Posted on 01/21/2013 4:59:59 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The Washington Post reports today that al Qaeda’s successful attack on the Algerian natural gas plant has greatly boosted al Qaeda’s prestige in Africa. Along the way, the Post notes rather casually:
The assailants were well-trained and armed with what appear to have been weapons from the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s arsenal.
The overthrow of Moammar Gaddafi has turned out to be a terrible blunder. It has empowered radical Muslims, led directly to the Benghazi debacle, and scattered Gaddafi’s armory among terrorist elements, including al Qaeda. There has been, of course, no accountability for the Libya decision, either with respect to the Obama administration or others outside the administration who supported Obama’s policy.
All of which reminded me of Andy McCarthy’s column in National Review. McCarthy criticizes John McCain for his support of Obama’s failed Libya policy, and contrasts McCain with another Republican who gets less respect as a foreign policy expert:
[T]he senator and his allies in the Obama-Clinton State Department had a brilliant notion: The reason the “rebels” of eastern Libya hated America so much had nothing to do with their totalitarian, incorrigibly anti-Western ideology. No, no: The problem was that we sided with Qaddafi, giving the dictator — at the insistence of, well, McCain and the State Department — foreign aid, military assistance, and international legitimacy. If we just threw Qaddafi under the bus, the rebels would surely become our grand democratic allies.
This, of course, was a much more sophisticated theory than you’d get from lunatics like Michele Bachmann. Sit down for this, because I know it’s hard to believe anyone could spout such nutter stuff, but Bachmann actually opposed U.S. intervention in Libya. She claimed — stop cackling! — that many of McCain’s heroes might actually be jihadists ideologically hostile to the U.S. and linked to groups such as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the terror enterprise’s North African franchise. She even thought — yeah, I know, crazy — that if Qaddafi were deposed, the heroes would get their hands on his arsenal, ship a lot of it to AQIM havens in places such as Mali and Algeria, and maybe even turn rebel strongholds such as Benghazi into death traps for Americans.
Good thing we listened to McCain, no?
McCarthy moves on to Egypt:
Now, however, McCain says he will push for American taxpayers to fork up another $480 million for Morsi. Or, to be accurate, borrow another $480 million. You see, the United States is already so deep in the red that a $16.3 trillion debt ceiling is not high enough. In fact, we’re such a basket case that our debt-service and “entitlement” payments alone put us in a quarter-trillion-dollar deficit hole even before we borrow and print another trillion-plus for such ancillary expenses as the Defense Department, the Obama family’s vacations, and the $80-odd million that funds “democratization” programs at McCain’s International Republican Institute. But hey, no problem — what’s another $480 million on top of the $2 billion–plus the Obama administration has already extended to Morsi’s regime . . . to say nothing of the sizable U.S. taxpayer chunk of the $4.8 billion IMF loan the Brotherhood government is also about to get its mitts on?
Naturally, “extremist” conservatives like Michele Bachmann are wet blankets when it comes to this gravy train, too. Get this: She thinks that when you get to the point where you have to borrow in order to pay the interest on the loans you already can’t pay off, somebody needs to cut off your credit line — not inflate it by another two or three trill. Even more daft: She thinks that if you subsidize an organization, like the Brotherhood, that promotes sharia and Hamas, you’re apt to get more sharia and more terrorism.
Andy notes something of which I was unaware–an effort to kick Michele Bachmann off the Intelligence Committee because she had the temerity to suggest that it was a bad idea for the Secretary of State to employ a staffer with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
McCain, between praising his Islamist “heroes” and championing ever more funding for Islamist Egypt, made certain to lambaste Bachmann on the floor of the Senate over her concerns about Brotherhood infiltration of our government – leading other influential Republicans to follow suit. And now, aping that display, People for the American Way — “PAW,” the outfit created by a hard-left Hollywood icon to smear Robert Bork and derail his Supreme Court nomination — is campaigning to have Bachmann booted from the House Intelligence Committee.
