So much for charm

Editors....you WELL know that the rules of the game require that the other side must FIRST respond negatively before agreeing to "well, maybe we can talk a few things over if you will promise to listen to our side of the matter." Then of course, we must respond "sure, we will gladly listen to your concerns, BUT, we probably won't agree with most of them." Etc., etc., etc. And so it goes. Give Obama a few breaks and quit throwing ice water on the efforts to bring about change. And, for the jackasses out there, remember, I am not an Obama supporter. GGpap

Neville Chamberlain.

Iran wants to make sure that Obama isn't using a "rope a dope" strategy against them. The Iranian hardliners' position (and yes Iran has both hardliners and moderates in its government) is that Obama is using diplomatic overtures in order to isolate Iran without really changing U.S. policy and attitudes towards Iran. That is why Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for U.S. actions to demonstrate a change in U.S. policy towards Iran not just soothing overtures from President Obama. The Augusta Chronicle editorial staff gets to the meat of its disinformation propaganda campaign against Iran in the 7th paragraph above: "Iran's rulers don't want peace, and they're not interested in talk. They want the U.S. to unfreeze assets frozen after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the hostage crisis. They want to become a nuclear power. They want to wipe Israel off the map. And they want an end to Western civilization." This is radical right wing bunk! Iran offered to dialog with the Bush administration and President Bush refused to talk. I say normalize relations with Iran, allow them to trade with the west, and pursue a policy of constructive engagement. Iranians love Americans. Follow the golden rule

His outreach was somewhat effective being that the Iranian people felt good about it....Regime change from within is brewing there, and the Iranian people are sick of being seen as isolationist and being demonized by the world...

Hopefully that is what Obama needed, a slap-in-the-face insult to wake him up from his dream that all the problems with Iran can be solved with dialogue and kumbaya songs. Iran, under the present regime, has no interest in making nice. A bloody implosion is quite likely there and a strong threat from Israel backed by the US can make that happen.

You folks don't seem to realize that those people in the mid-east have been fighting for 4000 years.What makes ANYONE believe they are about to stop now?

Alright, O has kept one of his more hollow campaign promises. Now he can get back to doing all he can to remake America into a socialist enclave.

Offering a olive branch to a country that says the holocaust never happened and that Israel should be wiped off the map, makes about as much sense as offering to feed a hungry lion with an apple. You will get eaten! Old Big Ears doesn't have enough talk shows to go on and talk about the special olympics, so he's filling his time with big photo ops like this. What an idiot!

United States has been at war for a good part of its short 233 year history. There is no such thing as American exceptionalism. We are a part of humanity - no better and no worse. Human beings must learn to move beyond war if civilization is to survive on this planet. mgroothand's 6:27 am post is exactly what neocons said about Iraq before the United States invaded that country 6 years ago. Any foreign aggression against Iran will backfire just as it has done in Afghanistan (now in its 8 year of war with United States), in Iraq, and now in Pakistan. These wars have been counterproductive because they have not resulted in their stated objectives being reached and because they have destabilized the entire Middle East and South Asia. These wars have made United States less secure and Americans less safe. These unncessary war of choice have also help bankrupt the United States Treasury and put this country in hock for generations to come. George W. Bush did one hell of a job just like Michael Brown and FEMA did in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Keeping on keeping on waging unwinnable wars is damaging this country. When will Americans says "enough is enough" and end these fiascos?

Just(us) another example of Iran trying to keep the black man down!

Obama is following through daily on his campaign promises. Best President we've had in years.

Every president has tried this at some point. Hopefully Obama will continue to aim these talks at the Iranian people. Those folks are really hurting due to the actions & policies of their leaders. I hope Obama can be successful in stirring a revolt from within.

One slight correction, joe hill. It should say NObama is the worst excuse for a president we have had in years. Either you are keeping your head in the sand except for posting (quite sadly, I might add) and not looking at facts OR you love being completely fooled by lie afte lie. Either way, you have my sincere sympathy as I'm sure you can't help it.

Joe Hill post the joke of the day!!! Good one Joe!

44mag, you have a thing for justus?

Save your sympathy daddyrabbit. Time will prove him out to be exactly what our country needed at this time of crisis, unshakable, wise in his decision making and inspiring leadership.

I guess the rabbit have not been out of his hole in the last 8 years? Maybe his head has been in the wrong hole?

John Cain, more of the same. Must you use neocon in every post. Hurricane Katrina? Please stop.

You put an idiot that was Governor of Texas in for 8 years and what did you get. SUCKERS!!!!

Sure am glad the AC editors are not diplomats! Do you have no idea how diplomatic strategies work?? It is not a one and done attitude that works.

joe hill, that's okay, people like me have a big heart and a lot of sympathy for the ones who, through no fault of their own were born with a mind (of sorts) that is extremely feeble. As for Hypocrite, that name is enough to explain it all. I was always taught not to be a hypocrite. It just isn't nice.

yes, bdittle, it is, especially when it is just a "for show" action.

The way I understand Obama's stance on this is that we will turn th other cheek if the enemy tries anything. It is like the abused wife asking the abusive husband why he is so upset.

Do you guys really think that military aggression is a good long-term strategy for terrorism? You will not concede that it helps the terrorist with recruiting? Military action without diplomacy is going to be as effective as the war on drugs.

If people who are so diametrically opposite in their thinking can converse on a goofy little forum like the AC Rag, then why can't the Big O talk with I'm a Dinner Jacket and another I a toll A. What's the harm in getting together for a brewski and some discussion?

Rabbit, evident;y you failed that lesson.

You cannot negotiate with terrorists. Even if Iran said"great- we'd love to talk things over"- do you REALLY think they would be true to their word? Please- the iran gov't is a cancer we need to cut out, not trade with.

saber, if we stuck to your rule in Iraq, we would still be in the civil war like atmosphere. Our Lt. Cols, Cols, and Gens most certainly negotiated with terrorists. They made deals with the insurgents and won them over with diplomacy and military support to fight AQ in Iraq. My point is that the region is complicated and to look at it so simplistically is a mistake.

I think we should just nuke them. Let's save Isreal. O is a child, as blue550 said, and Bush was a real man and a real leader. How I miss our wonderful Repubs. Especially Cheney. He is so right about our being much more in danger from terrorism now that hussein is making mistakes like closing Gitmo. At least when the war was raging in Iraq, it made me feel safer. We were killing them there instead of them killing us here. I do worry now that since we aren't killing so many of them anymore, they may get bored with iPods and XBoxes and stuff and they might think of killing us again. And now this hussein will never protect us! He is really a Muslim so what can we expect. I wish all that voted for him could go to a socialist country. Those western european countries are really bad, and I want to keep my country exactly like it is now. I have no job, and no medical, but I don't care as long as we are not a socialist country. And I will soon lose my house because I was stoopid and let a bad bank take advantage. No handouts from some stimulints or whatever they call it. I want my house to be empty and me in a shelter because it is better for my neighbors to have an empty house next door.