Impartial Bystander Cited by John Kerry as Authority that the Syrian Rebels Are A-OK Turns Out to Be Paid by the Syrian Rebels
Whoops!
The woman whose opinion lawmakers are relying on to go to war in Syria is also a paid advocate for the war-torn country’s rebels.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry encouraged members of the House of Representatives to read a Wall Street Journal op-ed by 26-year-old Elizabeth O’Bagy — an analyst with the Institute for the Study of War — who asserted that concerns about extremists dominating among the Syrian rebels are unfounded.
“Contrary to many media accounts, the war in Syria is not being waged entirely, or even predominantly, by dangerous Islamists and al-Qaida die-hards,” O’Bagy wrote for the Journal on Aug. 30. “Moderate opposition groups make up the majority of actual fighting forces,” she wrote.
But in addition to her work for the Institute for the Study of War, O’Bagy is also the political director for the Syrian Emergency Task Force (SETF), a group that advocates within the United States for Syria’s rebels — a fact that the Journal did not disclose in O’Bagy’s piece.
O’Bagy portrays herself as a “paid contractor acting in an advisory role” and insists that she is not a lobbyist. I don’t care. This is a black eye for the WSJ and for anyone relying on this woman.
The New York Times has a story about the brutality of some of the rebels Obama wants to help out.
The Syrian rebels posed casually, standing over their prisoners with firearms pointed down at the shirtless and terrified men.
The prisoners, seven in all, were captured Syrian soldiers. Five were trussed, their backs marked with red welts. They kept their faces pressed to the dirt as the rebels’ commander recited a bitter revolutionary verse.
“For fifty years, they are companions to corruption,” he said. “We swear to the Lord of the Throne, that this is our oath: We will take revenge.”
The moment the poem ended, the commander, known as “the Uncle,” fired a bullet into the back of the first prisoner’s head. His gunmen followed suit, promptly killing all the men at their feet.
This accompanying video, portrayed by sensationalistic news organizations as brutal, depicts the poem reading (while the execution is not actually shown on the supposedly brutal and supposedly uncensored video):
Meanwhile, the vote is not looking good for Obama, as whips do their counting.
Good.
I thought Ted Mack died
Angelo (a5a914) — 9/5/2013 @ 5:56 pmThis is who we will be supporting. Can’t wait to get involved in this (civil) war. Thank you Mr. President.
Pons Asinorum (8ce71a) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:02 pmI think that the Bush administration case for the Iraq resolution is looking pretty honest in comparison after all.
SPQR (768505) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:14 pmAmerica should not be involved or any part of that.
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:14 pmWhat does this 26 year old war expert know about Benghazi?
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:17 pmCheck out Drudge’s front page right now
Angelo (a5a914) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:22 pmIf John Forbes Kerry claims to know that this Assad regime is behaving like Genghis Khan, then for heaven’s sake, give him the benefit of the doubt.
After all, he’s John Forbes Kerry !
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:24 pmFurther proof that Obama’s Arab Spring is as phony as global warming.
Dirty Old Man (cbe9d5) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:29 pmI don’t understand why Perry, Kman, Mahalia Cab, David Ehrenstein, and the rest of the Noam Chomsky Fan Club are not here to berate us all for hating Syrians so much that we’re actually against bombing them.
Or whatever.
Because bombing Syria is obviously an expression of love and peace and harmony. Or something !
I’m particularly surprised that Kman is not commenting since Patterico wrote a post about that convicted terrorist, Brett Kimberlin.
Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:32 pmI can’t believe I’m on the same side as Alan Grayson.
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:36 pmhttp://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/09/05/Daily-Show-Implies-Ted-Cruz-Gunning-for-Syria-Intervention
narciso (3fec35) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:40 pmPelosi doesn’t think there is a majority of Dems willing to support this rush into a war of choice.
JD (cb510c) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:43 pmGrayson claims intelligence is being doctored.
Biden holding special briefing with Heitkamp, Kennedy, and Franken.
Obomby cancels fundraiser for vote that effects his destroyed credibility.
Beck has a video of a rebel commander cutting open the chest of a syrian soldier and taking out his liver and heart, and yes, biting into it.
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:51 pmNice allies president pretends to be has given us.
Check out Drudge’s front page right now
OBAMA FACES DEFEAT IN HOUSE
INTERNATIONAL OPPOSITION BUILDS
BIDEN ATTEMPTS RESCUE
Heh.
Dana (6178d5) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:55 pmmg, I watched that video but am reluctant to buy into it simply because it’s so easy to manipulate photos/vids these days. Any verification that it’s real?
Dana (6178d5) — 9/5/2013 @ 6:56 pmThat’s bad, mg… baaaaaaaaaaad.
Colonel Haiku (fc8d37) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:03 pmDana, not a Beck junkie, but rebels will be rebels.
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:07 pmEven better:
Video: Syrian Rebel Admits Using Chemical Weapons…
Angelo (a5a914) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:07 pmRussia issues 100-page report …
BRUTALITY REVEALED….
EXECUTING MEN ON KNEES…
Al-Qaeda seizes Syrian village that still speaks language of Christ…
U.S. Travel Warning: Rebels Have ‘Claimed Nearly 600 Attacks’…
BUCHANAN: Our boys to be ‘mercenaries of sheikhs, sultans and emirs’…
Republican congressman withdraws support for Syria strike…
Intelligence ‘Manipulated’ to Favor War, Dem Congressman Alleges…
I won’t be surprised to hear Pres Mommypants say:
“Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat”
Angelo (a5a914) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:10 pmbad company, colonel, until the day I die!!!
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:17 pmElephant Stone:
I’ve been wondering the same thing. All the voices of the left seem to be silent from entertainment to Occupy.
I will give credit to Code Pink, though. They are in there doing whatever it is they do with Kerry cheering them along.
All I can assume is the left considers their real enemies as their neighbors rather than the people who actually want to kill them.
Really, if you think about it, the left is nothing but a kumbya society of old hippies, the media, incoherent tenured college professors, entitled young people and minorities that have bought into the notion that the government has the answer to whatever affliction is popular today.
When their side starts acting as the people they used to hate, it’s really, really hard. Especially when their great-granddaddy Chris Matthews starts sounding like Rumsfield channeling McNamara.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:24 pmDana, CNN had the same video in May so perhaps Beck is playing it for his own glory.
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:30 pmno, he’s for real, and part of one of these ‘moderate outfits;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10066988/Syrian-cannibal-rebel-explains-his-actions.html
narciso (3fec35) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:38 pmthanks, narcisso.
mg (31009b) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:44 pmHe could use a little camo on his tenny shoes.
Syria’s like a landscape out of Hieronymous Bosch, who would like pierce his own eyeballs, this is before we get involved, West Ghouta, and other villages, were sites of heavy fighting from last fall through today.
narciso (3fec35) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:53 pmPutin referred to this previously, chastising Obama and challenging the notion that the American people would knowingly support a cannibal.
“Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat”
Comment by Angelo (a5a914) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:10 pm
“Help me Mr. Wizard! I don’t want to be a president anymore!”
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/5/2013 @ 7:59 pm“trizzle trazzle trone. Time for this one to go home”
Gads, the President is a cartoon
Angelo (a5a914) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:22 pmKerry was douchetastic on Chris Haye’s show tonight. I was one of 3714 viewers.
JD (cb510c) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:30 pmHe did not support going into Iraq despite voting for it.
JD (cb510c) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:31 pmPeyton Manning is on fire.
JD (cb510c) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:31 pmI’m stunned, STUNNED, I tell you to find out that President “if you like your insurance you can keep it” Gradschool McStandoff BombyMomJeans hasn’t been entirely on the up and up about Syria.
Who’d a thunk it.
We can totally count on the promise this will be a limited, tailored, consequence free strike of what, two days, at most?
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:39 pmSo, do you think ol’ Valerie’s having a good time these days? I’m guessing not.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:55 pmMcCain is getting some pushback;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x_vusWz33c&feature=youtu.be
narciso (3fec35) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:34 amPushed over a cliff in a wheel chair would be my pick for Benedict McCain.
mg (31009b) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:50 amI don’t think McCain is a traitor. I think he is everything we say about Obama — a narcissistic, selfish, self-centered, not at all competent, a**hole. Except that he does not carry it off as well as Obama. Who in this instance thinks he should be President and who thinks he should run foreign and military policy.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:49 amYes Henry Kissinger, America is broken. The House vote is an effect, not a cause.
Perhaps Obama is getting at least one thing he wants – the humiliation of the United States. Humility may be a good thing, but humble leadership would be far better, and safer, for everyone.
Amphipolis (d3e04f) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:00 amThe normally reliable Powerline misses the point.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/09/putin-john-kerry-is-a-liar.php
As if the question should be what consequences Putin should suffer for calling Kerry a liar.
The real questions start with what consequences should Obama suffer for nominating such a despicable creature for Secretary of State. And then continue to those Senators who confirmed him.
Not start with the foreign leader who accurately characterized him.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:31 amThe extreme action in Syria started not when Obama failed to arm the rebels, but when he began his presidency calling Assad a reformer.
The extreme action between Putin and Obama started not when Putin called Kerry a liar. It started when Obama nominated the liar.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:35 amI disagree, Steve. Putin insulted Kerry. Do you know who Kerry is? This is a casus belli. We should be on Defcon 2.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:37 amThreats to rape Obama’s daughter AND destroy Israel?
Game on.
Colonel Haiku (0dcd9c) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:38 amHoly twerkin’ mullah wants revenge. ELEVENTY!!!!!!!
Colonel Haiku (d63e9f) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:42 amBetter send Sting as an emissary for peace in our time.
Colonel Haiku (d63e9f) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:44 amObama’s readying his secret weapon… Joe Biden, who’s been kept under house arrest for the past 60 days. The dude is spun up.
Colonel Haiku (d63e9f) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:47 amThank you for not twerkin’, Valerie Jarrett
Colonel Haiku (d63e9f) — 9/6/2013 @ 5:52 amColonel,
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:15 amI think you need to go back to bed and start the day over.
