Some have wondered whether a president John McCain would be like George W. Bush on steroids — quick to flex military muscle and unwilling to back down no matter what. But McCain began a foreign policy speech today by stating that he detests war and thinks it is “wretched beyond all description.â€
“When nations seek to resolve their differences by force of arms, a million tragedies ensue,†McCain said. “The lives of a nation’s finest patriots are sacrificed. Innocent people suffer and die. Commerce is disrupted; economies are damaged; strategic interests shielded by years of patient statecraft are endangered as the exigencies of war and diplomacy conflict. Not the valor with which it is fought nor the nobility of the cause it serves, can glorify war. Whatever gains are secured, it is loss the veteran remembers most keenly.
“Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war.â€
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Regular on Let immigrants run
- Regular on Too many exemptions
- Monkeyhawk on Let immigrants run
- Regular on Let immigrants run
- Politico on Too many exemptions
- XXX on Open thread 11/23
- XXX on Let immigrants run
- BlueJay on Let immigrants run
- Monkeyhawk on Let immigrants run
- Chrisfrommactown on Let immigrants run
47 Comments
It must be a new week since McCain changed his position again. For someone that views war as intolerable he sure seemed happy joking about bombing civilians in Iran.
McCains statements are no great surprise.
I have never seen combat, but I have met and known countless people who have.
Those with experience in these matters seem to live by the motto:
“Never start a fight -
But, Never lose a fight”
Victory, in any current war, is the best way to prevent a future war.
Defeat will make us look weak, and invite more wars, in the future.
Weakness causes far more war than any General ever has.
I listened to McCain’s speech. When he got to the part where he defined victory, all I could think was how far it would go for the Iraqi people and politicians to want his definition to come true. Want his definition badly enough to do their part.
This is why it’s wise for America to help out when asked. The country, the people who ask for help at least want what the help might bring about.
Preemptive war seems at least — well, preemptive.
I bet Mccain is getting a good belly laugh out of those dumb protectionist British who are set to announce a 25 bil. lease agreement for Airbus A330 tankers. You have to admire the Europeans, they do take care of their citizen workers!
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKL2670295620080326?rpc=44
And, pre-emptive war on false accusations, seems preposterous! At least until bush came to town!
Bomb,bomb,bomb, bomb Iran, Went to Iraq looking for a man, saw Iran, thought I’d take a chance, bomb Iran, that is my game. I’ll have them rockin and a rollin, bomb Iran!
“You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.”
Gen. William T. Sherman
Why Republicans shouldn’t be doctors. A doctor will receive an x-ray and start cutting off a limb due to complications with diabetes. The nurse shows up and switches the x-ray over since it was inverted and the doctor was starting to cut off the wrong leg. The doctor, being a Republican, declares to finish what he had started as stopping now would just embolden the diabetes.
Another thing about waiting to be asked for help. Those who do the asking get to define what wining means, what is worth fighting for, when victory has been accomplished. What a novel idea — a country making decisions on matters that affect their citizens. Seems more democratic than forcing it on them.
No one hates war more than those who have seen it and those who must fight it. For someone with McCain’s history, those statements are not a shock at all; they are self-evident truth.
That said, two other truths must be said: The best way to avoid war is to be prepared to fight it, mercilessly, ruthlessly, and victoriously. War is indeed hell, and that hell is what makes us avoid it whenever humanly possible, and end it as quickly as possible.
Second, there are times when it must be fought. Some things are worth fighting for. As the old saw goes, a man without something worth dying for has nothing worth living for.
The Republican Doctor would have done proper radiological practices, by placing a “radio-opaque” letter on the screen before the xray was taken. (i.e. L(left) or R(right.)
Also, the Republican Doctor, having received superior medical training, would have noticed that bones appearing to face backwards or reverse are not in comportment with normal anatomy and flipped the xrays him/herself.
———————-
The Democratic Doctor would blame private health care, cried out that he/she was a victim of society, hire a lawyer to prove that it was the xray manufacturer’s fault and then start a non-profit charity that highlights the dyslexic view of the world that Dems have.
—————–
(chortles)
Regular, apparently analogy is not your strong point.
Actually, There sre many cases of the wrong leg being surgically removed. It appears to be a non-partisan occurrance.
A few years ago a man in Seatle had the wrong leg amputated. Then when he recovered enough they had to go ahead and remove the correct one.
#
Doug
Posted March 26, 2008 at 12:46 pm | Permalink
Regular, apparently analogy is not your strong point.
