Once again, Reagan-love has clouded the memories of conservatives who just can't remember anything negative about Hollywood's most famous B actor. But at the time, conservatives were very critical of The Gipper and didn't think he was very conservative at all!
Are conservatives dishonest, or do they just name-call anyone whom they disagree with?
Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran, as well as with other hostile regimes around the world, has led to a steady stream of Chamberlain comparisons since before he even became president. In 2008, then-President Bush gave a speech in Israel that was a thinly veiled attack on Obama, who at the time was a US senator and presidential candidate, and had argued that the US should hold direct talks with countries like Iran and Syria.
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said in the speech. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.'"
Get it? A SENATOR? Just like ANOTHER SENATOR WE KNOW?
(Bush's speech also prompted the famously uncomfortable Hardball segment in which conservative radio host Kevin James criticized Obama for being like Neville Chamberlain, but turned out not to have any idea what Chamberlain had actually done.)
The Munich comparisons started cropping up again as the nuclear negotiations with Iran progressed. In 2013, Gingrich said the Iran negotiations were "the Munich of the Middle East,"and that "This is not a negotiation, this is a surrender to the Iranian dictatorship."
And just last week, Republican Senator Mark Kirk compared the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program to Chamberlain's negotiations with Hitler, telling Politico that Chamberlain "got more out of Hitler at Munich" than the Obama administration's negotiators had gotten out of Iran.
Are conservatives dishonest, or do they just name-call anyone whom they disagree with?
Conservatives say Obama is like Neville Chamberlain. They said the same about Reagan.
The accused: Neville Chamberlain
Who: Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940.
Reasons for being accused of being Neville Chamberlain: Was in fact Neville Chamberlain.
Accuracy of accusations: Very accurate.
Chamberlain famously tried, unsuccessfully, to avert war by appeasing Hitler with the Munich Agreement. That agreement gave Hitler the Sudetenland, a large chunk of Czechoslovakia. The plan failed spectacularly: Hitler was not satisfied with the Sudetenland, and soon invaded Poland.
The accused: Ronald Reagan
Who: Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States.
Reasons for being accused of being Neville Chamberlain: Negotiated with the Soviet Union.
Accuracy of accusations: Not accurate.
Reagan is now the patron saint of the American right. But during his presidency he was accused of Chamberlain-style appeasement because of his negotiations with the Soviet Union. In 1985 Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit, where the two leaders discussed the arms race, the Strategic Defense Initiative (the anti-ballistic missile system also known as "Star Wars"), and human rights. Newt Gingrich called the meeting ''the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Chamberlain in 1938 at Munich."
And in 1988, Conservative Caucus Chair Howard Phillips ran an ad that compared Reagan signing the INF arms-control treaty with the Soviet Union to Chamberlain signing the Munich Agreement with Hitler in 1938. "Appeasement Is As Unwise In 1988 As In 1938," said the ad, which showed pictures of Chamberlain, Hitler, Reagan and Gorbachev.
The accusations against Reagan are a clear reminder that the frequent cries of "Munich! Munich! Muuuniccccchhhh!" in American politics aren't really about appeasement: they're just code for "negotiation with dictators we don't like."
The accused: Barack Obama
Who: Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States.
Reasons for being accused of being Neville Chamberlain: Willingness to hold talks with Iran.
Accuracy of accusations: Not accurate.
The accused: Neville Chamberlain
Who: Neville Chamberlain, prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940.
Reasons for being accused of being Neville Chamberlain: Was in fact Neville Chamberlain.
Accuracy of accusations: Very accurate.
Chamberlain famously tried, unsuccessfully, to avert war by appeasing Hitler with the Munich Agreement. That agreement gave Hitler the Sudetenland, a large chunk of Czechoslovakia. The plan failed spectacularly: Hitler was not satisfied with the Sudetenland, and soon invaded Poland.
The accused: Ronald Reagan
Who: Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States.
Reasons for being accused of being Neville Chamberlain: Negotiated with the Soviet Union.
Accuracy of accusations: Not accurate.
Reagan is now the patron saint of the American right. But during his presidency he was accused of Chamberlain-style appeasement because of his negotiations with the Soviet Union. In 1985 Reagan met with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at the Geneva Summit, where the two leaders discussed the arms race, the Strategic Defense Initiative (the anti-ballistic missile system also known as "Star Wars"), and human rights. Newt Gingrich called the meeting ''the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Chamberlain in 1938 at Munich."
And in 1988, Conservative Caucus Chair Howard Phillips ran an ad that compared Reagan signing the INF arms-control treaty with the Soviet Union to Chamberlain signing the Munich Agreement with Hitler in 1938. "Appeasement Is As Unwise In 1988 As In 1938," said the ad, which showed pictures of Chamberlain, Hitler, Reagan and Gorbachev.
The accusations against Reagan are a clear reminder that the frequent cries of "Munich! Munich! Muuuniccccchhhh!" in American politics aren't really about appeasement: they're just code for "negotiation with dictators we don't like."
The accused: Barack Obama
Who: Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States.
Reasons for being accused of being Neville Chamberlain: Willingness to hold talks with Iran.
Accuracy of accusations: Not accurate.
Obama's willingness to negotiate with Iran, as well as with other hostile regimes around the world, has led to a steady stream of Chamberlain comparisons since before he even became president. In 2008, then-President Bush gave a speech in Israel that was a thinly veiled attack on Obama, who at the time was a US senator and presidential candidate, and had argued that the US should hold direct talks with countries like Iran and Syria.
"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," Bush said in the speech. "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.'"
Get it? A SENATOR? Just like ANOTHER SENATOR WE KNOW?
(Bush's speech also prompted the famously uncomfortable Hardball segment in which conservative radio host Kevin James criticized Obama for being like Neville Chamberlain, but turned out not to have any idea what Chamberlain had actually done.)
The Munich comparisons started cropping up again as the nuclear negotiations with Iran progressed. In 2013, Gingrich said the Iran negotiations were "the Munich of the Middle East,"and that "This is not a negotiation, this is a surrender to the Iranian dictatorship."
And just last week, Republican Senator Mark Kirk compared the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program to Chamberlain's negotiations with Hitler, telling Politico that Chamberlain "got more out of Hitler at Munich" than the Obama administration's negotiators had gotten out of Iran.
