NBC's David Gregory: Maliki 'Refutes' Notion of Obama 'Naivete'

Photo of Geoffrey Dickens.
By Geoffrey Dickens (Bio | Archive)
July 22, 2008 - 16:45 ET

NBC's David Gregory, substitute-hosting on Tuesday's "Today" show, argued with Rudy Giuliani that any notion of Barack Obama's foreign policy naivete has been refuted by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. Gregory contended that Maliki's suggestion of a U.S. troop withdrawal by 2010 "validated" Obama's position. Giuliani scoffed that Democratic presidential nominee wouldn't have even been able to visit with the Prime Minister in Iraq, if it weren't for the surge that the Obama opposed.

The following exchanged occurred on the July 22, Today show:

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DAVID GREGORY: Let me turn to Iraq this morning. A lot of news. Senator Obama's trip. And he said late last night that if he had it to do over again he would not support the troop surge in Iraq. McCain has already been critical about that. What do you think that should say to voters about his view of the war and his judgment?

GIULIANI: I don't, I don't understand, I don't understand what Senator Obama was saying. I mean he, he, he goes to Iraq to go on a fact-finding mission and the facts that he finds are that violence is down 70/80 percent. That everyone believes, particularly the military commanders he's talking to, that it was a great success. The only reason that Al-Maliki is talking about a possible withdrawal in 2010 is because the surge has worked. Couldn't possibly be talking about something like that. And we don't know if it'll happen or not depending on the facts on the ground. So I think it either indicates that Senator Obama is not on a fact finding mission because the facts don't seem to affect him or Senator Obama has a stubbornness of wanting to stick to his political position, which now turns out to be incorrect. The position he took a year ago, to oppose the surge, would have left us with a great loss and a Middle East in chaos right now. The position that was the correct one, that turned out historically to be correct is the position that we should have done the surge.

GREGORY: Alright but, but let's take on this argument a little bit because, Mr. Mayor, as you know Senator McCain has effectively chalked up Obama's position on Iraq to naiveté, that he's effectively called for surrender. And yet by sticking to the idea of a 16-month phased withdrawal from Iraq, that has ultimately been validated by the Iraqi prime minister, hasn't that effectively refuted that argument?

GIULIANI: Of course not. You wouldn't be there if the surge didn't work. The, you, unless you wanted to pull out the troops in the midst of chaos. Unless he wanted to create civil war in Iraq. These are the facts-

GREGORY: Right.

GIULIANI: -that Senator Obama ignored a year ago. It now turns out that had you had not the surge either we would be in a much worse situation in Iraq or as the Democrats and Harry Reid and Obama wanted to do, we would've declared that we had lost and pulled out.

—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.


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Fonzi/Obama

July 22, 2008 - 16:56 ET by iveseenitall

Like Fonzi on Happy Days, Obama has to say, "I, I, I, I was,was was... wr, wr, wr, ong!" But he won't. He'd rather lose a war than admit he was WRONG!

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

Giuliani is not 100%

July 22, 2008 - 16:58 ET by SickofLibs

Giuliani is not 100% correct. The Messiah COULD have went to Iraq without the surge, but he would have had to survive corkscrew landings and then dodge hails of bullets.

→ No SOL

July 22, 2008 - 17:03 ET by Cool Arrow

That only happens when Gen. Weslay Clark is the commander of the forces charged with the secrity of the dignitary.

  • LYDSEXICS UNTIE

GREGORY: Alright but, but

July 22, 2008 - 17:16 ET by MidAmerica

GREGORY: Alright but, but let's take on this argument a little bit because, Mr. Mayor, as you know Senator McCain has effectively chalked up Obama's position on Iraq to naiveté, that he's effectively called for surrender. And yet by sticking to the idea of a 16-month phased withdrawal from Iraq, that has ultimately been validated by the Iraqi prime minister, hasn't that effectively refuted that argument?

    Obama's position is going to benefit from being like a stopped clock.  A stopped clock is eventually correct.  So eventually obama's goal to remove troops will coincide with the conditions on the ground and he will claim he has 'superior judgement'!

 

The question David Gregory is...

July 22, 2008 - 17:17 ET by Gary Hall

The question David Gregory is...

DAVID GREGORY: Let me turn to Iraq this morning. A lot of news. Senator Obama's trip. And he said late last night that if he had it to do over again he would not support the troop surge in Iraq. McCain has already been critical about that.

The question David Gregory is... Why is the media not being critical about that? Your job is not limited to being critical about McCain or about the Bush administration or about whatever it is you don't like about anything done or thought by Republicans; rather, your job is to be critical. You need to be pounding on Obama and Obama's people, "How in the world Senator, after all you have seen, all that we now know, just continue to bury your head in the sand of rhetoric and try to insist that you were not wrong?"

David. The quesiton is not for McCain's repsonse to Obama's problem here, the questions are for Obama.

