Let me just preface this by saying that it wasn’t too long ago now when then Senators Kerry, Hagel, and Biden, along with Hillary Clinton, were singing the praises of Assad (or at least, lecturing on the use of diplomacy) — with the putative Democrat frontrunner for the 2016 presidential nomination going so far as to call him a “reformer.”
It’s true! I have video — and it wasn’t even made by the dude who caused the Benghazi “street protests”!
Today? Why, Assad is the Devil himself, a form of concentrated evil that has crossed Obama’s red line (which isn’t his, though he and the greyhound-faced yachtsman ought really to confer more before doing their various press events), so much so that even the uber Dove Howard Dean is beating his chest for intervention in a civil war on the side of the Al Qaeda / Muslim Brotherhood team. YEAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!
Being an antifoundationalist means never having to say you’re sorry, I guess.
Katrina Trinko, NRO:
Democrats are peaceniks no more.
In a letter to Democratic House members released Tuesday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi argued forcefully for authorizing the president to strike Syria, writing, “It is in our national interest to respond to the Syrian government’s unspeakable use of chemical weapons.”
That, to put it mildly, is a change of tone from Pelosi’s language in the George W. Bush years. In 2002, for instance, Pelosi, then House Democratic whip, called on House members to vote against authorizing the Iraq War.
“These costs to the war on terrorism, the loss of life, the cost to our economy, the cost in dollars to our budget, these costs must be answered for,” Pelosi said in 2002. “If we resolve this issue diplomatically, we can show our strength as a great country.”
“Let us show our greatness,” she concluded. “Vote no on this resolution.”
Two years later, Pelosi’s opposition continued. “This war has been a grotesque mistake that has diminished our reputation in the world and has not made America safer,” she said in a radio address. In 2006, when Democrats won control of the House, Pelosi singled out Iraq as a key issue for the legislature her party now controlled. “Mr. President, we need a new direction in Iraq,” she said.
But don’t think Pelosi is the only Democrat who’s suddenly decided to give war a chance.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, the D.C. delegate in the House, who doesn’t have a vote, baldly admitted in an interview Tuesday that if she could vote, she would consider supporting the resolution authorizing President Obama to attack Syria — just so Obama wouldn’t be embarrassed.
“If he gets saved at all, I think it’ll be because of loyalty of Democrats. They just don’t want to see him shamed and humiliated on the national stage,” Norton said on The Bill Press Show.
Pause there and let this marinate: Eleanor Holmes Norton (and, she intimates, a wagon-circling group of astoundingly hypocritical Democrats) would let countless people die — and embroil the US in a civil war on the side of al Qaeda — just so Obama won’t look bad. Perception being reality, and politics being all.
I eagerly await Cindy Sheehan’s Hooverville tent city springing up in Ms Holmes Norton’s driveway.
But beyond that, let me just point this out: people vote for these lying, politically craven morons. Repeatedly, even!
[…]
As of Wednesday night, according to the Washington Post’s tally, eleven House Democrats and eight Republicans support the resolution authorizing military action in Syria. (One hundred and three House members are undecided, while the rest are against the resolution or leaning no.) Some of those Democrats did vote for the Iraq War. But others, like Pelosi, were more doves than hawks in the Bush years.
Take Texas’s Sheila Jackson Lee, who is now supporting the resolution. Not only did she oppose the Iraq War, she actually filed a lawsuit along with other Democrats to try to prevent the president from launching it.
[…]
Suddenly, it’s looking like the anti-war party has lost the courage of its convictions in the Obama years.
Well, in all fairness, Code Pink has a war against a war against women to wage. And Obama is a Democrat and a “progressive,” so by his very identity he can do no wrong, because it is that identity that provides pre factum proof of his absolute righteousness.
So let’s not be getting to snotty about what are, if you look at it correctly, perfectly consistent positions: Republicans are doing it and they are evil, therefore what they are doing must be evil too. Alternately, a progressive is calling for it and progressives are good, therefore what they are calling for must also be good, no matter how badly it may turn out.
See? Life as a progressive really is kind of like the life of an inbred touched royal. All the power bestowed, and the bliss of ignorance to protect you from conscience and consequence!
