Sunday Morning Talk Show Thread 20 Oct 2002

Various big media television networks ^ | 20 Oct 02 | Various Self-Serving Politicians and Big Media Screaming Faces

[mware]

Hey McGruff, did you hear the latest DNC talking point from
Daschle. It was the most condemning comment I ever hear him say, he called the president's administration, theirby
the country dictorial.

[kcvl]

Breeding Nukes

Why is the U.S. government risking the spread of plutonium around the world?
by Henry Sokoloski

[YaYa123]

thanks...I'll read it now...instead of watching the South Carolina governor's debate. Both these guys look and sound reasonably intelligent...have no idea who's in the lead.

[mware]

Way to go Dr. Rice.

[TracyPA]

I just got back from church to see the end of "This Week". That roundtable was the worst! Three libs against poor George Will! I will never watch that show again. That Vander Hovell dame is a communist if I ever saw one. Sam and Cokie got out just in time. You're right-this show is going DOWN!

[Alas Babylon!]

Whoa!!!! Is that a picture of the DC sniper!!!?????

[kcvl]

[kcvl]

JIM LEHRER: What's the state of intelligence on the missiles and what North Korea has, what threat they pose to Asia and even to the United States?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: I think we have pretty good intelligence on it that obviously I can't discuss, but....

JIM LEHRER: A serious problem?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: Well, I think we have thought we had a problem with their potential of the nuclear programs and through the agreed framework that we worked out in '94, we were going to freeze their fissile material programs. And now we have had a missile test moratorium with them for the last months. And we want to now make sure that we can significantly reduce the threat in a more permanent way.

JIM LEHRER: And you came away after these 12 hours with Kim believing that he wants... he will do that?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: Well, this is what we have to test. I mean, I think that the information on him was kind of scattered, and it wasn't until Kim Dae Jung went and said that he had some very important discussions with him and found him to be somebody that he could talk to, that was rational, pragmatic. I found the same thing. Basically, you know, we've had such weird stories about him, but it turns out that we had very good discussions.

JIM LEHRER: Where did those stories come from, that he was an irrational man who you could never have the kind of conversation you just did?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: Well, I think this is a hard thing to assess, Jim. I think that it's conceivable that there were periods that this was what he was like. But it has been six years since his father has died. He is in charge of what is called kind of a hermit kingdom. And we had... he listened very carefully. He didn't lecture me. I went through all my talking points with him. And he gave rational answers. And he seems pragmatic. Now, I think that he clearly has some very serious economic issues, and I think it's worth us probing and testing. I made a big point of saying that these glasses that I have are not rose-colored. And I've spent my whole life studying communist systems, so I know what we're dealing with. But I think it's really worth exploring.

JIM LEHRER: Did he seem informed about the United States and the rest of the world?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: He did seem informed. He also told me he had three computers in his office. He watches a different television network -- and stays informed. He says that he reads....

JIM LEHRER: Does he watch CNN?

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT: CNN. He said he did. And I did find him informed. We talked about regional issues. I can't say I kind of gave him a test, but we did have pretty wide-ranging discussions.



http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:-gDFVX8FqAcC:www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/july-dec00/albright_10-30.html+Madeleine+Albright,+Kim+&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Spyder]

It doesn't come on here till 3 p.m. (that's 9 p.m. Eastern). I'd be willing to bet Will whupped 'em though when he got the chance to speak.

[mware]

I dont know if you heard this exchange between Daschle and Tony Snow but check it out.

SNOW: I want to ask you about the quote we played for Secretary of State Colin Powell, or actually put up on the screen. I want to read it again and I want to try to parse it, because you were harshly critical the other day at the Bush administration's foreign policy. Once again you said, "I don't know if we've ever seen a more precipitous drop in international stature and public opinion with regard to this country as we have in the last two years."

Typically, people cite several things with regard to this. One was the Kyoto protocol, correct?

DASCHLE: Correct.

SNOW: You voted against that.

DASCHLE: I did.

SNOW: OK. The International Criminal Court, you voted against that.

DASCHLE: That's correct.

SNOW: And Iraq, where you voted with the president. So on all these key issues, the ones that the Europeans are constantly citing, you're on the same side as the White House. So if you were president, would the same thing be the case?

DASCHLE: Well, it's not necessarily the position in that legislative approach that I think is the concern. It's the attitude. It's the way that we have gone about foreign policy, especially, Tony, this unilateral approach to foreign policy, dictating on a unilateral basis what the United States' position is going to be and expecting, really, all these countries in a very autocratic or very authoritarian way to comply.

I don't think we can do that. I think, as I said in the same interview, I think that we've learned that this unilateral, dictatorial approach isn't going to work. And so we've moved away from that. We're more engaged now in the United Nations, we're more engaged, as Secretary Powell noted, in the Korean matter. And so I think they've learned the hard way. But clearly they have learned the unilateral, dictatorial approach utilized for the first 18 months did not work, and I think they've accepted it.

SNOW: How can you say the United States has been dictatorial? We've made our position known. We haven't forced anybody along, have we?

