# Obama's hypocrisy over election **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 17, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925 "2016-12-17T13:18:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/1 "2016-12-17T13:18:50Z")
President Obama in what may be his last White House press briefing got really hot under the collar over alleged Russian interference in the US election. How dare a foreign country interfere in another country’s election? He clearly has a short memory. [The Obama Administration Spent Hundreds Of Thousands Of Dollars To Defeat Benjamin Netanyahu](http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/12/16/flashback-that-time-the-obama-administration-spent-hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars-to-defeat-benjamin-netanyahu-n2260711) > [@](#): > > The State Department paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayers grants to an Israeli group that used the money to build a campaign to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in last year’s Israeli parliamentary elections, a congressional investigation concluded Tuesday. > > Some $350,000 was sent to OneVoice, ostensibly to support the group’s efforts to back Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement negotiations. But OneVoice used the money to build a voter database, train activists and hire a political consulting firm with ties to President Obama’s campaign — all of which set the stage for an anti-Netanyahu campaign, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a bipartisan staff report. > > In one stunning finding, the subcommittee said OneVoice even told the State Department’s top diplomat in Jerusalem of its plans in an email, but the official, Consul General Michael Ratney, claims never to have seen them. Russian interference in the American election, if proved, was wrong. American interference in the Israeli election was just as wrong. And Obama should check his footing; his moral high ground just turned into a swamp. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/2 "2016-12-17T15:03:11Z")
The US has been interfering in the elections of many other countries for 50+ years, usually to the detriment of the people of those countries. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/3 "2016-12-17T16:05:33Z")
Indeed. See this news article: “How John F. Kennedy helped Diefenbaker lose an election.” [https://www.google.ca/amp/s/sec.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-john-f-kennedy-helped-diefenbaker-lose-an-election/article10844078/%3Fservice%3Damp?client=safari](https://www.google.ca/amp/s/sec.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/how-john-f-kennedy-helped-diefenbaker-lose-an-election/article10844078/%3Fservice%3Damp?client=safari) Summary: the American government interfered in the Canadian election of 1963 because Prime Minister Diefenbaker continued trade with China and Cuba, and refused to allow nuclear missiles on Canadian soil. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/4 "2016-12-17T16:47:06Z")
I don’t for a second doubt that the US interfered in other country’s elections, but… TownHall referencing a Washington Times article? That’s not what I would call a reputable source. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/5 "2016-12-17T16:55:50Z")
IIRC, the grants given to that Israeli organization were intended to be for uncontroversial societal programs, and were diverted to electioneering programs without the knowledge of the US Government. I believe subsequent grants had additional restrictions placed on them to prohibit this from happening again. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/6 "2016-12-17T16:57:05Z")
Lets say that happened, as stated. Given the sources I’m not sure that’s a great assumption. Every single politician in every country that ever existed did things they didn’t want other countries to do. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/7 "2016-12-17T17:02:19Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > IIRC, the grants given to that Israeli organization were intended to be for uncontroversial societal programs, and were diverted to electioneering programs without the knowledge of the US Government. I believe subsequent grants had additional restrictions placed on them to prohibit this from happening again. If that actually is the case, I’d say that’s a pretty poor excuse. Any money I give to a group to do X means they can take other money intended for X and use it for Y. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/8 "2016-12-17T17:08:18Z")
