Former Malaysian Leader Endorses Kerry

[leftchick]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040318/ap_on_el_pr/malaysia_mahathir_kerry&cid=694&ncid=2043

<snip>PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia - Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad endorsed Democratic contender John Kerry (news - web sites) in the U.S. presidential race Thursday, saying he would keep the world safer than President Bush (news - web sites).


"I think Kerry would be much more willing to listen to the voices of people and of the rest of the world," Mahathir, who retired in October after 22 years in power, told The Associated Press in an interview.

[onehandle]

1. I think we're going to see a lot of this...

Good or bad.

[onehandle]

4. Actually, bad. Read it.

This is no help.

"But in the U.S., the Jewish lobby is very strong, and any American who wants to become president cannot change the policy toward Palestine radically," he said.

[Just Me]

10. It's as if the elders and middle-aged have ganged up against,...

,..the youth, religiously speaking.

I am sick of the religious fervour dividing our world. I wish both the radical Jews and radical Christians would cut the rest of humanity a damned break. I wish those radicals would face up to their own desperation and how it is inflicted upon humanity.

Grow up. Grow tolerance. Master fear. Get courage. Be equal!!!

[mistertrickster]

2. Poor Mr. Bush--every time he tries to spin, he ends up getting spun.

"Name those foreign leaders who want Kerry instead of Bush."

Okay, douchebag, they're starting to line up . . .

[private_ryan]

5. actually Bush loves this

read it again.

[nicecakes]

13. You may want to read up on this loose cannon endorsment

All endorsements are not created equal.

[mistertrickster]

22. I lived in M'sia for three years when Mahatir was PM. I'm no fan of

his--he would send political opponents to jail without charges for years.

Sometimes I wonder if the gov't would let me back in after all the letters I sent to the editor about Malay hegemony over the other ethnic groups.

I did have to admire the way he stood up to the World Bank and the currency speculators who tried to profit by wreaking the economy there (they way they always do.) He showed that you can break the "rules" of capitalism and not get destroyed but in fact prosper.

Mahatir however does prove Kerry's point. Foreign leaders do want someone at America's helm with a brain . . .

[Zero Gravitas]

3. oh dear

While the quote above is 100% true, Mahathir is not exactly the type of person you'd use a character witness. Besides this whole "foreign leader" thing can only hurt Kerry. Anything that has the appearance of foreign interference in the elections is going to rub some people the wrong way. The last thing we need to do is to provide a motive to fire-up Bush's fascist/Nationalist base.

[forgethell]

6. Isn't this the guy

who made the comment that Jews rule the world?? I don't see how having him endorse Kerry is going to help him to win. Foreign leaders who comment on internal maatters like the election just rile up the troops of the bad guys.

[rocktivity]

7. What's Malaysian for

"CROOKED LIARS! LYING CROOKS!"

:headbang:
rocknation

[dawn]

8. I'm sure all world leaders would prefer Kerry.

No one likes Bush*.

And it's their right to say it...the person running this country affects the entire world, not just the U.S. Until we quit our imperialistic aims, this will not change.

[struggle4progress]

9. It really doesn't matter what various ...

"world leaders" would prefer: they don't vote in US elections. Any discussion of "which leader prefers who" is a distraction: the closest real issue is the absolute botch * has made of our international relations.

[AP]

11. Mohamad was extremely anti-neoliberal.

Following the Asian financial crisis, however, mainstream discussants have been giving increased attention to globalisation's opponents. Amongst the most vocal critics has been Malaysia's Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He identifies globalisation as a conspiracy of Western capitalists, international financial and regulatory institutions, Western governments, and international NGOs to "cause developing countries to become mere production centres for the globe-girdling agents of the richer, ethnically European nations. The current interpretation of globalisation is devised entirely in the West to serve their own good" (Mahathir, 1999).

http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:srpP1vD4z5EJ:www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/CSGR/wpapers/wp3999.PDF+Mahathir+Mohamad+neoliberalism&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[nicecakes]

14. That's not all he was...

There isn't enough soap in the world to clean up this clowns act.

[AP]

16. Here we go again. Whenever they stand up to the west, they're the worst

person ever, with no moral authority to rule.

Yes, Bill Clinton had a zipper problem, but he was trying to do what was right for the most people.

You ever think that maybe if they're standing up to neoliberalism, EVERYONE -- the press, capital, neoliberal governments -- is going to be out to get them?

[nicecakes]

17. That's not my concern. This is my concern...

http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/Malaysian_1.asp

Hard to walk away from that with a smile. Disgusting.

[AP]

18. Nobody is perfect. But you must know that the reason people hated him

in the west had nothing to do with this. They hated him because he was a threat to corporate profits because he was anti-neoliberal.

[54anickel]

21. Ah yes, Mahathir's speech made about the same time as that our god is

better than your god by that General, whatshisface Boykin? Mahathir got a lot of mileage out of that one line in his speech.

[nicecakes]

20. Here's what Kerry says about that...

Statement from Kerry Foreign Policy Advisor Rand Beers on the former Malaysian Prime Minister:

Washington, DC – Kerry Foreign Policy Advisor Rand Beers issued the following statement today:

“John Kerry rejects any association with former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, an avowed anti-Semite whose views are totally deplorable. The world needs leaders who seek to bring people together, not drive them apart with hateful and divisive rhetoric.

http://www.opednews.com/kerry031704_malaysia.htm


That didn't take long...

[nicecakes]

12. Bad news for Kerry

Mahathir Mohamad is anti-Jewish and a bigot. He must really want bush to win by using his name to endorse Kerry. I'd take a safety pin in the eyeball before I'd latch on to his coattails. He is quite the piece of work.

Here's just a snippet of some of his works...

http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/Malaysian_1.asp

October 16, 2003, speech to the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia:

The Muslims will forever be oppressed and dominated by the Europeans and the Jews.

It cannot be that there is no other way. 1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews. There must be a way.

We are actually very strong. 1.3 billion people cannot be simply wiped out. The Europeans killed 6 million Jews out of 12 million. But today the Jews rule this world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them.

They survived 2000 years of pogroms not by hitting back, but by thinking. They invented and successfully promoted Socialism, Communism, human rights and democracy so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so they may enjoy equal rights with others. With these they have now gained control of the most powerful countries and they, this tiny community, have become a world power.

Of late because of their power and their apparent success they have become arrogant. And arrogant people, like angry people will make mistakes, will forget to think.

[looking glass]

15. Fortunately, most voters don't know where Malaysia is

On the other hand, the GOP might use this to give some people a geography lesson.

[nicecakes]

19. Might use it?

Understatement of the thread. They may even throw in some history of the bigot to top it off. My 110% liberal voting Jewish sister took one look at this and used some adjectives even I have never heard.