Obambi spent

July 22, 2008 - 17:23 ET by 10ksnooker

143 days to learn the ways of the world, what's another day to learn the ways of diplmacy. He is after all, the moo-saih.

Obambi is an arrogant snob ... 

I just happened to catch this this morning..

July 22, 2008 - 17:48 ET by JTP

and was so impressed how quick Giuliani snapped the answers to each question and would not accept the premise of any of Gregory's questions. I was really hoping McCain was watching and taking notes. Lord knows he could use some animation when he speaks.

 

"I need more cowbell!" SNL

The democratic strateic thinking,.. analyzed...

July 22, 2008 - 17:59 ET by c5then

Iraq

Call for withdrawl in 2006 because the situation is 'hopeless' and we're in a 'quagmire'. oppose any funding bills that might assist the military in re-deploying troops to help or getting more and newer technology into the effort. In 2007, when the generals ask for a surge of troops to quash for once and for all some very pesky areas of concern, oppose that surge as being useless and dangerous and call for total withdrawl again. Actively lobby against the surge and try to prevent it using all means. After losing, and while the surge is happening, demean it and belittle it and the troops by saying publically how it won't work (meaning that the troops are incompetent). After it has proven to be successful, ignore the success and keep talking about withdrawl. Then, the piast a resistance, Send your presidential nominee over to "see how thingas are" after he has already laid out his plan for withdrawl, and when asked if they would support the surge now, knowing what he now knows, have him say 'no' because he still disagrees with the idea. 

So, apparently the Democrats main plank in their campaign is going to be cognative dissonance. Disagreeing with the very strategy that allowed Obama to visit Iraq so that he can disagree with the strategy because he disagrees with it even though it turned out to be the correct choice.

Not only isn't that 'change i can believe in', it's not even logical or intelligent reasoning.

The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.

c5then...

July 22, 2008 - 18:01 ET by Clear thinker

But it may be enough to fool the masses...sigh.

 

45 Communist Goals for America http://www.nationmakers.com/com_goals.htm

Ct, I think you may be right on this one --again.

July 22, 2008 - 18:27 ET by Thalpy

Ct, I think you may be right on this one--again. It never takes much to fool our press evidently. We should all be convinced, however, that this trip removes all doubt about the glaring voids in Senator Obama's education. Obama can do in days what it would (and has) taken our State Department lifetimes to understand. But then, messiahs are like that; it's a messianic kind of thing.

A COUPLE OF THINGS...

July 22, 2008 - 18:18 ET by danybhoy

On the subject of Obama, he is an inch wide & an inch deep. He is nothing without those who are behind whatever it is he is supposed to be. Those people need to be flushed out.

As for my man Rudy, I felt he should have been the GOP nominee, but I would have accepted Romney. I got fed up with everyone on the right pissing & moaning about the abortion issue & Rudy's stance on it.  I find abortion to be a disgusting act, but it really should have a very limited part in ther selection process for the GOP. That is a matter of what kind of judges who would appoint, that will take care of itself when that is done correctly. Too many did'nt trust Rudy's life stance & Romney's religion, so they (with the help of conservative talk radio) had a fling with Huckabee(a pro-life, liberal Republican governor who raised taxes in Arkansas) & drafted Fred Thompson(who I like, but had no real interest in becoming President). By the time we had to really pick a nominee, many conservatives had a much smaller pool to pick from. This is why the GOP has McCain, who while he is a true American war hero, is a lackluster candidate for The White House who does'nt realize how low his oppenents & the MSM will go to get the empty suit that is Obama elected.

McCain needs to get dirty & fight like he wants it, but I don't see it. I'm really sad that Rudy or Romney got screwed by those who bought into the fraud that is Mike Schmuckabee & by those who thought Fred was a good idea. We will likely get an Obama White House, with Pelosi & Reed in charge in Congress. If that happens, there must be massive change within the GOP so that the conservative revolution can happen again. Blue-blooded, Rockafeller type RINOs need not apply.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it...

 

 

"...it's still We The People, Right?"  Megadeth 

My tag suffices

July 22, 2008 - 19:07 ET by Blonde

for everything that needs to be said, here. 

David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive

 

For all the breathless

July 22, 2008 - 21:37 ET by CJK51

For all the breathless swooning and ecstacy-laden reports about Maliki confirming Obama's brilliant military strategy, I have yet to hear one of these reports from the Obama cheering section quote anyone from the Iraqi government, least of all, the prime minister himself saying, "Barry's our man!" Yet every story on Obama's Magical Mystery Tour, from the slow-witted Sleestack Katie, to the drooling Chris Matthews, states AS FACT that the Iraqi government is endorsing Obama.

Until I see such a quote, I think we can all chalk this up as yet another bit of evidence of the media's cooperation in promoting Obama and divesting itself of objectivity.