Jeff, you’re being unkind. The Dems have always been willing to use our military, provided certain conditions are met, like there being absolutely no national interest at stake or as penance for some historical sin on our part or to screw with the Israelis or some other long-time ally, or to provide heroic stories for some upcoming campaign, a la Hillary being under fire at Tuzla. Pretty simple really.
You have to give Code Pink their due for consistency here. They are against. Of course, there are damned fewer of them these days.
“It is in our national interest to respond to the Syrian government’s unspeakable use of chemical weapons.”
One might say that Pelosi’s open yap is quite response enough, considering that no proposal to take both Assad’s life and his chemical weapons stockpile is forthcoming. Therefore:
a Motion: “Speech advocating response is response enough, since such a speech act accomplishes just as much good as any future act of war conducted by the ObaZm administration upon the Syrian regime will do, and an infinitely less amount of harm.”
Vote no for an authorization for the commission of an act of war against Syria.
Vote aye to agree that Pelosi’s speech act is sufficient for her stated purpose.
We’re at war with Westasia. We’ve always been at war with Westasia.
Need to add Pelosi to that list.
Congressional Black Caucus Reportedly Told to Keep Quiet Regarding Opposition to Obama on Syria
Sorry, I see she is farther down all alone.
“You niggas need to shut up and let homeboy get his war on.”
Preening Moral Vanity and Cheap Grace instead of National Interest as the foundation of our foreign policy.
If it wasn’t for the corpse rot, zombie Cyrus Vance and zombie Warren Christopher would both need to see a doctor about an erection lasting longer than four hours.
You have to give Code Pink their due for consistency here. They are against. Of course, there are damned fewer of them these days.
It wasn’t that long ago that 10 Code Pinkos in a group was enough to get the lead on the evening news. Today they can barely get a mention. They might be able to boost their numbers if our fair, objective, professional news media showed the same consistency and commitment to principle.
Alas, but Party Uber Alles is the only principle they keep.
I can predict that if a military strike against Syria is executed – and this is not an attempt at comedy – at some time in the foreseeable future the narrative will be that the Republicans who supported the President’s acts were evil and any negative impact is their fault, while at the same time the President and his leftist supporters in Congress were good for the doing of it. Republicans like bombing brown people, after all.
President Obama could lose big on Syria in House
Will Congress Authorize A Strike On Syria?
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), who on Saturday said he supported President Obama’s decision to launch military action in Syria, has changed his mind.
In a statement Thursday, Grimm says the window for action has now passed and that the feedback from his constituents has made him re-think his previous position.
May there be another two hundred more like this.
I believe the votes will hinge on who is up for re-election next Fall. Presidents come and go. These guys are lifers.
May there be another two hundred more like this
puffho @ 5:17 says 212 oh noes
the merde hits the merdehead
Barack Obama faces growing opposition to airstrikes as he arrives for G20
hairplugs to the rescue
Joe Biden, lawmakers meet in White House Situation Room
Organizing for Action acting to avoid organizing over #Syria.
Flocking Flower Flockers.
“I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line.” -> ” Le Monde c’est moi. “
The Disaster is speaking from St. Petersburg. He’s a stitch.
He argues that if the “norm” against the use of chemical weapons isn’t punished in Syria, the that “norm” will unravel, and lead to the invasion of the Earth by concerned BeingsFromOuterSpaceBeyondTheStars. Therefore, we must slap Bashar al-Assad’s wrist, and alert him to fear the BeingsFromOuterSpacBeyondTheStars.
I like how if we don’t bomb Assad, the chances of his weapons falling into terrorist hands increases.
These bitches need to share their crystal ball with us. I think we’ll find that it’s made of meth.
Oof, a journalist nearly asked The Disaster if the United States is a Monarchy, but checked herself before the fatal words slipped out.
More of that patented one sided “dialogue” we are to be having.
So now The Disaster admits he’s seeking to provoke Al-Assad into a wider war, but it’s not a war, it’s just a “limited” action.
The Disaster is so concerned with “norms”, one must wonder how long he obsesses each day over walking around bearing dingleberries in his crack.
You racists, but you knew that already didn’t you?
Now The Disaster assures his auditors that there simply is no emergency in Syria — that’s it’s utterly unlike Libya, where 10,000 people could be saved by urgent action on his allies part as he led from behind. Oh, no, 10,000 Syrian children won’t be dying in the next couple of months — unless The Disaster can persuade his feeble nation to undertake to bomb the hell out of the place.