No, MD… I’m delivering my own debilitating gas attack.
Colonel Haiku (358fb1) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:21 amExpect more lies from Obama later today, tomorrow, the day after and the day after that, etc., etc.
Colonel Haiku (fdf771) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:27 amI stand corrected, nk. Why, I believe John F’n Kerry served in ‘Nam.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:28 amIsn’t this how Bush got into trouble in Iraq? By taking paid liars viewpoints as gospel?
Rodney King's Spirit (ae12ec) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:28 amBush got in trouble in Iraq by being a Republican (at least in name).
no matter what he did or what happened, the MFM was going to cover it negatively, just as no matter what our SCOAMF says or does, the MFM either spins it or ignores it.
it’s called journalism. 😎
redc1c4 (abd49e) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:37 amReading today’s jobs numbers, perhaps the Prez should focus on fostering conditions that promote capital formation and job creation and less on jobs for Syrian rebels?
Colonel Haiku (fdf771) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:38 amTeh NBC newshamsters say that Obama is “unilaterally widening the circle of responsibility”… Hahahahaha… HAH!
Colonel Haiku (fc8d37) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:42 amhttp://www.nationalreview.com/feed/354659/obama-will-spend-every-minute-every-vacation-day-marthas-vineyard-doing-everything-his
I don’t know what I can add.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:46 amWhat is striking is last April, she said just the opposite to the Times, ‘there are no seculars’ in the rebel movements
narciso (342f74) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:46 amBut, hey! If Congress votes to go to war jerkoff will have achieved credibility.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:49 amMeantime, Zimmerman getting a speeding ticket, his location, and his description as he appears now is newsworthy. http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2013/09/flash-breaking-news.html
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:52 amMeantime, Zimmerman getting a speeding ticket,
Speaking of which, since Obama’s sympathies were twisted and distorted when it came to Zimmerman and Martin, why should we have any confidence in his ability to judge the two sides in Syria?
If Obama had a son, he’d presumably look like a Syrian rebel.
Mark (58ea35) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:05 amI just heard a clip on the radio today:
He’s now saying, “Do it for the children!”
It’s desperation time for the liberals who want war.
AZ Bob (c99389) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:34 amMemember the Gulf War with Gen. Schwarzkopf breaking all the first day action, plans of which had remained secret in the weeks and months ahead of the attack?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/world/middleeast/pentagon-is-ordered-to-expand-potential-targets-in-syria-with-a-focus-on-forces.html?pagewanted=1&pagewanted=all&_r=0
Here everything is laid bare. The Syrians have moved their assets into civilian areas. Our backup forces that cannot be used in the opening attacks are in range of retaliation: Nimitz in the Red Sea, 4 missile destroyers, B-52s, etc., are there for WWIII not punishing Syria.
Russians will have two missile cruisers and an antisubmarine ship messing with any ship launch and Port Sudan is an Iranian base. Good luck sailors.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:39 amObama may not want boots on the ground, but events could easily take over if Iran bombs our embassy. We are looking more and more like a hapless and helpless target. The public doesn’t support a war. We can’t afford a ground war. We are isolated. Our enemies know this. Our auspices are very bad. So why do we seem to be blustering into one?
We need to keep our heads regardless of what Putin says. He sees an advantage and he’s playing it. Let’s not play into his hands by reacting unreasonably or emotionally a la the Ems Dispatch. Kerry is playing with the big boys now. It’s about time for him to grow up.
Amphipolis (d3e04f) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:42 am51. If August’s jobs data weren’t bad enough:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-06/quality-august-jobs-added-absolutely-abysmal
July’s were downgraded to 104K, 65K, to make August look mediocre.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:44 amColonel – It’s too late for Sting. Send Dennis Rodman!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:55 amThe really good thing about being a detached loner narcissist is that when only Biden, Pelosi, Kerry, Boehner and Cantor among the moderates are standing with you while the whole world is yelling “Your butt smells awful”, you can just put your head down and forge ahead.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:05 amWhen this Elizabeth was first cited, I thought, who the hell is she??
Now we know: lobbyist.
The disaster grows every day. The savages in the ME are all jumping on the propaganda bandwagon. I’m sure they’re lining up their civilian human shields as we speak and combing the morgues for dead bodies of children to display.
I am staying home this 9/11.
Patricia (be0117) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:22 am64. Careful you don’t turn to CNN, the Senate is voting on Syria that day.
Wouldn’t want you to have to support our Chinese enemies having to buy another.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:26 amNo, “courtier”. Lobbyist implies she represents people’s interests to a legislature, not an imperial court.
Rob Crawford (e6f27f) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:31 amFor those who usually do not read Peggy Noonan’s columns, her offering today is a gem start to finish and you really should read the whole thing.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324577304579057420154706690.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:36 amWe’re shedding jobs unexpectedly in this Summer of Recovery IV, while in teh ME they’ve got three shifts going in their homocide bomb vest mnfrg plants.
Colonel Haiku (aa8ee9) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:42 amIf Boehner brings the Senate resolution to the floor he’ll be making a mistake:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/09/06/dems-in-disarray/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foxnews%2Fpolitics+%28Internal+-+Politics+-+Text%29
If he follows that with a CR and/or Amnesty he’s dead meat.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/6/2013 @ 9:03 amI couldn’t imagine a worse situation than Obama at the G-20 summit today. So he surprises me by telling people there “You’re not getting a direct answer” on the question of whether he would defy congress.
It has been said that a special Providence watches over children, drunkards, and the United States. Perhaps that providence has run out.
Amphipolis (d3e04f) — 9/6/2013 @ 9:12 amGary, the House should vote and I hope they do — chips fall where they may. The President has asked the Congress for authorization,which is proper, and now it is thier duty to vote, which is also proper. So why is that a mistake (I’m just curious about your opinion)? Thanks.
Pons Asinorum (8ce71a) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:16 amI thought you were joking about threats to rape Sasha, Haiku. F**k it. We have no shortage of camel-molesting, sand-monkeys in the world. Bomb them all. Then bomb them again. I’d start with Qum and carpet bomb a 1,000-mile wide cross in all four directions but anywhere there’s a raghead is fine with me, now.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:15 amBloomberg mentions allegations of extravagance and corruption at the G20 summit in Russia, concluding:
Obama should feel right at home because that sounds a lot like Chicago and the Obama Administration to me.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:28 amExcept, of course, for the part about diplomatic victories. That concept still eludes this Administration.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:28 amWe cannot co-exist with these animals. Helping Al Qaeda? Fine. We can help them kill the others and kill them last.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:30 amIran is doing that on purpose to rattle Obama, nk, and I have no doubt it will spur Obama to do something reckless and stupid — which is probably the goal.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:31 amBunch of baby rapin’, prayer rug scrapin’, priest humpahs, nk!
Colonel Haiku (9b8fed) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:34 amWe all have different our red lines I guess, DRJ. ~_~
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:37 amHe is not only the shallow and stupid President who “jokingly” threatened to use drones to oversee his daughters’ dates, but he would probably do it. So when someone really does threaten his daughters, the scene is set for him to carry through on his inclination.
So if Obama targets someone for a non-military reason (e.g., someone who made him mad or who threatened his daughters), then Iran will be waiting to capitalize in the press. And since they are perfectly willing to sacrifice their people, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Iran’s claim involve the bodies of small, dead children.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:37 amThe leaders of other nations aren’t all nice people but that doesn’t make them stupid. They have read Obama’s weaknesses correctly and he’s a sitting duck for them now.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:40 amI miss Reagan.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:40 amWhat’s sad is that our enemies are so unafraid of American resolve that they are willing to do these kinds of things. It’s not surprising that they don’t fear Obama but the absolute shame of this is that they don’t fear us, the American public, and what can do if we decide to act.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:42 amObama has no real understanding of what it means to protect America’s national interests, apparently because he personalizes every decision. Instead of “What’s best for America?”, Obama asks “What’s best for me and my family? and assumes that’s also what’s best for the rest of us.
In a sense, that works domestically because Obama can share his feelings and spur others to identify with his feelings. We can empathize with what he says even if we don’t agree. But it doesn’t work at all in the foreign policy area.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:53 amDRJ, it hasn’t worked domestically – see post another dismal earnings report.
SPQR (768505) — 9/6/2013 @ 12:01 pmI wonder if Obama’s willingness to personalize everything is part of why he’s so popular with some of the public. Letting people into his life helps them identify with Obama, and he becomes part of their circle/interests so they are more likely to defend his decisions. It reminds me of the Kardashians and something Kanye West said about his child — that she wasn’t going to be America’s baby. Love them or hate them, many people feel like they know the Kardashians because they are so pervasive in today’s media and culture. Multiply that by a thousand or a million and you begin to touch on how some feel about Obama.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 12:12 pmBut I think it might explain why Obama is so much higher than he should be in the polls, SPQR.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 12:13 pmDRJ, I think that the MSM cover is the explanation. If a Republican were President, imagine the coverage of the economic reports.
SPQR (768505) — 9/6/2013 @ 12:14 pmI used to feel that way but I’ve changed my mind, primarily because so few people get their news from the MSM anymore — especially young people who are some of Obama’s biggest fans.
The Democrats and the media demonized Bush so it was rare for any but his biggest supporters to see him as a person who cared about people. It was easy for the public to think of Bush as mean or stupid, so they ascribed everything he did to that and then blamed him for any bad results.
