Friday, December 4, 2009

Seriously, Karl Rove?

I was certain we were past this:
President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night deserves to be cheered. Over the objections of his vice president and despite opposition from his political base, the president is sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight terrorists.
Really? Fighting terrorists? That's what they're doing?

7 comments:

  1. STeve Metz astutely noticed just how similar both the speech and that strategy remained for Bush AND Obama.

    It's actually kind of creepy.

    SNLII

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heh. I saw that, too. That exact phrase was the point where I stopped reading and went back to browsing the business news.

    I've found that I prefer just skimming the SWJ Daily Roundup because Dilegge does the hard work of plowing through the stupidity and pulling out the gist of it. That way, I can avoid assery such as the Rove quote and just cut to the chase to get a feel for what the masses are being fed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gulliver, what is the Quetta Shura, Haqqani, Hekmatyur, TTP, Lashkar e Toiyba, Lashkar e Jhanvi, Iyas Kashmiri's Brigade 313, and Lashkar al Zil?

    Probably most Afghans would call them terrorists. Are they wrong to do so?

    In any case Schmedlap is right. Who cares what Rove (or the vast majority of Beltway politicians) think.

    Gulliver, have you seen the latest US public opinion polls. The American public is sharply more supportive of a surge because of the "One's" speech. 63% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans support the "surge."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gulliver, what is the Quetta Shura, Haqqani, Hekmatyur, TTP, Lashkar e Toiyba, Lashkar e Jhanvi, Iyas Kashmiri's Brigade 313, and Lashkar al Zil?

    I'd suggest that most Afghans don't have the faintest damned clue who the majority of these guys are, with the exception perhaps of QST, HiG, and Haqqani (depending on where they are). And I doubt they'd identify them as "terrorists," considering how fluid the spectrum of politics and violence has traditionally been in Afghanistan.

    Just the same, who cares?

    And on that note...

    The American public is sharply more supportive of a surge because of the "One's" speech. 63% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans support the "surge."

    So? I have little doubt that public opinion on this matter would seem irrelevant to you if the numbers were reversed.

    A month ago we have 51% unfavorables on continuing the war in Afghanistan, and now we have majorities in both parties supporting escalation. What does tht tell me? That a number of people are too concerned about what the yammering idiots who head their party(/ies) are saying on Meet the Press and Morning Joe.

    That speech changed minds? Really? Why?

    ReplyDelete
  5. You so need to add this blog to your roll:

    http://greatsatansgirlfriend.blogspot.com/

    SNLII

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gulliver, agreed that we should do whatever is right regarding Afghanistan; and that US public opinion shouldn't be the sole criteria to determine policy, since it isn't informed opinion.

    I would be very surprised if most Afghans don't regard Haqqani as a terrorist, given the number of terrorist attacks he has been complicit with. Haqqani is perceived by Afghans as the pro ISI Taliban leader, which doesn't exactly endear Haqqani to them.

    Not sure about how Hekmatyur is seen, although the vast majority of Afghans dislike him. Some Southern Pashtu see Mullah Omar is seen as a spiritual person surrounded by evil terrorists.

    Afghan public opinion matters. So I do care what they think. About 90% of Afghans don't like the Taliban in every public opinion poll taken since 2001.

    ReplyDelete
  7. "That speech changed minds? Really? Why?" I am surprised that the speech changed minds too. Didn't think too much of it. Maybe Obama did his "THE ONE" mind trick. Guess it still works.

    What would Yoda say to Americans?

    "Weak minded be not. Surrender to the force; not the mound of flesh. Trust not the mound of flesh on the outside [referring to Obama], trust the calm peaceful silence within. Then you will know."

    Not as good at the Haiku thing as SNLII. :-(

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.