[http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/joint-staff-report\_-review-of-us-state-department-grants-to-onevoice](http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/joint-staff-report_-review-of-us-state-department-grants-to-onevoice) “The Subcommittee found no evidence that OneVoice spent grant funds to influence the 2015 Israeli elections.” However, there was incompetence at the State Department: “This pivot to electoral politics was consistent with a strategic plan developed by OneVoice leadership and emailed to State Department officials during the grant period. The State Department diplomat who received the plan told the Subcommittee that he never reviewed it.” So it seems according to the Republican-controlled Senate’s investigation that poor oversight of grants allowed an activity that had previously received US funds to later become involved in a political campaign, but it concludes that the grant wasn’t given for the purpose of intervening in the Israeli elections, which is a fundamental difference between this and the allegations against Russia. The OP reminds me of how Republican approval ratings of Putin are twice as high as their approval of Obama. Shameful. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/9 "2016-12-17T17:12:36Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > The OP reminds me of how Republican approval ratings of Putin are twice as high as their approval of Obama. Shameful. You obviously haven’t seen [this pic](http://www.theunrealtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/putin.jpg) yet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/10 "2016-12-17T17:18:15Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > The US has been interfering in the elections of many other countries for 50+ years, usually to the detriment of the people of those countries. 50 years? You must be really young. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/11 "2016-12-17T19:01:36Z")
We bombed military targets during WWI, so it was hypocritical of us to be outraged over the attack on Pearl Harbor. i.e., bullhooey. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/12 "2016-12-17T19:22:57Z")
Obama made us all vote for Trump! We didn’t _want_ to, he made us do it! ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/13 "2016-12-17T19:31:49Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > We bombed military targets during WWI, so it was hypocritical of us to be outraged over the attack on Pearl Harbor. > > i.e., bullhooey. Subtle difference there that you may have missed. The US bombed military targets while we were at war. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in peacetime. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/14 "2016-12-17T20:18:15Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Subtle difference there that you may have missed. The US bombed military targets while we were at war. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in peacetime. You missed a “subtle” difference in the OP, in that the grants to the Israeli organization were not intended for use in a political campaign, but poor oversight allowed that to happen; as opposed to the Russians apparently meddling in US elections on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/15 "2016-12-17T20:27:40Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > You missed a “subtle” difference in the OP, in that the grants to the Israeli organization were not intended for use in a political campaign, but poor oversight allowed that to happen; as opposed to the Russians apparently meddling in US elections on purpose. Who is responsible for that oversight? The President or the Sec’y of State? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/16 "2016-12-17T20:56:52Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Who is responsible for that oversight? The President or the Sec’y of State? From what I know, officials several rings below the Secretary of State. The idea that the President or the Secretary of State manage such small grants as absurd. One might as well hold Ford CEO Mark Fields responsible for that leaky roof on my old Mustang getting past QC. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/17 "2016-12-17T21:59:33Z")
More fake news propagated by the right wing media. Everyone should check their footing; looks like we’re in a sewer. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/18 "2016-12-19T13:29:09Z")
I got this chain email from one of my half-witted brothers in law: > [@](#): > > Did the Russians hack the 2016 election? The CIA, President Obama, and the media think so. > > What did we learn from the hacked emails? Well, we learned that Hillary Clinton maintained “both a public and a private position” — one for the voters, one for Goldman Sachs. We learned that the DNC conspired against Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. We learned about the corrupt inner workings of the Clinton Foundation. And on and on. > > In short, we learned the truth. > > Sure, it’s offensive that a foreign power would try to manipulate an American election. But it’s not all that different from what President Obama did in 2015, sending $350,000 (U.S. taxpayer dollars!) to a group called OneVoice, supposedly to further peace efforts in Israel. The money was actually spent on a failed attempt to unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. > > President Obama and OneVoice tried to smear Netanyahu with lies. By contrast, the hacked emails, though stolen, told the truth. Clearly, Democrats are not opposed to manipulating elections. They are only opposed to losing elections. > > When my father, Ronald Reagan, was president, Democrat politicians secretly connived with the Soviets in failed attempts to manipulate elections and defeat Ronald Reagan. Former intelligence officer Herbert Romerstein dug through the Soviet archives