———————-
I think I do pretty well there Doug.
You just didn’t like the smell of the ‘dead fish’ that got thrown back at you. :D
If you look at McCain’s repeated attempts to escalate tensions with Iran, it would seem that the above is primarily lip service. His entire platform has been the war, now he comes out with this? Doesn’t track.
Oh yeah, and he is “not too good on the economy”. Yeah, that is the leader we need right now.
Regular, let’s look at your analogy:
“Also, the Republican Doctor, having received superior medical training, would have noticed that bones appearing to face backwards or reverse are not in comportment with normal anatomy and flipped the xrays him/herself.”
Therefore we’d expect that the geniuses running the occupation of Iraq would have never gone in because they would have recognized the false intelligence provided to them. Nope. When going in they would have used their superior training to get everything done correctly the first time. Nope. If your analogy stood up then we wouldn’t be in Iraq nor would there be any continued occupation that last longer than our time in the second world war.
Poor analogy.
Yes, yours was a poor analogy Doug, glad you brought that up and lay claim to it. :D
(mumbles something about how the effort keeps getting funded in Congress, then drinks some more green tea)
McCain is a complex beast. Yes, he knows from personal experience that “war is hell,” but he is, and always has been, and intemperate war hawk, ready to shoot first and ask questions later.
I’m not how much of that is due to connections to the military-industrial complex (large sums of money can affect one’s perspective), or perhaps a Republican gung-ho military family.
Or maybe a burning sense of revenge, irrationally redirected, for being captured and tortured for 7 years. Yeah, I know, dimestore psych.
What the reason, his excessive willingness to put American soldiers into that Hell for dubious reasons is all the more despicable because he’s been there.
P.S. Richard Nixon was a veteran, too.
I think I outdid myself on typos that that.
What the hell.
(points and laughs at Rage)
The Republican Doctor would have done proper radiological practices, by placing a “radio-opaque” letter on the screen before the xray was taken. (i.e. L(left) or R(right.)
TRUE (oh, you meant HIS right? I thought it was MY right)
Actually, There sre many cases of the wrong leg being surgically removed. It appears to be a non-partisan occurrance
TRUE
“Econ101″ blithered –
“Never start a fight -
But, Never lose a fight”
Maybe the Iraqis heard the same cliche.
Remember who started the fight in Iraq?
Remember who started the fight in Iraq?
Egyptians, wasn’t it? Oops, wrong millenium.
MH
Actually, Saddam started the fight, when Saddam invaded Kuwait.
Legally speaking, that war never ended.
Huge effing eye roll. Bout to puke here Econ, you’ve reached so far for that one I fear you’ve ripped something .
“Econ101″ spins –
“Saddam started the fight, when Saddam invaded Kuwait.
“Legally speaking, that war never ended.”
Like that old law school adage: “When the facts are against you, argue the law….”
Sol,
Econ is 100% correct. We were under a cease fire agreement with Saddam the whole Clinton Administration.
When Bush took office Iraq had been violating terms of the agreement for years.
3 words come to mind when i think of the accomplishments of howdy doody and this administration ……………
Worse president ever !!
Geez, right in line with Congressmen who oppose the war in Iraq and yet continue to vote to fund it, we get a presidential candidate who detests war but is willing to keep us in Iraq for another century.
Regular is poor at analogy.
He seems almost obsessed however with anallogy.
Wonder what the good Dr. Freud would have to say about that, hmmm . . .
And how’s this for a howler (from Econ)–
“Defeat will make us look weak, and invite more wars, in the future.”
Really?
So why did we need to fight in Korea just a few years after we totally kicked ass in WW2?
Maybe the answer to avoiding war is . . . . not getting involved in them.
Also, Israel has taken the hard-line you recommend, Econ.
How’s that working out for them?
And how many more wars has “defeated” Germany and Japan had to fight because they now appear “weak”?
Let me guess Cappy, you probably thought the Israeli attack against the Iraq nuke plant was wrong because it was war like. Stupid Israel, what were they thinking not letting Saddam have a nuke.
As well, name one time that Israel has not done everything reasonable to get along with it’s neighbors. I guess the old adage, of “to the victors go the spoils” isn’t allowed where Israel is concerned. They were allowed to form a country because of the liberals precious UN.
“As well, name one time that Israel has not done everything reasonable to get along with it’s neighbors”
I guess that is why Israel has been sanctioned by the UN fifty times.