On the other hand, people empathize with Obama and even his harshest critics tend to call him a good man because he’s a good father/husband and because we’re afraid of being labeled racists. As a result, people see Obama as a friend, mentor, or someone likeable. We don’t like to blame people we like.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 12:28 pmHowever, I would agree the pervasive cultural bias in favor of Obama makes a big difference. The media is part of that bias but I’m not sure it’s that meaningful anymore. It’s the cultural bias that makes it politically incorrect to criticize Obama.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 12:32 pmDRJ–Do you not acknowledge that pointed questions, direct criticism, and analysis of President Obama’s’ foreign policy and his personal leadership failures and general ineptness have been far far greater and more universal in the past two weeks than at any time in his presidency? I’m sure most of the mainstream media will revert to type when/if this crisis passes. But what if it doesn’t? What if a regional war or WWIII erupts, or terrorist attacks inside America or on American interests abroad bloom from this diplomatic catastrophe which is clearly of Obama’s making?
The feeling I am getting is that it is becoming much more OK, “safer” if you will, for regular people/reporters/political cartoonists, lefty bloggers, etc. to confront the president’s weaknesses and his policy lies and waffles without much fear of being called racists. Foreign leaders and the foreign press (who were never bound by the political correctness thing with him) are laughing and have no misgivings about exposing the American messiah’s foibles either.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:14 pmIf one believes that Obama’s mindset is that American Imperialism has been part of the world’s problems and that the world would be a better place if America had no more world influence than other countries, then it puts a different perspective on Obama’s and the DC Dems current behavior.
Either they were disingenuous all along before when the were criticizing Bush, are disingenuous now as they make similar arguments that Bush did for intervention (but with much less effectiveness and clarity of mission), or just disingenuous all of the time (in which case, what would they be if they were being genuine???).
I don’t know if the position they voice now is what they really believe, and they believed it before, but undermining Repubs was more important to them
or
they really don’t believe what they are saying now, but believe it is the politically popular thing to say (or a great “wag the dog” trick from all of the “make-believe” scandals)
or
they really believed what they said before, and now that they are in the middle of it they changed their views (I doubt this, at least if this is what happened, they are not acknowledging it).
I think the MSM covering for Obama still is very important. It’s the air in which we exist.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:37 pmI think that the fact that a majority of people still blame Bush for the bad economy shows that the never ceasing complaints about the economy under Bush is the last thing people remember, irregardless of what the numbers really say that no one in the MSM is honest about.
elissa,
I agree with what you say but I’m not convinced it would make a big difference because Obama’s supporters are culturally invested in believing in him. Criticism might make some supporters believe in him more.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:41 pmI think this is a side effect of how polarized we are. Instead of undermining our beliefs, everything that happens reinforces what we already believed. You and I know that the facts support our judgment of Obama’s ineptness, but I suspect his supporters see the world as not giving a black leader an honest chance to succeed.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:44 pmIt’s like the Trayvon-Zimmerman case. Each side sees the world from completely different perspectives.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:45 pmComment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:44 pm
True.
As stated before, there are at least two versions of this:
1) people, having itching ears, will look for people who tell them what they want to hear (Paul the Apostle)
2) people hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest (Paul the Simon)
in ~2,000 years things are still the same
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:49 pmThis is all hocus pocus
JD (eb5cbd) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:49 pmI heard this am that Mrs. Z wants a divorce.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:50 pmWhere does Z go and who does he sue to regain a life unjustly ruined?
I propose that all future candidates for federal office must attend and pass a course on game theory. Let’s just say that Obama wouldn’t have a prayer of a chance of passing.
in_awe (7c859a) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:59 pmDespite Democratic claims to the contrary, Republicans don’t hesitate to criticize other Republicans and, in general, they also don’t hesitate to ultimately support the GOP nominee.
Similarly, I think it’s possible Democrats’ willingness to disagree with or criticize Obama now could ultimately make their future support stronger. It’s like making up after a fight. The bonds can actually be strengthened. Of course, that won’t happen if the American public puts the pressure on its elected officials to oppose Obama the way they are doing now about Syria. I wish they would but I’m not convinced they will.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:00 pmPrior Administrations (like the Reagan Administration) gamed out what they would do in the event of specific foreign events. I doubt the Obama Administration does this.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:09 pmObama called the UN hocus pocus. Really.
JD (cc684c) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:17 pmI hadn’t seen that, JD. Obama reminds me of the little boy who takes his toys and goes home in a huff when he doesn’t like the way the other kids treat him.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:26 pmCan you imagine a war over the Keystone pipeline?
mg (31009b) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:34 pmWith Qatar and the Saudis collectively spending over 3 billion in arming the rebels of Syria one can imagine a war over a pipeline that would enable the largest export of Liquid Natural Gas to reach Turkey, and then Europe. Huge score for the rug head crowd. If the Assad regime holds court, Russia and Gazdrom benefit.
President pretend to be should leave strategic geopolitical conflicts about natural resources, money and religion to the people of the region. The chemical weapons fiasco is the detour to nowhere.
Comment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:09 pm
game theory….we used to call that Contingency Planning.
I would suppose the only place that occurs any longer in DC is over across the river at the Pentagon, and that place has gone so PC even there it might be more wishful thinking.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 9/6/2013 @ 2:51 pmPeople should learn to play chess. Anyone who can’t think ahead doesn’t do well.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:23 pmAlong those same lines, people should have to study Latin. Both make you think.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:36 pmSamantha Power said:
——-
Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, hoped that a team of UN investigators — many of whom, presumably, have a longstanding relationship with Iranian leaders — could write a report that would convince Iran to abandon its ally at the behest of the United States.
“We worked with the UN to create a group of inspectors and then worked for more than six months to get them access to the country on the logic that perhaps the presence of an investigative team in the country might deter future attacks,” Power said at the Center for American Progress as she made the case for intervening in Syria.
“Or, if not, at a minimum, we thought perhaps a shared evidentiary base could convince Russia or Iran — itself a victim of Saddam Hussein’s monstrous chemical weapons attacks in 1987-1988 — to cast loose a regime that was gassing it’s people,” she said.
SPQR (768505) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:42 pm———
This is the blithering idiot Obama appointed to the UN. Someone who thought Iran would be upset by chemical weapons use. That’s how stupid Obama’s advisors are.
@DRJ “game theory….we used to call that Contingency Planning.”
No doubt that contingency planning is an important element of preparedness for conflict, but game theory is more along the lines of assessing the environment and your adversary, then defining the conflict and intuiting the likely reaction of your adversary. Game theory is very helpful at the strategic and tactical levels.
The policy of mutually assured destruction was the result of game theory. It depended upon the presence of rational decision makers on both sides and credibility that they each would act. It yielded a tense but stable environment for 40 years that saw many regional conflicts and proxy wars but none escalated to direct confrontation between the super powers.
Today, the sole remaining super power has shown an unwillingness to act resolutely in its own interest and to act when our national interest is not at stake. The indecisiveness of Obama weakens any deterrent effect of our stated policy (whatever THAT might be).
Telegraphing the limits of your commitment to act is just plain stupid and all the bluster in the world just embarrasses you further.
After the way was paved in Vietnam in that regard, aren’t there any grown ups in DC that remember that the VC and NVA just outwaited us. Guess who in the ME learned that lesson? Obama once again (like with the surge in Afghanistan) explicitly lays out the duration, scope and targets of our non-decisive attack and a promise to then just walk away smug in the belief that a lesson was taught. Tell me again why he is always the smartest guy in any room?
in_awe (7c859a) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:45 pm#108… well said!
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:53 pmSPQR:
That is stupid, plus (unlike some Presidents) Obama picked them because he agrees with them. We’ve had Presidents who picked advisers with a range of opinions, so they could consider all options. Not this one.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:00 pm“Santino, come here. What’s the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft with all that comedy you are playing with that young girl. Never tell anyone outside the Family what you are thinking again”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5m4jpUyb-g
Angelo (1da4a2) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:04 pm108- In intelligence we did much of that as part of contingency planning – we could have hundreds of streams going at once as they diverged and converged upon each other – but that was a different era and probably the only ones using the term “game theory” were academic pin-heads.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:14 pmAnd they only computer we had was an IBM main-frame that we had to feed punch cards.
Ah, the fun days.
Obama picked the ass-smoochers, the yesmen and yeswomyn…
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:14 pm…and Samantha is one of our Leading Lights!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:15 pmOne recalls, back in the eighties, when certain reporters like Chris Dickey, found one eccentric figure in the Contras, a commander Suicida, they wrote a whole book about it, and intimated this represented the entire antiSandinista
narciso (3fec35) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:19 pmnarciso, the intelligentsia finds that it can spoof itself so easily – and we don’t even have to talk about AGW.
askeptic (b8ab92) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:22 pmaren’t there any grown ups in DC that remember that the VC and NVA just outwaited us.
Comment by in_awe (7c859a) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:45 pm
Unfortunately, too many think that the lesson from Vietnam was simply that we should not have been there in the first place. It is the rest of the world that learned, as you said, the US can not be trusted to stay firm until the job is done.
And no matter what we do in Syria, that observation has now been duplicated in Iraq and Afghanistan.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 4:34 pmNow it’s the Pope vs Obama.
He’s already tarred the UN process as hocus pocus. I wonder what he’s going to say about the Pope?
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 6:55 pmHow many divisions does the Pope have? Nah, that’s something Putin would say. Our SCOAMF will say what a putana would say.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 7:04 pmThis is the blithering idiot Obama appointed to the UN. Someone who thought Iran would be upset by chemical weapons use. That’s how stupid Obama’s advisors are.
Or maybe Guam will capsize and swamp Syria with water. They’re close, right?
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:14 pmThis is the blithering idiot Obama appointed to the UN. Someone who thought Iran would be upset by chemical weapons use. That’s how stupid Obama’s advisors are.
I once watched a couple of socialist acquaintances try to convince a billionaire arch-capitalist to invest in Castro’s Cuba. The guy was trying to be polite — it was a banquet setting in which he was kinda trapped — but you could tell he wanted to be gone.
This is the same kind of ideological blindness that is so far removed from reality that you can only stand in awe.
Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 9/6/2013 @ 8:20 pmShoot, I’d be happy if he could master Tic Tac Toe.
