(CNN) - Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter voiced his support for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Friday in a statement released on his website.
The Michigan congressman likened demonstrations in Egypt to "Iran's 1979 radical revolution." He cautions that those who "will be tempted to superficially interpret the Egyptian demonstrations as an uprising for populist democracy" should instead "recall how such similar initial views of the 1979 Iranian Revolution were belied by the mullahs' radical jackbooted murderers."
McCotter, the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, called for America to back Egypt, stating, "Thus America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform; and prevent a tyrannical government capable of harm.
"For if Egypt is radicalized, all of the reforms sought by the Egyptian people and supported by the United States with them - including consensual and constitutional government; free elections; open and unbridled media; and Egyptian control of their natural resources - will be lost. Nascent democratic movements in the region will be co-opted and radicalized."
He further references Iran, saying, "Inexcusably, this crisis has been hastened and exacerbated by the U.S. Administration's refusal to wholeheartedly embrace Iran's truly democratic 2009 Green Revolution."
McCotter closed his statement with advice on how to proceed, "If we fail to meet today's enemy on the same determined, principled terms, we will too late awake in a nightmare world. But, if today's enemy is steadfastly met and bested, liberty and the rule of law will be unleashed for millions throughout the world."
From CNN Politics
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Someone cut off Thaddeus McCotter internet and cell phone service. It's idiots like this that make me question why I am a Republican. Mubarak is a dictator and must be removed. Anyone who cuts off internet and phone access to their people is a dictator and a tyrant.
This is a real uprising not organized by radicals as you claim. It is the real deal. Led by the young middle class who have been for a long time disenfranchised.
Thaddeus Who?
So Egyptians want democracy, but because most of them are Muslims we must not support the will of the people. Again, White man speak with forked tongue. What is so radical about wanting to be free from a dictator? Under Bush did we not invade Iraq to get rid of a dictator .. okay that was just an excuse so we can get their oil. The only principle the GOP understands is to support and prop up the dictator at all costs. Never mind democracy for the people by the people. It just ain't good for them Arabs and Muslims.
These are delicate diplomatic times.
Please don't be out there scoring political points while the govt is trying to negotiate the diplomatic mine field.
Thaddeus McCotter is living in a past that is no longer ! Freedom and liberty , need not only arrive by means of war !
McCotter should worry about Detroit !
These are the same people who preach freedom of the individual, a persons right to decide his own destiny.....
Now I know the repulsive republicans are ignorant, crazy and unfit to serve! Who out there voted for any of these nuts?
The GOP is making a fatal error here. The US has to stand with Egypt. But that's not the same thing as standing with the Mubarak regime. Even President Bush knew that. But his party seems to be forgetting.
GOP support for an oil-rich dictator? Shocking. ::sarcasm:: The people of Egypt suffer while a few oil barons hog up all the cash from the Suez Canal and the Republican'ts predictably fall in line with support for their puppet. First of all, we need to stop messing around with the affairs of the Middle East – even if that means the people end up nationalizing their oil reserves and kicking Exxon the f out.
In Iran the US paid money to overthrew a democratically elected President to be replaced by a – a what? A monarch. In the end Congressman McCotter how did our little bit of skulduggery work? Now in Egypt you advocate that we repeat that failed national policy; that the US continue to support a man who is essentially a dictator. Congressman McCotter, if you cannot see the parallels you can not offer leadership for the future because you are blind to the lessons of our past.
Have the Republicans ever met a dictator they didn't like? Let's see.... Khomeini, Saddam Hussein, Mubarak, gosh, the list is so long... Mubarak is a relic of the past. The Egyptian people know that, and have finally stood up to "just say no" to him. But the GOP thinks he's just great! How pathetically typical.
This is one lizard looking guy, Still we must proceed carefully as a country.
What this guy knows about history, let alone the Iranian history you could fit in a thimble. Maybe he should read the World version and not the American version.
lets see. an arab leader in power for thirty years? losing power..... a dictator....anyone in the middle east ring a bell?
He's joking, right? Just running a flag up the pole to see if anyone salutes??
"America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform; and prevent a tyrannical government capable of harm."
I think you have that entirely backwards chairman. It's more like "America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve a tyrannical government capable of harm. and prevent an imperfect government capable of reform."
I love how 'consistently' we promote 'democracy' by continuing to support repressive brutal dictators around the world against popular protests. Egypt, Pakistan, Saud Arabia, as well as half dozen mass murderers on the African continent. Oh, and just south of our border, the corruption, negligence, and brutality that is the Mexican government.
