Before President Obama tipped his hand about whether he would retain or fire General McChrystal over comments he and staff working for him made in a Rolling Stones article, very few pundits or media on the right tipped theirs either. Among those who did, there was no clear consensus, and there were plenty of articles that said Obama should fire McChrystal (such as this editorial by conservative icon William Kristol which not only advises Obama to fire McChrystal, but that he should call on David Petraeus to replace him.) I doubt if Kristol will write a follow up editorial praising Obama for doing exactly the way he suggested though.
It is true that the most offensive remarks disparaging both the commander-in-chief and the Vice President) were made by McChrystal's staff, not McChrystal. But a commander is responsible for the attention to duty and following the law of all those under their command. McChrystal understands that.
At least Kristol was willing to say what he thought. Not so many other pundits on the right, including not only a lot of conservative journalists but the mavens of talk radio. Of course the decision was made before most of them were on the air today, but it was amazing how in unison they suddenly all sounded off immediately after the decision was made. It was as if keeping McChrystal was the obvious choice all along and their stated bewilderment at Obama for firing him was chalked up to everything from ego to a secret desire on Obama's part that America lose in Afghanistan to help foment discontent at home.
Now, you can be sure that if the decision had come down to retain McChrystal, then all of the very same right wing reporters, bloggers and talk show hosts would have said that was a terrible decision and showed that Obama was weak and indecisive. They would have still brought up the charge that Obama had an agenda to not win in Afghanistan, just in that case it would have been 'by making sure the soldiers see him as an ineffective C-in-C.'
If you listened to anyone's monologue bashing this decision then you can imagine how they would have sounded bashing the opposite decision.
Because they had that speech already written as well.
6 comments:
Republicans don't seem to stand for anything any more. Just ask the Teabaggers whom they fund and are constantly biting the hand that feeds them.
It's really kind of surprising how little the GOP seemed to care about the fate of McChrystal...one way or the other.
Outside of the war profiteering, the neocons don't even seem to care whether we fight the terrorists over there or not. Leave or go, just make sure Halliburton gets its share of the government's socialist booty.
Why should Kristol waste his time following up with something he was obviously for?
Nothing else to complain about these days?
"Republicans don't seem to stand for anything any more."
Why, because we don't take out full-page ads condeming the general as a betrayer?
"Just ask the Teabaggers whom they fund and are constantly biting the hand that feeds them.
The ball slappers aren't getting anything they haven't given to the government to hold onto for them.
"Leave or go, just make sure Halliburton gets its share of the government's socialist booty."
Talk to Obama about that, he's giving the work to Halliburton, not the GOP.
Tell him that you'd rather a French company get taxpayer's booty.
"The ball slappers aren't getting anything they haven't given to the government to hold onto for them"
My goodness gracious. Do I detect some honesty in that statement or is it just resignation?
Conservatives can't make it without government handouts any more the the rest of us whether it's social security, farm subsidies, business tax incentives, or outright bribes.
Rand Paul would be on the unemployment line right now if Senate Dems hadn't crammed through reinstatement of higher Medicare payments to doctors.
Halliburton and Xe are nothing more than conservative-inspired monopolies. Remember those no-bid contracts? Cheney drove out all the competition in war profiteering. Who exactly is there to hire other than them?
Conservatives drove all competition out of the system. When they couldn't control a market, they shipped it overseas.
And you know deep down in your soul that it's true.
You don't want to admit the truth publicly and are too stubborn to call out those Republican politicians that conned you. So now you're stuck complaining about "Washington" and blaming others for the bad decisions you've made through the years electing crooks and incompetents.
Supply side doesn't work. Outsourcing and hiring cheap foreign labor domestically doesn't work. Deregulating doesn't work. No taxing the rich doesn't work.
Republicans have ruined something really special that has worked pretty good for everyone in this country since WW II till you got too greedy and too selfish.
You can't control your vices or take personal responsibility for them. You'd rather let the whole thing crash and burn rather than let those who know how to fix it do their job.
Senate Republicans are afraid to even take an up-and-down vote to show where they stand. They would rather hide behind gridlock and hope nobody notices how childish and cowardly that is.
You can live and learn, as they say. Or just fade away. I really don't care what Republicans do to themselves any longer.
But you aren't going to drag down the rest of us with you. The Silent Majority has finally had enough of your nonsense.
You may win a few more battles here and there, but you have lost the respect of everyone...including the Teabaggers. The conservative cause killed itself. It was inevitable.
And you'll get no sympathy from me. Grown men should have none better.
“My goodness gracious. Do I detect some honesty in that statement or is it just resignation?”
Honest resignation for you. I’m not the one referring to balls slapping someone in the face, that would be you.
