No one in the Obama Administration has ever used a scatological pejorative to describe Hamas Leadership, ISIS Terrorists, the corrupt and brutal Government of Venezuela, or even the savages of Boko Haram. But the Prime Minister of Israel, on the other hand, was called a “Chicken[stuff]” by a “Senior Administration Official.”
Purely speculating here, but what are the odds that the reason the Administration and the State Department refuse to investigate who the ‘Senior Administration Official’ who made the Chicken[stuff] remark is because: 1. They know exactly who made the remark. 2. It’s Secretary of State John Kerry?
It’s not as though Mr. Kerry lacks a reputation for arrogance and referring to people using pejoratives. And when you read the remarks in context, it sure sounds like Stuff John Kerry Says.
A senior Obama administration official has described Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “chickenshit,” expressing the US president’s frustration with the Israeli leader.
“The thing about Bibi [Netanyahu] is, he’s a chickenshit,” the unnamed official told the Atlantic when asked about the foreign leader who seems to frustrate the White House the most.
The official added that the good thing about Netanyahu is that “he’s scared to launch wars,” and the bad thing about him is that “he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians.”
“The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat… He’s got no guts,” the official said
Never mind the irony of an official calling someone a ‘chicken[stuff]’ and then insisting on anonymity.
So “someone” said it, what appalls me is that it’s been blown-up into such a big deal. I thought that Israelis were tougher than that.
On the tombstone of Western Civilization, the inscription will read, “…I was offended”. Surrounding it, a dirt-trodden circle left from illiterate Jahadis and the Chinese dancing on it in some new Dark Age.
It must be Kerry. Only a delusional diplomatic thinking negotiations will win the day, at all times, thinks that the Israeli PM would want to continue to pander to the arabs in the first place. Anyone, that knows anything about the situation understands this basic. Of course, it’s exacerbated by the Israelis not being forthcoming & smiling, promising concessions.
Ted B. –this has nothing to do with hurt feelings and everything to do with diplomatic relations. When the most powerful country in the world, who is also your most important ally throws out something like this publicly you have to respond forcefully. Israel would look very weak if they just quietly accepted this. At a personal level, I doubt very much that Bibi cares that someone like Kerry or Obama would say this–except to laugh at them.
Also, a lot of the fuss is being made not by Israel but by American supporters of Israel who are rightly outraged by this Administration’s treatment of the only democracy in the Middle East.
Re the first sentence of this post: I wonder if that point has been noticed by those members of our media who regularly interact with US Gov’t officials in the foreign policy/defense areas? I would imagine even the most partisan journalists, IF it’s true that USG officials are not in the habit of calling terrorists scumbags or worse in private conversations, would find this curious and perhaps not something that reflects well on our current administration? Oddly this could create some uncomfortable re-thinks on the part of at least a few people.
From a diplomatic perspective this is bad. It says more about the petty amateurish clowns running the WH than it does about Israel.
“The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat… He’s got no guts.”
Wait, is he talking about Netanyahu or Obama?
The take away people are missing. Iran will get a nuke, it is too late for Israel to Mossad it out, and the administration is fine with that.
Netanyahu may be a chickens%% in someone’s opinion but at least he’s not full of sh%% like most of the people in the administration.
Kerry is a good guess, but Obambi has turned over his foreign relations chores to a Star Wars bar scene of kooks and misfits: Samatha Power, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Val, my gal, Jarrett, Jen Psaki, Flo at Progressive, and Whoopi Goldberg’s rabbi and hairdresser.
It’s a shame that this is the one area in which the administration declines to lead from behind. When it comes to lauding and excusing our avowed enemies and demeaning our allies, Obama et al. are in the forefront.
#3 Burke: Good point, and I’ll add this: Thisgoes even beyond diplomatic relations…this is about basic competency. I was told in 2008, that these guys would be so much better than that cowboy Bush. So far, GWB makes Obama and crew look like the adolescent school girls that they are.
You have it all wrong. The quote was “Obama is a chicken****”