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No Outrage
Weekly Standard ^ | February 15, 2016 | Bill Kristol

Posted on 02/15/2016 7:30:15 PM PST by Timmy

Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president, claims in Saturday night's debate that the most recent Republican president, George W. Bush, knowingly and purposefully lied us into war in Iraq.

President Bush's brother, Jeb Bush, briefly defends his brother the president but quickly turns his defense into a complaint that he's tired of Donald Trump criticizing his mother and his family. Jeb is apparently too wounded to be outraged.

George W. Bush shows up to campaign for his brother two days later in South Carolina and chooses not to directly address the charge. George W. Bush is apparently too post-presidential to be outraged.

Dick Cheney is asked about Trump's comment on Fox, and explains the Bush administration had the same intelligence as others around the world. Asked if he could support Trump were Trump to win the nomination, Cheney reiterates that he's always said he would support the Republican nominee. Cheney is apparently too loyal a Republican to be outraged.

If George W. Bush and Dick Cheney - and Colin Powell and Condi Rice and all the others accused by Donald Trump of lying us into war - aren't going to be outraged, others aren't going to be outraged on their behalf. So John Kasich decides it would hurt his image as a positive unifier if he were to be outraged. So Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, who had moments of authentic outrage Saturday night, go back to sniping at each other rather than sustaining their outrage.

Once upon a time we had leaders who would have expressed their outrage at such a slander. They would have demanded evidence from Trump to back up his charge. Receiving none, they would have denounced and excoriated him. They would have explained to the American people how extraordinarily irresponsible his slander was, and would have done their best to discredit a man who could behave so irresponsibly. They would have pronounced him unfit to be president of the United States, and they would have mobilized their friends, supporters and admirers to ensure so appalling an eventuality didn't come to pass. They would have been scorned by some for doing so, and they would have worn that scorn as a badge of honor.

We apparently no longer live in such a time.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush; cruz; gop; kasich; onlydisgust; politics; rubio; trump
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To: Blackirish

Agreed 100%. I think he didn’t lie. I think he was wrong, and was acting on advice from people exactly like Kristol.


41 posted on 02/15/2016 8:05:22 PM PST by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble minded asses overthrown,,,")
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To: Timmy
Once upon a time we had leaders who would have expressed their outrage at such a slander. They would have demanded evidence from Trump to back up his charge. Receiving none, they would have denounced and excoriated him. They would have explained to the American people how extraordinarily irresponsible his slander was, and would have done their best to discredit a man who could behave so irresponsibly. They would have pronounced him unfit to be president of the United States, and they would have mobilized their friends, supporters and admirers to ensure so appalling an eventuality didn't come to pass. They would have been scorned by some for doing so, and they would have worn that scorn as a badge of honor.

Donald Trump has this little trick that no one else has:

He can take the direct beam from a fully functional Media DeathStar battle station, and ABSORB the energy, becoming even stonger than before.

Everyone else turns into a greasy burnt spot on the planet's surface.

Apparently, Bill "GOPe Boy" Kristol hasn't figured that out yet...

42 posted on 02/15/2016 8:05:36 PM PST by kiryandil ("Our Muslim-In-Chief, Barack Obama - the Quislaming in the White House")
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To: napscoordinator

Your man Trump slandered Carson in one of the most disgusting displays in modern ploitics.

It’s what Trump does best - personal attacks on principaled conservatives.


43 posted on 02/15/2016 8:06:18 PM PST by BigBobber
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To: DesertRhino

Yes Sir he was misguided by folks like Krystol. On that we agree. Bush was a decent man. But made a mess in Iraq. That’s the point Trump should make.


44 posted on 02/15/2016 8:09:33 PM PST by Blackirish
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To: Blackirish
So now it's Bush lied people died ...

1. Did I say that?

2. I am not a Trump supporter.

3. Look around FreeRepublic, the Republican primaries, and every national poll of note, dude. Jeb Bush is being thoroughly rejected as a Republican presidential candidate and getting his ass kicked from sea to shining sea. That name is so poisonous in American politics that I can't imagine he ever thought he had a chance in hell of winning.

Jeb Bush is about as popular as a child molester right now. I'm sorry if that bothers you, but it's the truth.

45 posted on 02/15/2016 8:09:53 PM PST by Alberta's Child (My mama said: "To get things done, you'd better not mess with Major Tom.")
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To: Timmy

Bill Kristol is a strict neocon!


46 posted on 02/15/2016 8:12:29 PM PST by longhorn too
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To: Blackirish

He could have lied, it is within the realm of possibility.
At the time I was suspicious but went with “he has more intel than me so I have to trust he knows what he’s doing”. Like many people I gave him the benefit of the doubt ... we have to all do that with our leaders on some level or we’d go insane.

Now, after so many years have gone by, I think we can legitimately question things.

However, I don’t like that slogan either. It’s too pat and meant to be purely derogatory instead of conveying serious concern and serious questions about what happened.


47 posted on 02/15/2016 8:13:19 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: BigBobber

Oh Lord.....nobody remembers that. Get out of Iowa for goodness sakes.


48 posted on 02/15/2016 8:14:50 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: Alberta's Child

Thank you.

And Kristol and crew are not helping Bush out one bit. If anything they are making it even harder for Bush, not that he had a chance anyway. The thing is, Kristol and crew are too clueless to grasp that.

That’s why they tried that debate set up. Because they really are that clueless. You don’t have to like Trump one bit to get why people would be outraged over something like that.


