Posted on 02/14/2016 6:25:46 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
It was weird that an angry Code Pink-style protester interrupted last night's Republican presidential debate with a barrage of familiar Democratic talking points about George W. Bush - that he lied the country into a disastrous war in Iraq, failed to prevent the September 11 attacks, and even whiffed on an opportunity to kill Osama bin Laden. It was especially weird that the protestor was one Donald J. Trump, who happens to be the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
Trump didn't just call the Iraq war a mistake. He called it "a big fat mistake." And he didn't call it an inadvertent mistake because of faulty intelligence. "They lied!" he thundered. "They said there were weapons of mass destruction .. and they knew there were none. Trump even groused that the war cost $5 trillion that could have helped rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure, a common Democratic attack line that sounded like a canine talking point at a feline convention, especially in military-heavy South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Even National Security Director James Clapper said the WMDs were probably moved, etc. etc.
That’s how I see it. Even though I do respect George W. Bush for many things, he made some big mistakes in handling the Iraq War (NOT lies, mistakes), and he did not defend himself against false allegations which made it worse. The biggest mistake made by W and Clinton and many many others was being unprepared for the rise of Al Queda and failing to proactively guard against what ultimately became the 9/11 attack. The warning signs were there, they just were not acted-upon and for that reason it’s fair to say that the 9/11 attacks which did happen on W’s watch, could have perhaps been prevented.
15 years of the War on Terror. What do we have to show. The Middle east is an even bigger basket case than it was in the 20th Century.
This sort of endless war without objective looks a lot like the war in Orwell’s “1984”.
“The war, therefore if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture. It is like the battles between certain ruminant animals whose horns are incapable of hurting one another. But though it is unreal it is not meaningless. It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and it helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that the hierarchical society needs. War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact.”
(1984)
If S. Carolina has a place in its heart for GWB, and Trump knows this, then Trump took a risk speaking his mind. For that I give him great credit for not playing politics.
Since Jeb! has admitted to the Iraq mistake, there is obvious duplicity (read: politics)in the Bush political machine.
I have no problem re-litigating this history. It needs to be fully aired. When the chips eventually fall, I believe that it will become apparent that the American people have determined that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake, regardless of WMDs and Obama’s subsequent troop withdrawal.
They are not scientific polls, end of. They are online popularity polls.
Trump will win SC but he could take a hit on his 35% support polls are showing him with.
For George W. and the GOPe, this is the price of the kinder, gentler, Clinton Loving strategy that came from Turd Blossom Rove.
I doubt in the cold light of history that they will live it down.
Yep. The lives of Americans and the money spent was the worst. The fact that we didn’t go into Iraq and leave 6 months later with a destroyed Iraq is a shame. The way it went makes me embarrassed that I supported Iraq. The marketing of the Iraq war was crazy and we all ate it up. But what is done is done. Jeb sucks......he is an embarrassment.
Iran’s rise to power is in direct result of Bush taking out Saddam. We had no business going into Iraq. We should have focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan where AQ and OBL were hiding and grooming terrorists.
GWB took us to Iraq simply because GB1 failed the first time and he wanted to preserve daddy’s legacy.
Trump or Cruz could win South Carolina, South Carolina is not New Hampshire. It is 66% evangelical . Cruz didn't really hit New Hampshire hard. Cruz has an incredible ground game. This is even more of a ground game than he had in Iowa. Trump could win South Carolina since it is an open primary and he will benefit from the crossover voters.
Trump dominated New Hampshire.
New Hampshire is a state that is only 22% evangelical. They are also the state where Sanders dominated. It is an extremely liberal state. Cruz didn't expect to win that state, also even though it wasn't expected he placed 3rd which was an extremely good showing for a candidate like him in a liberal state.
Trump would have probably won Iowa too if Cruz had not been playing dirty tricks.
Trump lost Iowa and is a sore loser. Where are the thousands of interviews from people who said they would have voted for Trump?
Trump has thousands at all of his rallies. How many people show up to the other candidates rallies.
Trump thinks he can win this running like a celebrity. People are going to see the Trump show. Cruz is doing mostly smaller venues on purpose, it takes more time, but is more personal.
We should NEVER HAVE BEEN THERE.
Obama just took an absurd situation and made it catastrophic.
We knocked over a tinpot dictator, and now we have damn near WW3 breaking out.
LOL. W. never defended himself. Now look at the MSM falling over themselves to defend him to attack Trump.
THANK YOU!!!
A voice of reason, with a memory.
When obama was elected the victory was in place. We needed to follow through and push political reform along with judicial reforms. Instead, obama pulled out as quickly as he could and everything fell apart.
Don't any of the Trump supporters see that when he gets cornered on an issue his default talking points are always liberal?
IOWA
You cannot use the term Bushbot when you are clearly a Trump bot.
I will vote for Trump but I have no illusions about what to expect, unlike you.
I have to admit, it felt really good when W got on TV and launched the attack on Iraq, like maybe finally the USA we grew up in was back. But it felt a lot worse when we saw things falling apart, that there was no plan to win the peace, and that it was looking pretty likely that aside from kicking Saddam out of his fancy houses, not much would be gained.
To abuse the sports analogy, when a team comes out and plays a terrific first half but then fails to continue in the second half and ends up losing the game, nobody remembers it as anything other than a defeat.
Powell was never more than a democrat-operative, who threw the Republican Party under the bus the minute he got the chance and supported Obama twice. If not republicans and affirmative action Powell MIGHT have retired as a colonel. But that’s a stretch. He lied about WMDs because warmongering Cheney and the rest of the war profiteers that pulled his strings told him to lie. Saudi Arabia financed the entire 9/11 operation and that was the country to attack, not Iraq, which didn’t have squat to do with 9/11. It’s about time republicans quit giving that dimwitted GW Bush a pass for bringing starting a totally unnecessary war in the Middle East. Every American that died in Iraq, Bush sent them to an early grave. One day the “war president” will have to answer to the Lord. I feel like throwing up every time I look at the smirking little sawed off airhead.
Cruz is doing mostly smaller venues on purpose, it takes more time, but is more personal...
It’s also much easier to lie about your positions and those of your opponents if the venue is smaller and not on national tv.
Well, it’s not well received around here, but he is still a man of the left. Down to the marrow in his bones, he’s a New York liberal. He knew he couldn’t break through in the Democrat party and step right in as a presidential candidate, so he decided to act like a conservative for his bid at the presidency. His only core beliefs are that anyone disagreeing with him is a liar and jealous of him. This allows him to be mercurial and ephemeral and fits his dilettante approach to politics. Every once in a while, the inner liberal schweinhund gets out and we see the real Trump, a mean-spirited, know-nothing liberal parroting conservative ideas he neither understands nor feels any true loyalty towards.
I supported removing Saddam, but not the subsequent nation building.
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