Pons Asinorum (8ce71a) — 9/6/2013 @ 9:46 pmI’m kind of liking this new Pope.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:07 pmI know the Pope has taken a stand on Syria but I was touched by this story.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:12 pmI support our president and believe we should remain neutral when Argentina pursues a negotiated settlement to determine the final status of the Maldives.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:13 pmWhich would explain why the UK has decided to remain neutral as America declares war on the pain of psoriasis.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:17 pmIslam gave us the arch, you know.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:21 pmAnd the Boeing 747. I learned that in a speech in Cairo.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:22 pmPeyton Manning is on fire.
Comment by JD (cb510c) — 9/5/2013 @ 8:31 pm
Throw water on him you must. Fire terrible way to die it is!
Yoda (127915) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:31 pmThe Romans invented the arch. Sheesh.
nk (875f57) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:13 pmIslamic Romans?
Stashiu3 (e7ebd8) — 9/6/2013 @ 11:44 pmYup. Abdullah ibn Catullus and Ali bin Caecilius.
nk (875f57) — 9/7/2013 @ 12:00 am123, 124. Actually during my lifetime, the Popes have been rather better than advertised.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/7/2013 @ 5:50 amThe Muslims invented the Romans. I know this because my President said so in a speech in Cairo.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 6:14 amYou didn’t invent that arch. The Muslims did.
Now, let’s go to war in Syria.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 6:24 amIt’s turtles most of the way down, Steve; http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2013/09/auditors-day-weekend-scoreboard_7.html
narciso (3fec35) — 9/7/2013 @ 6:50 amWell, on the positive side our secretary of state is the expert on razing former French colonies in the manner of “Jinjis Khan.”
So we have that going for us.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 6:57 amWhich is good.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 6:57 amWell he did say, everybody else was doing the razing,
narciso (3fec35) — 9/7/2013 @ 7:00 amWe now have a President who doesn’t look like all those other dollar-bill Presidents leading us into catastrophe.
Which I suppose is progress.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 7:00 amOver at PowerLine is what I think is a very good point at why Obama might have cooled his jets about attacking Syria and going to Congress.
They say that in true terrorist style the Iranians put out the word to kidnap children of US officials from Embassy posts around the world and broadcast the videos of their dismemberment.
Including one of Obama’s children.
Remember, usual precautions are not effective against the suicide types.
The idea of negative consequences of an action does make one take second thoughts.
MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/7/2013 @ 7:56 amWe should nuke Qom.
Caligula got a bad rep from some quarters, but German mothers used his name to frighten their children when they were bad. The phrase “Let them hate provided they also fear” is attributed to him.
nk (875f57) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:03 amnk, little boots got a bad rep for a reason.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:06 amSpeaking of things Eye-talian, I’m deploying a Davide Pedersoli 10 gauge this season.
http://www.davide-pedersoli.com/tipologia-prodotti.asp/l_en/idt_44/rifles-muzzle-loading-side-by-side-shotguns.html
I fashionable accessorized with a double barrel 20 gauge Howdah pistol. And quickly learned that while you might maybe kill hawgs with it you look and feel like a complete dumbass hiking around in 100 degree heat with that thing whomping you in the derriere.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:12 amI meant to put a y where I put an e.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:13 amOver at PowerLine is what I think is a very good point at why Obama might have cooled his jets about attacking Syria and going to Congress.
I remain totally baffled why someone like a leftist Obama, of all recent presidents/politicians, would be the very one who I would have to worry about for being trigger happy in using the US military. The whole scenario reads like a hokey, bad plot out of a Hollywood movie.
Then again, I’d never have predicted that a character along the lines of Barry Obama — with his excess baggage and disreputable, extremist qualities — would ever have gotten into the White House to begin with.
Life imitating art.
Mark (58ea35) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:13 amYou’ll notice, Mark, that the term “chicken hawk” has disappeared from the lexicon.
The F-102 driver was a chicken hawk.
The community organizer isn’t.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:24 amPraise Jesus we elected a real war leader.
Not the dumb **** who didn’t pressure the Texas Air National Guard sufficiently to send him to Vietnam.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:30 amnk, little boots got a bad rep for a reason.
Robert Graves wrote well and his fiction was accepted as history. Caligula was the son of Germanicus the son of Drussus, from an even longer line of putting Germans down and keeping them down. He grew up campaigning alongside his father and he knew war. Plutarch spoke well of him.
nk (875f57) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:39 amI know of Caligula’s lineage, nk. I’m pointing out that his lineage didn’t in itself qualify him to be emperor.
I think the later practice of designating juniors bears this out.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:43 amI awoke this fine morn and in my best Hank Williams, Jr. shouted “Obama!”
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:49 am(Red Lines) Visions, dreams of fission
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:53 am(Blowing through my mind) And all the while I think of Him
You know, Muslims invented the Ronco Fisherman and the ’57 Chevy.
Obamas jus sayin.
In other news, let’s turn to the Hoover dam.
You didn’t build that.
I’m giving you one guess.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:54 amMy bad, Steve.
nk (875f57) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:54 amGeorge Foreman didn’t build that grill.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:55 amred lines at night, red lines at night, ha ha… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HAH!
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:55 amYou probably don’t want to know why I believe the evocati of the 20th Valeria didn’t get proper credit for their role in putting down Boudica’s rebellion.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:00 amI mean since you’re bringing up Caligula and all.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:01 amAlways have been a Rosemary Sutcliffe fan.
nk (875f57) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:11 amI just checked it out. I believe you can put together a VW engine out of all new parts. So I’m building a sand rail. Who’s with me?
http://www.cool-story.com/userfiles/Chenoweth-Fast-Attack-Vehicle.jpg
The descendants of Germanicus would have dug it.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:21 amlooks cool, but you’ll have to modify that engine.
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:33 amjust to keep up with today’s highway speeds…
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:34 amCan do.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=12+second+vw&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=C216C3522320B60F9EADC216C3522320B60F9EAD
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:42 amHad a friend and a cousin who had sandrails with in excess of 200HP… used to take them out to the dunes in Glamis in SoCal desert. Rockin’ fun!
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:47 amCoronello, in the proud tradition of being an American have not once observed a machine I didn’t think I could make go faster.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:50 am“Ed Asner Explains Hollywood’s Syria Silence: They ‘Don’t Want to Feel Anti-Black'”
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2013/09/06/ed-asner-explains-hollywoods-syria-silence-they-dont-want-feel-anti-blac#ixzz2eE8jshMi
Ed Asner adds more fuels to the fire that if you oppose President Obama you are a raaaaacist because liberals project their shallow, intolerant mode of thinking onto others. What matters most to them is the race, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual identity of the person promoting a policy rather than the merits of the policy itself. They are unable to conceive of people evaluating policy on its own merits.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/7/2013 @ 10:05 amteh Need for Speed, Steve… it’s as American as apple pie and a ’57 Chevy with an L88 V8 dropped in!
Colonel Haiku (575991) — 9/7/2013 @ 10:11 amCoronello:
http://monstermiata.com/
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 11:44 amSez the guy with the “We race farm equipment” sticker on the back of his ’76 Scout.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 11:47 amJust saying
My ancestors may not have driven them. But they wrenched on them.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 12:10 pmI didn’t wrench on them. Everybody wanted me to be an officer.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 12:30 pmI bought my oldest son a ’92 Miata for his HS graduation in 2000. He still has it. Great car, but with a V8 tucked in there we’d be talkin’ Sunbeam Tiger territory.
Speed is fun, but not required to have fun in a car. Before I bought my Abarth last year, I was driving an ’07 350Z. That was a fast car, but I had (and still have) much more fun in my ’81 Fiat X1/9, that’s modded up to about 95 HP. The old “more fun driving a slow car fast…” adage.
Colonel Haiku (c27e3f) — 9/7/2013 @ 12:38 pmI never hot rodded a FIAT. I once boosted a Ford Mustang four cylinder turbo in an ungodly fashion.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 1:14 pm2.3 is a good motor to boost. Those SVOs from the 80s were cool cars.
Colonel Haiku (58bb61) — 9/7/2013 @ 1:21 pmYeah, and they’ll kick butt in the import class in drag racing.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 1:27 pmThe Valdez Fly-in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTuDeKxjPck
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/7/2013 @ 1:35 pmPosted on another site:
Cane Dur (6a6512) — 9/7/2013 @ 3:57 pmhttp://twitchy.com/2013/09/07/snicker-obamas-syria-plan-makes-for-super-awkward-bumper-sticker-combos-pics/
Hilarious
SPQR (768505) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:01 pmObama’s push for a war to protect his ego is the final cap to discrediting his presidency and discrediting Democrat policies for a generation.
SPQR (768505) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:09 pma little more influence;
http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/meet-the-syrian-islamist-organization-controlling-senator-mccains-agenda/
narciso (3fec35) — 9/7/2013 @ 9:14 pmObama’s push for a war to protect his ego is the final cRap to discrediting his presidency and discrediting Democrat policies for a generation.
Comment by SPQR (768505) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:09 pm
Fixed it for you, Yoda did!
Yoda (04dfe5) — 9/7/2013 @ 10:28 pmIt’s also clear that the military commander who executed seven captured prisoners (and really far more than seven – these are just those on that video) was acting independently. This group is actually pretty small – about 300 fighters.
You should note that the pictures were taken “by a former rebel who grew disgusted by the killings” (I wouldn’t know that they guy is a “former” rebel – just a former member of his group)
There seem to be other former members as well, who became sources for the New York Times. He won’t prevail, and he isn’t typical if any ability to avoid bad guys is present.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:32 amYou know I don’t really think the leader, Abdul Samad Issa, used his own money. There’s a lot of money from bad sources pouring into Syria.
The article even says he got weapons from “relatives and Arab businessmen he knew from his work as a trader.” (That probably means internationally connected trade.)
Also, one time at least, from the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army.
The association with the Free Syrian Army may even be partially due to the United States which has been pressing all along, for unity. Now the FSA refused to comment. It’s probably very embarassing.