Yes, in case people forgot: the reason Iran hates us so much is because we supported a bloody dictator Shah there who masacred and repressed his own people. Then, after the people of Iran finally took power into their own hands we refused to admit that our puppet play there would end, and even funded and armed another bloody mass murderer (Saddam Hussein) to wage war on Iran, killing tens of thousands of civilians.
You still think they have no right to be angry at us?
This guy clearly has no understanding of the situation in Egypt at all.
Does this guy understands African Politics or he just want to make news?
They've learned nothing from Iraq.
Sorry dude, if America really represents freedom and choice, then we gotta let things play out. Just because they choose a government that doesn't like us means we get to support a repressive dictator. It's their choice and they have a right to express it without our interference.
imbecilic - that really is the only word for this clown. in case he didn't notice, we have been flipping mubarak a billion a year for quite awhile. typical american response - why do you think the iranian revolution was so anti-american? propping up tyrants much? i thought we stood for the rights of people? or is that just for the regimes you hate (iran, china)? do you have any idea what it is like to live in egypt? do you care? our policies hurt america and all it should stand for.
McCotter comes off like Palin when he opens his mouth about foreign policy. He doesn't care about the thousands of folks unemployed and hurting in his own district in Michigan. There is a glaring lack of credibility here.
Mr Mccote elaborate.........go into detail....yu mean the Egyptian government or the Egyptisn citizens that are prote
sting......did yu consult with other GOP members.....oooooooooooooo politicians, politicians....
Cut his pay and healthcare and send his kids to help Egypt.
This guy is clueless about the middle east. We supported the Shah and got a radical Islamic government that hates the US. If we keep supporting a repressive Egyptian government we will get the same in Egypt. The Egyptians deserve democracy. The senator should remember that he is from a democracy that says it supports democratization for the rest of the world. Now we should show our support for that in Egypt.
Thaddeus, you are so confused. Be quiet and no one will know you are a moron.
McCotter should be on his best behavior and NOT say anything. Mubarek has had 30 years to improve life for the average Egyptian. Just like in the US, the average person is thinking, 'Our government and leaders are taking us down the wrong path. If I know this, there must be some leader who will take us where we need to go.' The last thing the US needs to be doing is propping up dictators against the will of the people.
I concur completely. This is more like what went on in Iran in 1979 than what went on in 2009. If the Egyptian government falls you can bet there Egypt will become a hard line Islamic Theocracy.
This is all you need to know about the Republican Party and what they stand for.
The government of Egypt is not who we should stand up for. It is the people of Egypt, and you should be ashamed. This dictator has done nothing for the people, but then you can like what our government does for us. The only difference (we too have the country run by the top richest) is we can vote you out. You seem to be one of those that do not recognize the right of the individual. These people deserve our support, not their rulers.
If this is what the republican party stands for then I want no part of it! How can all of you out there that voted for these nuts still support them and their right wing crazy ways?
What a loser of a party the GOP is.
We only like democracy for us. For other we will pop up dictators like Mobarak. Let the pople decide, the Iranian regiem the proceeded the revolution was brital and immoroal. Democracy, any democracy is better than dictatorship.
The person who came back to lead the prtest was not religous like Khomeni, but secular El-Baradi from the US.
The GOP hatred for democracy is sickening.
"Jackbooted"?
What's with Republicans using Nazi references to label those in opposition to fascism?
True, the 1979 Iranian revolutionaries were fanatic religious extremists – but they were wearing sandals, not jackboots; and the Shah's government was as fascist as it could be.
Truth is, Republicans can't recognize fascism because they are in denial of their own fascist ideology. Straight up cognitive dissonance.
The Egyptain gave us the backbone to become a nation of people an not race if one check through out there histroy people came and went taken knowledge with them... we pattern this after them like the good Senator said we stand with you.
why?? can't you stand by yourself....idiot....well, it is a free market...lot of nations will doom, lot will prosper....I bet next is India...lot of squalor in there too....look, at political corruption in India...lot there too....do not loot the nation by going to unwanted stuff....enough going to Iraq....o.k,
Obama....“The U.S. will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people,”....
GOP...."Thus America must stand with her ally Egypt to preserve an imperfect government capable of reform;...."
Pretty well sums up the difference of thinking between the GOP and Obama......
Obama.....rights of people
GOP.....preserve an imperfect government
So it was OK for Bush to over-throw Iraq's dictator, but we should look the other way when Egyptian's need to over-throw their iron-fisted dictator. Not enough oil for the GOP maybe?