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2004-04-22 Home Front: WoT
The new smite
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Posted by tipper 2004-04-22 2:42:55 AM|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 This is evident in the common assumption that the Democrat presidential candidate, John Kerry, would offer a kinder, gentler version of American statecraft, and therefore deserves the prayers of the world’s peaceniks.

Mr. Kerry, though essentially a man of the left, is a political weathercock. Read carefully what he has been saying recently about the U.S. commitment in Iraq, and national interests throughout the region. He is now trying to position himself as hawk to Mr. Bush’s dove, in the "war on terrorism".


I've seen the same thing in my tea leaves too. Things have changed for Americans since 911. The 60's are not quite dead yeat, but they are on life-support and there is no chance of a recovery.
Posted by B 2004-04-22 2:48:07 AM||   2004-04-22 2:48:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 B - I came of age in the '60's. They can't die too soon for me.

Why anyone would want to keep living in that time period is beyond me. They must have pathetic lives otherwise.
Posted by Barbara Skolaut  2004-04-22 2:56:01 AM||   2004-04-22 2:56:01 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 I think Bush and them are fiqureing out that the American ppl has had enough of playing nice.Time to pull out the extra size baseball bat and start whacking.
Posted by djohn66 2004-04-22 3:31:57 AM||   2004-04-22 3:31:57 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Commentary like David Warren's has been appearing more and more in the last few months. For many of us, the jury is no long out on whether Arab society can be reformed, and rendered benign, by grafting Western-style democracy onto it. The jury has rendered its verdict, and the verdict is: forget about it, these people are hopeless.

I myself am not quite there yet, but that's the direction I'm moving.
Posted by Dave D.  2004-04-22 5:31:56 AM||   2004-04-22 5:31:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 I think Kerry has found that bashing Saudi Arabia enjoys great political resonance across the political spectrum. I expect we'll see more and more of that from him.
Posted by Mike Sylwester  2004-04-22 7:14:43 AM||   2004-04-22 7:14:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Yeap,I favor the Teddy Roosevelt school of diplomacy"Speak softly and carry a big ass stick"
Posted by raptor 2004-04-22 7:26:30 AM||   2004-04-22 7:26:30 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Kerry's in a box. If he comes out as a war hawk now, it will be just another flop. "I voted for it before I voted against it - but then I voted for it again"

That's not to say that he won't try to do it, though.
Posted by B 2004-04-22 8:01:56 AM||   2004-04-22 8:01:56 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 Nice article. Mike, while I think the Sauds deserve a firm ass-kicking, I personally don't want to pay $5.00 or more/gallon for gas. I have to drive 25 miles to work everyday! That is a dilema that needs much thinking upon. Can we get Iraq to a point where it can supplant lost oil from the Sauds? Or can we secure the Saud oil fields and supply while dragging them into the 21st century (or as close to 21st as we can get them)? Either way, I strongly believe that road to long-term peace (or atleast stability) goes through Riyad.
Posted by AllahHateMe 2004-04-22 8:36:18 AM||   2004-04-22 8:36:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 I guess I read too many iraqi blogs.. I'm not ready to give up on democracy in the middle east
Posted by dcreeper 2004-04-22 8:38:49 AM||   2004-04-22 8:38:49 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 I doubt we'll be giving up in Iraq; we'll keep our committment there.

The real question is whether we will be willing to bother going the liberation/reformation route elsewhere in response to future terrorist attacks, or whether we'll respond instead with a war of punishment, or conquest, or even outright extermination.
Posted by Dave D.  2004-04-22 9:13:21 AM||   2004-04-22 9:13:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Everything else being equal, you might as well smite your mortal enemies. The trick, after all, is to make them appease you.

"You got to show them the BAYONET" Thomas Jackson
Posted by TomAnon 2004-04-22 10:09:28 AM||   2004-04-22 10:09:28 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 You got it TomA. Course TJ also thought war could be mercifully shortened by taking no prisoners and killing out of hand. I'm still wondering if he was right. Pass me a lemon.
Posted by Shipman 2004-04-22 11:14:06 AM||   2004-04-22 11:14:06 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 He is now trying to position himself as hawk to Mr. Bush’s dove, in the "war on terrorism".

If he thinks we can depend on John Kerry to be a hawk once in office, he is out of his mind. Kerry knows he has to say hawkish things now to bring middle-of-the roaders on board. Once in office, he will fly the white flag above the white house.
Posted by Zpaz 2004-04-22 1:54:03 PM||   2004-04-22 1:54:03 PM|| Front Page Top

08:24 Jen
08:16 raptor
04:45 Zenster
04:16 Zenster
04:10 .com
04:08 Jen
03:55 Zenster
03:36 Jen
01:25 Super Hose
01:18 Super Hose
01:05 Super Hose
00:53 Frank Martin
00:15 RWV
00:06 RWV
23:59 Pappy
23:53 ruprecht
23:47 Bomb-a-rama
23:45 Pappy
23:43 Bomb-a-rama
23:39 Robert Crawford
23:39 Bomb-a-rama
23:36 Robert Crawford
23:34 CrazyFool
23:30 Halfass Pete









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