Rats Deserting the Sinking Ship
“Our mission [in Iraq] has failed.”
“Staying the course is pointless, and it’s time to start thinking about Plan B — how we might disengage with the least damage possible.”
“We do need a president who, I think, is intellectually curious. And that is a big question, whether George W. Bush has the intellectual curiousness — if that’s a word — to continue leading this country over the next couple of years.”
“Foreign policy realists considered Middle East stability the goal. The realists’ critics, who regard realism as reprehensibly unambitious, considered stability the problem. That problem has been solved.”
All right, who are these cut-and-run, Blame America First whiners? The above quotes are from, respectively: William F. Buckley, Thomas Friedman, Joe Scarborough and George Will. A real hotbed of anti-American activism, eh?
On Scarborough’s TV show, a recent topic was whether “George Bush’s mental weakness is damaging America’s credibility at home and abroad.” For ten minutes during this show, a caption at the bottom of the screen said “IS BUSH AN IDIOT?”
When someone told Scarborough that other presidents had been called stupid, Scarborough replied “I think George Bush is in a league by himself. I don’t think he has the intellectual depth as these other people.”
Also jumping ship is Rich Lowry. In April of 2005 he wrote “It is time to say it unequivocally: We are winning in Iraq.” Just this month his bubbling enthusiasm changed to “Success in Iraq seems more out of reach than it has at any time since the initial invasion three years ago.”
Lowry also asked whether Iraq is “Bush’s Vietnam.”
Why do these conservatives hate America?
posted by Tom Harper @ 3:39 PM
14 Comments:
Bush panders to the Left? Oooookay, I'll try to remember that.
One thing that bothers me is that the Right-wing pundits get a free pass on Iraq. They claim that it was a great idea but just DONE wrong. The truth is it was a bad idea period and they should be held accountable for having helped the administration sell it to the public.
J. Marquis: Don't get me wrong. I have no affinity or respect for conservatives who are now flipflopping on Iraq. I'm just glad to see more and more of Bush's support dwindling away.
I suspect that George Will hates America because of all the wedgies and swirlies her received in high school...at the hands of Ann Coulter!
I give props to Will.
I read him pretty regularly and have since I can remember, and I don't think he has really been supportive of Bush on much, not the least of which Iraq.
I could be wrong, but it one might not find a column in which Will supported the folly in Mesopotamia.
Annony-maus: OK, Spermbreath, it's because of you that I'm turning comment moderation back on, you buttbreath Son of a Whore. In case you aren't aware, Blogger is about to crack down on cowardly douchebags like you who have a Blogger ID but no blog. Enjoy your spamming and flaming while you can; it won't last much longer. You'll probably send me a few obscene e-mails (comments that won't be published) that nobody else will see, but everyone who reads this blog will see this comment. Run along now, your parents are calling you. They want to resume their kinky threesome; get your ass away from the computer and get back in bed with them.
BTW, if there are any coward-hunters out there, Annony-maus is doing his/her/its flaming from Waynesboro, Virginia. Its ISP is Adelphia and its IP is 69.168.1. RIP, pukestain.
OK, where was I? Sorry about letting the anonymous cowering-fuck cut in ahead of everyone else.
Rex Kramer: I think you nailed it. Poor little Georgie got tons of wedgies and swirlies in high school. He’s trying to make amends now, but it’s too late. And Ann Coulter terrorized her gym class; she used to beat up every other guy who had a smaller Adam’s Apple than her.
Mike: I respect George Will to an extent. I think he’s too sheltered and removed from the everyday problems that most people have to deal with (as I was insinuating in the above paragraph). But he’s a maverick and he doesn’t hesitate to come down on politicians of the Right or Left as he sees fit. For that I have to give him my grudging respect.
I think it is safe to say that there is a ZERO tolerance policy here for the anonymous drive-by idiocy that some uber-ignorant types like to engage in. And they never seem to be able to cite the sources of their outlandish claims. What's funny is I somehow intuitively knew the kid was from Virginia before you published the IP.
Now, as respects Conservatives who are backpedalling or removing themselves from Bush and co - much as I appreciate that they are finally paying attention to the loss of life of over 50,000 civilians (that's non-insurgent, innocent humans), over 2500 soldiers - as well as the opinions of actual American people (which includes the old school republican that believes in less government, fiscal responsibility, states rights - things the present admin has no interest in)- I can't help but feel a certain mistrust and the belief that their words now have more to do with job insurance for future than with anything else. Where was their intellectual curiosity when the invasion first started? Why were those keen analytical minds not questioning and challenging ANYTHING?
I'm not a Bush fan. I didn't like him as our governor. Intellectual curiousness is an oxymoron here. The real question is what Do we do with this no win situation? Our administration has gotten us into a quagmire. There is no easy answer. Cut and run? Ease out? Admit stupidity? Admit failure? Continue to throw money and manpower into the war and hope that somebody else solves the problem? We are supposed to be the most powerful nation on earth. We have the firepower to destroy most of the world. We also have citizens who do not want innocent women and children killed. We can't have it both ways.
Frstlymil: I agree about Conservatives who are backpedaling and trying to distance themselves from Bush. I’m glad to see Bush losing support from the Right, but like you said, where were these people 3 or 4 years ago? Some members of Project For A New American Century (Bush’s main puppetmaster) have flipflopped and admitted they were wrong. That just doesn’t cut it. Their schemes have killed thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians, and then they say “oops, never mind.”
Jill: It’s a tough situation. I’m in favor of just pulling our troops out now (or “cut and run” as they call it), but that’s just my opinion. There won’t be a painless solution no matter what we do. A few months ago a local letter-to-the-editor said “if we pull out now there’ll be a bloodbath. If we pull out in 2 years there’ll be a bloodbath.” That’s kind of how I look at it. The whole area is a mess and it’s getting worse all the time. If we cause a bloodbath by pulling out, we might as well have the bloodbath now instead of several years from now.
People who opposed the war should avoid being bullied by phrases such as "what's your solution?" We didn't create the problem...now we're supposed to come up with a solution?! I'm not sure there even is a solution. We need to state clearly and for the record: This situation was so fucked up by George Bush and his administration, it is beyond solution.
Elizabeth: I think their "what's your solution" line is just part of the talking points that every rightwing blogger is indoctrinated with. Bush has spent the last five and a half years derailing everything -- environmental laws, the social safety net, our standing in the world. So my "solution" is to un-derail everything that Bush has derailed.
It won't be easy, but this is what we'll have to be doing for the next few years or decades.
I'm going to add you to my blogs of interest, hope you do not mind.
R. Rodgers: Thanks. I'll link up with your blog too. I've seen your site on BlogMad (I always click on the Thumbs Up button).
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