tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post1984357105347529687..comments2023-10-24T09:06:30.200-04:00Comments on No More Mister Nice Blog: Steve M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-45538858090855653022013-09-06T11:54:26.642-04:002013-09-06T11:54:26.642-04:00What you and Noonan are really saying, whether or ...What you and Noonan are really saying, whether or not you admit it: Let's not go to war unless the president is getting a boner anticipating the conflict. And thinking he's such hot shit nothing can really go wrong.Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-62360627826986325152013-09-06T11:03:07.462-04:002013-09-06T11:03:07.462-04:00"Hypocrisy" refers to a gap between beha..."Hypocrisy" refers to a gap between behavior and professed norms; you probably want to accuse Ms. Noonan of intellectual inconsistency.<br /><br />As to whether that charge sticks, well, circumstances have changed. In April her point was that Obama needed to move past the endless talking stage; her column has no specific call for bombing or military action, just an exhortation to Obama to do whatever he had in mind to enforce his red line (arm rebels, stricter sanctions, what?).<br /><br />Her current column gives up on the guy:<br /><br />"Francis was speaking, as popes do, on the moral aspects of the situation. In America, practical and political aspects have emerged, and they are pretty clear.<br /><br />The American people do not support military action. A Reuters-Ipsos poll had support for military action at 20%, Pew at 29%. Members of Congress have been struck, in some cases shocked, by the depth of opposition from their constituents. A great nation cannot go to war—and that's what a strike on Syria, a sovereign nation, is, an act of war—without some rough unity as to the rightness of the decision. Widespread public opposition is in itself reason not to go forward.<br /><br />Can the president change minds? Yes, and he'll try. But it hasn't worked so far. This thing has jelled earlier than anyone thought. More on that further down.<br /><br />What are the American people thinking? Probably some variation of: Wrong time, wrong place, wrong plan, wrong man."<br /><br />We can't have military strikes on Syria without a leader who has conviction about the value of those strikes. What we know now, and didn't in April, is that we don't have that leader with those convictions. Red line talk notwithstanding.JustOneMinutehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16823001650326197645noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-19055202340804777762013-09-06T09:27:43.607-04:002013-09-06T09:27:43.607-04:00Gawd. I'm trying to care abut the hypocrisy, ...Gawd. I'm trying to care abut the hypocrisy, and the oppositional defiant disorder it springs from, and I. Just. Can't. Anymore. It's so relentless, so mindless, so nakedly unprincipled (however furiously it drapes itself in pieties), that my Outrage-O-Matic is plumb wore out.<br /><br />You guys will just have to go on without me. I'm going to lie down here and give up. Never Ben Betterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17814767173601107270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-42044042989776873632013-09-06T08:09:18.155-04:002013-09-06T08:09:18.155-04:00Peggy, that ding-a-ling, is a reliable bell-weathe...Peggy, that ding-a-ling, is a reliable bell-weather for what the Reich-Wingers "think."<br /><br />Of course, anyone can play this game.<br />Find out what Obama wants to do, and predictably, they are against it.<br /><br />However, by tossing the ball back to Congress, the President has opened up some more rifts in the Republican Party.<br /><br />You now have an additional schism - the McCain's, who want to bomb, and the Paul's who probably don't - and all of the Republicans in between, who want to bomb furrin' lands, but can't reflexively jump to that conclusion, because that's what that "Blah" Kenyan Usurper wants to do.<br /><br />I don't have a clue as to what we, the US, should do. And thankfully for everyone else, I'm not responsible for our actions. <br /><br />This seems more like a matter for the UN. <br />However, Russia won't go along with any action, because Assad is Putin's pal, and Syria is Russia's ally.<br /><br />And so, all I can say is, grab some popcorn, sit back, and watch the Republicans fight amongst themselves.<br />Hopefully, to the death.Victorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06609452382111686086noreply@blogger.com