“Limited by what?” you might be wondering. That would be wise.
Ah, The One is asked about this very thing. Says it’s inaccurate. Bad NY Times! Bad!
/yeah, he’s lying
“Limited by what?” you might be wondering.
Oh no, I don’t wonder: It certainly going to be limited by The Disaster’s access to rainbows, unicorns and fairie dust.
The Disaster now says he seeks to impart a sense of urgency. It almost seems like he’s confused, doesn’t it?
Is it just me or does this motherfucker sound like he’s on Quaaludes?
I…….
uh….
think…..
ynow
Ahj! The world’s national security!
Priorities, bitches!
Oof again: Jon Karl too came near the fatal question: “Is the United States a Monarchy?”
But he too managed to avoid the deadly error, and to leave the proper room for The Disaster’s further seizure of power.
The answer to the question has already been made, years ago: “I won.”
Silly journalists.
The Disaster’s mastery of history is nothing short of . . . a giant useless stinking turd.
I think I’ve answered the question that I told you you weren’t getting an answer to.
We have a norm banning chemical weapons? I thought we had laws for shit like that. Where are these norms codified? Why doesn’t this motherfucker say law?
Probably because he’s itching to break some and because Syria hasn’t.
“Norm” could indicate that The Disaster was a Cheers fan back in the day — and maybe that more than anything else, he’s privately signaling his aide-de-camp that he’s in need of another beer right now.
Or, what you said.
Rwanda? Srsly? *BZZZZZ* That was Big Dawg’s mistake. Bad! Bad! While you have his out selling your healthcare plan, Barry.
He must be getting his talking points from John LeKerry who dragged up every historical example of war, good and bad, from the Carthaginians onward.
This “norm unravel” story is laughable horseshit, but then The Disaster’s speciality is laughable horseshit. So, The Disaster’s only hope is to find sufficient adherents to laughable horseshit. And The Disaster, as his mere presence on the scene indicates, knows they’re out there.
nothing about loafers tho
McCain: Boots on the Ground Would Mean Impeachment
Sheesh, this Dan Henninger guy is a fantasist. Could a less probable outcome than that The Disaster would change be forwarded as a reason to enter war?
hot air update
Breaking: Obama to address nation on Tuesday
McCain: “No one wants American boots on the ground,” McCain said. “Nor will there be American boots on the ground because there would be an impeachment of the president if they did that.”
Oh? And what would be the case if, say, Al-Assad managed to gas and kill a couple hundred American soldiers currently stationed in Jordan, or in Turkey, after, of course, the United States had committed
an act of wara proportional and limited action on Syria by pin-prickishly striking it from out of the blue with a mix of Tlams and bunker busters?Then why did he oppose language in the Senate resolution that stated that no troops were to be “on the ground in Syria” without Congressional authorization?
That is not a real question. He’s simply become the Kerry-type-thing he’s always wanted to be.
The Disaster certainly has achieved his unique and glorious historical moment in the sun. No one else comes close to this level of Presidential incompetence, nor can anyone hope another might. But then, The Disaster’s proponents have always told him he is Special, so there ought to be little surprise at the accomplishment.
“Special” with finger quotes is how it is said.
Well, perhaps we would say as much (finger quotes) geoffb, but The Disaster’s proponents certainly did not: they believed.
“…people vote for these lying, politically craven morons. Repeatedly, even!”
Multiple times, from multiple precincts and states, and even all the way from the grave!!
Axelrod tweeted that asinine remark about the Republicans being like the dog that catches the car, but I think it’s Obama who is the dog. He wanted to be president, and we’re at the point where all of his decisions are producing serious consequences. Destructive policies like Obamacare and flippant remarks about red lines will define his presidency.
Remember Oliver Sacks’ book titled “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat“?
In The Disaster, we have “The Man Who Mistook His Tongue for a Law.”
Actually, he skipped the Agent Orange/Napalm chapter. I can’t imagine why.
Has any American president ever been rejected so universally before? I think not.
Dat’s rayciss.
As for McCain, what would be the case if we were to expose an enormous stock of VX or Sarin? We can’t bomb it. So, we’d just leave it there for the taking? We’d make no attempt to secure it?
Bullshit.