Basically the Obama Administration tends to want to exclude only the the Nusra Front and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — which are real al Qaeda – but there are other bad groups too.
This one definitely was one of them. It called itself Jund al-Sham, which the New York Times says it shares with three international terrorist groups. As well as one in Syria. And the leader, Abdul Samad Issa, is also known as “the uncle” because he has two nephews serving under him as deputy commanders, and because he uses a lot of names and he wishes to avoid his name becoming widely known.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:34 am123. Comment by elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/6/2013 @ 10:07 pm
I’m kind of liking this new Pope.
All popes talk that way, with regard to all wars.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:36 amBy all accounts, what Elizabeth O’Bagy said is true.
The New York Times story about the executed captured soldiers tends to prove it is true, because this guy IUssa has had defectors.
It’s just that Islamcists have a way of splitting up into numerous different groups, so that if Group A and Group B get too much opposition, there’s always Group C and Group D and Group E who have avoided committing certain acts. There’s a whole range of good cops and bad cops with them.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:40 am141. Comment by MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/7/2013 @ 7:56 am
Over at PowerLine is what I think is a very good point at why Obama might have cooled his jets about attacking Syria and going to Congress.
They say that in true terrorist style the Iranians put out the word to kidnap children of US officials from Embassy posts around the world and broadcast the videos of their dismemberment.
Easier said than done. Probably not the reason.
Including one of Obama’s children.
That shows you how ridiculous it is.
What it also shows you, is that Assad and Iran are pulling out all the stops, and they will probably believe it’s one of those threats that worked. (Assad has also threateed to attack Israel, and Turkey, and Cyprus, and U.S. naval ships, and , just in case we think it wouldn’t actually make sense for him, said that things could get out anyone’s control – and Iran has issued instructions to its proxies in Iraq to attack American targets including the U.S. Embassy. (and not wait till they get attacked themselves?)
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:47 amBy the way Obama is managing to lose two won wars – Iraq and Afghanistan – by pulling out troops when the enemy is not vanquished.
And relying on other forces who can’t do the job, who don’t have good enough intelligence.
They’re even losing control of the one province in northern Afghanistan that was not controlled by the Taliban on September 11, 2001. Not because people there want the Taliban. But because all the U.S. military intelligence was withdrawn.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:48 amComment by in_awe (7c859a) — 9/6/2013 @ 3:45 pm
The policy of mutually assured destruction was the result of game theory. It depended upon the presence of rational decision makers on both sides and credibility that they each would act.
And you realize what not responding to the use of chemical weapons will do to that.
People have been assuming that not even one nuclear weapon could ever be used with impunity.
Tell me again why he is always the smartest guy in any room?
Harry S Truman said a president is treated that way, but he isn’t.
The way a president is treated – as Truuman was treated in 1945 and later – could give the holder of that office that idea (and it’s something to guard against)
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 2:53 amNo, Sammy it’s not true, and furthermore it’s contrary to what she had said six months before;
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/28/sources-al-qaeda-linked-group-behind-benghazi-attack-trains-jihadists-for/
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:21 amAn overview;
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/09/operation_cockamamie_the_damascus_follies.html
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:25 amWhat did Billary say about Obama dring the 2008 primaries? He’d be the waiter at the White House dinner?
Do you think that Russians are politically correct? Do you think that Putin could afford to seem to back down to a негр (transliterated negr)? Or Assad or Khameini to a zanzhi (same meaning) whose ancestors their ancestors sold for beads?
Look at the G20 too. How many share our political correctness, or blindness of Obama’s dubious antecedents? How many do you think would let the bastard son of a Muslim Kenyan and a dippy-headed hippie roundheels lead them to war? They’ll pet him on the head, give him a Nobel Peace Prize to play with, tell him he’s adorable, but now they have serious business to discuss among themselves. Obama is a rabble-rouser, he is not a leader. He never will be.
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:33 am189. Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:21 am
No, Sammy it’s not true,
That the majority of the fighters are not jihadists?
Estimates of what percent are al-Qaeda or like al Qaeda range from 20 to 50%, but like she said, this is different geographically. The one thing the article has wrong is too quick assurances they are not mixed in in certain places.
But whatever the percentage is, it doesn’t have to stay that way.
The fact of the matter is, the wrong people were being given support. And if the U.S. supported the right army commanders, they would grow.
President Obama promised more aid, then diudn’t deliver. It seems like they are having a whole process vetting them. That does not mean a lot of the candidates are jihasdists. The government just doesn’t know how to vet people. On the one hand their too easy and on the other hand too hard. But really, all they have to do is avoid someone getting endorsed by eople with a bad record.
Deciding who to trust is a big problem. It doesn’t need to be one. The vetting process is so bad they wouldn’t quickly approve for immigration Iraqis who worked for the United States who were endorsed by U.S troops. They were taking so much time vetting them. That destroys the whole process.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:39 amand furthermore it’s contrary to what she had said six months before;
What did she say then?
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:40 amShe said there were no seculars among the rebels, to the New York Times,
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:42 am190. A lot of little points wrong in that overview, especially the idea that al Qaeda would win if he caused assad to fall. They’re not the only opposition. Why would we let Al Qaeda win?
It’s true this is starting to happen in Afghanistan, but that’s only because Obama is not paying attention to facts on the ground. In ySyria he would pay attention.
Al Qaeda has never succeeded in taking over any country with a countervailing military force, nly arts of counties. They would no more rule Syria than they rule Yemen. They would have more freedom and less opposition if Assad didn’
t fall.
Remember, Saddam Hussein made peace with al Qaedda, and let them have asmall patch of territory in the north.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=90880&page=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/14/opinion/elusive-qaeda-connections.html
What Obama may be afraid of the chemical weapons getting loose – and not even that, but rather having to send American troops to secure them.
It may be Operation Cockamamie BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN DOING NOTHING IS A BETTER POLICY.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:52 am194. Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:42 am
She said there were no seculars among the rebels, to the New York Times,
Not a contradiction to the statement that most have nothing to do with al Qaeda. There may not be any avowedly secular organization, because nothing like that ever got any money from outside.
There weren’t any truly secular groups in Afghanistan either on September 11, 2001, but there were definitely anti al-Qaeda groups.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:56 amSammy, it’s what happened in Afghanistan, Massoud won the battle, but between Hekmatyar, and Khalis and Haqquani, the Afghan Arabs, and the Taliban, ultimately forced him out of power in ’96, correlation of forces, In Libya, a somewhat moderate government under Jibril took power, but he was toppled by the Watan faction, headed by Bel Hadj who is loyal to Qatar who are in turn tied to Ansar Al Sharia.
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:57 amRussia probably told Assad to use the chemical weapons on August 21. Bashir Assad (or unit 450)seems to have used it because of a misreading of the military situation, which surprised both Hezbollah and the Syrian General Staff, which was bypassed. (the Adminsitration apparently is still confused about this)
Bashir Assad probably didn’t misread the military situation all by himself.
The same thing actually happened in 1966. There’s probably an old Checkist or two involved. ANd in any case, Putin has all the KGB records.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:01 amThat is, supply faulty intelligence to Syria (and Egypt too in 1966, whose chief of intelligence was a KGB agent)
In 1966/7, that Israel was going to attack Syria.
In 2013, that Damascus was going to fall soon to the rebels if they didn’t do something drastic.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:18 amNo, the reverse is true, Sammy that’s why they closed the straits of Tiran,
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:27 amComment by Mark (58ea35) — 9/7/2013 @ 8:13 am
I remain totally baffled why someone like a leftist Obama, of all recent presidents/politicians, would be the very one who I would have to worry about for being trigger happy in using the US military.
Because he’s not such an antiwar leftist as you mnight think.
He was the one who took the stgrongest position in 2008 about going after al Qaeda in Pakistan.
He’s always been very much against Weapons of Mass Destruction. And his being antiwar, is mostly because he had to be.
He only had fewer causes for war, that’s all, and wants to limit their goals.
The whole scenario reads like a hokey, bad plot out of a Hollywood movie.
And if I explained what led up to the use of chemical weapons it would be like a novel – it’s too complicated for a movie.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:29 am200. Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:27 am
No, the reverse is true, Sammy that’s why they closed the straits of Tiran,
It all started, according to Golda Meir, because Soviet intelligence told Syria (and Egypt) in 1966, that Israel was planning an attack.
I can’t find right now Golda Meir quoted as saying something about this some years later.
But I have something here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_Six-Day_War
Also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War
Theres also
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:41 amhttp://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/14/caesar-50.pdf (written 1970, released in 2007)
The CIA is assuming bad results are unintentional. Maybe the Soviet Union thought in 1966, and especially in 1967, after fuull mobilization, that the Arab side would win that war? Maybe they actually wanted that war? Is that so unthinkable for the CIA to contemplate?
It seems like even in 1970, the U.S> government had its own unique spellings. Nasir, not Nasser, just like Usama bin Laden, not Osama.
I corrected an apparent mistake by the Windows character recognition software. It is 15 not IS October. Cut and paste changed the 15 to IS.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:58 amSammy, maybe you could see beyond the end of your nose, if you’d get you head out of your ass.
ropelight (2536cc) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:17 amIt’s true this is starting to happen in Afghanistan, but that’s only because Obama is not paying attention to facts on the ground. In ySyria he would pay attention.
Sammy, when you say things like that — along with your previously alluding to Obama’s ideological extremism not being an innate facet of the way his mind works but due more to outside leftist influences around him (his advisers, his friends, his wife, his parents, etc?) — your credibility goes straight down the drain. Moreover, to claim he isn’t an anti-war leftist flies in the face of the nonsensical approach he took previously. Simply put, one has to be both the most idiotic of “peaceniks” and also — most crucially and at the same time — the epitome of an ultra-liberal (ie, a person with generally an absurd lack of common sense) to have reacted like this in the past:
^ The irony is so thick that it can’t be cut with even the sharpest of knives.
