Opportunistic idealism
by digby
Some liberals seem to be of the opinion that Rand Paul’s opposition to the drone program, and that fact that a few Republicans support him in that, represents a sea change in Republican policy on National Security. Uhm, no. Paul marches to his own drummer but the rest of them are opportunistically attacking the president. And as I wrote before, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe it will achieve something good on this bipartisan foreign policy of endless war, now via robots. But please, they are not sincere about in their “fears” about the war on terrorism and drone doctrine.
Here’s how I know this. You’ll recall that they were very supportive of bombing the living hell out of anything that moved in the middle east after 9/11 right? We must follow our commander in chief wherever he takes us. Why do you hate the troops? Why do you hate America?
Well here they all were just a few years earlier, making Dennis Kucinich look like a warmonger by comparison:
” President Clinton is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He has yet to tell the Congress how much this operation will cost. And he has not informed our nation’s armed forces about how long they will be
away from home. These strikes do not make for a sound foreign policy.”-Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
“No goal, no objective, not until we have those things and a compelling case is made, then I say, back out of it, because innocent people are going to die for nothing. That’s why I’m against it.”
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/5/99
“American foreign policy is now one huge big mystery. Simply put, the administration is trying to lead the world with a feel-good foreign policy.”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
“If we are going to commit American troops, we must be certain they have a clear mission, an achievable goal and an exit strategy.”
-Karen Hughes, speaking on behalf of presidential candidate George W. Bush
Why did they demoralize our brave men and women in uniform?
“I had doubts about the bombing campaign from the beginning…I didn’t think we had done enough in the diplomatic area.”
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
“You think Vietnam was bad? Vietnam is nothing next to Kosovo.”
-Tony Snow, Fox News 3/24/99
“Well, I just think it’s a bad idea. What’s going to happen is they’re going to be over there for 10, 15, maybe 20 years”
-Joe Scarborough (R-FL)
“I’m on the Senate Intelligence Committee, so you can trust me and believe me when I say we’re running out of cruise missles. I can’t tell you exactly how many we have left, for security reasons, but we’re almost out of cruise missles.”
-Senator Inhofe (R-OK )
“I cannot support a failed foreign policy. History teaches us that it is often easier to make war than peace. This administration is just learning that lesson right now. The President began this mission with very vague objectives and lots of unanswered questions. A month later, these questions are still unanswered. There are no clarifiedrules of engagement. There is no timetable. There is no legitimate definition of victory. There is no contingency plan for mission creep. There is no clear funding program. There is no agenda to bolster our overextended military. There is no explanation defining what vital national interests are at stake. There was no strategic plan for war when the President started this thing, and there still is no plan today”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
“I don’t know that Milosevic will ever raise a white flag”
-Senator Don Nickles (R-OK)
“Explain to the mothers and fathers of American servicemen that may come home in body bags why their son or daughter have to give up their life?”
-Sean Hannity, Fox News, 4/6/99
Why didn’t they support our president in a time of war?
“Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is.”
-Governor George W. Bush (R-TX)
“This is President Clinton’s war, and when he falls flat on his face, that’s his problem.”
-Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
“The two powers that have ICBMs that can reach the United States are Russia and China. Here we go in. We’re taking on not just Milosevic. We can’t just say, ‘that little guy, we can whip him.’ We have these two other powers that have missiles that can reach us, and we have zero defense thanks to this president.”
-Senator James Inhofe (R-OK)
“You can support the troops but not the president”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
“My job as majority leader is be supportive of our troops, try to have input as decisions are made and to look at those decisions after they’re made … not to march in lock step with everything the president decides to do.”
-Senator Trent Lott (R-MS)
“For us to call this a victory and to commend the President of the United States as the Commander in Chief showing great leadership in Operation Allied Force is a farce”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
Bombing a sovereign nation for ill-defined reasons with vague objectives undermines the American stature in the world. The international respect and trust for America has diminished every time we casually let the bombs fly.”
-Representative Tom Delay (R-TX)
That Tom Delay was a real peacenik.
Now I happen to think it’s useful to use these opportunistic cracks in the bipartisan National Security consensus to engage the public and possibly even change directions. But I never fool myself that the right wing chauvinist xenophobes of the Republican Party are doing anything but playing politics.
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