There is a war on over the course of American foreign policy and the security of the United States. The Left has aligned with the Brotherhood — some naïvely relying on the fiction that the Brothers are not the enemy vanguard, others seeing the Brothers as comrades in the quest for a utopian, post-American future. In opposition, the GOP can either continue looking to McCain for leadership or rally behind Bachmann the way the Left always circles the wagons around its stalwarts.
McCarthy isn’t sanguine about which way the GOP will jump.
All of this reminded me of the dark days of 2008, when the original TARP bill was cobbled together virtually overnight in response to panicked assertions by President Bush’s advisers that a financial collapse was in the offing. I didn’t blame Bush at the time for going along with the advice he was getting, but with hindsight, TARP was a huge mistake. Once the bailouts started, there was no turning back, and the result, a mere four years later, is that the relationship between the the federal government and the private sector has dramatically changed, perhaps forever. Whatever the result of letting one or two major banks fail might have been, it would have been far better than the state capitalism that we have been bequeathed by the Obama administration.
So once again, it is worth asking, who had the foresight back in 2008 to see where all of this was going and to stand vigorously against it? Well, Michele Bachmann, for one. The Political Guide recalls:
Congresswoman Bachmann has opposed the TARP program from its inception, and voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which created the TARP program. With the initial collapse of Bear-Stearns and the panic which ensued afterwards, Congresswoman Bachmann called for calm, and mocked the repeated assertions of “too big to fail.”As it became obvious that a government program would be created to address the financial crisis, Congresswoman Bachmann stated that Congress was being told that the consequences of inaction or even of deliberative action would be severe; but that the consequences of hasty action were just as dire. She noted that Secretary Paulson is asking taxpayers to pony-up $700 billion to buy Wall Street’s debt without a vote by the American people. She stated that shareholders in companies that receive government funds should not make a profit off those funds, and referred to the taxpayers as the “forgotten man.”
As the TARP program came into focus, Congresswoman Bachmann noted that the US people had been told numerous times that financial commitments to Bear-Stearns, AIG, and Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac would solve the problems and each time more bailouts were requested. She stated that the bailouts should stop and that Fannie and Freddie should be placed into receivership.
Just before the initial vote on the EESA, Congresswoman Bachmann noted that if a lack of credit was the problem in the economy, suspending mark to market rules and other items would have a larger and better effect than the infusion of cash. When the vote initially failed in the House, Congresswoman Bachmann stated that the plan was rushed, unworkable, and short-sighted.
When President Bush and President-Elect Obama asked for the second half TARP, Congresswoman Bachmann again stated that the measure was rushed and done without proper consideration. She stated that Congress was committing the next generation to servitude in passing the legislation.
When President Obama had the stock purchased with TARP changed from preferred to common stock, Congresswoman Bachmann noted the illegality of the move and cited it as further evidence that the program was out of control.
Unfortunately, not enough people–not even enough conservatives–listened to those warnings at the time.
Michele is a personal friend, which has not stopped me from occasionally expressing frustration with the fact that she has been known to go off half-cocked, and instinctively tries to fight every battle rather than picking her spots. Michele’s combativeness has come at a price; in November she eked out her narrowest win yet. The Minneapolis Star Tribune gleefully headlined:
“Humbling year ends in silence for Bachmann.”
Now the Minnesota Republican is hardly heard from anymore, barely uttering a word in public during the simmering build-up to the “fiscal cliff” deal in Congress, which she opposed.
Gone are the boisterous rallies opposing Obamacare, the rousing church testimonials and the controversial TV utterances about Islamist moles in government that raised money even as they rained down critical headlines.
Since her wafer-thin re-election in November in the state’s most solidly Republican district, Bachmann has sharply dialed down her national profile, staying off television and remaining in the background of a raging congressional debate over taxes, her signature issue as a former IRS attorney and deficit hawk.
There is nothing wrong with keeping a lower profile for a while, but let’s hope that Michele has not fallen silent for long. With respect to the major issues of the last few years, she has been not just a bellwether, but a prophet.
