Republican hypocrisy on Syria

[Sandy]

Where are all the conservative Republicans who, after Bush ran out of reasons for attacking and invading Iraq, were saying that the "humanitarian" reasons alone justified the US invasion, the lost lives and the massive cost?

This is a political party that seems determined to make sure that it loses its majority in the House, and any hope it might possess for the 2016 Presidential election. What's the difference between Iraq and Syria, except that the Syrians aren't sitting on billions of barrels of oil that Bush and his buds were drooling over?

Granted, most Americans do not want to participate in a war in Syria. I don't. Most didn't want to go to war in Iraq, either. But a war is not what the President is proposing. If the GOP doesn't support some kind of effort to eliminate the WMD's of the Assad regime, then they are going to completely expose the Bush administration and its intentions in Iraq as being totally bankrupt of any kind of moral conviction, and completely motivated by the chance for exploitation of Iraq's oil resources.

Ted Cruz wasted a lot of words today when he could have simply said, "We are totally politically motivated, and we are interested only in obstructionism. As far as the American people go, or any people for that matter, we couldn't care less." I gotta like the guy, he is doing more to make sure that the Republican party becomes obsolete and ineffective than just about anyone else, including Sarah Palin.

[William Thornton]

Sandy, I take your point that Republicans are brazen hypocrites. Yesterday and tomorrow it will be the Democrats. Ho hum.

Do you favor action against Syria? Exactly what? Aimed at whom? For what reason? To what end?

[Dave Roberts]

I wish I could believe there is a really viable solution to the Syrian problem. Assad deserves to be punished--that's without question. The question remains, "What will a cruise missle attack on his military infrastructure really accomplish. I'm not certain that anyone has thought through the whole issue. Even the most rabid Bush supporters largely agree that the war in Iraq was not worth the cost nor has it produced the results expected. Syria is a mess. There are already close to a million refugees spawned by the war whom no one wants to assist. The opposition is made up of every splinter group imaginable in the country and from outside. The Republican party seems to have everything from super hawks like McCain to those who oppose this purely on the grounds that Obama is for it. I fear Congress will not come to any real consideration of all the issues because they will screech at each other along partisan lines rather than get down to discussing what is right. The first concern seems to be to retain popularity with the voters so they will get re-elected. How sad!

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[William Thornton]

I think the window for meaningful action has passed. We should not start bombing now. Obama blew this one.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

[Stephen Fox]

I agree with Both of them on this one, and disagree with William on principle

I have no solution except for future diplomacy and the good of this country the Tea Party should be defeated at the Polls. If you are a Christian and your congressman is friendly to the Tea Party, vote against that person.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

Obama screwed this up by inaction and dithering. Can't blame it on Bush.

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

[Sandy]

[Stephen Fox]

in my SBC Fundy/Tea Party conspiracy theory.

We need David Montoya in this conversation to round things out!

Sandy, see Bonhoeffer update in Faith and Practice

[Stephen Fox]

Does this mean Al Gore takes exception to Hillary and Kerry?

http://ethicsdaily.com/obama-offers-fal ... -cms-21091

[Haruo]

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

[KeithE]

[Haruo]

[KeithE]

I’m more worried about and .

Seriously I could easily see some states seceding from the union in our lifetimes given the deep polarization. It happened in the USSR.

[Sandy]

If you pay any attention at all to what the President has been saying all along, and avoid the blatantly one sided mis-characterizations of his position that are coming out of the extremist right wing and most of the GOP, the course he has pursued has brought the Russians to the point where they are putting enough pressure on the Syrians to get the desired result without a military strike. Certainly, as far as Putin is concerned, self-interest comes into play here. He needs the Syrian arsenal of poison gas to be under control of the UN to avoid having a lot of it winding up in his country, in the hands of Chechens or some radical Islamic group. The threat of a US military strike, and the realization that the President was serious about it, was what it took to kick things into gear. And while all of that may not work out, the fact that it was even suggested is evidence that the President is on exactly the right track with this. The only genuinely serious debate about it is taking place within the Democratic party. The Republicans, who pushed for the US to get on board with the UN poisoned gas resolution in the first place, have bailed. What else can they do? Their credibility is gone.

And if that isn't bad enough, the three stooges, AKA Congressmen Bachmann, King and Gohmert, are in Egypt, busy driving sensible people away from support for the party.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/201 ... 72124.html

Democrats, that's a very generous gift, boxed and decoratively wrapped just for you. Take advantage of it to your fullest ability. It will keep on giving for a long time to come.