Obama mocks GOP criticism

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Obama mocks GOP criticism

Very nice. Conservative criticism of Obama's foreign policy approach is so patently ridiculous, that he's now openly mocking the wingers freaking out over his handshake with Hugo Chavez.

Venezuela is a country whose defense budget is probably 1/600th of the United States'. They own Citgo. It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez that we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States. I don't think anybody can find any evidence that that would do so. Even within this imaginative crowd, I think you would be hard-pressed to paint a scenario in which U.S. interests would be damaged as a consequence of us having a more constructive relationship with Venezuela.

Greg Sargent:

It's worth recalling that there was a time when Dems would quake with fear about national security attacks coming from the right, let alone respond to them with outright mockery. In this sense, Obama's tone underscores how much the political climate has shifted on such matters.

It's also a sign of his confidence that the public is with him — and has little trust in the Republicans — even on questions of national security. He appears to feel on solid enough ground that he can respond to the basic ideas underlying Republican efforts to depict him as weak with little more than contempt and derision.

Me, I'm still chuckling at "this imaginative crowd".

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