DASCHLE: Well, I think by the very nature of who the United States is, by the very nature of our approach in these negotiations — I mean, basically in the Kyoto accords it was, "Look, you do it our way or we're not going to do it at all." There was no negotiation. This was, "This is the way it's going to be." That's the way we did it in the Middle East. That's the way we've done it in virtually every one of these instances.

And I think that, as you travel, and I know you have internationally, the feedback you get is, and the editorial comment, go through Europe, go through the Middle East, go through Africa, go through Southern Asia, go through most of Latin America today, it is almost universally negative.

DASCHLE: And what I'm saying is that, sooner or later, Tony, that's going to catch up with us.

These comments are the bottom of the barrel. I hope some media picked up his comments. He just called our government a dictatorship.

[Spyder]

These comments are the bottom of the barrel. I hope some media picked up his comments. He just called our government a dictatorship.

My husband just said this word (dictatorial) *HAS* to have been focus grouped, especially as many times as he repeated it.

[kcvl]

10/24/00

---

Albright, Kim meet anew to discuss thawing U.S.-North Korean relationships


By Christopher Torchia

Associated Press

PYONGYANG, North Korea: Celebrating a thawing relationship, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il opened a second round of talks Tuesday aimed at easing a half-century of enmity and mistrust dating back to the Korean War.

"I don't think the three hours of discussions we had yesterday were enough to break the silence of 50 years," Kim told Albright -- the first U.S. official he has ever met.

The pair engaged in small talk about schedules as they walked down the plushly carpeted hall of the same luxurious guest house where they had met Monday. Kim told Albright he had watched news reports about their meeting.

The weighty issues were to be taken up behind closed doors.

During the first day of talks, the two discussed "the issues which were of concern to us," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Chief among those issues is North Korea's missile development program and its export of missiles to Iran and Syria.

Prior to Tuesday's meeting with Kim, Albright ventured out into the countryside for a lunch hosted by Jo Myong Rok, Kim's top aide, at a rural guest house. Trees along the route from capital were ablaze with color.

Toasting her host, Albright said: "The U.S. loves peace and we want to see Cold War divisions end. We want countries to feel secure from the threats, conflict and war."

In his remarks, Jo said the U.S.-North Korean relationship "that has been frozen so deep over the past several decades is now reaching the historic moment of thawing."

Jo, whose toast was read by Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Gwan, said he was convinced that Albright's visit would lead to "further improved breakthroughs" in the relationship between their countries.

Indeed, Albright was seeking to lay the groundwork for a visit by President Clinton as early as next month. White House spokesman Jake Siewert said the president would not decide whether to make the trip until Albright's return.

"We have some hope of resolving our outstanding differences with North Korea and looking forward to the day when they will truly close the last chapter in the aftermath of the Korean War," Clinton said Monday.

Albright urged caution. "We must be pragmatic and recognize that the road to fully normal relations remains uphill," she said.

From her first step on North Korean soil to her meeting with Kim, Monday was a day of firsts for Albright. No other secretary of state had ventured to North Korea, nor had any other U.S. officials met with the reclusive leader.

Kim made note of the occasion. "This is a new one from a historic point of view," he said.

Albright was his guest at a spectacular performance of acrobatics and dance and witnessed the vivid display of adoration that Kim received from the thousands in attendance. She was not introduced to the crowd.

Flashing color-coded cards aloft, a section of the crowd lionized the North Korean military and laborers. Gymnasts and dancers, through their motions, extolled "the great Comrade Kim Il Sung's Party," in honor of the current leader's father, founder of the Stalinist state.

Albright paid separate courtesy calls earlier Tuesday on President Kim Yong Nam, the ceremonial head of state, and the North Korean foreign minister, Paek Nam Sun.

They sat across at wooden conference tables polished to such a gloss that their reflections were crisply mirrored. The walls were adorned with large pictures of Kim and his father, omnipresent images throughout the communist nation.

The threat of war has hung over the Korean peninsula since the end of the war. About 37,000 American troops are stationed in South Korea.

North Korea has been included on the U.S. list of states supporting international terrorism since January 1988, after North Korean agents bombed a South Korean airliner, KAL Flight 858, in November 1987, killing 115 people.

[kcvl]

As the first official trip to Pyongyang of a high-ranking U.S. official, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright set foot on Pyongyang on the early morning of October 23.

This suffices to indicate that long-standing hostilities between the DPRK and the U.S. started to be melted into a friendly relation.

[maica]

Great post! Appears to have come from an interview during the campaign or the transition time of the 2000 election.

So this means Kim can talk rationally to democrats, but reverts to his ol' cheatin' ways when the Republicans take over foreign policy! Madeleine Albright is an idiot!

[mware]

I was thinking DNC talking points myself, but you could be right.

[kcvl]

Kim Jong Il Receives U.S. Secretary of State



On October 23, General Secretary Kim Jong Il, Chairman of the NDC, received Madeleine Albright at the Paekhwa-won Guest House located in Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Il and Albright had the first face-to-face discussion on pending issues and matters of mutual concern related to the improvement of the bilateral relationship between the DPRK and the U.S.