“Conservatives can't make it without government handouts any more the the rest of us whether it's social security, farm subsidies, business tax incentives, or outright bribes.”
Social security isn’t a handout, check your payroll stubs.
Farm subsidies need to be done away with; or, at the very least, investigated.
The mere fact that you’re comfortable with “brides”, is telling in and of itself.
“Halliburton and Xe are nothing more than conservative-inspired monopolies. Remember those no-bid contracts? Cheney drove out all the competition in war profiteering. Who exactly is there to hire other than them?”
Halliburton and XE did what most companies do. They saw a need, a niche, and went for it. Your envy is duly noted.
Back to the no-bid contracts? An expert such as yourself should realize that the initial job is put out for bid. The no-bid part comes in when someone is already on the job, and there are add-on’s. The government sends the add-on to the general contractor, the general contractor gives his estimate and the government then weighs the costs.
Cheney didn’t drive anyone out of business, but I have a feeling you knew that, or maybe you’re just spouting talking points. In fact, there are over 100 oilfield service companies, worldwide.
“Conservatives drove all competition out of the system. When they couldn't control a market, they shipped it overseas.”
More liberal talking points.
“You don't want to admit the truth publicly and are too stubborn to call out those Republican politicians that conned you. So now you're stuck complaining about "Washington" and blaming others for the bad decisions you've made through the years electing crooks and incompetents.”
The mere fact that you don’t have a clue about Halliburton and those supposed no-bid contracts, oil services companies and Dick Cheney tells me I fallen into a conversation with another liberal with nothing but talking points. My bad.
continued...
“Supply side doesn't work.”
Yes it does, when there’s a demand.
“Outsourcing and hiring cheap foreign labor domestically doesn't work.”
No, it doesn’t. Secure the borders, stop illegal entry, human smuggling. Don’t allow companies to hire illegal immigrants. That’s what should be done.
But, instead, we have Obama’s girl telling undocumented workers to let her know if they aren’t getting paid the correct amount.
“Deregulating doesn't work.”
What’s been deregulated?
“No taxing the rich doesn't work.”
The rich are taxed.
“You can't control your vices or take personal responsibility for them. You'd rather let the whole thing crash and burn rather than let those who know how to fix it do their job.”
No one is stopping Obama from completing his agenda. There are still enough democrats there to help him.
What you need to do is stop blaming everyone else when Obama can’t seem to get his way. It’s not our fault, look to your fellow democrats. They know he’s poison.
“But you aren't going to drag down the rest of us with you. The Silent Majority has finally had enough of your nonsense.
If you haven’t been able to live the American dream, don’t blame the GOP. Look in the mirror.
You aren’t the silent majority. You’re the minority in the country. You just happened to win an election. The majority of the country is conservative, according to polling.
But, you go ahead and live in your fantasy world. It’s kind of cute.
“You may win a few more battles here and there, but you have lost the respect of everyone...including the Teabaggers.”
Liberals sure do love to talk about men squatting on a woman’s face, lowering his balls into her mouth. Fantasy perhaps?
“And you'll get no sympathy from me. Grown men should have none better.”
My, you’re an emotional princess.
Can you honestly say you are happy with the results 40 years of conservative polices have had on this country? How much further in the hole do you want to dig south before having all our assets fall into the hands of the Communist Chinese?
Why are you even posting on a progressive site seeking our approval if you are so certain you are right about all things? With the way things are going, you'd do better off trying to convince your own.
What makes you think I haven't lived the American Dream? It was because of FDR, MLK, and Eisenhower's progressive policies that I was the first in my family to go to college, make a good income, retire comfortably, and now have the time to follow politics which up until now was only the luxury of wealthy conservatives.
Go ahead and make excuses for what failed. Blame everyone and everything but yourself. You say it's because your leadership would not adhere strictly to conservative principles ignoring the fact that your leadership put into place all the conservative principals you wanted.
It's because your principles are nothing but greed that those policies failed. You'll never learn from your mistakes because you will never admit you make them. Your policies and your ideology are too corrupt to ever succeed.
The American electorate doesn't trust your principles or your judgment any longer and the Silent Majority doesn't ever want to go back THERE again with you.
Yes, I'm a passionate person. I've found so many good things in life to live and work for. You're still wasting time trying to figure out what went wrong when it's obvious.
One should always go with what works in life not with what you wish would work. You can't avoid paying taxes. allowing crooks to operate without consequences, or to ignore the rights of others to an equal opportunity. When you try, you will fail every time.
And one doesn't "happen" to win an election. People make a choice. You just don't have anything to offer them that works.
You're betting that your leadership will be "good" next time? What in your ideology would give them that incentive?
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