after the fall of the USSR and uncovered secret documents written by KGB agent Victor Chebrikov. The documents revealed that Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy had sent a friend, former Senator John Tunney of California, to contact the KGB. Tunney’s mission: undermine then-President Jimmy Carter. > > On March 5, 1980, as Kennedy was challenging Carter in the primaries, Tunney met with the KGB and urged the Soviets to sabotage Carter’s foreign policy efforts. It’s amazing: Two high-ranking Democrats — a sitting U.S. senator and a former senator — sought Soviet help in undermining American foreign policy and manipulating an American election. > > One 1980 document stated that Kennedy offered to condemn President Carter’s policy toward the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in exchange for KGB help. News accounts of that period prove that Kennedy did, in fact, openly criticize Carter’s Afghanistan policy. > > Even more amazing: President Carter himself was also willing to jump into bed with the Soviets. In the closing days of the 1980 presidential campaign, while trailing Ronald Reagan in the polls, Jimmy Carter sent a political ally, industrialist Armand Hammer, to a secret meeting with Soviet ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin at the embassy in Washington. Hammer asked the Soviets to help Carter win votes in key states by allowing Jewish “refuseniks” to emigrate to Israel. The Soviets rejected Hammer’s request > > In January 1984, former President Carter approached Ambassador Dobrynin in person. Carter wanted to derail President Reagan’s defense buildup, and asked for help from the Evil Then there’s Speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill. He privately told Ambassador Dobrynin that it was in everyone’s best interests if the Soviets would help the Democrats keep “that demagogue Reagan” from being re-elected. O’Neill warned Dobrynin that the “primitive instincts” of this “dangerous man” would plunge the world into war. > > It must have amazed Anatoly Dobrynin that these prominent liberals — Ted Kennedy, Armand Hammer, Jimmy Carter, and Tip O’Neill — all viewed President Reagan as more dangerous than any Communist dictator. Historian Paul Kengor observed that the Soviet archives showed “the lengths to which some on the political left . . .were willing to go to stop Ronald Reagan.” > > Why did the KGB documents come to light? They surfaced because Ronald Reagan toppled the Evil Empire, ended the Cold War, and thwarted the joint Democrat-Soviet effort to manipulate the election. > > Fast-forward to 2016. The Democrats are desperate to blame their election loss on Russian interference. President Obama has ordered a complete investigation, and says he wants a report on his desk before he leaves office. Well, Mr. President, I wanted you to have all the information, including how the Democrats tried to manipulate U.S. elections in 1980 and 1984 — with the help of the Russians. > > Karma really sucks, doesn’t it? > > Especially if you’re a Democrat. > > Michael Regan. Amazing that Reagan’s son doesn’t know how to spell his last name. I haven’t bothered to investigate point by point as it appears to be largely gibberish. Interesting that they didn’t mention Reagan’s sabotage of Carter’s hostage negotiation efforts. Or that Nixon undercut LBJ’s peace talks with North Vietnam. Seems to me that all of these “points” by “Reagan’s son” are bullshit but if someone wants to support or refute them, have at it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/19 "2016-12-19T17:13:52Z")
“…historian Paul Kegnor…”! Go ahead, look him up, you could use a good laugh. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2016, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925/20 "2016-12-19T17:32:17Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I got this chain email from one of my half-witted brothers in law: > > Amazing that Reagan’s son doesn’t know how to spell his last name. I haven’t bothered to investigate point by point as it appears to be largely gibberish. Interesting that they didn’t mention Reagan’s sabotage of Carter’s hostage negotiation efforts. Or that Nixon undercut LBJ’s peace talks with North Vietnam. Seems to me that all of these “points” by “Reagan’s son” are bullshit but if someone wants to support or refute them, have at it. They spelled Michael Reagan’s name correctly on the NEWSMAX site. Maybe it was a typo? \*Fast-forward to 2016. The Democrats are desperate to blame their election loss on Russian interference. President Obama has ordered a complete investigation, and says he wants a report on his desk before he leaves office. Well, Mr. President, I wanted you to have all the information, including how the Democrats tried to manipulate U.S. elections in 1980 and 1984 — with the help of the Russians. Karma really sucks, doesn’t it? Especially if you’re a Democrat. Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau.\* [http://www.newsmax.com/Reagan/democrats-russia-ronald-reagan/2016/12/13/id/763730/](http://www.newsmax.com/Reagan/democrats-russia-ronald-reagan/2016/12/13/id/763730/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obamas-hypocrisy-over-election/774925.md?page=2)