A Timid Advocate of Freedom

[Winehole23]

I would never guess you'd like such a hawkish politician.

They clues are all out there, but I guess people prefer to stick with their preconceptions rather than evaluate people based on what they actually say. People get shunted into this pigeon-hole or that based on single-issue takes, which can be misleading.

That's life. It used to make me mad. Now I just feel pity and disgust.

[Marcus Bryant]

I also think a lot of "me too" libertarians don't really have any idea how much social pain would be involved in shrinking government and devolving power, or how much they themselves would be affected by it.

Talk is cheap.

Absolutely. So many rail against 'wasteful spending' but somehow SS, Medicare and the military are exempt. What's left is a drop in the fiscal bucket. How many 'conservatives' were privately glad that Bush added the drugs handout to Medicare?

[MannyIsGod]

You've got me pegged. Manny just doesn't like ANY criticism of his hero. I doubt there's ANY Obama policy he disagrees with. But, everyone's en led to their opinion. It's a free country (for now).

Seriously? I guess you've missed the several threads where I've disagreed with the administration on many subjects. I have no problem with criticism of him even when I don't view it as valid. However, if I post every thread you've started will I find a consistent trend Darrin? I will find threads specifically going after Obama.

You've been on this trip since the day after the election.

The fact is I'm not the one arguing against the selection I made before the polling lever has gone cold. The argument that Obama somehow fooled you is absolutely laughable. What exactly has he done contrary to what he campaigned on?

[MannyIsGod]

Just wait. Israel has serious plans to take out Iran's nuclear sites. When they approach the US for "permission", this will be a serious test for Obama's presidency.

Ha, not really. They're not going to get it. It is impossible for them to strike Iran unless they overfly Iraq. The answer for that is and will always be no.

[LnGrrrR]

Just wait. Israel has serious plans to take out Iran's nuclear sites. When they approach the US for "permission", this will be a serious test for Obama's presidency.

Why should they have to come to the US for 'permission'? If you mean blessing, we should say "no". Why should we be on the hook for responsibility?

[Winehole23]

The fact is I'm not the one arguing against the selection I made before the polling lever has gone cold. The argument that Obama somehow fooled you is absolutely laughable. What exactly has he done contrary to what he campaigned on?

I don't think Darrin has an analytical take on this. IMO he got swept up in the atmospherics. I was only kidding a little when I said Darrin thinks he's been denied his unicorn ride.

It could happen to any first time Democratic party booster.

[MannyIsGod]

I don't think Darrin has an analytical take on this. IMO he got swept up in the atmospherics. I was only kidding a little when I said Darrin thinks he's been denied his unicorn ride.

It could happen to any first time Democratic party booster.

I have no problem with people having opposing opinions or beliefs. I take issue with people who have no idea why they make the decisions they do and then have no idea why they regret the decisions they made which they didn't understand to begin with.

[Winehole23]

I have no problem with people having opposing opinions or beliefs. I take issue with people who have no idea why they make the decisions they do and then have no idea why they regret the decisions they made which they didn't understand to begin with.

PFA style politics rules the roost, and the netroots hand out the slogans.

Besides, if you have the habit of passing around talking points before you've even read your own post, how can you possibly be the master of even *your own* ideas?

[RandomGuy]

Ouch!

A Timid Advocate of Freedom
President Obama has failed his early foreign-policy tests.

By Mitt Romney

At last week’s Summit of the Americas, President Obama acquiesced to a 50-minute attack on America as terroristic, expansionist, and interventionist from Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega. His response to Ortega’s denunciation of our effort to free Cuba from Castro’s dictatorship was that he shouldn’t be blamed “for things that happened when I was three months old.” Blamed? Hundreds of men, including Americans, bravely fought and died for Cuba’s freedom, heeding the call from newly elected president John F. Kennedy. But last week, even as American soldiers sacrificed blood in Afghanistan and Iraq to defend liberty, President Obama shrank from defending liberty here in the Americas.

In his first press interview as president, he confessed to Arabic television that America had “dictated” to other nations. No, Mr. President, America has fought to free other nations from dictators. And in Strasbourg, the president further claimed that America has “showed arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” London’s Daily Telegraph observed that President Obama “went further than any United States president in history in criticizing his own country’s action while standing on foreign soil.” Of course, it was not just the Daily Telegraph that was listening: People around the world who yearn for freedom, who count on America’s resolve and support, heard him as well. He was heard in China, in Tibet, in Sudan, in Burma, and, yes, in Cuba.


The words spoken by the leader of the free world can expand the frontiers of freedom or shrink them. When Ronald Reagan called on Gorbachev to “tear down this wall,” a surge of confidence rose that would ultimately breach the bounds of the evil empire. It was the same confidence that had been ignited decades earlier when John F. Kennedy declared to a people surrounded by Communism that they were not alone. “We are all Berliners,” he said, because “freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s confident commitment, spoken as he led us into the war that would free millions in Europe, inspired not only Americans but freedom fighters around the globe: “The American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.” Such words of solidarity, of confidence, and of unwavering conviction that America is indeed “the last best hope on earth” are what freedom’s friends would have expected to hear from our president when our nation was slandered. Instead he offered silence, smiles, and a handshake.

Even more troubling than what he has or has not said is what he has not done. Kim Jong Il launched a long-range missile on the very day President Obama addressed the world about the peril of nuclear proliferation. As one of the world’s most oppressive and tyrannical regimes is on the brink of securing the “game changing” capability to reach American shores with a nuclear weapon, the president shrinks from action: no seizure of North Korean funds, no severance of banking access, no blockade.

Not to be outdone by Kim Jong Il, President Ahmadinejad announced that his nation has successfully mastered every step necessary to enrich uranium, violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has signed. So, like North Korea, Iran will have changed the world’s equation for peace and security: It will be capable of devastating Europe and America, and of annihilating Israel. And as with North Korea, the Obama administration chooses inaction — no new severe sanctions, no hint of military options. Ahmadinejad can act with confidence that the forceful options once on our proverbial table have been shelved.

Vice President Biden was right that the new president would be tested early in his administration. What the world learned was not good news for freedom and democracy. The leader of the free world has been a timid advocate of freedom at best. And bold action to blunt the advances of tyrants has been wholly lacking. We are still very early in the Obama years — the president will have ample opportunity to defend America and freedom, and to deter nuclear brinkmanship. I am hoping for change.

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q...xN2Q3MDM=#more

But, North Korean and authoritarian leaders are good now.

wow.