A lot happened while I was gone but current events in Syria trump everything else.
In terms of the realities on the ground, not much has changed. The various rebel groups continue to fight Assad. Hezbollah Syria & Iran’s proxy force in Lebanon has been enlisted to help defend the regime while Hamas and Al Qaeda are fighting with the rebels and attracting swarms of Islamists all over the world to help in the fight.
Meanwhile we are informed that there are some rebels on the side of the angels who are not Islamists and simply want to remove Assad (a very reasonable desire) and some in the government particularly John McCain and Lindsey Graham have been pushing to arm these folks (there may also be reason to believe that attempts to do so might have had something to do with the Benghazi attacks.
Reports of a chemical weapons attack broke in late August.
On Aug 21st the White House was “deeply concerned” within a week they went from deeply concerned to “about to attack” and just as quickly to seeking a vote in congress.
Right now the smart money is on the president losing the vote but Michael graham Disagrees:
it won’t be “fence-sitters” who give Obama the “yes” vote he needs. It will be hard-core, partisan liberals. They need Obama to help fight their fights, protect Obamacare, push amnesty, etc. An Obama who’s humiliated internationally by a Congress that then pays not cost for it (remember, Americans oppose bombing Syria) will have achieved his “fork moment” (as in “stick one in him, he’s done”) three years before the end of his term.
Loyal Democrats won’t let that happen.
Given that we’ve already seen him try to pretend that he didn’t set a red line concerning Chemical Weapons in Syria it will take more than a congressional vote to make him look strong.
There are legitimate reasons to attack Syria, I’ve listed them but that doesn’t change one thing.
Barack Obama is a weak man in charge of a strong country. No amount of missiles fired at Syria or boots on the ground when that fails, is going to change this fact nor convince our enemies who figured this out long ago, otherwise.
If we decide to go to war just so this president can assert his manhood then we deserve the consequences but if the whip counts don’t change there is a chance that they won’t even bring this up for a vote.
One of the oddest things about the entire Syria debate is the sudden decision by part of the left particularly the MSM that war IS the answer.
The other day, I saw Andrea Mitchell interview Bill Kristol on MSNBC and, if you have any memory at all, you know that Kristol was the Evil Neo-Con Liberals Hated Even More Than Karl Rove during the Bush era. This morning, I woke up early and caught the 4 a.m. replay of Rachel Maddow, and she was so rabidly pro-war you half-expected her to break out into the “Patton” monologue:
I watch MSNBC a lot and I constantly hear that if we don’t strike it will send the wrong message to Iran about our resolve of our country and president to stop their nuclear program.
Of course that whole “resolve” argument would have more teeth if the president didn’t veto Israel planned strike on Iranian nukes last year:
Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser to the Israeli government and a retired Major General in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), told the Israeli press that Obama “vetoed” the strike, which was planned to take place at the height of the 2012 election cycle.
“Israel has the capability to destroy the Iranian nuclear program” and was prepared to do so, Eiland was quoted as saying in a private meeting earlier this month, according to the Israeli paper Mida.
However, top White House officials “pressured” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel the attack on Iranian nuclear sites, according to Eiland.
“There are many areas where Israel is free to act independently: building in Jerusalem, striking in Gaza, and other areas in our region, where we do not need an approval from the U.S.—even when they do not like it,” Eiland told the Israeli paper, confirming that Netanyahu “was about to give a go-ahead” before being told by the United States to stand down.
“But when it comes to issues that affect the broader American interests, we cannot act contrary to their considerations,” Eiland was quoted as saying.
The record is rather amazing. The President was against the revolt in Iran against the Mulahs, pro Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, wouldn’t give the order to relieve Benghazi and support hitting Syria now that Islamists are fighting to remove Assad.
I guess when Glenn Reynolds put it “They not anti-war, they’re just on the other side” back during the Iraq war days he wasn’t kidding.
It’s a given with the number of elected officials in the United states that you are bound to hear one of the say something stupid on a regular basis but that woman from Colorado takes the cake
Another Colorado Democrat has stoked the state’s raging gun-control debate by challenging the argument that guns are needed for self-defense.
Colorado House Majority Leader Dickey Lee Hullinghorst said in an interview on YouTube last week that firearms ownership is redundant because the state Legislature keeps citizens safe from harm.
Does that mean if you are an unarmed person in Colorado and are robbed or injured by an attacker you can sue the state?
We found out that the Fix was in during the Bobby Riggs vs Billy Jean King match from my youth. This had huge cultural significance at the time. I wonder how many of the people who celebrated that win at time would have spoken up if they knew then what we know now.
Speaking of the Fix Anthony Wiener apparently used a company to create phony supporters. This actually isn’t as big a deal as it sounds as our friends on the left have been doing this forever.
I still can’t believe the Red Sox are in first place.
I also think it was a mistake for the Pats to release Tim Tebow, now there is no way to distract the media from the Hernandez murder trial.
The 8th doctor special ran last weekend and it was strictly about the Doctor Who movie. What a waste of time. No Paul McGann no Charlie Pollard no Big Finish.
I wonder since Big finish isn’t allowed to mention the 9th Doctor on if the BBC is restricted from mentioning Big Finish in reverse.
I got to the movies this month and saw “The World’s End”. I thought it was really funny my wife thought it was hilarious. If that’s not the sign of a good date movie I’d like to know what is?
I’ve been watching the Drama Broadchurch on BBC America. I’ve seen up to episode 5 so far and it’s one of the best things on television.
In theory I could look online to find out who did it as this was broadcast last year but so far I’ve managed to hold off.
One oddity, my son was watching it and noticed how many actors from Doctor Who including 10th doctor David Tennant and Arthur (Rory Williams) Darvill where there. There are quite a few but given the amount of time the show’s been on it would almost be harder to find someone who hasn’t appeared on Doctor Who at some time or other.
Finally my youngest who has had trouble finding work for a while picked up two jobs in a week and is working both while back in college. On the way back from the bank he was commenting on how much money is deducted from his checks.
The surest way to spot a future conservative voter is to find a teen who notices the amount of money he earns that the government takes from him.
Next week all.
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