Posted under Interventionism & Iran & NeoCons
You can count on Pat Buchanan to dish out the reality that most want to ignore, and I generally applaud him for that. But this time, he’s serving up more reality than I can handle:
Republicans already counting the seats they will pick up this fall should keep in mind Obama has a big card yet to play.
Should the president declare he has gone the last mile for a negotiated end to Iran’s nuclear program and impose the “crippling” sanctions he promised in 2008, America would be on an escalator to confrontation that could lead straight to war.
And should war come, that would be the end of GOP dreams of adding three-dozen seats in the House and half a dozen in the Senate.
If you’re president of the United States — or a calculating monster concerned only about keeping his grip on power (yes, I’m repeating myself again) — war is the perfect solution. The leftists will cheer on the overthrow of a regime that denies civil rights to women and homosexuals. Andrew Sullivan, who’s almost as obsessed with regime change in Iran as he is with Sarah Palin, will break out the rainbow flag beside Old Glory, and will once again cheer on the Pentagon’s crusade for homosexual liberation.
Imagine pro-war, any war Sarah Palin standing arm-in-arm with Andrew Sullivan as both salute the troops. War does that with former foes.
And of course the chickenhawk Neocons will giggle in anticipation of mass mayhem prepared just the way they like it, far away, and against much weaker Muslim victims. As Buchanan notes in the same article:
Daniel Pipes in a National Review Online piece featured by the Jerusalem Post – “How to Save the Obama Presidency: Bomb Iran” – urges Obama to make a “dramatic gesture to change the public perception of him as a lightweight, bumbling ideologue” by ordering the U.S. military to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Citing six polls, Pipes says Americans support an attack today and will “presumably rally around the flag” when the bombs fall.
Pipes is right, of course. Already, I can hear Rahm Emanuel whispering in his boss’ ear, “Wag that dog, Obama.”
Kirt Higdon on 05 Feb 2010 at 4:27 pm #
By a constant show of force and a long list of escalating demands on the Iranians, Obama and Netanyahu will try to panic Iran into striking first. If that doesn’t work, they can always do a false flag op.
Matt Weber on 05 Feb 2010 at 4:46 pm #
I don’t know; war with Iran is so mindbogglingly stupid that I can’t imagine even the current crop of idiots starting it. Also, if Obama did pursue it it could easily ruin his legacy similarly to how Bush’s was ruined by Iraq.
Also, I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone anywhere listens to Andrew Sullivan.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 05 Feb 2010 at 4:47 pm #
Kirt,
I’m afraid that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. It worked for Honest Abe in 1861.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 05 Feb 2010 at 4:49 pm #
Matt Weber,
It’s only mindbogglingly stupid in the long run — by which I mean a distant, nebulous time beyond which anyone cares. In other words, past the current election cycle.
RedPhillips on 05 Feb 2010 at 8:15 pm #
HB, you pacifist, liberal wuss. You obviously haven’t been reading all the neocon fear mongering sources or you would know better. Every Iranian is a crazed suicidal lunatic hell bent on the destruction of Israel and the United States (in that order) unless we preventatively bomb them. Unless we act now NYC and DC will be under mushroom clouds and we will all be speaking Farsi and our wives wearing burqas. Why can’t you see that? It is all so clear.
HarrisonBergeron2 on 05 Feb 2010 at 9:01 pm #
Red Phillips,
Yeah, that’s it. I’m a pacifist liberal who secretly wants to live under the caliphate.
Everyone who doesn’t want to submit to sharia supports bombing Muslim nations and welcomes their refugees, who will become loyal Americans and Kiwanis members.
Or something like that.
Weaver on 05 Feb 2010 at 9:02 pm #
This is madness. Iran is no threat to anyone, and it’s much more powerful than Iraq was. Iran can fight back a little.
What happens to all those American troops stationed in Iraq when Iran fights back? Are they to be martyred in order to rouse American support for the war?
Not even Bush was crazy enough to attack Iran. Wow. And thanks for the heads up HB2 – I’d missed Buchanan’s article. Maybe the US will go out with a bang and not a whimper after all – this war would bankrupt the US state.
Weaver on 05 Feb 2010 at 9:04 pm #
HB2, except when those Muslims are in Chechnya or Kosovo. Those are good freedom loving Muslims who only happen to have ties to al-Qaeda, lol…
Translation: Neocons hate Russians and Serbians even more than Muslims.
Bede on 05 Feb 2010 at 9:17 pm #
Or even sadder, neocons spend more time attacking right-wing parties in Europe trying to deport Muslims than they spend attacking the Muslims trying to colonize Europe.
RedPhillips on 05 Feb 2010 at 9:40 pm #
“Translation: Neocons hate Russians and Serbians even more than Muslims.”
And Southern white Christian men most of all. Here is the order of hate.
Southern White Christians (not the docile ones who have bought into their agenda of course, just the cantankerous unreconstructed ones) > Nazis (meaning all Germans) > Russians > Serbs > Muslims.
Matt Weber on 06 Feb 2010 at 12:08 am #
Not the French though? Have they buried the hatchet?
HarrisonBergeron2 on 06 Feb 2010 at 3:17 pm #
Bede said, “neocons spend more time attacking right-wing parties in Europe trying to deport Muslims than they spend attacking the Muslims trying to colonize Europe.”
Sad but true. Look at the insufferable Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, for instance. He screams about the absolute necessity of bombing Muslims thousands of miles away to save us from “Islamofascism,” but welcomes Muslim colonists here in the USA.
Sheer insanity.
roho on 06 Feb 2010 at 5:11 pm #
The Neocons try so hard to convince America on Israel’s behalf that the Persians are Arabs out for blood and destruction….The Progressive Hollywood moguls are right in step with the neocons, portraying such lies about the Iranians, that the average American citizen thinks that they are some cross between Arabs and North Africans?…….Much like San Francisco, Teheran is a modern day city with different groups arguing for cultural identity.
It is not Yemen…………It is Persia, who much like the Greeks and Romans, contributed to the world…..They are caucasions!…….Ever seen one?………Before we bomb them?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX-BKP4Cxx8
RonL on 07 Feb 2010 at 7:56 am #
Because $100-200/Barrel oil would do wonders for Obama’s popularity.
Doug Daniels on 07 Feb 2010 at 11:18 pm #
Obama is a man of destiny…Bible Prophecy would seem to indicate that Obama represents God’s Righteous Judgment upon a sinful and backslidden nation…I believe that Obama is destined to cause the utter destruction of America as a viable country.
Weaver on 08 Feb 2010 at 8:30 pm #
RonL,
Bush was sure popular after declaring war on Iraq.
Americans still love Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR. Gotta love democracy eh? Actually, it terrifies me.
John on 09 Feb 2010 at 7:40 am #
Pretrib Rapture Trivia
Who’s the “Protector of the Principality of Pretribulatia”?
Edward Irving? John Darby? C. I. Scofield? Tim LaHaye? Someone else?
Media figure Joe Ortiz knows the answer. It’s in his “End Times Passover” blog. The one dated Dec. 29, 2009.
If you’re Calvinist, you’re predestined to see his blog. If you’re Arminian, you can choose to see it.
If you find out you already knew the answer before seeing Joe’s blog, you have a chance to win the grand prize which includes:
Sixty pounds of plaster for each family member.
An umbrella stand made from a stuffed python.
And 3000 yards of used dental floss.
Whew. What you miss if you’re not computer savvy!