Mark (58ea35) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:29 amIt’s Sunday and my minister’s sermon was superb today, so maybe I’m being an optimist, but …
Is it possible that Obama’s position on Syria will weaken his public support? I argued the other day to elissa that it wouldn’t, but now I’m reconsidering. Obama is known for the expiration date on his promises or, as he would describe it, for changing his mind. my initial feeling was that this would be another in a long line of broken promises.
But of all Obama’s promises, I think the one absolute promise he made to the American public was not to get them out of Bush’s wars. I wonder if getting us into a new war will be a bridge too far for his core supporters.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:05 amOops. I meant to say Obama promised to get us out of Bush’s wars but I said the opposite. Sorry about that.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:06 am“He was the one who took the stgrongest position in 2008 about going after al Qaeda in Pakistan.”
Sammy – Hah! Are you referring to Obama’s reckless public statements about invading and attacking an ostensible ally? Just beautiful.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:11 amDRJ, we need to spend gub’mint money on shovel ready projects.
We need to spend gub’mint money sending kids to college so they won’t learn how to use shovels.
I wish I shared your optimism.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:11 amYeah, I don’t really think it will matter either. But I’m still happy today.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:14 amSome folks have suggested that we impose Obamacare on Syria on the theory that it would be severe enough punishment to deter them from using chemical weapons again and probably bankrupt the country.
The idea may have some merit.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:14 amdaley, I think we should impose Harry Reid on Syria. That would show them.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:16 amThe conspiracy theorists, in terms of how they perceived the behavior of the US government, originally were a voice I either waved off, overlooked or sort of snickered at. I used to think they were a collection of mainly paranoids on the far left and far right. Now — and even more so in light of the scandals involving the IRS, NSA, Benghazi, etc — I’m beginning to understand why such “grassy knoll” theorists have often pointed to Dwight Eisenhower’s famous speech where he warned about the long reach of the “military-industrial complex.”
Mark (58ea35) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:17 amDove season has started. So we have bacon wrapped dove breasts to look forward to.
And the happy sound of shotguns.
There is always that.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:19 am“We need to spend gub’mint money sending kids to college so they won’t learn how to use shovels.”
Steve57 – We need more Gender Studies majors!
Unlike DRJ, I am unhappy because yesterday afternoon I learned I missed SlutWalk Chicago 2013.
I hope elissa was able to make it.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:33 amThe blockade of the Straits of Tiran was reimposed on May 23, 1967, after the second example of false Soviet intelligence.
Sammy Finkelman (107dde) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:38 amCome by where I’m staying, daleyrocks. Every day is slutwalk, but the best times are after 10:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday. Today, it may start at noon. Sports bar. Do you like motorcycle mamas in hot pants and knee boots or pickup-truck queens in microminis and six inch heels?
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:41 amI missed it too, daleyrocks. Nobody tells me anything.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:43 amAnd we need electricians and air frame mechanics to pay for it.
Because if you joined the Air Force to get paid to learn how to work on air frames you’re an idiot.
But if you went a quarter million into debt to go to Yale to learn BS you’re a genius.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:52 amelissa – I missed last year’s as well, so at least I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:00 amIf someone informed me that something like slutwalk was happening I’d probably show up just so I could lie to them and pretend I took them seriously.
And then, you know.
If it’s possible for you to have a lower opinion of me than you already did feel free.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:08 amActually I wouldn’t. It might cross my mind, but I wouldn’t.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:11 amfor those that missed teh Chicago event (via other McCain)…
http://t.co/q5CaS3GQvC
Colonel Haiku (059d70) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:19 amComment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:11 am
“He was the one who took the stgrongest position in 2008 about going after al Qaeda in Pakistan.”
Sammy – Hah! Are you referring to Obama’s reckless public statements about invading and attacking an ostensible ally? Just beautiful.
Ostensible is the right word. Yes, of course I’m referring to that.
I found some video:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/flashback-2008-mccain-clinton-slam-obama-for-saying-hed-go-get-bin-laden-in-pakistan-video.php
Sammy Finkelman (393233) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:20 amThe thing with living in a cultural and sports rich city like Chicago is that you just can’t find time to do everything, Colonel.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:22 amJust stay in the right neighborhoods, elissa! What we read in the media makes it sound like Murder, Inc. is back in action.
Colonel Haiku (059d70) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:28 amSammy @224 – This Syrian kerfuffle just shows Obama has not learned any lessons about reckless public comments.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:40 amOne can trace this whole “red line” debacle to his being allowed to go off teleprompter. Remember not so long ago when we all made fun of him for using a teleprompter? Good times.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:47 amI’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your site.
It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more pleasant for me to
come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create your theme?
Exceptional work!
เรียนหนังสือ (9be984) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:24 am227. Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:40 am
This Syrian kerfuffle just shows Obama has not learned any lessons about reckless public comments.
He who said I don’t bluff bluffed.
He had no plan or even the idea of plan for what to if his bluff was called.
In fact saying something is a “red line” and “change his calculus” is a way of being vague.
And right now, he has got no plan for what happens if he loses the vote.
Some members of Congress though, are figuring they’ll pass something, like Sen Joe Manchin’s idea of giving Bashir Assad 45 days to agree to get rid of his chemical weapons…
And if he doesn’t…
A) They take another vote?
Or if he doesn’t,
B) President Obama gets the okay without another vote?
Sammy Finkelman (393233) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:30 amThe first line in 227 is a quotation from Daleyrocks – the rest is mine.
The interesting here is, though, that no move Obama can make is really bad. Anything he does can work out. There’s a way to play it.
But in about a month, it’ll be possible to make some real mistakes.
Sammy Finkelman (393233) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:35 am197. Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:57 am
Sammy, it’s what happened in Afghanistan, Massoud won the battle, but between Hekmatyar, and Khalis and Haqquani, the Afghan Arabs, and the Taliban, ultimately forced him out of power in ’96, correlation of forces,
Because Pakistan’s rogue military intelligence agency was backing these kind of people. All this took Banazir Bhutto by surprise.
In Libya, a somewhat moderate government under Jibril took power, but he was toppled by the Watan faction, headed by Bel Hadj who is loyal to Qatar who are in turn tied to Ansar Al Sharia.
The United States has a long record of winning the war but losing the peace.
I suppose another example was chasing Japan out of China in 1945, only to have the Chinese Communists take over in 1949.
Sammy Finkelman (393233) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:40 am“In fact saying something is a “red line” and “change his calculus” is a way of being vague.”
“The interesting here is, though, that no move Obama can make is really bad. Anything he does can work out. There’s a way to play it.”
Sammy – Those are very interesting rationalizations. Most people understand red lines to be very bright line tests, not something vague as you somehow have the temerity to suggest. Yet Obama hesitated to act, repeatedly downplayed evidence of chemical weapons use and as Dennis Miller suggested sent Syria a “Save the Date” card for a future cruise missile attack.
All of his moves here have been incredibly bad, including telegraphing the limited scope of his intended action, lack of discernible goals, failure to assemble a coalition of support, and sending that buffoon Kerry out to try to make a case for the attack.
You need to spin harder.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:59 amDid Vladimir Putin Bait a Trap for the United States in Damascus?
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 9/8/2013 @ 1:33 pmComment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:59am
Sammy – Those are very interesting rationalizations. Most people understand red lines to be very bright line tests, not something vague as you somehow have the temerity to suggest.
I never assumed Obama had anything specific in mind and when he said “change my calculus” he was very explicitly being vague.
The “red line” only meant he would revisit the question of what to do about Syria.
Yet Obama hesitated to act, repeatedly downplayed evidence of chemical weapons use
Yes. He clearly didn’t want to.
and as Dennis Miller suggested sent Syria a “Save the Date” card for a future cruise missile attack.
The date was called off. The senate will vote this week and probably pass a resolution by a narrow margin, the House may vote next week or the week after (it won’t vote next week if the resolution is going to fail. The UN inspectors will make ther report either next week or the week after, and then France ay be ready to act.
I think nothing can happen until at least Wed. Sept. 25, but after that, whenever anything happens, it will be unexpected.
All of his moves here have been incredibly bad, including telegraphing the limited scope of his intended action, lack of discernible goals, failure to assemble a coalition of support, and sending that buffoon Kerry out to try to make a case for the attack.
The way I see it now, there’s one plan if nothing more happens in the way of chrmical weapoons use – that’s the “shot across the bow” – and there’s another plan, constantly getting bigger , if he does. I think the failure to assemble a coalition matters, but thinking you will and not succeeding does. It’s a lot of mistakes, but none that foredoom anything. The situation can be salvaged if he realizes what’s going on or somebody forces him to face up to it.
In the meantime Assad’s military is in complete disorder with all these protective measures he is taking.
Latest new is that Assad and Putin have gotten a little bit bolder in their absolute denial that any chemical attack was done by Syrian government forces.
Kerry says Saudi Arabia endorses military action but Saudi Arabia refuses to say. The new Egyptian government seems to be against it.
Kerry and others seem to be affected by the fact of having alittle bit more personal knowledge of the fact of the killings than they usually do.
Sammy Finkelman (324ec1) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:17 pmno move Obama can make is really bad
In the same way that no move in a chess opening, or even in a very complicated middle game situation, is really bad.
Sammy Finkelman (324ec1) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:19 pmSammy – Obama insults the American people by treating them as if they are stupid.
Unless you believe the people on this blog are stupid, why do you do the same thing?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:22 pmI don’t know about you, but I’ve always hoped for a Preezy who could be explicitly be vague.
You gotta go to Harvard for that.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:24 pmIt’s very splunge.
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:27 pm“I think nothing can happen until at least Wed. Sept. 25, but after that, whenever anything happens, it will be unexpected. “
Sometimes, Sammy, I don’t think we speak the same language.
SPQR (768505) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:55 pmWhy are we worried?
http://weaselzippers.us/2013/09/08/wh-chief-of-staff-admits-we-have-no-military-allies-for-a-syria-strike/
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:06 pmWe should be thankful Dog has a scheme to boost the Defense Industrial Complex on Saudi IOUs.
