At
Hungary's parliament in Budapest, Secretary of State Clinton
speaks
at a ceremony for the opening of the Tom Lantos Institute.
Former
Congressman Lantos was born in Hungary, but it appears
that
at least some Hungarians think him something of a turncoat.
Barikad, Hungary
Congressman Tom Lantos was No Hungarian Patriot!
"The opening of the Tom Lantos Institute, named after that Hungary-hater, was inexplicably held in the nation's political sanctuary. ... On a number of occasions, Lantos acted as a friend to Nicolae Ceausescu so that the blood-stained dictator's regime was able to obtain most favored nation trading status and the greatest possible terms on trade with the U.S. And it was Lantos who, with lies and false arguments, helped the U.S. initiate the Iraq War."
Annette Lantos, the wife of former U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos, speaks about her husband at the inaugural ceremony at the Hungary Parliament for the Tom Lantos Institute. Lanton and his dog are depicted in the painting below.
There were great preparations
around Parliament, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice traveled to Hungary for the inauguration ceremony of
the Tom Lantos Institute.
The opening of the Institute,
named after that Hungary-hater, was inexplicably held in the nation's political
sanctuary, and with everyone who is anyone in the liberal world present. Among
the many who attended were Prime Minister Viktor Orbán; right-wing
Fidesz Party lawmakers János
Lázár, János Martonyi and Zsolt Németh; Politics Can Be
Different lawmakers András Schiffer and Attila Mesterházy, Socialist Party lawmaker László
Kovács of the European Commission; Executive Rabbi of the EMIH Unified
Hungarian Jewish Congregation Slomó Köves; Hillary
Clinton; Lantos' wife Annette Lantos, and their daughter, Katrina Lantos.
The attendees were all very
much in their element as the Tom Lantos Institute and foreign influence in
Hungary were given a huge seal of approval. This was reflected by the fact that
those who spoke only superficially mentioned Hungarians - and in fact,
Hungarians that were there should have felt like this was the end of the nation,
with foreigners dictating its path. The Institute receives tremendous
taxpayer-funded support from a state that was formed to restore the values of
tolerance and press for minority rights, which are now expanding far too much.
The events that transpired
spoke volumes about the true stance of the attendees toward Hungary. At the
opening ceremony, hardly any of the speakers spoke Hungarian. Even those whose
mother tongue is Hungarian chose to speak in English. And even on the Institute's home page, should
a Hungarian taxpayer accidentally deign to take a look at what his money went
to pay for, he would find that even its Web site is in English. All good
Hungarians would rightly ask: What was the need for this Tom Lantos Institute?
Why is the government spending our money on it? Who are they serving with this
act?
Sure, Prime Minister Orbán
emphasized individual and national freedom throughout his speech, but in
between he also emphasized the importance of ever-closer U.S.-Hungarian
relations. The prime minister believes that the Lantos Institute is a powerful
new bastion of the U.S.-Hungary alliance. Orbán also praised Tom Lantos, who
was politically both a friend and foe to freedom. By the prime minister's own admission,
the two didn't see eye to eye on many domestic issues, although the cause of freedom
and service to Hungary helped bridge their differences. In the end, the government
promised to back the Tom Lantos Institute.
We heard a lot from the speakers
about trans-Atlanticism, combating anti-Semitism and lots of other bunk that
liberals who confuse night with day repeat like a mantra.
The event must have made
every good Hungarian feel nauseous
and lied to: all the attendees spoke of what an amazing person
Tom Lantos was, how he fought for human rights, how he adored Hungary, how
loyal he was to his people. Of course, they forgot to mention which people.
András Balogh, for example, dared say of Lantos that he was an American patriot
and a democrat, but that he remained a Hungarian patriot and democrat. Now can
someone be a patriot when he betrays the culture he supposedly embraces?
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
At a press conference today, Jobbik Party MP Márton Gyöngyösi underlined
Tom Lantos' genuine character and achievements. The radical national lawmaker
recalled, for example, that on a number of occasions, Tom Lantos acted as a
friend to Nicolae Ceausescu
so that the blood-stained dictator's regime was able to obtain most favored
nation trading status and the greatest possible terms on trade with the
United States. It was Lantos who, with lies and false arguments, helped the
United States initiate the war against Iraq. Tom Lantos' role in this was to
drag a woman before the House Foreign Relations Committee, where she recounted
a story based on lies about atrocities committed by Iraqi soldiers in
Kuwait. Later it was discovered that the woman was a Saudi diplomat's daughter
and that a public relations firm had made up this major fabrication.
And in addition, let us not
forget that Tom Lantos was indeed truly loyal to "his" people: he once
said that everyone who doesn't support either Israeli or Zionist policies are anti-Semitic
and anti-Israel.
