Letters to the Editor
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Na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, good riddance
Wow, how telling is it that even Salon couldn't find a way to spin Hillary's weak-sauce debate performance as positive? From her petulant complaining about the press handling Obama with kid gloves, to her hair-splitting over "reject" vs. "denounce," to her vague rambling about the incoming Russian president that made her sound like a high schooled who hadn't read the assignment, Hillary turned in the most spectacularly uninspired performance of her lackluster campaign. She should have dropped out yesterday and spared herself the double humiliation of a failed debate and four more primary losses next week.
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And now the decision that we currently face
During the debate this past evening, the candidates were asked how they would react if a military pullout resulted in a full-blown civil war. Neither Democratic candidate had a satisfactory answer.
If we leave Iraq without a stable government in place, a government capable of fielding a police force and an army capable of repelling its enemies, there will be a genocide the likes of which we haven’t seen since Cambodia. The Shia and the Sunni and the Kurds will slaughter each other. The oil fields will be torched, and Iran will become a regional powerhouse.
We have a moral and ethical obligation to finish what we started. I’m not going to argue whether going in was a good idea or not. I’m not a big enough policy wonk to render that kind of judgment. However, I think it’s very, very clear, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the country will collapse into chaos if we don’t leave it with some kind of stable regime taking up our slack.
The fact that neither of these Democrats is capable of saying honestly that American blood and treasure are worth more than the blood of the Iraqis we “liberated” is telling. I would respect them more if they simply said what underlies their argument, namely, that we’re dying to help Arabs. It’s a bigoted and racist notion that the Iraqis should be left to their fate because they’re Arabs. We went in there to save them from Saddam. We’re obligated to live with the consequences of that action. The alternative, to pull out before we “win”, will lead to a genocide. I guess that’s ok for the two Democrats running for office.
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Traitors everywhere!
My friends and I in Minneapolis - everyone I know - knew that we were being lied to so we could go to war and protect our assets (oil, etc). None of us saw the manufactured government documents either.
I was snowed in at a ski hill in Colorado (8 feet of snow!) when the war was announced and EVERYONE booed the tv. These folks were from all over the country and from all walks of life. Everyone knew what was up.
Obama followed his gut alright - he voted against an unjust war and he has a right to be proud of that. Mrs. Clinton fell in line. Traitor is a big word, mr. poopy-pants.
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Oh, BryanS, don't be so negative
Hillary's actually way up in Rhode Island. I guess that's one of the "states that matter," according to her campaign strategy. Funny how she tried to "nail" Barack for plagiarism when she stole her whole strategy from Rudy Giuliani.
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jpincus
Ah, calling someone a traitor for having reached the correct decision.
And you Hillary supporters are different to the Bushies how?
Frankly, this is one major reason why I don't support Hillary - a lot of her supporters sound like Republicans.
They like to call people "Haters" for not supporting their candidate. They like playing the patriot. They like calling the other candidate weak. They like insulting the other candidate's supporters as being naive and they play up the politics of despair. I have even seen Hillbots accuse Obama supporters of being loony lefties.
It isn't just the insults, we all get nasty in these arguments, it is just which insults the Hillbots choose to use. Frankly, I am surprised they haven't trotted out "Bunny Hugger" and "Tree Hugger" yet.
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"Condescending"? I detect a trend
I've seen enough commentators now say that Obama is condescending to detect a trend, and the trend is absolutely wrong. People who say that are missing his low-key humor. There's no contempt in this guy--you have to watch his face. It worries me that even someone as astute as Joan Walsh has misread his humor.
Why? Because the press uniformly misread George Bush in 1999 and 2000, raving about how much fun he was, and wasn't it cool he nicknamed people, when in fact, when you studied his eyes and face--when in other words you looked for the affect--the contempt was obvious. It's only after disasters struck that we've had analysts talk about the real Bush.
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@jpincus 12:25
There's a difference between blindly accepting what you're told, and trying to find out some information on your own. Being able to look critically at what someone tells you does not make one insane.
Taking everything other people tell you at face value, even when it *stinks*, is. Trying to pass off the blame to other people like that says to me "I cannot think for myself". It's also failing to own up to one's own mistakes. If you're always blaming others for your failures, you cannot help yourself.
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The Hero vs. the Saint -- "Let's play Softball"
So what happens to Matthews and his fellow gasbags once Barack wins this thing and they no longer have Hillary to kick around? I assume during slow periods they'll still dissect clips of her braying laugh or penchant for clapping and pointing to the audience. But the thought of them going "tough" on Obama and McCain -- two of their cuddly faves -- will yield either an embarrassing amount of panty-soaked platitudes or become as boring as an accountant's convention.
Thank god Stewart's writers have returned. I have a feeling irreverence will be in short supply once the general heats up. Even a few of us MOR lefties might be turning to Fox on occasion just to get away from the Matthews/Fineman/Gene Robinson crowd.
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Obama Did Not Vote Against Iraq War
bikerx wrote that "...he voted against an unjust war..." Get your facts straight. Obama was NOT in the US Senate at the time of the Iraq vote. Obama did not vote against the Iraq war. He was an IL state senator at the time of the US Senate's vote. He made a statement at that time saying that the US should not go to war with Iraq. And he is now using that and clearly misleading a lot of his admirers into thinking that he voted against the war. He did not! Period. End of report. Since his election to the US Senate his votes on Iraq related issues are 100% the same as Hillary's. He has voted twice to continue to fund the war. If the Iraq war is something Obama truly believes is morally wrong then he should be voting to defund it, not continue it. He should be voting for CHANGE not just TALKING about change. Yet he is not. All the Iraq war is for this man is a way to bludgeon Hillary and sate his quest for political power. He is a phony.