Vietnam was boom times stateside.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:44 pm“I never assumed Obama had anything specific in mind and when he said “change my calculus” he was very explicitly being vague.
The “red line” only meant he would revisit the question of what to do about Syria.”
Sammy – What you originally said was saying something is a red line is a way of being vague. Most rational people would not understand a red line this way. Most rational people would understand that crossing a red line would have negative consequences for the entity crossing the it.
Now you appear to be attempting to redefine what you wrote to mean that the consequences of crossing the red line were vague, as if any nation’s leader would be foolish enough to spell them out in great detail in advance.
Sometimes it seems like it would just be wiser to think about what you intend to write before pressing submit.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 7:57 pm238. SF: “he was very explicitly being vague.”
Comment by Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 6:24 pm
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always hoped for a Preezy who could be explicitly be vague.
Maybe some others have tried, I don’t know. Henry Kissinger I think said a president has to sound a little bit crazy, so as to be unpredictable.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory
I think the idea came from Kissinger, and there’s some source for that.
The point here is that a lot of things that are worth threatening aren’t worth doing, so only the idea that the president is maybe a little bit crazy can make the threat sound realistic.
Most presidents would say they wouldn’t discuss a hypothetical situation.
Obama did discuss a hypothetical situation and was more explicit.
He didn’t say Syria using chemical weapons was a hypothetical situation.
Nor did he try to hint he was crazy.
Instead, he was very explicit about being vague.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57496728/obama-chemical-weapons-in-syria-are-a-red-line-/
But note, he didn’t say what his algorithm was, or even if he had one.
He didn’t say how much but only that it would be significant, and that even to start seeing something happen would have “enormous” consequences.
He would discuss it, but would not reveal what he would do, or even if he had any thoughts as to what he would do, except that to say the odds would tilt (he implied against) the Syrian government.
He said it would change his calculus.
Some people took it as meaning something stronger.
You gotta go to Harvard for that.
Harvard Law School. But actually I doon’t think he learned it there. He learned that in Chicago.
What this was was basically a politicisn promising to think about something.
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:06 pm“I think nothing can happen until at least Wed. Sept. 25, but after that, whenever anything happens, it will be unexpected.”
Well, you couldn’t predict a date.
Also, the U.S. would be monitoring Syrian communications and probably would be careful to strike only when a strike was unexpected.
If the people ate the Pentagon are any good.
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:09 pmLet me be perfectly clear, I am being opaque. I know exactly what I am going to do and I am weighing a number of different strategies and alternative based on contingencies. I have come to my decision and the only thing that will change my course is if I think I should do something else.
Something like that, Sammy?
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:18 pmComment by Mark (58ea35) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:29 am
Moreover, to claim he isn’t an anti-war leftist flies in the face of the nonsensical approach he took previously….. Obama, then an Illinois state senator and a candidate for the U.S. Senate gave a speech in October 2002. He called it “a rash war…based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics.”
Obama adhered to what he had to adhere to in order to be a leftist in good standing.
With regard to Iraq he above all claimed it was an unwise war.
With regard to other wars, or wars in general, he complained they lasted a long time (which is not his plan now and it’s impossible to creep into it also.)
Obama opposed the Iraq War because “even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.”
See? According to Obama: Long war bad, short war good.
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:27 pmObama was not instinctively anti war (especially if the war was of short duration, and preferably was over in less than 24 hours.)
Also OK was if it had previously been authorized by Congress, as the pursuit of bin Laden was.
Sen. Obama pre-emptively criticized President George W. Bush in 2007 for possibly taking military action against Iran’s suspected nuclear sites — should he do so without congressional approval. Such an action, Obama said then, would be in violation of the Constitution unless the President obtained congressional approval.
He did seem to go against that, but now – you can’t say he returned to that position, because he didn’t, but that’s what he is doing now anyway, so where is the irony?
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:28 pmBecause he follows the Iowa piece pledge, while committing our forces to more engagements, literally on behalf of terrorists,
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/president-obama-syria-calendar-96416.html
narciso (3fec35) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:34 pm246. Comment by nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:18 pm
Let me be perfectly clear, I am being opaque. I know exactly what I am going to do and I am weighing a number of different strategies and alternative based on contingencies. I have come to my decision and the only thing that will change my course is if I think I should do something else.
Something like that, Sammy?
No, vaguer. You have to leave out “I know exactly what I am going to do” More like this:
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:40 pm249. What’s the Iowa peace pledge? There’s nothing in that article about it.
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:47 pmThank you. I don’t disagree. But does a leader, when asked “Sir, what are we going to do?” say, “I don’t know, just follow me”?
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:49 pm91. Comment by MD in Philly (f9371b) — 9/6/2013 @ 1:37 pm
If one believes that Obama’s mindset is that American Imperialism has been part of the world’s problems and that the world would be a better place if America had no more world influence than other countries, then it puts a different perspective on Obama’s and the DC Dems current behavior.
Either they were disingenuous all along before when the were criticizing Bush, are disingenuous now as they make similar arguments that Bush did for intervention (but with much less effectiveness and clarity of mission), or just disingenuous all of the time (in which case, what would they be if they were being genuine???).
The adherence to that by Obama was really because he was supposed to sign on to that, and was what he was taught in school, but he’s coming to see or maybe is being forced by experience to admit it’s wrong.
Still, he found it necessary to say it”s the world’s red line. And seemed to say that if the world just did nothing, then he’d have to accept it. But he would make sure the world understood what it was doing.
A really, really, big miscalculation by Iran is possinly being set up.
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:01 pmComment by nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 8:49 pm
But does a leader, when asked “Sir, what are we going to do?” say, “I don’t know, just follow me”?
As a practical matter, yes. Because he can’t know.
What we’re seeing now is Obama is winging it.
But we can’t substitute somebody else as Commander-in-Chief. He probably can’t make the situation worse. At most it’s the sdsme as doing nothing.
Exceot for one thing he’s done already. There are few better ways to make the situation worse than by Congress voting this down. So what will probably happen is, if they do, they’ll come up with something else that maintains the pressure.
An ultimatum rather than an outright authorization maybe. At least that’ll be the next thing attempted.
Sammy Finkelman (b71b87) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:11 pmI think there will be, sooner or later, airplanes of ours making strikes in Syria, to be met by SAM-300V defense systems themselves defended by Russian (not Syrian) airplanes from airstrikes. And that’s when we’ll be really SCOAMFed.
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:21 pm“Some people took it as meaning something stronger.”
Sammy – “Enormous consequences” sounds very strong and also ominous to me. What part of it sounds weak to you?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:22 pmIn a word.
Finkelman.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:32 pmAn ultimatum like, “Don’t cross this red line or else”?
DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:32 pm==What we’re seeing now is Obama is winging it.==
See? Sammy can be precise, accurate and brief when he wants to be.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:41 pmThanks, Harvard Law School. Like Obama wasn’t enough.
http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/09/are-you-ready-for-presidential-candidate-elizabeth-warren/
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:55 pm259. “An ultimatum rather than an outright authorization maybe. At least that’ll be the next thing attempted.”
Comment by DRJ (a83b8b) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:32 pm
An ultimatum like, “Don’t cross this red line or else”?
That is the question. If it just says “or else” it’s not worth too much. If it says, Obama can then take limited military action, it may have meaning. If it says they vote again, it’s a time bomb.
According to Roll Call,
http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/manchin-heitkamp-float-alternative-syria-resolution/
the Manchin-Heitkamp draft resolution gives Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad 45 days to make Syria a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and take “concrete steps” to comply with it.
Obviously, he could cheat, and if that is passed a lot of votes will come from members of Congress who believe Assad won’t fail to at least pretend to comply – except that Assad will try to make clear that he won’t.
If Assad doesn’t sign the treaty (and take steps to comply, with I guess Obama being he judge) it then requires President Barack Obama to submit to Congress a “long-term strategy for Syria”
In other words, or else they vote again.
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:55 pm“it then requires President Barack Obama to submit to Congress a “long-term strategy for Syria”
That sounds pretty vague.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:02 pm== If it just says “or else” it’s not worth too much.==
Agreed. That would sort of be diplomacy by “wait till your father gets home”, Sammy.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:03 pmAn ultimatum like, “Don’t cross this red line or else face enormous consequences”?
DRJ – FTFY to remove vagueness.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:03 pmI hear the school motto for Harvard translated from the Latin says “Not even crack produced this amount of ****heads.”
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:05 pmSo, a Fauxchahontis- Hillary catfight, Steve57?
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:08 pmI dunno elissa.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/357916/harman-congress-wants-pass-they-just-dont-want-vote-it-andrew-johnson
What I do know is we are hosed.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:11 pmJane Harman went to Harvard Law School, BTW.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Harman#Early_life_and_education
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:13 pm“What we’re seeing now is Obama is winging it.”
Sammy – No, Obama repeatedly stepped in it and now were seeing his usual routine of pointing the fingers of blame elsewhere so he can come up smelling clean.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:14 pm256. Comment by nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 9:21 pm
I think there will be, sooner or later, airplanes of ours making strikes in Syria,
I think so too. No later than November. It’s all up to one man: Vladimir Putin.
to be met by SAM-300V defense systems themselves defended by Russian (not Syrian) airplanes from airstrikes.
The air defense system itself is/will be manned by Hezbollah.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/171670
There are not too many reliable Syrian troops.
The air defense system won’t be attacked by airplanes but by cruise missiles. Only later do airplanes come in. Russian airplanes might be a surprise interference – what happens then? Most likely, they stay out of range.
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:17 pmI used to blame Bush. Now I blame the world.
http://images.pictureshunt.com/pics/t/the_sixth_sense_movie-11543.jpg
“I see red lines.”
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:18 pmI think Soviet pilots for a time were manning Egyptian planes. Or maybe they were using their own planes. And some were killed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Attrition
And that’s when we’ll be really SCOAMFed.