Bachmann hired Ed Rollings, who many conservatives predicted would be a disaster, who upon being hired went straight after Sarah for no reason, attacking her. Michele Bachmann then sat for days in silence before finally coming out stating that Rollings was wrong and that Sarah was her friend. That raised alot of eyebrows. Also it was being reported that Bachmann staff were attacking Sarah behind the scenes....one could understand if Sarah was in the race for the White House, there will be competition but Sarah wasnt. After Rollings quit, he then attacked Bachmann, saying that she was looking only at possibly being a running mate and that she was loose with her words
The story was on the street the night before the leadership vote in the House that 16 GOP members would stand up to oppose Boehner who has just engineered the tax hike deal with Obama.
Bachmann was one of them but she backed out on the day of the vote and only 15 opposed Boehner. 16 votes would have stopped an automatic Boehner victory.
I get the impression Bachmann was faking opposition to Boehner and I find the whole episode very disappointing.
She must have been in with Boehner and a spy on the opposition who planned to change sides.
Please let her stay in Congress as that is where she belongs.
FREEPERS hated her. I wanted her and Santorum so badly but a lot of FREEPERS DID NOT! Sad! The Bachmann haters showed us now didn’t they?
Maybe there wasn’t. But I have to say that we had major infighting. Majopr major infighting and some of the people being promoted were not good enough like Romney and Huntsman and Ron paul and newt Gingirch. People could not come to an agreement on this site. I knew early on Bachmann was toast in the primary because people on the right in the tea party or conservative attacked her. We ate our own. I knew then Romney would not work out early on because he was a real mess and a idiot. More Romney’s means the GOP will die out. Santorum beat his ass fair and square in conservative states and even some surprising states like Colorado and Michigan. But the GOP attacked him and the claws came out to destroy him. Romney was awful. I dislike Romney. Period.
That childish crap is nothing but Jerry Springer politics at its worst. I don’t care about the he said she said crap, I care about policy being discussed by those who are running. I like Bachmann and Palin both equally and I’m just not going to be manipulated by the childish crap.
Anyone not in the race simply wasn’t an issue for me. Personally I don’t think Sarah Palin ever intends to run but if she does she’ll be a serious contender right from the start.
Love her and Allen West, too. so sad that so many Tea Party repubs were voted out. I fear all is lost now
She also helped return the Weeper of the House to his chair. Guess nobody's perfect. Redistricting also wasn't kind to her.
No, sorry. Obama and Hillary knew exactly what they were doing--aiding and abetting the Muslim terrorists by an illegal war--and they succeeded in doing it.
It was no blunder, it was deliberate.
They have empowered the terrorists all over North Africa, and done more damage than Jimmy Carter did in Iran.
I really wish we could have had someone better than Romney to run against Obama. I thought Romney had a chance anyways, but I was not excited. Romney had plenty of mistakes in his past that really were upsetting to any conservative voter. And he made mistakes in the election campaign too.
1) He ran as a moderate liberal in Massachusetts to win as Governor.
2) He passed Romneycare and he attacked conservatives as governor even saying he was independent when Reagan was president and that he was a progressive. He still defends his health care plan.
3) people had issues with his religious background. Not going to win him the religious vote that way.
4) He attacked any conservative who told the truth. He wanted to win, of course. Least I hope he did. But, he sure dragged good people thru the mud.
5) Lied that he was conservative, but he wasn’t. Then tried to pretend he was moderate in the general and in the third debate with Obama started agreeing with him on issues.
6)He and his GOP cohorts clamped down on conservative opposition to the establishment in the convention.
7) He only won a majority of Liberal, democrat states in the primary.
8) He made a pact in the primaries with Ron Paul to attack other conservatives and not attack him.
9) The guy was confusing people on his plans. because he started not trying to articulate clearly what he wanted.
10) He might have supported his health care plan being implemented across the country.
11) he sounded like he was for closing the border and securing the country at one point and working the clam down on illegals, but later the guy spoke to latino groups and sounded like he might back amnesty plans like Rubio’s.
12) he avoided attacking Obama on various issues and scandals like Fast and Furious and Benghazi.
13) Conservatives as usual had to do the dirty work to defend him.
