Any resemblance to Zell Miller is completely cosmic.
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There is something ultimately satisfyingly schadenfreudey about watching Right Wing cranks fight. To wit(less):
Rick Perry Is Dead Wrong Sen. Rand Paul / Politico There are many things I like about Texas Gov. Rick Perry, including his stance on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution. But apparently his new glasses haven’t altered his perception of the world, or allowed him to see it any more clearly….
Stop right there: “his stance on the Tenth Amendment”??
Yeah. That’s basically the reiteration of the “states rights” notion that lost during the last Lost Cause, and is the resurgent rationalization for the new secessionism — kicked off by Perry himself.
Zell Miller pimping for Bush at the 2004 RNC
I am not going into the weeds of the “Tenther” movement here, but I have no doubt that some crank will bring it up in the comments, along with the requisite flecks of foam.
Suffice it to say that Rand Paul’s dad, Ron Paul, ran for President on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1988 on a platform that included the Right to Secession (a fixture of ALL LP platforms until Bob Barr of Georgia realized what it would mean for a Southerner to run on a Secessionist ticket and said plank was grudgingly removed).
The fact that Rand Paul shut up about this philosophical back alley during his infamous 2010 Rachel Maddow Show interview speaks for itself.
There must be something in the air (perhaps Hemingway’s upcoming birthday) that has politicians speaking in plain terms: Marco Rubio is an idiot. Rick Perry is dead wrong. (Interesting weekend.)
So, what is it that the pot is lecturing the kettle ON?
Great question! Glad you asked:
I am surprised Governor Perry has apparently still found time to mischaracterize and attack my foreign policy. Governor Perry writes a fictionalized account of my foreign policy so mischaracterizing my views that I wonder if he’s even really read any of my policy papers.
In fact, some of Perry’s solutions for the current chaos in Iraq aren’t much different from what I’ve proposed, something he fails to mention. His solutions also aren’t much different from President Barack Obama’s, something he also fails to mention. Because interestingly enough, there aren’t that many good choices right now in dealing with this situation in Iraq.Perry says there are no good options. I’ve said the same thing. President Obama has said the same thing. So what are Perry’s solutions and why does he think they are so bold and different from anyone else’s?
Ozymandias
Yeah. How come, if you both agree so strenuously and agree with President Obama, Rick Perry is dead wrong? Oh, you mean dead wrong about YOU. Gotcha.
But the governor and I do have at least one major foreign policy difference, something Perry also conveniently fails to mention.
Said Perry forthrightly during a Republican presidential primary debate in 2012, “I would send troops back into Iraq.”
Obviously, this is something he advocated long before the rise of ISIS. At the time, Perry urged the United States to return troops to Iraq to act as a balance against Iran, a country my colleague Sen. Lindsey Graham says we must work with to help beat back the extremists.
Does Perry now believe that we should send U.S. troops back into Iraq to fight the Iranians—or to help Iran fight ISIS? As everyone agrees, governor, there are no easy options. Unlike Perry, I oppose sending American troops back into Iraq.
After a decade of the United States training the Iraq’s military, when confronted by the enemy, the Iraqis dropped their weapons, shed their uniforms and hid.
Our soldiers’ hard work and sacrifice should be worth more than that. Our military is too good for that. I ask Governor Perry: How many Americans should send their sons or daughters to die for a foreign country — a nation the Iraqis won’t defend for themselves?
How many Texan mothers and fathers will Governor Perry ask to send their children to fight in Iraq?
Ghod, it feels weird to agree with Rand Paul. OK: I agree.
Then again, I was against their stupid war long before either of them were.
So, perhaps, Rand Paul finally agrees with ME. Which feels much better.
Why all the damned posturing for 2016? We aren’t even to 2014!
I mean, is the world so easy and predictable that 2014, 2015 and 2016 can be ignored in favor of some unknown 2017?
(Which is when any of the parties now slagging each other off would or could possibly take office)
No: this is the National Ostrich, where we pretend that today doesn’t exist so we can pretend that tomorrow does. A bright Republican Tomorrow.
Filled with dancing unicorns and rainbows and sparkly flowers. Right.
Courage.
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A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog, His Vorpal Sword (no spaces) dot com.