According to our friends (NOT!) at the liberal Huffington Post, yours truly is the, "latest GOP official to criticize the Aghan War."
Only at the Huff and Puff can they make a whole blog post over a very public "tweet" from my Twitter account the other day.
What did I tweet?
"For what it is worth, I’m an officer with the CA Republican Party and I can’t figure out what we are achieving in Afghanistan, at least not for the economic cost to US Taxpayers. Since I am not particularly isolationist, it means my government is failing to communicate well."
I’m open to being educated on the issue. And I admit that I spend most of my time following California politics, not international affairs.
I have been l listening to a lot of remarks from my good friend U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on the subject, and he seems to make a lot of sense.
I’m not opposed to taking the battle to terrorists and those who harbor them — to be sure. But as I said in my tweet, someone needs to take the time to explain how the current policies are achieving those goals in the most cost-effective manner possible.
From reading the HuffPo piece, you would think I have called for a withdrawal of our troops. Which I have not.
Those guys continue to be both liberal and lame.
July 4th, 2010 at 12:00 am
You better “tweet” about states’ rights the only path left to freedom…..the enlightened one has cut off most other freedoms through “hope and change.”
Revolts concerning federal mandates, regulations, overeaches by petty federal gov. workers are in order otherwise we face parlaysis like poor Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbour watching the enviornmental demise of their states….
As far as tweets: useless naivity while California and the gulf states sink into economic quicksand!!!
God save America!!!
July 5th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I recall a YAF National Board meeting years ago during the Cold War at the end of the 1970s, when new Congressman Ron Paul’s representatives on the Board passionately made the argument to us, advanced by Paul, that there was absolutely no reason for the United States to have military forces stationed in West Germany, and we should pass a resolution demanding they all be pulled back. Their point was the United States should leave the defense of Western Europe to the feeble forces of Britain and France because the United States should not be involved in a potential conflict that did not directly affect American soil. Their view was the United States “wasn’t getting anything” out of the defense of Western Europe.
What a stupid argument to make at a YAF Board meeting, especially to a kid like me whose mother was born in pre-Communist Russia and whose family was victimized by Soviet communists. History has shown that the same deployment of U.S. forces in Western Europe that Ron Paul disliked had everything to do with not only our ultimate victory in the Cold War, but also the total defeat of Communism across the European Continent. Congressman Paul was very wrong on that one, at least if one looks at it from an anti-Communist viewpoint.
The threat of terrorism in our lives is the justification for the war in Afghanistan. One is reminded of it everytime we go through a security check at an airport, or at Angel’s Stadium, or even to get into our own state capitol building to talk to our representatives. These reminders, and the need to contain and defeat terrorists, should similarly be of concern to all freedom loving Americans. And not just Americans. Over 300 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan. Like Western Europe and the Soviet Communist challenge, this is not just our fight, it is global freedom’s fight.
If George Bush was still President, I’m sure we would hear better communications justifying the war. I don’t know if the war would be handled differently under Bush, having to deal with a liberal Democrat Congress. Maybe this Administration could be doing a better job of not only communicating on the war but managing it. However, I do know that the Cold War policies of Democrats Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, and even Carter; and Republicans Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, and finally George H.W. Bush, all of which supported military deployment in Western Europe to offset the Soviet Menace, prevailed, despite bone-headed notions such as Paul’s. The Cold War took us through 8 presidents of both parties with a generally consistent policy. Perhaps Afghanistan will as well.
Jon, your comments were hardly what the Huffington Post made of them. Further, I’d say, is it fair for us to criticize the war management? Yes, of course. Is it fair to say it seems Obama could be doing a better job defending it. Yes, of course. Asking questions is a good thing. But retreat is not, and that is what the Huffington Post wants, and in their fantasies, like Ron Paul, they are very wrong.