14) His record as governor was shoddy and he even chose not to run for re-election. That came back to haunt.
15) He was a loose cannon because he might have ended up like Chris Christie because nobody knew what he really wanted. he might have been better than Obama, but Christie is better than Obama and look at him. The guy is nto that great.
I could go on. And that is why we lost. He could not close the deal with republican, conservative and all anti-Obama voters.
She voter for bohner thx Michelle.
Were right in hindsight?
I saw them as right from the very moment they left her mouth.
I was going to say almost those exact same words.
Well if we lose Bachmann then who do we support? She might have wanted to not lose her seat on a committee because this Boehner is reckless. He kicked people out of committees for opposing him and had Allen West’s district redistricted to be more liberal. Same thing with Bachmann. The establishment is a monster.
Michele Bachmann is the real deal. No doubt!
Perhaps "moron" was intended by you as an amusing phrase. However, let me assure you from personal knowledge that you have hit the bullseye!
McCain was happily slithering through a jolly alcoholic life on the coat tails of his extremely well connected naval family. These connections got him in ... and eventually out ... of Annapolis. Into ... and eventually out of flight school over the strenuous objections of the training staff, several of whom had their careers ruined by the McCain "mafia."
This is is a guy who used to get regularly lost ... over the Chesapeake. He never did get the "yank and bank idea," destroying planes and other equipment on a regular basis. He was a hard-drinking hellraiser, AWOL a whole lot of the time, and if his PR man didn't pay the Vietnamese for capturing him, he should have. The joke at the time was that the shoot-down and capture was paid for by the aviation maintenance staff.
God alone knows what the poor bastard went through at the hands of the Vietnamese and probably the Russians. However, this doesn't change the fact that this guy ain't the sharpest chisel in the tool box. He's the kind of guy who believes the last guy he talked to and is led around by the nose by some very strange people.
When the Republican Party finally dies, as it now should, he can be named as a leading direct cause of its demise, right along with the Bush Family, Bob Dole, and the Mormon Milquetoast.
I was there. I don’t need a recap....or a rewrite
Even though I supported Palin, many of her supporters here acted like freepers do when they clique up.
Like tattltale high school jackasses...Rollins or not.
I watched folks here sicc JR on anyone came in their sights and didn’t go all in for Palin...gleefully...and the only one who really deserved it was Pissant for the tuna breath joke
and Palin flared off anyhow meekly in early evening on Levin’s show after teasing for years....scared off by McDonald’s salacious garbage or lord knows what
what a joke the whole damned thing was...here and everywhere
and then it got worse...Romney got nominated
and all the threats and zots for nothing...
and it gets worse...most freepers still don’t get what’s happened to them and their country
even though folks like me...a white Southerner...have seen this crap coming for decades..we are now outnumbered except if we get truly motivated...which I had hoped Palin would do
who ever said conservatives were smart wasn’t...better informed maybe but still they drink the koolaid
and they will continue with Rubio and his latino butt kissing
wanna bet against me?
I think the nomination...with GOP voters, not hierarchy was her’s to lose
why she flared off will likely never be known but I found it odd she was continuing to flirt heavy till the McDonald hit job of a book
as a woman, who really wants the world to know every detail of your whole life’s sexual history
for men...it is just not as damaging..unless it involves little boys
unfair as that is
and she is hot so it’s not like she never had opportunity
like Hillary or Mikulski
who knows...I literally got emotional her first few national speeches...i thought here is someone finally who gets it...someone like us
no one like that now..Cruz, Rand??...Olmert?...
but many here go cult of personality really quick..after Sarah it was Cain and he was not to be criticized either even if wrong...and yes even dear Sarah I though was on the wrong side a few times
I like Bachmann and she is smart but lacks TV presence which Sarah had...again..unfair but this is the age
actually as a side note I probably agree with Bachmann even more than Palin come to think of it
I’m not for Rubio because I saw through him by investigating who supports him behind the scenes - Jeb Bush and the Establishment and posted about it - but because Rubio makes nice speeches and looks innocent some conservatives will by into this Trojan horse.
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