I know Reid Smith is playing devil’s advocate but there is no room for civil disobedience (whether it be from the shoreline of Walden Pond or not) when it comes to Pvc. Bradley Manning or any other member of the U.S. military. It’s not like Manning was drafted against his will. He enlisted into the Army of his own accord, took an oath to obey the Constitution and the orders of the President of the United States and of officers above him, underwent basic training and waited to be deployed to Iraq. He knew what he was getting into. So I don’t buy the argument that Manning suddenly “believed that he was part of an unjust war, waged by an unjust government.” Apparently, Manning had a problem functioning in military life. It happens. But Manning took it a step further and chose to leak classified information knowing full well that it would compromise the safety and security of his fellow soldiers, our allies and the Iraqis and Afghans
Well. So Ron Paul is picking up steam in Iowa. May even be a frontrunner. And here he is (beginning at 4:06 in the video ) saying of Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier who leaked thousands of pages of classified U.S. government documents to Wikileaks, that Manning is a “true patriot” and a “political hero.” I kid you not. Here’s the link to the video. Wait ’til Newt, Mitt, Rick, Rick, Michele, and Jon hear about this.
Read the rest here:
Ron Paul: Wikileaks Leaker Manning Is a ‘Hero’
The relative silence of the anti-war Left about President Obama’s commitment of U.S. forces to military action against Moammar Qaddafi’s regime — noted previously by John Guardiano — has at least two prominent exceptions. Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore was nearly apoplectic on Twitter yesterday : It’s only cause we’re defending the Libyan people from a tyrant! That’s why we bombed the Saudis last wk! Hahaha. Pentagon=comedy And we always follow the French’s lead! Next thing you know, we’ll have free health care & free college! Yay war! We’ve had a “no-fly zone” over Afghanistan for over 9 yrs. How’s that going? #WINNING ! Khadaffy must’ve planned 9/11! #excuses Khadaffy must’ve had WMD! #excusesthatwork So give Moore credit, at least, for being consistently wacko. We might say the same for Andrew Sullivan : I supported Obama against first Clinton and then McCain because I knew full well that both Clinton and McCain were unrepentant fans of presidential war-making powers and had both supported almost every war in their political lives. I wanted someone with more restraint. . . . It’s just brutal to have supported Obama’s foreign policy for so long, only to see it morph into a multilateral version of McCain’s so swiftly. The whiplash is jarring. The jarring whiplash involved this December 2007 quote from then-candidate Obama : “The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation.” While at least these
“I want a candidate who expresses the optimism of America — the shining city on the hill — and actually comes across as believing it, not just catering to me.” Yesterday in the Politico, Jonathan Martin gave a conservatives in the mist take on the 2012 “theme” from the GOP — America ‘in decline’. I think the take is exactly opposite how he characterized it — though it is all semantics. It is not ‘America in decline’, but ‘America the Great’ that is the theme. At a time when Barack Obama is intent on taking over the economy one-fifth at a time and leftists are turning the more-likely-than-not traitor Bradley Manning into a hero, it is more and more clear that the San Francisco left that Jeanne Kirkpatrick warned us about 25 years ago has finally gotten to have their way with America. The theme is not about our nation in decline, but about letting a group of people run the nation who want us to decline. It is easy to get hung up on the doom and gloom of the 2012 Republican candidates. They are a gloomy bunch. Sure they are trying to sound optimistic, but I’ve heard most all of them speak. With few exceptions, they have the oratory skills of a gaggle of warbling albatrosses and some, worse, sound like warbling albatrosses being violated by lepers. I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. And I may not. It’s precisely why I wanted Mike Pence to run for President. Huh? Well . . . There are differences in how people run for office. It seems that most of those running for the GOP nomination in 2012 are going through the motions. They have to talk about X in the G-major key to get group Y’s support. They think they have to hit on certain issues over and over. Hilariously, I recently attended an off the record meeting with several of the candidates invited to speak. Not one hit on any of the themes the attendees at the meeting much cared about. What these candidates need to do is not focus on the doom and gloom, which while they say they are not they really are. They instead need to focus on the greatness of America. And when they do, they could at least sound like they believe it and aren’t just saying it to get my vote. I was listening to one of these guys prattle on and on about education a few weeks ago to a group that would prefer less federal education spending. It transitioned into more about America the beautiful, etc., etc., etc. I was left with the distinct impression this guy really wanted to talk about anything but American greatness, but felt like he had to go through the motions. That’s why I like Mike Pence and why I wanted him to run. When he speaks on these issues, you know he means it. You know he wakes up and Russell Kirk is firing on all cylinders in his mind. You know he is not just going through the motions. With Mike Pence out of the running, I think, in all seriousness, the guy who does it the best is Mike Huckabee. I’m not a Huckabee guy, but he resonates. He exudes compassion and love for country in a way the other guys do not. I have not found what I’m looking for. I want a candidate who expresses the optimism of America — the shining city on the hill — and actually comes across as believing it, not just catering to me. I want Mike Pence or Mike Huckabee’s oratory skills and conviction in what they say with Mike Pence and Jim DeMint’s actual conservative convictions. I want somebody who may not even exist. That’s kind of depressing. Right now, I’m about right here. And Iowa draws closer and closer.
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I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For
Filed under: Obama Administration , WikiLeaks P.J. Crowley told a small audience last week that the prison conditions under which authorities are holding Pfc. Bradley Manning were “ridiculous and counterproductive.”
