Posted on 02/28/2015 6:12:22 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
EDINBURG The political squabble between President Barack Obama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over whether to negotiate with Iran will dominate the foreign policy conversation this year, agreed former presidential advisers Karl Rove and James Carville, who spoke Friday morning in Edinburg.
The duo one Republican and the other Democrat had an hour-long conversation in front of a gathering of more than 100 Rio Grande Valley residents at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance.
Moderated by Evan Smith, editor of The Texas Tribune, the event was hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership and IBC Bank. Rove was the chief political strategist to former President George W. Bush and Carville was the chief political strategist to former President Bill Clinton.
Both weighed in on the ongoing dispute between Obama and Netanyahu in response to an audience question. Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to a joint session of a Republican-controlled Congress in a move that Obama supporters believe is aimed at politically jabbing the president.
Both Carville and Rove warned of the gravity of this debate and the ultimate implications for a volatile region if Obama is able to negotiate some sort of nuclear treaty with Iran.
The Israeli prime minister and Republicans warn that entering into a treaty with Iran will be foolish. Obama has continued to negotiate despite the criticism.
In exchanges that often drew laughter from the audience, Rove and Carville spent most of the hour that they spoke assessing the current Democratic and Republican front-runners for president in 2016.
Democrat Hillary Clinton must avoid the temptation of running a campaign for a third term of Obama, Carville said, while taking care not to offend strident Obama supporters.
Carville pointed out that the fact that Clinton stands virtually alone as a contender on the Democratic side points to a deeper problem that his party has in the future.
And Jeb Bush, the current front-runner in the Republican field, has had a lot of unforced errors as he transitions from state to national politics, Rove said.
Rove warned that voters should not underestimate Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has lately been creeping up in GOP polls as a contender for 2016.
And both Carville and Rove warned against underestimating Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who both agreed is divisive and would have a tough time winning a general election, but who both said is extremely smart as a politician and a candidate.
Poor Cruz, he does scare the poo out of all of them!
Israel is our good friend, and if we cannot hear our friends out, what good are we?
Two brothers from a different mother?
Is this the Edinburg Assclown convention? 2 turds that try to disrupt this nation.
If youd like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Campaign shaping for Jebillary. Scare the hispanics away from Cruz.
O great, now we have to listen to endless pious platitudinous namby-panby holier-than-thou declarations about who will offer the strongest "support for Israel," which is not, IMNVHO the major foreign policy issue at all.
You want to talk about Israel talk about the illegality of Obama financially supporting opposition to Netanyahu. Talk about getting tough on Mexico, talk about NATO, Putin, Afghanistan, queers running the DOS, BENGHAZI, IRAN NUKES.
How does one tell?
There you go, and spot on.
Obama knows how to turn anything into a political football, only this time, sadly, it’s Israel. Lord, I pray this speech turns into gold for Israel and big against Obama.
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