I don’t think this would lead to anythng else. It didn’t when the Isralies fought Soviet piloted planes.
It depends on how far Putin wants to go.
Putin is probably of the opinion that Khruschev and Brezhnev were a little bit too cautious.
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:21 pmWe’re not good at long term strategies. Our strength is total war. That’s a term of art for pounding the enemy into the ground so hard he comes out in China. It worked in WWII, and in both Gulf Wars recently. When we have gone in half-assed, we have had our heads handed to us. Viet Nam is an example and Afghanistan is turning out to be another.
This, now, is just plain stupid.
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:24 pmBY the way I don’t know what SCOAMFed means.
Supreme Court of ALABAMA and MISSISSIPPI something? No.
I can’t figure out anything that uses every letter.
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:26 pmStuttering Clusterf*** Of A Miserable Failure. Obama. But really, you’ve never heard it before, Sammy? You should check the settings on your content filters. 😉
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:30 pmComment by nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:24 pm
When we have gone in half-assed, we have had our heads handed to us. Viet Nam is an example and Afghanistan is turning out to be another.
This would have to be a second Afghan war because it was greta victory in 2001 – except that al Qaeda was chased into Pakistan.
Another difference is that never since Vietnam has anything been done that gets such a huge numer of American soldiers just to freeze the situation.
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:33 pmWe’ve got to make this really dumb **** mistake.
Because the world won’t take us seriously. The next time a Preezy announces he’s going to make a dumb **** mistake.
America must make good on it’s promise to make dumb **** mistakes. Our reputation is riding on it.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:34 pmCredibility!
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:36 pmAnother thing: John Kerry has said some (I think Gulf) states have offered to pay for the war.
(just like Gulf War I, on which the United States goverrnment actually made a small profit.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkrl4gVZTUg
The people mentioning this forget (or never knew) this actually happened in 1991.
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:37 pmI denounce myself. It’s only due to my racism that I don’t want to engage in dumb ***ery.
I’d be all for it if the guy’s name was Bush and he looked like all those other Preezys on those dollar bills.
Yessireebob.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:41 pmComment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:14 pm No, Obama repeatedly stepped in it and now were seeing his usual routine of pointing the fingers of blame elsewhere so he can come up smelling clean.
More like:
Sammy Finkelman (067111) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:47 pmPriorities, people! RFK’ Jr’s sex diary. If you ever needed more proof that the Kennedy’s as a whole are not very smart–this is it.
http://nypost.com/2013/09/08/rfk-jr-s-sex-diary-of-adultery/
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:49 pmI was too stoopid to keep a sex journal, elissa.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:17 pmI lost both volumes of mine. Volume A: Thinking About It and Volume B: Talking About It.
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:25 pm“More like:
Obama repeatedly stepped in it and now were seeing him telling everybody else whom he wants to go along wih some response that they stepped in it. ”
Sammy – No more like what I originally said with the added bonus of racism accusations against those who don’t see the wisdom of agreeing to support his limited duration, no regime change, no balance of power tipping, no support from the international community (except some secret 34 nations we will see at a later date if ever), no lasting benefit to America, cruise missile and guided bomb extravaganza!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:26 pmAnd I think I will post that last comment on a joke forum, too.
nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:26 pmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/selena-gomez-instagram-cleavage_n_3882833.html
According to the Huffpo Selena Gomez is doing Paris right.
http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/09/everyday-im-shufflin-in-the-lz/
Meanwhile the troops are doing Afghanistan right, but that doesn’t make the network news.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:26 pmNow that I think about it, it was probably racist of me not to keep a sex journal.
I dated a couple of black chicks and at least one Dominican in college. I didn’t write about it.
I denounce myself.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:29 pmPriorities, people! RFK’ Jr’s sex diary. If you ever needed more proof that the Kennedy’s as a whole are not very smart–this is it.
God, it’s America’s lead white trash family again. But hey, it’s not RFK Jr’s fault that his wife killed herself, right? It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that everything that family touches turns to turds, could it?
JVW (23867e) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:37 pmIronic, no? Mrs. “You’ll-eat-your-veggies-or-else” Obama’s hubbie is giving us the cotton candy of a war.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:40 pmI’m not making any accusations here–just want to be clear about that. But it’s at least possible that the president is always so petulant and cranky and spends so much time out on the golf course because of Mrs. Obama and/or her food selections in the White House private quarters.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 7:37 amComment by elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 7:37 am
But it’s at least possible that the president is always so petulant and cranky and spends so much time out on the golf course because of Mrs. Obama and/or her food selections in the White House private quarters.
If he’s petulant and cranky and spends extra time away from the White House because of something Mrs. Obama does, it’s most likely because she forced him to quit smoking, and maybe doesn’t like E-cigarettes as well. (and they’re not safe, just better. It still retains most of the bad health effects of smoking, except for the effects on the lungs)
Sammy Finkelman (6c2cdd) — 9/9/2013 @ 10:58 am283. Comment by elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/8/2013 @ 10:49 pm
Priorities, people! RFK’ Jr’s sex diary…
284. Comment by Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:17 pm
I was too stoopid to keep a sex journal, elissa.
285. Comment by nk (875f57) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:25 pm
I lost both volumes of mine. Volume A: Thinking About It and Volume Volume B: Talking About It.
It’s not a sex diary. It’s a regular Standard Diary “Daily Reminder” from At-A-Glance with a separate recording of sexual encounters at the back where the pages say Cash Account for each month.
I don’t know if you’d want to be RFK Jr. in the year 2001. Finding it almost impossible to avoid having sex with different women every day. He speaks about being “mugged” by women. Like:
Sammy Finkelman (bda33a) — 9/9/2013 @ 11:36 amSF: “More like:
Obama repeatedly stepped in it and now were seeing him telling everybody else whom he wants to go along wih some response that they stepped in it. ”
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/8/2013 @ 11:26 pm
Sammy – No, More like what I originally said
with the added bonus of racism accusations against those who don’t see the wisdom of agreeing to support his limited duration, no regime change, no balance of power tipping, no support from the international community (except some secret 34 nations we will see at a later date if ever), no lasting benefit to America, cruise missile and guided bomb extravaganza! I don’t think he can come out smelling clean. He is, or will be it seems, predicting terrible things if the resolution fails. I don’t think there’s any accusations of racism and he’s having trouble getting he blck caucus (of Democrats), who all profess loyalty to him – to back him.
We’ve certainly got no balance of power tipping and no regime change in his proposal, but, nevertheless, Putin may be blinking.
Sammy Finkelman (bda33a) — 9/9/2013 @ 11:59 am==It’s not a sex diary. It’s a regular Standard Diary “Daily Reminder”==
Oh Sammy, “Sex Diary” is a term of art. Everybody here knows what we’re talking about and that it’s the fact that he documented his own sexual encounters–not that he may have recorded having his car washed one afternoon–that is the news.
Do you think maybe you sometimes take words or phrases a little too literally for blog work?
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 12:11 pmComment by elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 12:11 pm
==It’s not a sex diary. It’s a regular Standard Diary “Daily Reminder”==
Oh Sammy, “Sex Diary” is a term of art. Everybody here knows what we’re talking about and that it’s the fact that he documented his own sexual encounters–not that he may have recorded having his car washed one afternoon–that is the news.
There’s a lot more in the diary, and the New York Post has a followup article today. The rest of the diary is not just about getting his car washed or having dinner with Leonard Decaprio.
He writes about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (really tough political criticism) and Andre Cuomo, and there’s also a rather funny actually statement from Andrew Cuomo that he gave to the New York Post on Sunday. I wanted to link it but I had trouble and I also lost what I typed out.
He also writes (badly) about George W. Bush, but when he met him he wrote he was charming. On September 11, 2001 he writes “Armageddon!!” He writes about Giuliani. He mentions how he really scorns Ed Meese (but we don’t get the background here) He writes about how he called or met (NYPost isn’t clear) with Mark Green to encouyrage him to reject the idea of extending Giuliani’s term. He hasd both bad and good to erote about Mario Cuomo (who was his lawyer in the Vieques case – RFK Jr did not wanta special deal for himself)
Do you think maybe you sometimes take words or phrases a little too literally for blog work?
well, actually it was the New York Post in its frst artuicle that was misleading people. It avoiding describing what this was. It’s quite familiar.
I made one mistake. the numbers 2 3 and 10, may not refer to the women’s beauty, but to what happened. That’s what MAry Kennedy thought. She found that diary, maybe shortly befre she committed suicide in 2012 or maybe it’s after that that somebody else got ahold of it.
Somebdy should link to and wuote what he says about Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Although the New York Post tries to play it up, there’s nothing really bad about Andre Cuomo.
Sammy Finkelman (bda33a) — 9/9/2013 @ 12:43 pmI left out the W from Andrew twice?? At east it;s there the third time.
What he says about Al Sharpton deserves even a post by Patterico.
Sammy Finkelman (bda33a) — 9/9/2013 @ 12:44 pmThe RFK Jr. update in the NYPost today is indeed interesting.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 1:11 pmelissa, I hope you can forgive me for my obvious racism for not posting an online sex journal about the black girls I dated.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/9/2013 @ 1:14 pmIf it wasn’t for the fact I was ashamed due to my racism, I’d have filmed it.
Steve57 (35dd46) — 9/9/2013 @ 1:21 pm“The RFK Jr. update in the NYPost today is indeed interesting.”
elissa – So he actually has a life in between sexual interludes with women who are not his wife? That is interesting.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/9/2013 @ 1:27 pmYes Daleyrocks. And if a prominent Republican said what he said about Sharpton and Jesse there’d be media bleating to the highest racist heavens. But it’s a Democrat from America’s royal family. So the only explanation that I can come up with is that the diary must be a fake.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 1:40 pmRFK Jr. definitely does not consider Al Sharpton to be “a renowned civil rights leader”.
elissa (6b3fdb) — 9/9/2013 @ 1:45 pmHeh!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/9/2013 @ 2:43 pm