While the recent increase of attention to the ongoing carnage in Syria is a welcome change from the Obama administration’s collective state of denial over the past ten months, signals remain mixed, and our policy is unclear if not non-existent. This week alone, for example, we got the welcome news that the Pentagon is preparing military options on Syria for the President, but at the same time White House press secretary announced those options will not be exercised. The waters have been further muddied by the President’s insistence that there is no parity between the situation in Libya last year and what we face now in Syria. In Libya, the threat to civilians and opportunity to topple a vicious dictator were sufficient cause for Mr. Obama to engage the U.S. military, even without a pressing national security interest at stake. While it can be argued that once the U.S. engaged in Libya it might have been preferable to lead from the front to secure weapons stockpiles and guard against al Qaida encroachment, the fact remains that the world is a better place with Colonel Qaddafi gone, as Mr. Obama routinely reminds us. Meanwhile, as many as ten times the civilians killed in Libya before NATO’s intervention have died in Syria over the last year. Bashir Assad is no less cruel and repressive a tyrant than Muammar Qaddafi. The threat of Syria’s unknown stockpiles of WMD falling into bad hands demands our urgent attention. And, above all, the United States has a clear strategic interest in toppling this vital ally of Iran. But Syria is somehow different, and not worthy of the same sort of military assistance we offered to the Libyan rebels. Rather than taking decisive action in the form of military aid through our purported ally Turkey (perhaps in August when the President issued a statement calling for Assad’s ouster on his way out of town for vacation), the U.S. has remained on the diplomatic equivalent of a hamster wheel. From the ill-advised resumption of “normal” relations with Syria last January through the pathetic failure of the Security Council resolution this weekend, our efforts to resolve the situation have been futile wastes of time and energy as the slaughter in Syria goes on to the tune of 100 people a day. In dealing with Libya and Syria, consistency need not be the hobgoblin of little minds but can rather be the hallmark of a consistent and coordinated foreign policy. There are equivalencies to be drawn between the two crises, and once these are recognized we should take equivalent action. It is not a decision to be taken lightly, but we would not be alone and the cause is just. We have the unified support of our European and Arab allies. We have moral and strategic interests at stake. Rather than whining about the shocking moral turpitude of the United Nations, the President of the United States needs to remember his responsibilities as the leader of the free world–and lead.
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Is Syria Really “Different?”
I’m on CNN tonight, but I’m also on radio tonight out of Atlanta on my own show. You can listen live right now on WSB’s live stream. The show started at 6:00 p.m. and will run till 8pm tonight. Tonight at 7:34 p.m. ET I will make my endorsement for President of the United States. I will not be endorsing “We the People” as I kind of blame them for this present mess. But I will be making an endorsement and if you are curious you can listen by clicking right here .
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I Endorse for President . . . #EERS
I’m on CNN tonight, but I’m also on radio tonight out of Atlanta on my own show. You can listen live right now on WSB’s live stream. The show started at 6:00 p.m. and will run till 8pm tonight. Tonight at 7:34 p.m. ET I will make my endorsement for President of the United States. I will not be endorsing “We the People” as I kind of blame them for this present mess. But I will be making an endorsement and if you are curious you can listen by clicking right here .
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I Endorse for President . . . #EERS
No comment about Iran and Russia. (Washington Examiner) — United States Armed Forces could win simultaneous conflicts in the Korean peninsula and against Iran, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told American soldiers in Germany today, despite the impending force reductions. “We could be fighting a land war in Korea, and suddenly Iran moves to close the
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Panetta: We could still take on Iran and North Korea simultaneously
RedState Morning Briefing For February 1, 2012 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. 1. Susan G. Komen Listened. Have You Responded? 2. The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung, But She’s Warming Up 3. The Bad Messaging of the Newt Gingrich Super PAC 4. The Inconvenient Constitution ———————————————————————- 1. Susan G. Komen Listened. Have You Responded? Yesterday, the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced it would stop giving money to Planned Parenthood. Conservatives have been pushing on this issue for a while. As a result of the announcement, the left has gone on the attack. It is important that you who wanted Komen to do this say thank you. You can email them at news@Komen.org . More importantly, you can donate to them . If you are not willing to support an organization that takes a stand you want when they come under attack, you cannot be surprised when less organizations listen to you. So say thank you . Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung, But She’s Warming Up If I were a national Republican operative, I’d be very worried about tonight. If I were a Mitt Romney fan, I’d be ecstatic. The Romney win in Florida was huge. He won the hispanic vote. He split tea party activists and evangelicals. He won where people live. Gingrich won the panhandle and largely tied in the few northern Florida population centers, but it was Romney’s night. He is on the way toward the nomination. The fat lady is warming up. But it is not a done deal yet. He still has a fractured base and lost the heart of the base. He has trouble with tea party activists and evangelicals though he roughly tied with Gingrich in capturing their support, and he has trouble with strong conservatives. Nonetheless, his get out the vote operation was a phenomenal success and the 15 to 1 advertising ratio in his favor clinched it for him. Ron Brownstein has a solid analysis on Romney’s win. It is worth nothing that in the last week of the race only 0.1% of advertising was pro-Romney and roughly 70% was anti-Gingrich. The panhandle held for Gingrich, which is more typical of a number of upcoming primaries than the rest of the state. Here’s why I’d be nervous if I were a GOP operative. Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. The Bad Messaging of the Newt Gingrich Super PAC I was surprised to land in Miami today for CNN’s coverage of the Florida Presidential Preference Primary and hear one Newt Super PAC ad over and over. I heard it on rock stations. I heard it on Rush Limbaugh. I heard it on a sports talk station. It attacked Mitt Romney for abortion. Abortion. In a state with a massive housing crisis and a state that led the way in the fight on Obamacare, the Newt Super PAC decided to run ads in Miami, FL on abortion. There is just one ad that the Newt Super PAC needs to run and that the Newt campaign itself needs to run. They need to take Rick Santorum’s attack on Romneycare from the CNN Jacksonville, FL debate and turn it into a commercial. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. The Inconvenient Constitution As a United States Senator, I have sworn an oath to support, defend, and bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Complying with this Oath is not always convenient. Sometimes this requires voting against legislation that embodies policies I agree with, other times it requires taking a stand when doing so may not be popular. The Constitution itself is not a document of convenience. It specifies an onerous process – bicameralism and presentment – with which the government must comply to enact legislation. And it imposes separation of government powers and a system of checks and balances between the different branches. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for February 1, 2012
