Letters to the Editor
Uncle Fester
Published Letters: 1751 Editor's Choice: 14
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@logicalresponse: What about Pakistan, then?
[Read the article: More on Clinton camp infighting]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I'm not sure, so let's just wait and see if they sell WMD to some terrorist group that wipes out one of our cities, If that happens, then maybe I'll change my mind." Give me a break.
Preemptive strikes out of fear, whether in foreign affairs or against some big scary dude walking down the street, don't look good when you don't have the evidence to back it up.
And what to do about Pakistan then? According to this story, the semi-rogue Pakistani intelligence services (the ISI) has continued to supply the Taliban with material support using our money.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/03/10/taliban/
And we know Dr. Khan has been spreading Nuke technology: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Qadeer_Khan
And what to do about Saudi Arabia? Their wahabist hands aren't exactly clean either. Do we need to turn both countries into parking lots?
[Sorry about bogus cross-post]
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@jebldmm who has more experience?
[Read the article: More on Clinton camp infighting]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A big problem here is the two camps don't agree on how experience should be calculated. Hillary has more time in the U.S. Senate, Obama has more experience as an elected official at the state and federal level. How do you count experiences such as teaching constitutional law for years, or for being First Lady. I don't think either candidate has really broken that down yet, at least not to my satisfaction.
And of course, too much experience is bad as well. If the sole criteria for Pres. was elected high office and foreign policy experience, Hillary and Obama would be seeking a VP slot on a Dodd or Biden ticket.
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We are the media
[Read the article: Report: Spitzer caught on federal wiretap]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]When is America's media ever going to get over its sexual hangups and prurient interest in the sexual lives and foibles of public figures?
As soon as the American public does. Don't forget the ratings. The education vs. entertainment negative feedback loop is not solely due to the media.
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Spectacular foresight on Iraq? Not
[Read the article: Obama camp targets Clinton experience claims]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First of all, his spectacular foresight on Iraq all happened before he was subject to the political pressures on a US senator. --zenwick
What I find revisionist is the idea that it was impossible to predict any downside from the Iraq invasion. That's a two-fer. You get to describe Obama's opposition to the war as a fluke and paper-over Hillary's political calculations. If you have re-read her Iraq War Auth speech lately, you know what I mean.
Unfortunately for this meme, Obama has some interesting company in his position to publically question the war in 2002, including Brent Scowcroft, a General who was a National Security Advisor to Bush 41. He published an Op-Ed in the WSJ in August 2002 called "Don't Attack Saddam". It was widely held at the time that Scowcroft's position was also the position of Bush 41; someone for all his faults who actually knew quite a deal about foreign policy.
There's also the semi-famous Dick Cheney clip on YouTube from the mid-90s describing all the downside from invading. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnV4tMvI0ME&feature=related
Neither of these guys are code pink. So I'm sorry, I just can't buy the 'Nobody coulda predicted it would go to shit meme.'.
Brent Scowcroft excerpt from 2002:
Our pre-eminent security priority -- underscored repeatedly by the president -- is the war on terrorism. An attack on Iraq at this time would seriously jeopardize, if not destroy, the global counterterrorist campaign we have undertaken
http://www.ffip.com/opeds081502.htm
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It counts
[Read the article: Obama camp targets Clinton experience claims]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Many can sit on front seat of the car, but only one person at a time can drive. The two activities are very different. She need to tell us her experiences as the driver.
And whether or not you agree that her years as First Lady of both Arkansas and the White House constitute real experience, there's no denying that she has a unique insight to the way the presidency works since she was, in some sense, a top advisor in the administration.
It definitely counts, but I'm unclear how much. She's not helping either. Her claims about Ireland are disputed by other players, for starters.
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re: Sue Take a stress pill guys!
[Read the article: Obama camp targets Clinton experience claims]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm bringing this up because it actually doesn't jive with something you were talking about before, but I can't believe it's the norm.
Sometimes I wish we could do this by private message.
Indeed.
I have my own wierd data points, a statistically insignificant sampling. Such as 60+ year old white women, voting for Hillary due to the cause.
Why can't we allow a little complexity here? For some women, the predominant reason to vote for Hillary is because she is a woman. For others, they are predominiately voting for Obama because of his ethnicity. And there's a lot more people in the middle, trying to weigh everything, and placing race and sex far down on the priority list.
We should be able to discuss these things in a semi-civil matter. Four white women in NJ are unlikely to shift my opinion of anything! But it's an interesting and thoughtful datapoint.
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@wayannas10: judgement is foresight
[Read the article: Obama camp targets Clinton experience claims]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Everyone knows hindsight is 20/20.
You have it completely backwards on this point. Stop with " the Outcome couldn't have been forseen" fable. Experience is supposed to lead to judgement which leads to foresight. A leader is supposed to above popular lustings for revenge and destruction. Especially mischanneled ones. A leader is supposed to put the good of the country above person political calculation. Brent Scowcroft thought this war was a bad idea before it happened. Dick Cheney in 1994 thought this war would be a mistake. His video (link on a prior post of mine in this thread) has eerily predicted the outcome. Two prominent Republican Hawks among many others. You and Hillary should be like John Edwards and admit that a terrible mistake was made.
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@doc Trimble v. Hume: Next Steps?
[Read the article: Obama camp targets Clinton experience claims]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Good post. Do you know of any follow up analysis? I'm not sure who to believe here, if anyone. I would feel more comfortable if some of Hillary's FP cred checks out. As far as asking the people of Ireland goes, where is maureenodonnell when you need her?