Pence is the same type of compromise VP pick as bush sr was to Reagan On Oct 7, 2016 7:10 AM, "MJ" <[email protected]> wrote:
> > October 06, 2016 > > *Pence is dense on defense: Did he realize he was supporting Hillary and > opposing Trump? *By Paul Mulshine > > As I've noted, there's a reason they call the Midwest the heartland and > not the brainland. > > Mike Pence showed why in that debate Monday night. > > Pence was good on domestic issues. But when it came to foreign policy, the > Indiana governor seemed to have no idea that he was endorsing the same > liberal internationalist philosophy as his Democratic opponent, Tim Kaine. > > He also seemed to have no idea he was directly contradicting Donald Trump > on the key issue of intervening in Syria. > > Here's what Pence should have said when the question of Syria came up: > "As Donald Trump has been wisely noting since the beginning of the Iraq > War, removing secular dictators in the Mideast can only lead to the > ascension of Islamic fundamentalist groups. What on Earth was Hillary > Clinton thinking when she urged Barack Obama to depose Moammar Gadhafi in > Libya? Why on Earth did she decide it was a good idea to arm militant > Muslim rebels to fight against the government of Syria?" > "Oh yeah, why does she still want us to implement a no-fly zone there that > would put us on a war footing with Russia? You Democrats keep insisting > Donald Trump can't be trusted with the nuclear button, but Hillary's got > her finger on it with that insane policy." > > That's what he should have said. > > Here's what he actually said about Syria's battle to oust rebel forces > from Aleppo. > "I truly do believe that what America ought to do right now is immediately > establish safe zones so that families, and vulnerable families with > children can move out of those areas, work with our Arab partners, > real-time, right now, to make that happen, and secondly, I just have to > tell you that the provocations by Russia need to be met with American > strength. And if Russia chooses to be involved and continue, I should say, > to be involved in this barbaric attack on civilians in Aleppo, the United > States of America should be prepared to use military force to strike > military targets of the Assad regime, to prevent them from this > humanitarian crisis that is taking place in Aleppo." > > Can he really be this clueless? > > Pence didn't seem to have the slightest inkling that he was endorsing > Hillary Clinton's disastrous policy of meddling in the Mideast – and > opposing Trump's policy of defeating ISIS and then getting out. > > For that matter, he didn't seem to realize that by opposing the Syrian > regime he was opposing the biggest enemy ISIS has. > > And it's not the U.S. government. > > Unlike Barack Obama, Bashar Assad has a plan to defeat ISIS – and he and > the Russians are carrying it out. > > Yet Pence has backed Clinton's call for a no-fly zone in which the U.S. > would target not ISIS but the Syrians and Russians fighting ISIS. > > Just a few days before, a top general testified before Congress that > setting up a no-fly zone in Syria would bring us into conflict with Russia. > > Go to Pat Lang's Sic Semper Tyrannis blog > <http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2016/10/httpwwwalternetorgworldinside-shadowy-pr-firm-thats-driving-western-opinion-towards-regime-change-syria.html> > for a discussion of just how insane it would be for the U.S. to try and set > up a no-fly zone in a country we have no business flying over in the first > place. > > Here's what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told a Senate > committee in response to one senator eager to set up a no-fly zone: > "For us to control all the airspace in Syria would require us to go to war > against Syria and Russia. That's a pretty fundamental decision that > certainly I'm not going to make." > > Obviously setting up such a zone would do actually help ISIS, for the > simple reason that ISIS has no air force. > > And as for the supposed barbarism of the joint Syrian/Russian attack on > the rebels in Aleppo, is Pence so naive he doesn't realize that all urban > warfare is barbaric? > > During the debate, Pence mentioned the U.S. attack on Fallujah in 2004. > But he seemed to have no notion that that attack by the U.S. ended with a > good part of the city in ruins. > > Here's a good piece from Antiwar.com > <https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2016/10/05/ny-times-attacks-gary-johnson-for-equating-us-syria-war-crimes/>in > which Jason Ditz takes on the New York Times for attacking Libertarian > Party candidate Gary Johnson for making that rather obvious comparison: > "Pressed on the civilian death toll of Syrian airstrikes against populated > areas, and whether he saw those as equivalent to US airstrikes against > populated areas, Johnson mockingly declared '*no of course not – we're so > much better than all that. We're so much better when in Afghanistan, we > bomb the hospital and 60 people are killed in the hospital*.'" > > Ditz goes on to add: > "Johnson is referring to last year's Kunduz airstrikes, in which a US > warplane repeatedly and deliberately bombed a Doctors Without Borders (MSF) > hospital near Kunduz, Afghanistan, in what officials later characterized as > 'a mistake.' The Syrian government has recently been heavily criticized for > airstrikes around Aleppo which hit hospitals." > > War is messy business. Only people like Pence and Kaine think it can be > sanitized and made harmless. > > They agreed on that "safe zone" for Syria, but overlooked the fact that > Secretary > of State John Kerry said > <https://theintercept.com/2016/10/05/did-tim-kaine-and-mike-pence-realize-that-safe-zones-in-syria-would-require-u-s-troops/>it > would take 15,000 to 30,000 troops to maintain it. > > Pence also seems totally unaware that in Afghanistan we are fighting the > same enemy the Assad regime is fighting : Militant fundamentalist Muslims > who want to rid the planet of secular governments. > > He also seems to be unaware of the obvious reason the Obama regime has > been so slow in attacking ISIS. Numerous inside-the-Beltway > neocon/internationalist types have said their first priority is getting rid > of Assad. > > They see ISIS as a tool for overthrowing Assad - a tool too valuable to > take out of the toolbox just yet. > > Our Turkish and Saudi "allies" in the region are more concerned with > getting rid of the secular Assad than the Sunni ISIS - which both have been > accused of supplying. > > But for anyone truly opposed to ISIS, Assad would not be the enemy. He'd > be our best ally. > > The Russians have that figured out. So has the Donald, who has stated he > would ally with the Russians to defeat ISIS. > > So what was Pence up to? > > Maybe he's really dumb enough to believe what he was saying. > > A lot of people from the Midwest through no fault of their own grow up in > isolated surroundings and only learn about the outside world after it's too > late. > > There are some exceptions, but the typical Heartland politician seems to > lack the sophistication to sort out a place like Syria, where there are > numerous factions all at odds with each other. > > But I have a sneaking suspicion Pence may not be as dumb as he looks. > > Perhaps he's trying to ingratiate himself with the big donors in D.C. who > support endless interventionism while pretending to be loyal to Trump. > > Chris Christie tried a similar stunt during the Republican Convention last > summer. When he was supposed to be presenting the case for Trump, Christie > contradicted him on removing Assad in Syria. Christie was for it, Trump > against it. > > He also contradicted the Donald on relations with Vladimir Putin. Trump of > course has said he'd get along fine with Putin while Christie attacked the > Russian with the usual internationalist/neocon rhetoric. > > None of this stuff seems to bother Trump. > > He just lets his underlings pander to the same crowd of Beltway insiders > that so hates the Donald. > > But Pence is lucky the American voters care little about the Mideast and > understand even less. > > Otherwise he'd have a lot of explaining to do. > > *BELOW: *Ron Paul discusses the way Pence agrees with Kaine on the nutty > "neo" conservative/liberal internationalist foreign policy pushed by > Hillary Clinton - and supported by Pence. > https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=74KU4JVnT9Q > > http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2016/10/mike_pence_ > is_dense_on_defense_did_he_realize_he_w.html > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
