Hillary Clinton: ‘We’re not talking about an exit strategy or a drop dead deadline’
If your only problem with President Obama’s military escalation of the Afghanistan war was that you thought it included a set date for troop withdrawal, think again. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates taped an interview with David Gregory of NBC’s Meet The Press that seemed to contradict what President Obama said in his speech at West Point. From the interview:
HILLARY CLINTON: We’re not talking about an exit strategy or a drop dead deadline. What we’re talking about is an assessment that in January 2011, we can begin a transition. A transition to hand off — responsibility to the Afghan forces.
ROBERT GATES: We’re not talking about an abrupt withdrawal. We’re talking about something that will take place over a period of time…. Our military thinks we have a real opportunity to do that. And it’s not just in the next 18 months. Because we will have a significant — we will have 100,000 forces — troops there. And they are not leaving– in July of 2011. Some handful or some small number or whatever the conditions permit, we’ll begin to withdraw at that time.
A handful? What a load of crap. And to think that I and every other American was told that a vote of John McCain was in fact a vote for George W. Bush. The idea being is that John McCain would simply continue with the Bush ideas and strategies. Well, the ironic thing is that Defense Secretary Robert Gates used to be George W. Bush’s defense secretary and he is on national TV talking about an open-ended, no deadline set war in Afghanistan.
So how is this any different?
When I voted for Barack Obama, I was looking for some Change. I thought it was time that we stopped spending so much of our money (and future money) on a massive military so that we could have the distinct privilege of waging unwindable wars in far off lands. I thought it was time to instead spend our money and resources closer to home. I thought it was time to start spending our money on things like universal health care and reusable energy.
If Barack Obama wanted to be the war president, he should have said so during the campaign.
I forgot why I stopped watching ‘Meet The Press’
When I heard that MSNBC and Air America radio host Rachel Maddow was going to make an appearance on NBC’s Meet The Press, I decided to make a point to watch it.
I stopped watching Meet The Press shortly after Tim Russert died. It wasn’t because the host died. I just got tired of of how they allowed guests to go on the program and spew lies and half-truths without calling them on it.
I see nothing has changed.
Dick Armey repeated the old lie that MoveOn.org once ran ads that showed President George W. Bush as Adolf Hitler. It of course is not true, and Armey probably knew that. David Gregory, the show’s host, didn’t call Armey on the claim so Maddow had to.
Looks like the maverick needs a nap
I saw this happen yesterday on Meet The Press and it made me cringe. The more this campaign drags on, the more I’m convinced John McCain has Alzheimer’s.
Tim Russert, 1950 – 2008
NBC’s Meet The Press host and Washington bureau chief Tim Russert is dead. He died today in his Washington office. They are innitally saying that it was a heart attack. He was 58.
I’ve spend many a Sunday morning watching Meet The Press. I’ve also done my fair share of yelling at the TV at some of the stuff Russert asked. Sometimes it was about the stuff he didn’t ask.
Not only would I watch Meet The Press almost every Sunday morning, I also subscribe to the audio podcast of Meet The Press. I would sometimes listen to an episode if it was an important interview. I think I listened to the Ron Paul interview twice.
I sometimes found his habit of always pointing out his blue collar roots to be annoying. The “Go Bills” at the end of Meet The Press during football season could get really old.
To say that he was the best at what he did is giving too much credit to the others in his profession. When it came to interviewing politicians or government officials, he stood alone. He will be missed.
Ron Paul thinks Abraham Lincoln started the Civil War
Republican presidential hopeful and all around crackpot Ron Paul was on Meet The Press this past weekend and capitalized on the opportunity by showing America just how kooky he is. He blamed Abraham Lincoln, arguably our most beloved president of starting the Civil War. This from MSNBC:
Paul repeated his claim that Abraham Lincoln should not have started the Civil War to get rid of slavery. “Six-hundred-thousand Americans died in the senseless Civil War,” he said. “No, he should not have gone to war. He did this just to enhance and get rid of the original tenet of the Republic,” he told NBC’s Tim Russert.
“Slavery was phased out in every other country in the world,” Paul continued, responding to the question if America would still have slavery had there not been the Civil War. “The way I’m proposing that it should have been done is do it like the British Empire did — you buy the slaves and release them. How much would that cost compared to killing 600,000 Americans?… I mean, that doesn’t sound too radical to me. That sounds like a pretty reasonable approach.”
Except “buying the slaves” would give credence to the idea that humans can be bought and sold like farm animals. That was kind of the whole point in abolishing slavery.
People are not livestock.
Lincoln did not choose to go to war. The war came to him. The United States did not declare war against the Confederacy. The Confederacy declared war against the United States. The southern states illegally seceded from the United States one by one in reaction to Lincoln winning the election. They feared that Lincoln would abolish slavery. Lincoln only called from states to provide troops to assist retaking U.S. forts in southern states after the Battle of Fort Sumter.
A part of me feels sorry for Ron Paul supporters. I understand why they gravitate towards him and his candidacy. Ron Paul is the only anti-Iraq war candidate on the Republican side. Unlike most candidates in either party, Paul comes out and clearly says what he believes. It’s refreshing. The problem is that some of the stuff he comes out and says that he believes in is just plain wrong. Not philosophically wrong, but factually wrong. Like that Lincoln stated the Civil War or that a fertilized egg is a human being. To be a Ron Paul supporter, you have to chose to ignore an awful lot.
An open letter to Rachel Maddow about her open letter to Senator Orrin Hatch
Dear Rachel Maddow -
I am writing you this open letter in regards to your open letter to Senator Hatch. Evidently you watched this past week’s episode of Meet The Press where Republican Senator Orrin Hatch lied about one of the fired US Attorneys, Carol Lam. On the show he said:
“She was a former law professor, no prosecutorial experience, and the former campaign manager in Southern California for Clinton”
Of course none of what Orrin Hatch said on Meet The Press was even remotely true. Carol Lam has never been a law professor. Carol Lam has never served as a campaign manager for Bill Clinton. Carol Lam was in fact a prosecutor before becoming a US Attorney.
You seem to be surprised that Orrin Hatch would go on Meet The Press and either make stuff up our just out right lie.
Have you ever watched Meet The Press before?
Having Republicans or so called conservatives on each week to lie about something is very much a staple of the show. It’s what Meet The Press is all about. After all the very name of the program is a lie. When was the last time an elected official or some other government bureaucrat was on the program and actually met with members of the press? It’s been a very long time. Instead, they meet one-on-one with Tim Russert. He asks them one lame question after another, never bothering to ask a follow up question about the whopper of a lie they just told. It’s kind of what he is famous for. That, and writing retarded books about what a great guy his dad “Big Russ” is. Please.
Having you call a Republican out for lying about something on Meet the Press is a lot like someone watching their very first professional wrestling match and then announcing to the world that wrestling is fake.
We all already know it is.
All best wishes,
Rick Rottman
Blogger, “Bent Corner”
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