ITB - Obama refuses to apologize for 'Polish death camp' remark -- American Thinker

[bsteadman]

Obama refuses to apologize for 'Polish death camp' remark

American Thinker
Rick Moran
5/31/2012

Excerpt:

"OK, so it was a "misstatement." Why not apologize for it?

AFP:

The White House on Wednesday shrugged off Polish demands to express more than mere 'regret' after President Barack Obama mistakenly referred to a Nazi Holocaust site as a "Polish death camp."

"We regret the misstatement, but that is what it was," said Obama spokesman Jay Carney, reiterating that the president "misspoke" during a ceremony awarding the highest US civilian honor to late Holocaust hero Jan Karski.

"He was referring to Nazi death camps in German-occupied Poland."

Poland had earlier insisted that Washington must do more than simply express the "regret" offered by another White House spokesman late on Tuesday, hours after Obama's use of words deemed offensive by Warsaw.

Obama's verbal slip overshadowed his posthumous award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Karski, a Polish underground officer who provided the Allies with early eyewitness accounts of Nazi genocide against European Jews.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Obama's words had hurt all Poles and he expected more from Washington than just regret.

"I am convinced that our American friends can today allow themselves a stronger reaction than a simple expression of regret from the White House spokesman -- a reaction more inclined to eliminate once and for all these kinds of errors," Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.

"Today, this is a problem for the reputation of the United States," the prime minister said.

Members of Poland's Jewish community -- including the country's Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich -- said in a statement that: "We expect President Barack Obama to personally correct his words."

Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski said meanwhile he had sent a letter to Obama "counting on (...) cooperation in correcting this unfortunate error" which "I am certain in no way reflects the thoughts or views of our American friend."

What Obama sees as a simple verbal slip up, the Poles see as a blood libel. Those were Nazi death camps, not Polish ones. Correcting the historical record is pro forma in cases like this. Why is Obama resisting?"
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View the complete article at:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...mp_remark.html

[bsteadman]

No Apologies For Poland from ‘President Misspoken’ -- Canada Free Press

No Apologies For Poland from ‘President Misspoken’

Canada Free Press
Judi McLeod
5/31/2012

Excerpt:

"An idea whose time has come: Americans officially apologizing to the world for the man who calls himself President Barack Obama. (bold emphasis added)

Obama has insulted some 38 million Poles. But that’s only his latest insult to a nation that has the respect of the majority. In one of his first acts in the Oval Office, Obama returned an historic bust of Winston Churchill to Britain. In 2009, Obama did not seem to know that there is no such language as “Austrian”. The official language of Austria is German. Recognized regional languages in Austria include Hungarian, Slovene and Croatian.

Obama’s overbearing administration writes off all insults to America’s allies as tiny, inconsequential ‘gaffes’.

“The White House on Wednesday shrugged off Polish demands to express more than mere ‘regret’ after President Barack Obama mistakenly referred to a Nazi Holocaust site as a “Polish death camp”. (AFP, May 30, 2012).

“We regret the misstatement, but that is what it was,” said Obama spokesman Jay Carney, reiterating that the president “misspoke” during a ceremony awarding the highest US civilian honor to late Holocaust hero Jan Karski.

“He was referring to Nazi death camps in German-occupied Poland.”

Lost in the awarding of the highest US civilian honor to late Holocaust hero Jan Karski is that the same honor was bestowed upon labor activist and co-founder of the United Farm Workers Dolores Huerta, who also happens to be the honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Seems that Holocaust heroes and Socialists are one and the same to ‘President Misspoken’.

Instead of seeing that Obama dropped his arrogant, high-handed ways with a full apology to the people of Poland, US officials reiterated Wednesday that Obama had visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial during his visit to Poland last year.

Mighty big of him. Millions of tourists in Poland make the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial their first stop when travelling in that country.

There is a grassroots movement, growing like untended garden weeds, among American patriots, who would like to see proffered an official apology to the world for Obama."
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View the complete article at:

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/47026

[bsteadman]

Polish prime minister: A statement of “regret” for what Obama said from a White House

Polish prime minister: A statement of “regret” for what Obama said from a White House spokesman isn’t good enough; Update: Polish president sends letter

Hot Air
Allahpundit
5/30/2012

Excerpt:

"The Prime Minister stated that Poland expected America to engage in efforts aimed at eradicating the phrase “Polish death camps” once and for all. Donald Tusk added that it might “paradoxically be a good occasion for the American administration, Americans and the President of the United States to support Poland in its efforts to promote historical truth, correct phrases and appropriate assessments of the events which took place in Poland and Europe during the Second World War”…

I am certain that our American friends are capable of a more explicit reaction than issuing a correction and the spokesperson of the White House expressing regret, and that maybe they will once and for all eliminate such errors – said the head of the Polish government.

Not sure what he wants the U.S. to do to help “eradicate” the phrase “Polish death camps.” Banning it would be unconstitutional, of course; some sort of educational campaign would be fine, except that I think pretty much everyone already understands that the “Polish death camps” were actually German death camps. That’s why Obama’s taking such a beating for it today, even from his own side. Lefty Michael Tomasky, a reliable Obama defender, calls it the worst thing he’s ever said:

This probably won’t matter much politically–I’m not sure how many Polish-Americans are Obama voters (although maybe in Chicago there’s a fair number, just on the basis of going for the hometown kid; but of course they all live in a state he’s carrying by 20 points anyhow). But it’s important and it’s embarrassing. Yes–it’s the first time he’s ever embarrassed me as president. He came kinda-sorta close when he called the Cambridge police “stupid,” but that was more of a political thing, not a sin against history. This was just shameful; a shameful thing for a president to say. If you don’t know why, read Frum’s essay, linked to above.

If anyone in the big O’s orbit reads these scribblings, I would beseech you people to encouarge the boss to correct this record. To take a moment to say at an upcoming event, “You know, I said something really terribly wrong last week, and I want to correct it.” And go on to explain why it’s important that he do so. That would actually play very well politically–for people to see a politician admit to an error, in public like that! But that is not why I propose it. I propose it because it’s right.

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View the complete article at:

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/3...t-good-enough/