During the talks, the Secretary of State handed to Chairman Kim Jong Il a personal letter from U.S. President William Clinton, and conveyed his views on the DPRK-U.S. relations directly to the Chairman. Kim Jong Il expressed his thanks for her mission and had a sincere conversation with her.

The historic talk had been held for about 3 hours from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. between them, accompanied by their aides.


Kim Jong Il Arranges Dinner for Albright



Chairman Kim Jong Il hosted a dinner in honor of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on a visit to the DPRK on October 23. Both Kim Jong Il and his aides and Albright and her party were also invited and seated together.



Kim Jong Il Meets Albright Again



Chairman Kim Jong Il on Oct. 24 met again and had a conversation with Medeleine K. Albright at the Guest House. Wide-ranging views on the issues of common concern were exchanged in the meeting, North Korean media reported.

Albright also had meetings with Kim Yong Nam, President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun respectively.

She expressed conviction that the improved U.S.-DPRK relations would contribute to the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in East Asia. She noted that President Clinton is greatly interested in his Pyongyang visit. Albright gave a dinner party on Oct. 24 to which Chairman Kim Jong Il and other senior officials of the DPRK were invited.



Albright Holds Press Conference



To conclude her historic visit to the DPRK, Secretary of State Albright held a press conference on Oct. 24 evening. She said she came to Pyongyang to convey to Chairman Kim Jong Il the views of U.S. President William Clinton on the improvement of the U.S.-DPRK relations and prepare for Clinton’s visit.

During her visit, she noted, she had hours-long constructive and in-depth conversation with Chairman Kim Jong Il over various issues. She said that there was an earnest talks about “missile issue” and outstanding issues between the two sides and that a possible future visit to Pyongyang by President Clinton would depend on progress in these key areas.

“It is important that we work to overcome the enmities of the past and focus on a bright future for our peoples,” she said. She described the North Korean leader “a good listner, a good interlocutor, decisive and practical.” She was very moved to see beautiful Pyongyang, she added. She expressed thanks to Chairman Kim Jong Il for the special hospitality accorded to her during her visit to the DPRK, the first by a U.S. secretary.



Albright Leaves Pyongyang



After the ground-breaking visit to the DPRK, U.S. Secretary of State Albright and her delegation left Pyongyang on Oct. 25 morning for Seoul. She was seen off at the airport Kim Kye Gwan, vice-minister of foreign affairs, and officials concerned.

[MHGinTN]

Daschle and the despotic democrat hierarchy will paint as extreme anything that doesn't follow their appeaseNIK/postponeNIK approach to foriegn policy ... which we now see very clearly allows someone like North Korea to continue developing nuclear weapons, just as Saddam Insane is determined to do. The democrat hierarchy is the single greatetst threat to domestic health and safety. The democrat party is determined to place US at greater risk in their effort to impliment their central goal, greater dependence on the federal government, greater control over the freedoms of individual citizens, greater power for the demagoguing democrat party. The solution to dealing with these very dangerous appeaseNIKs/postponeNIKs is to vote the bastards back to major minority status so the adults can get on with fighting a world-wide war already begun.

Dadchle is a dangerous megalomaniac, a little man with a little man complex. He's also a liar and has no grounding in truth ... but he's a typical democrat so spinning the truth to fit the agenda is very much in character.

Someone needs to remove Patricia Vanden Houvalls voice box ... she's made her rise to current status over the bodies of aborted little ones as she's championed serial killing of the unborn. A more disgusting socialist pig could not be found for an ABC roundtable. Poor George Will, surrounded by the socialist pigs embraced by George Steponallofus and his ABC socialist handlers. Yes, the degeneracy of eight clinton years continues to fester and stink.

[Laverne]

I just called my senior senator (FL, so it won't do me any good) asking that he immediately make a public statement repudiating the words of Mr. Dashle this morning. Of course, I don't expect he will....dems seeminly have no integrity; but I called none-the-less. I would have called Mr. Dashle's office, but I can't seem to find a phone number on his web site.

[kcvl]

By George Gedda

P Y O N G Y A N G, North Korea, Oct. 23 — U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held historic talks with North Korea’s Kim Jong Il today and said Washington was taking a measured approach to rapprochement with the secretive communist state.
Madeleine Albright is closing the diplomatic gap with North Korea.
RealVideo
(download RealPlayer)
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/korea_albright001023.html

“No, it is very measured,” Albright told reporters who noted some quarters believed the United States may be moving too fast. “We are not going to go faster than it makes sense in terms of U.S. interests.”
A smiling Kim, in a display reminiscent of his welcome for rival South Korea’s President Kim Dae-jung at their epochal June summit, greeted Albright warmly before they settled into talks which went on for much longer than expected.
“I am really very happy,” said Kim as he met a U.S. cabinet member for the first time ever.

[MHGinTN]

Would someone able to archive better than I please post the Halfbright quote where she said that it is time for the US to no longer be a lone super power, implying she wants US to be more impotent, less capable of striking back at threats, in the interest of everybody just getting along? We see what that brings ... nukular weapons in North Korea. Good work, Maddy, you served your sinkEmperor well.