“Norm” could indicate that The Disaster was a Cheers fan back in the day
I thought he was trying to be one of the guys by demonstrating his knowledge of Norm Abrams from “This Old House” and “Yankee Workshop”.
Well, for damn sure it wasn’t Creighton.
“Actually, he skipped the Agent Orange/Napalm chapter. I can’t imagine why.”
Any mentions of assassination by drone? I could be wrong, but I think international law finds assassination beyond the norm…
All this “norm” talk confuses me – I thought norms were bad, like heteronormative, and how it’s actually diversity that makes us better, blah, blah, blah. NOW Obama and the Dems are all about standards and adhering to the norms established by your international peers. Geez.
Anyone know what’s wrong with LeKerry’s face?
Did he overdo it on botox and fillers – he looks like a muppet version of himself (and not a very good one).
It pretty much works the same or conforms to the Progressive view of the living Constitution Libby: once the Progressive law has altered the meaning of the living Constitution, it’s fixed for all time.
I thought the same thing Libby. He looks like a real putty face, not just jowly like a lot of old guys do.
My son, the wise-guy, said the other day, “Does he have something wrong with his eyes or something? He looks like he’s dumber than shit.”
I keep expecting consistency with the Left, but they don’t even feel shame at their own hypocrisy. The might as well say, “Because I want to” instead of the constant stream of bullsh!t lectures and condescension.
I think Kerry’s had a Biden Special. Combination facelift, hair transplant and brain surgery.
Performed on an outpatient basis in a tattoo parlor.
VX because it is fairly stable would be in storage as an active agent and would be a problem if bombed. Sarin decomposes in storage and so is stored in munitions as a binary which must be throughly and rapidly mixed to make Sarin. The munitions accomplish this in flight but bombing a storage area would only mix a small portion of the chemicals in a way that would form Sarin.
That said if we bombed a storage depot I’m sure we would be blamed for all manner of injuries and deaths of a chemical nature so yes we cannot bomb those areas but would have to use troops to take control of them.
The rebels aka terrorists would not be so deterred from blowing them up except that they would like to capture them for their own use.
Cypress has said we can’t use their airfields and I think the Nimitz is the only carrier in that battlegroup that is bobbing around of the coast of Syria. I say we tie down all the aircraft and turn the ships around and head for home. Especially now that Russia is moving in a battlegroup and thus, moving the ball into our court.
OT: If I hear one of these gavones use the word “calculus” one more time, I’m going to break something.
Unless they have sent more the Russian “battlegroup” is one intelligence gathering ship and two LSTs which can carry some tanks and troops or supplies but not a huge amount.
I knew it wasn’t what we have, for a certainty. They have a fantastic new fighter jet that puts ours in the shade.
“Russia Sends Missile Cruiser ‘Moskva’, Destroyer And Frigate To Syria”
Thank you, guinspen. I’d not heard that.
The movie version.
leigh says September 6, 2013 at 11:59 am
I knew it wasn’t what we have, for a certainty. They have a fantastic new fighter jet that puts ours in the shade.
It has always been possible (at least since the MiG 15) for Russia to make aircraft that meet or even exceed American standards. What hasn’t been possible (since about the MiG 21), is to make them in sufficient numbers to be significant.
It’s the retold tale of Snow
WhiteDisaster and his Seven Dwarves, Weepy, AwShucksy, Spurty, Blinky, Filthy, Stretchy, Traily, and the Dwarves’ little dog, Oink-Oink.That’s true, mondamay. I wish I could remember what the thing is called. Hubs had a YouTube piece on it and hot damn! The thing is beautiful!
The Russians also have access to an airfield in Syria, if I recall correctly. We’re outflanked before we even get started on this one.
RT says the 5th gen russkie fighter doesn’t go into production until 2015-16. So, not really.
It’s time for me to admit that my brothers always beat me at RISK.
I’ll leave this to the rest of youse.
Libby, you might want to read 1984 again. If anything, their exercise of power requires that they be inconsistent. We’ve always been at war with Eastasia.
Is it the T-50?
Then we have this:
That looks like it, mondamay. If you can find it on YouTube, watch it when you get a chance.
On the plus side, just think of how many paying jobs that organized protesting of the new mideast war could get generated. It could be just the thing to get this economy rolling again.
As would another war, come to think of it. It could be win/WIN!