Kucinich says he was misquoted, but what did he really say?

[thewiseguy]

Earlier today, we wrote about how Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich is getting criticized by his hometown newspaper, left- and right-wing commentators, and U.S.-based Syrian opposition figures for meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday, potentially damaging his anti-war, pro-human rights reputation. To find out what Kucinich actually said, The Atlantic Wire reached out to CNN's Hala Gorani, who was present when Kucinich met with reporters and highlighted a few of his remarks on Twitter and in a CNN TV spot.

According to SANA, Kucinich told reporters at his Damascus hotel on Tuesday that Assad's regime is taking the need to end violence in the country seriously and that Assad himself enjoys widespread support despite the government crackdown on Syria's uprising. Kucinich claimed SANA "mistranslated" some of his remarks without really distancing himself from the report. Kucinich's communications director told The Atlantic Wire he believes SANA reporters at the hotel may have used translators while Kucinich was speaking and then translated their Arabic-language reports into English, which could account for the inaccurate transcription. (CNN's Gorani says it is possible that the regime had Arabic-language translators at the event, but can't confirm it one way or the other.) So, let's go to the transcripts. The first, shorter quotes are what appeared in SANA's report. The longer version is Gorani's transcription from the NPR audio.


SANA: "President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians."

Audio recording: "People have separated their estimation of the regime and their estimation of the president, that people still have a love and respect--many people still have a love and respect--for the president but they do not have a love and respect for the regime. So there's a dichotomy that exists and it's important for that to be understood because in Egypt and Tunisia, people did not like the leaders there. They turned them out in Egypt and they still have a regime."

http://news.yahoo.com/dennis-kucinich-really-said-syria-205112500.html

Really Dennis? So people still love and respect Assad? :eyes: I can not believe the tax dollars went to fund this trip for him and his wife so he could deliver this bullshit assessment. Never mind the tanks rolling over the protesters or shelling villages. Just today alone more than ten were killed in Syria. Perhaps they were out to show some love and respect for Assad....:sarcasm:

[trumad]

1. His next visit?

Libya to show some love for Gadaffi. :shrug:

[dionysus]

2. yeah, i wonder where the hell he's going with this. next he'll be saying ghadaffis getting a bad rap

[1monster]

3. Sounds like he is saying that it is a complicated situation... Every political

problem in the world is not black or white. And if Assad was loved, but his actions of late have caused grief, it is possible that the people have mixed feelings, are in a state of confusion. People will try to make excuses for someone they love. How many times have we heard a viticm of domestic abuse say something like, "But I know (s)he loves me!"

I don't know the situation in Syria well enough to comment on Kucininch's statement, but I do know that this:

"People have separated their estimation of the regime and their estimation of the president, that people still have a love and respect--many people still have a love and respect--for the president but they do not have a love and respect for the regime. So there's a dichotomy that exists and it's important for that to be understood because in Egypt and Tunisia, people did not like the leaders there. They turned them out in Egypt and they still have a regime."

does not accurately translate into this:

"President al-Assad is highly loved and appreciated by the Syrians."

[Flubadubya]

5. Indeed. Kucinich's interpretation of the situation in Syria,

what he sees as the peoples' estimation of the president vs. the regime, is more his perception of facts of the matter. His comments certainly do not constitute an endorsement of al-Assad or his polices. It is certainly not praise for the man as the distorted comment would lead one to think.

I call BS on the mis-"quote" and on anyone who falls for it. :puke:

[Ice Number Nine]

4. Kucinich, a friend to the House of Assad

[ForeignandDomestic]

6. .....

Is that much worse than beaing a party puppet in the House of imperialist oops I meant House of representatives!

[Ice Number Nine]

8. Assad is a murderous Dictator. There is no comparison.

[sabrina 1]

11. Karamov is a murderous dictator. How do you feel about this

admistration continuing support for him?

[thewiseguy]

16. So we should not criticize Kucinich for what he said since the administration supports Karamov?

Seriously what is you point for bringing up Karamov?

[thewiseguy]

17. and btw who the fuck is Karamov?

[JonLP24]

19. President of Uzbekistan

Administration in the past (not sure about today) was trying to build a positive relationship to him because of supply routes to Afghanistan.

[sabrina 1]

18. I think we should criticize any US support for any dictator.

However, I have never seen much criticism of US support, both financial and diplomatic, the kind of support that keeps these dictators in power, here on DU. But here is a thread about Kucinich and even though he himself says his remarks were mis-interpreted, the 'outrage' even if he was not, is way out of proportion since he is not capable of actually keeping him in power.

Was there similar outrage, eg, at Clinton's, Obama's and Biden's remarks about Mubarak even though he too was killing his own people at the time? 'Mubarak is a good friend and ally of the US'? Biden: 'He is not a dictator'!

Maybe since the US DOES have relationships with these nefarious characters, sometimes for decades as they abused their own people, we should not be so suprised that even after their people rise up against them, top US officials continue to try to support them. What would be so surprising if one Congressman actually did make supportive comments about one of them?

Having said that, Kucinich states he has been misinterpreted. The truth is that these dictators always have supporters among their populations btw. That would not be a false statement but also would not be a statement of support either.

[sabrina 1]

10. Now, why am I not surprised by that

remark? :rofl:

[EFerrari]

14. Rubbernecker!

lol

[EFerrari]

13. What a pantload. n/t

[fascisthunter]

7. don't let political bias warped truth

I think you are twisting what he stated into something you think most will reject. I read the quote and I didn't come away from this thinking what you do... maybe my own bias is at play here, I'll be honest, but I think this whole thread is just twisting what he said.

[thewiseguy]

9. Excuse me? How is this thread twisting what he said?

In the audio translation he clearly states that Assad is loved and respected by the people and it is the regime that they do not like! I mean the translation is pretty clear. Now if you do not want to even believe in the audio translation then that is another story...

[EFerrari]

12. You mean, how are you totalizing his statement that the public's loyalties are mixed

by claiming that he said something else?

Do you read your own posts?

Audio recording: "People have separated their estimation of the regime and their estimation of the president, that people still have a love and respect--many people still have a love and respect--for the president but they do not have a love and respect for the regime. So there's a dichotomy that exists and it's important for that to be understood because in Egypt and Tunisia, people did not like the leaders there. They turned them out in Egypt and they still have a regime."

You yourself mischaracterize what Dennis is saying so no, it's not hard to believe the press is doing it when you provide a clear example.

[thewiseguy]

15. Kucinich: "people still have love and respect for Assad but they do not like the regime"

Is not that what he said?

[EFerrari]

21. You omitted "many"? For a reason?

Maybe you need to go back and read what he said and try to understand it yourself.

[Scurrilous]

20. Oh my!

:kick: