fair to Obama, he was reading a teleprompter, so he just read what was written in front of him. Kind of like when Dan Quayle was at a spelling bee and they gave him an answer card with an incorrect spelling. He hardly ever heard about that, right? /sarc

People do misspeak. What I find troubling is that Obama reads his speeches - presumably these speeches are vetted and proofed by the White House staff (and presumably, the State Department). Apparently NO ONE in the administration knows the difference! THAT is scary!

53 posted on 04/16/2012 1:34:14 PM PDT by In Maryland (Liberal logic - the ultimate oxymoron!)
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To: CitizenM
"Notice how the press, even in pointing out Obama’s error, STILL have to fault Bush! I don’t recall Bush making an error in geography. And Obama has made several.

Bush once referred to Africa as a country - that was more important to the press than the fact that he poured rivers of money into AIDS prevention on that continent.

54 posted on 04/16/2012 1:37:36 PM PDT by In Maryland (Liberal logic - the ultimate oxymoron!)
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To: tcrlaf

an uncharacteristic error

has the idiot that wrote the article been watching this moron for the last 4 years. the level of stupidity that this man AND his speechwriters show, on a consistent and almost daily basis, boggles the mind.

I must live in an alternate universe.


55 posted on 04/16/2012 1:45:43 PM PDT by qaz123
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To: Dr. Sivana

“Even if he got it right, calling it the Malvinas is practically siding with Argentina, as far as the Brits are concerned.”

You’re right; he fully intended to say “Malvinas” to pander to all of those countries. Many of them feel no affinity towards Argentina, but also accept that the islands should belong to them.

Americans rarely refer to them as “the Malvinas Islands”; it was pandering to Hispanic voters here as well.


56 posted on 04/16/2012 2:05:40 PM PDT by kearnyirish2
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To: Freestate316

Welcome to Free Republic.


57 posted on 04/16/2012 2:10:49 PM PDT by Churchillspirit (ads I read nowadays)
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To: tcrlaf

wow, they still blamed bush for this one.

Obama makes this screw ups all the time and I bet this was NOT an accident. Obama made a slip to show he sides with enemies of the alies.


58 posted on 04/16/2012 2:15:49 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: tcrlaf

wow, they still blamed bush for this one.

Obama makes this screw ups all the time and I bet this was NOT an accident. Obama made a slip to show he sides with enemies of the alies.


59 posted on 04/16/2012 2:16:04 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: Dr. Sivana

those Byzantines may be down but they’re not out!


60 posted on 04/16/2012 2:20:40 PM PDT by RitchieAprile
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