David McReynolds
Here is David's take on the 2nd GOP presidential candidate debate conducted September 16th at the Reagan Library.
I will add that Carly Fiorina is revealing herself as a remarkably gifted liar.
Her adamant description of a purported abortion video -- and her laudatory representation of "achievements" at HP -- are both delusional.
In the following interview with MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, Yale's Jeffrey Sonnenfeld reviews Fiorina's catastrophic tenure at HP:
http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/jeffrey-sonnenfeld-talks-trump-and-fiorina-527762499937
The Republican Presidential Debate According To David McReynolds
By David McReynolds
One of the most discouraging things about last night's debate was how swiftly the real history in the Middle East has been forgotten.
On Syria, there is now lots of talk of Obama failing to launch a military attack after drawing a red line about chemical weapons. The facts, for those suffering from premature Alzheimer's (which means most of the candidates) is that, first, the US was never going to launch a major strike - it was to have been a "pin prick" strike (Kerry's word), but Obama backed away when the British parliament stunned Washington by an overwhelming vote against support of any US action. Then Obama decided to toss the issue to Congress, which did NOT vote to authorize a strike. But in the meantime (as everyone seems to have forgotten) Putin intervened, and arranged for the total withdrawal of all chemical weapons from Syria. Let's forget about Putin's motives - the hard fact is that Russia got rid of the chemical weapons without a military strike.
More important, almost everyone now says that our troubles in Iraq came from the "premature withdrawal" by Obama of all US forces. Not true. It was George Bush who had announced that withdrawal and the date. Obama had suggested to the Iraq government that some troops would remain if they would not be subject to Iraq law. It was Iraq which said, firmly, that the US had to go, with no conditions. So the reality is that the US could only have left a "residual force" if it was going to impose this on Iraq, against its will.
On the debate itself, I was appalled at the repeated nods to Netanyahu.
Chris Matthews called attention to the role of Sheldon Adelson - the Jewish billionaire whose 25 billion dollar wealth dwarfs that of Trump.
It is worth checking out Adelson on the internet, where lots of material can be found. Four years ago Adelson funded Newt Gingrich with 100 million dollars so he could stay in the GOP primary. One wonders how much money Adelson channeled to Marco Rubio or to Carly Fiorino (who pledged that her first phone call after her election would be to her good friend "Benjamin Netanyahu"). In Israel itself, Adelson has funded a free daily paper whose main reason for existence is its unwavering support for Netanyahu.
Trump was as offensive as ever, with his pointless attack on Rand Paul (who actually was one of the few candidates who was not war mongering), but ironically, it was Trump who refused to pledge to tear up the Iran treaty, who said he would talk to Putin, and who, of course, really did oppose the Iraq War (as did Rand Paul).
Otherwise it was a gathering of hawks, from that snake oil salesman, Mike Huckabee, to Marco Rubio who seems desperate to get US troops back on the ground. Ted Cruz has been offensive - even disgusting - from the moment he entered politics and seems to be hoping that, if Trump tanks, he can pick up his votes. Fortunately, Scott Walker, who had been the chosen candidate of the Koch brothers, is sinking swiftly into the sunset.
It was good to see Ben Carson defend the use of vaccines but otherwise Carson (whose actual political views veer off on the far right of the scale) seemed so placid one wondered if he shouldn't have a double espresso before the next debate.
Carly Fiorino certainly scored points against Trump, but she strikes me as a potential American Maggie Thatcher.
Overall the saddest thing was the general failure of almost everyone on stage to realize that the US simply is not the single most powerful player in the world, that the days of US empire are over, that the time when the US could send a half million men half way around the world in an effort to crush the Vietnamese is long over.
I have alway tended to be politically incorrect, and while it is easy to loathe Ted Cruz, I actually enjoyed the Senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham, whose politics are nuts but who brought a sense of humor to the "kids table" (the earlier debate of the four who didn't make the main stage).
For better or worse, Chris Christie kept himself in the race, as did Jeb Bush. But unless Huckabee has a credit line to Adelson, he will soon be out, as will Scott Walker and Bobby Jindal.
My brother pointed out that the Democrats have made a mistake to hold off on their debates, ceding the political ground to the GOP for two very widely watched debates.
So for an old political hand such as myself, the debates were fascinating - but depressing as hell, showing how low the GOP politics have sunk.
No comments:
Post a Comment