All-Purpose NuILX thread for American Politics

I wish I could share your serene confidence that all the ultra-hawkish campaign rhetoric is just rhetoric. Sometimes - not often, I know - politicians actually do what they say they are going to do. And nothing distracts Americans from a bad economy like a little old-fashioned armed combat.

well, yeah, look at the man in the Oval Office now.

I wish I could share your serene confidence that all the ultra-hawkish campaign rhetoric is just rhetoric

okay well two ridiculously improbably things have to happen for your fears to be warranted: 1) the GOP has to win the White House and 2) the GOP prez has to make the political calculation that a war within Iran really is a good idea and not just a great campaign promise.

well, yeah, look at the man in the Oval Office now.

well, Obama's pretty much fulfilled all his campaign promises re: foreign policy

shorter pat buchanan: all of those virtuous young white soldiers need to be cranking out catholic babies at home, not doing the jews' dirty work abroad

not that that sentence about the frontrunners' foreign policy noises are wrong a priori...

the Bush presidency turned out worse than anyone expected, but something happened in 2001 which gave it ballast.

Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld were looking for an excuse to go after Saddam from day 1. The connection to 9-11 was tenuous at best. I imagine the neo-cons will be just as creative in their justifications this time around.

uh the neo-con wing of the GOP is mostly gone/discredited because of Iraq FYI

Look, we're already firing drone rockets at American citizens abroad. Our foreign policy is already as bad as it can be.

Kristol's praying for Rubio(?!), Frum's basically disavowed the modern GOP, Cheney's close to death, Dubya's in hiding, Wolfowitz and Perle have disappeared afaict etc

xp

Our foreign policy is already as bad as it can be.

hmm I think perhaps you aren't being imaginative enough here...

uh the neo-con wing of the GOP is mostly gone/discredited because of Iraq FYI

they moved on to posting under my name on ilx

Secretary of State John Bolton will smother the Iranian mullahs to death with his lethal mustache!

Our foreign policy is already as bad as it can be.

unwarranted optimism here

Kristol's praying for Rubio(?!)

THE GOP'S ANSWER TO BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA

Secretary of State John Bolton will smother the Iranian mullahs to death with his lethal mustache!

mustache rides of DEATH

Wolfowitz at least was last seen asking questions of the GOP field at the debate hosted by heritage and AEI. they're not gone!

But how you believe something is as important as what you believe. It doesn’t matter if a person shares your overall philosophy. If that person doesn’t have the right temperament and character, stay away.

ugh, brooks trying to blow my mind in the last paragraph of his column today.

unwarranted optimism here

I'm pretty optimistic it will get worse.

how can it get worse if it's already as bad as it can be

by the magic of it being Friday afternoon and need a cocktail.

Wolfowitz at least was last seen asking questions of the GOP field at the debate hosted by heritage and AEI

oh shit yr right! yeah that was a weird Q&A, so many hatable people coming out of the woodwork to ask questions/score points (didn't Grover get one in?)

http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/c/c8/Marshallgrover.jpg

wait so cocktails are going to make something worse????

I think yr doing cocktails wrong

check, please!

yeah that was a weird Q&A

not as weird as the huckabee free publicity for GOP AGs debate.

uh the neo-con wing of the GOP is mostly gone/discredited because of Iraq FYI

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, December 9, 2011 4:47 PM (17 minutes ago)

idk dude, like maybe the "intellectual" (lol) neocon wing is less visible but have you seen these debates?

i mean tbf i have not seen these debates but i have READ about these debates and they all sound pretty crazy/neoconny!

In my experience reading comments left on right wing blogs and sites, I've concluded that there's an abyss between the GOP foreign policy establishment and Regular People; the latter are practically isolationist -- except, of course, when it comes to Israel.

idk the 'base' seems schizophrenic, they want a hyperstrong military but no foreign entanglements; no discursive give and take with any other people, but a president who can still make the world obey.

so they kind of seem like idiots, is what you're saying

"kind of"

in other news, I don't know why I just subjected myself to another Washington Post column by Charles Krauthammer

DOCTOR Krauthammer.

Kraut, if you're feelin' nasty.

contains so many weird mischaracterizations (the stimulus was a "giveaway" to teachers and unions? federal investment has never built successful industries? zuh?)

someone should remind Kraut every Friday when he's smirking on FOX that he worked for Mondale.

I just... the airline industry (actually the entire aerospace industry)? the internet? the oil industry?

also don't understand how Obamacare is an "entitlement"

Health care is not a right, Shakey. We have an oligation as a society to ensure that sick people don't become leeches on our system.

but Obamacare doesn't say you have the "right" to healthcare - in fact it obligates you to pay for it! and the gov't isn't paying out money to people from Obamacare, unless I'm forgetting something...?

sarcasm alert btw

well it expands medicaid eligibility, for one thing

xp

I know I know my sarcasm detector is working don't worry

xp

http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2011/12/09/barack_obama_s_loser_liberalism.html

Shakey and I are bros.

Shakey thinks GOP winning presidency is "ridiculously improbable"

not a Nate Silver fan^

Obama will hurl his $1 billion on top of the GOP nominee and crush him (assuming Michele Bachman continues to be Michele Bachman and therefore she loses). This will not prevent the GOP from sweeping the southern tier of the USA, apart from Florida and possibly New Mexico. Obama will flood the Midwest with money, until it is so bloated with campaign cash that it waddles.

here's an interesting take:

"Big Government Is Bad for Democracy"
http://bigthink.com/ideas/41078

"bureaucracies in fact are subject to very little effective democratic oversight. However, corporate and other special interests are profoundly affected by regulatory and other rulings issued by bureaucrats, which creates a strong incentive to either "capture" or otherwise influence these decisions."

not sure what the remedy would be, outside of tightening up the lax oversight that has allowed/ encouraged regulatory capture. and of course regulating the regulators is a fool's errand without a complete overhaul of campaign finance (lol right)

(caveat: Wilkinson is, if I'm not mistaken, a self-proclaimed "liberaltarian", but he's usually pretty thoughtful and not terribly far off-the-mark - even if he doesn't offer any specific solutions here)

supreme court is gonna hear the SB 1070 case

sans kagan