49 posted on 02/15/2016 8:17:09 PM PST by Lorianne
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To: ilgipper

And Clinton is a credible person because.......


50 posted on 02/15/2016 8:20:17 PM PST by WRhine
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To: Alberta's Child

Not too long ago when anyone made a negative post about W the poster would be flamed mercilessly. Now days there isn’t even a flicker.

Lots of people have realized that W was a fraud. I was pissed when he selected Powell as SOS after Powell refused to support W in the recount.


51 posted on 02/15/2016 8:20:54 PM PST by VerySadAmerican (Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. - Sam Adams)
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To: WENDLE

I won’t go as far as to say Bush KNEW we were about to get hit with airplanes into the towers. But I do believe they knew we were about to get hit and I agree that they used it as an excuse to finish what his daddy started.

We should have been in Afghanistan but not in Iraq.


52 posted on 02/15/2016 8:25:03 PM PST by VerySadAmerican (Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. - Sam Adams)
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To: Timmy

We are outraged that Bill Kristol and the Endless War lobby pushed us into a war for no reason, and from which we derived no benefit. Trump is not Code Pink. Code Pink said “no blood for oil!” Trump is saying TAKE THE OIL, but don’t wage stupid wars. Bush spent trillions, with thousands killed, and we got NOTHING. Except total chaos, with a big time assist from Hussein Obama.


53 posted on 02/15/2016 8:31:30 PM PST by montag813 (NO MORE BUSHES (or Clintons) EVER...Put it in the Constitution.)
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To: jessduntno
Trump knows the score on Iraq--like anyone with an open mind. Read up on the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) prior to GWB's inauguration. Just about every neocon that was involved in that policy think tank joined his administration.

And one of PNAC's main goals was a take over of Iraq. Paul O'Neil, the then Secretary of Treasury, said the Bush administration was preoccupied by Iraq from the start... among others. You need to get up to speed.

54 posted on 02/15/2016 8:32:19 PM PST by WRhine
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To: Mr. Mojo

If this is the case. What does that say about the current state of affairs in Syria? Looks to me it validates Obama’s cry to remove Assad. Scary thought...


55 posted on 02/15/2016 8:35:17 PM PST by AmericanRobot
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To: Alberta's Child

Jeb gets the most unpopular President in recent memory to try to help him?

He certainly isn’t the brains the family.


56 posted on 02/15/2016 8:37:23 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: Timmy

My research into the history of Trump is opposite of what you say. He’s shown tremendous courage, compassion and patriotism over the decades he’s been in the public eye.

There’s a list of things he’s brought to this campaign that no one else had the courage to bring forth.

War on Christmas
Sanctuary Cities
Build The Wall
Delay Delay Delay
15% Corporate tax
tariffs on imports
H1Bs paid at 110% of market wage
Murder of Americans by illegals
Hostages in Iran
Repatriation of trillions
...
and so on and on.

And then there’s a long list joined by other patriotic Americans for which he has been most vocal and most powerful.

You may think he will do none of it, or do it weakly, or disingenuously, but the fact is, he put it out there and already the political system is influenced to act because of it.

Further, you have the weight of evidence stacked against your view because Trump’s life is one of delivering on time, under budget and set to very high standards.

So the bet is weighted that he will deliver, not as you say that he won’t deliver.


57 posted on 02/15/2016 8:38:32 PM PST by Hostage (ARTICLE V)
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To: Hostage
Your post #57 where you said, "Further, you have the weight of evidence stacked against your view because Trump’s life is one of delivering on time, under budget and set to very high standards."

So simple.. yet so profound in it's TRUTH.

My hat is off to you Hostage. Well said.

58 posted on 02/15/2016 8:48:07 PM PST by VideoDoctor
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To: WRhine

“And one of PNAC’s main goals was a take over of Iraq. Paul O’Neil, the then Secretary of Treasury, said the Bush administration was preoccupied by Iraq from the start... among others. You need to get up to speed.”

Yeah, I guess you are right. Jessduntno is only pawn in game of life.

Remember how funny it was when Bush proclaimed Iran was a real threat to us...one of the “axis of evil.” Boy that was a hoot. I wonder what it would be like if we had a big freaking base sitting right next to it with a POTUS who intended to keep them bottled up RIGHT NEXT DOOR. I believed him. I think they mentioned Korea was going to be a problem too. Wacky SOB’s. They probably DID think having a good strong foothold in there woulda been a good thing, like we got in Japan and Korea and Germany.

They didn’t give a shit about Iraq. But moving out one of the world’s leading mass muderers and his little boys was a good side dish, I guess, huh?

It was real estate, son. Location is everything. Now we got Koreans consulting with Iran and shooting off real serious weapons themselves, too, I think? There was a third member of that Axis, but I can’t think of who it was, but they were probably wrong about them, too. I think those seaky bastards were REALLY concerned about Iran, the leading supporter of terrror and soon to be nuke providers in the middle east!

Thanks for your input, it’s been REAL instructive. I’ll keep you in mind if I need a big dawg in a think tank somewhere.


59 posted on 02/15/2016 9:05:15 PM PST by jessduntno (The mind of a liberal...deceit, desire for control, greed, contradiction and fueled by hate.)
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To: Timmy

Here, Bill. Have a tissue.


60 posted on 02/15/2016 9:13:16 PM PST by Albion Wilde (Who can actually defeat the Democrats in 2016? -- the most important thing about all candidates.)
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