“They were allowed to form a country because of the liberals precious UN.”
They were GIVEN a country.
Nitwit.
And I suppose wes that you don’t have the number of times that the PLO and Hamas and the like have been “sanction” by the UN or world opinion. Given, formed and the diff?
Yesh, Israel allowing the shooting of old Palestinian ladies and children for target practice and allowing the detention of Palestinian women in labor at the border until they give birth unaided and die is “doing everything it can to get along with it’s neighbors.”
..what goes around comes around.
“Given, formed and the diff?”
Out of guilt over the holocaust, the UN, led by the United States and England, GAVE the Jews Israel, what had been Arab – Palestinian land.
How would Americans react in the UN gave Muslims Dearborn, Michigan (home to the largest Arab population in the US?)
Not real well, I would guess…..
And my name is not WES – it is William.
Thank you.
So it was England land to give up and they decided to give it to the Jews, AND? I don’t suppose you recall that the Jews did everything they could to ask the palestinians to be part of the new country, they refused. Thus the war for independence.
You mentioned all of the times that Israel has been sanctioned. You didn’t happen to mention how many have died. You didn’t mention how much land they have given back after taking it with their own blood by being surrounded by their enemies and concessions they have made to try and get peace.
Sorry, saw WS and Clark. I apologize
Both sides are irrational…there is no peace when neither side wants it.
“I don’t suppose you recall that the Jews did everything they could to ask the palestinians to be part of the new country, they refused.”
Damned nice of them, wasn’t it. They ALREADY had the land, and the Israelis decided that they wanted to SHARE?
Nice Jewish folks.
I don’t see any of the palestinians fellow muslim countries nearby offering them land. In fact, Eygpt put up a nice new fence to keep them out.
Historically, the land of Israel has been held by many hands. The palestinians are just one faction who can make claims, but those claims are no more “righteous” than anyone elses.
Get Americas hands out of this powder keg too.
I only caught part of Wolf Blitzer today and most of “Hardball,” but neither show mentioned McCain’s speech. Maybe Blitzer talked about it and I missed a segment, and maybe some of the other shows discussed it as the evening unfolded. The main topic for Blitzer and Matthews, of course, was the Democratic primary fight. (Matthews had a segment on why journalists drool over McCain so much.)
When you consider that foreign policy will be an important issue for our next president, it’s remarkable if McCain’s speech didn’t receive any analysis. (It will probably get more play in the papers.)
The speech contains references to two Democrats: Truman and JFK.
And it definitely sounds a moderate tone on the environment and hints at the importance of diplomacy in our relationships with other countries.
Early on in the speech, McCain says, “But I am, from hard experience and the judgment it informs, a realistic idealist.”
Later, he defines success in Iraq as follows: “Success in Iraq and Afghanistan is the establishment of peaceful, stable, prosperous, democratic states that pose no threat to neighbors and contribute to the defeat of terrorists. It is the triumph of religious tolerance over violent radicalism.”
These are admirable goals. Based on events of the last five years, though, it’s not at all clear how realistic the idealist is to be aiming for such a status.
Again, while his message is to keep on trucking, you never get a sense of how he plans to structure the economic package.
McCain tries to emphasize that real progress is being made, and a couple of paragraphs later, he goes to some trouble to explain how it will be a complete disaster if we withdraw. This tends to undermine the progress argument. You’d think that real progress would somehow be real.
The discussion, on this point, is possibly being waged on false fronts. It’s almost as though you can either leave all 150,000 troops over there forever or quite simply send in the helicopters and airlift everybody out of the place in a single morning, right after oatmeal and coffee.
But Democrats had better wake up: McCain is sounding moderate notes and moving toward the center. He’s potentially an audacious character as well, ever ready to play the game like a riverboat gambler.
His opponents would we wise to get their own game plan in order before it’s too late.
Gene the Liar asks “I don’t suppose you recall that the Jews did everything they could to ask the palestinians to be part of the new country.”
Uh, no, Gene, I don’t remember that . . . because it didn’t happen.
There were a lot of Jews already living in Palestine before the Zionists came in and claimed the place “home of the Jews.” They got along fine before that happened.
In fact, the Jewish Mayor of Jerusalem was one of the most outspoken critics of the way Zionists stole land and mowed down civilians.
How would Americans react in the UN gave Muslims Dearborn, Michigan
Sheeeaaaht. They can freakin have it.