Repub Senator Calls Palin "Cocky Wacko"

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Repub Senator Calls Palin "Cocky Wacko"
52
Thu, 09-11-2008 - 11:24pm

"Former Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee has called vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a "cocky wacko" and said her selection as John McCain's running mate has energized supporters of Democrat Barack Obama."

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Former_GOP_senator_calls_Palin_cocky_0911.html

Thank goodness someone in the Republican Party had the guts to call it like it is. I predict this Palin myth will start wearing thin over the next few weeks. Want someone who is much more likely to start another needless war, this time with Russia no less? Vote McCain/Palin. At his age there's a good shot you'll get President Palin.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 11:47am
Once again...Bush isn't running in 2008.


95% of him is, in John McCain:

Opponents of Republican John McCain — including Democratic rival Barack Obama — have said a McCain presidency would amount to a third term for President Bush. McCain's Senate record generally shows strong support for the president's agenda — except for big tax cuts, which McCain opposed. As a presidential candidate, though, McCain has gone from breaking ranks with the president on tax cuts, to falling in line.


As to the rest? I have no doubt (and the evidence already accumulated in this thread demonstrates) that doctrinaire, party-line Republicans are indeed contemptuous and dismissive of Chaffee, but that doesn't mean all Republicans are. Moderates Republicans, and independents for whom "independent" isn't simply official cover for "hard-core conservative who just refuses to check the "Republican" box on the voter reg form" may very well take some interest - or even feel some affinity for - people like Chaffee and Eisenhower. They're worth listening to.

Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-10-2006
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 11:52am

Thursday, September 11, 2008

ABC

Defining the Bush Doctrine

The left is going bananas over Governor Palin's answer to Gibson's "Bush Doctrine" question. Andy McCarthy has a good post on it over in the Corner, but I thought I'd add a little history of the "Bush Doctrine" using the search function at NYTimes.com. The term "Bush Doctrine" looks to have been used for the first time, post 9/11, in mid-November:

A senior administration official said Mr. Bush's speech would be a fleshing out of what the White House calls the Bush Doctrine — the assertion that nations that harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terrorists themselves.

In January 2002, the editors of the Times wrote:

Mr. Bush appears to be developing an assertive new military doctrine that includes the threat of armed intervention against nations that are developing weapons that may put the United States in peril. The evolving Bush Doctrine implies a preemptive use of conventional force to take out missile launchers, industrial enterprises and facilities that appear to be involved in the fabrication of unconventional weapons. This is a radical departure from what went before. Traditionally, the United States has employed its military forces in retaliation for an attack rather than striking first itself. That should not preclude other options when there is a clear and present danger of attack, but firing first is not a step to be taken lightly.

By March, the "Bush Doctrine" had expanded yet again to include regime change:

In the tug of war between the go-get-'em, nuke-brandishing civilians of the Pentagon and the coalition-minded pragmatists of the State Department, conservatives are now convinced Mr. Bush's sympathies are gung-ho. The Weekly Standard, which has overcome personal strains with Mr. Bush to become something like the president's conservative superego, has taken to calling this ''The Bush Doctrine.''

''On tactics, he may be listening to Colin Powell,'' said Norman Podhoretz, the influential conservative editor and author. ''But he's very clear as to his strategic objectives — not just to clean up Al Qaeda cells but to effect regime changes in six or seven countries and to create conditions which would lead to internal reform and modernization in the Islamic world.''

In September, the Times had an editorial titled, "Bush Doctrine," based on the National Security Strategy paper submitted to Congress. An excerpt:

The tension between idealism and realism in foreign policy runs through America history, and the fault lines are evident in Mr. Bush's policy statement. The paper — a policy summation that every president is required to submit to Congress — seems in some sections to be animated by the most enlightened and constructive impulses of the land of Jefferson, Lincoln and the Marshall Plan. It dedicates the nation to extending the benefits of freedom, democracy, prosperity and the rule of law to struggling countries around the globe. Mr. Bush speaks eloquently in an introductory letter about working with other nations to combat disease and alleviate poverty, and he reaffirms his determination to increase American foreign aid.

At other points, the paper sounds more like a pronouncement that the Roman Empire or Napoleon might have produced. Given Mr. Bush's lone-wolf record on matters like global warming, and the nature of the issues he now faces, including a looming confrontation with Iraq, it is clear these combative attitudes will be driving Washington policy in the months ahead. The boys in Lubbock may want to pause before signing on for the overly aggressive stance Mr. Bush has outlined.

This, I believe, is the September 2002 that Charlie Gibson refers to in his interview. Gibson only referred to the preemption aspect of it, but the human rights and regime changes aspects are as important. Gibson never mentioned this in his little snarky lecture to Gov. Palin.

By April, 2003, we have President Bush admitting he's not quite sure what the "Bush Doctrine" actually is:

Mr. Bush's overt use of diplomatic pressure against Syria and Iran, two countries that Mr. Bush has identified as sponsors of terrorism, is in stark contrast to the use of preemptive force against Iraq.

Yet at one point in his interview, Mr. Bush acknowledged that he had yet to fully form the ''Bush doctrine,'' or to think through how the American victory in Iraq would affect his vow to deal with weapons of mass destruction on a global basis.

In December, we have yet another version of the "Bush Doctrine" as described in the book America Unbound:

Buttressed by extensive research, the authors demonstrate convincingly that Mr. Bush is not the puppet of the vice president or the Defense Department hawks. He has fundamental beliefs that have reversed America's six-decade commitment to internationalism. His foreign policy for the 21st century marks a decided preference for unilateralism.

As the authors describe it, his policy rests on two beliefs: ''The first was that in a dangerous world the best — if not the only — way to ensure America's security was to shed the constraints imposed by friends, allies, and international institutions.'' The second belief was that ''an America unbound should use its strength to change the status quo in the world.''

This does not mean that America need always act alone. When unilateral actions seem impossible or unwise, Mr. Bush will seek allies, but not to make decisions that would require their approval. His preferred approach is to seek ad hoc ''coalitions of the willing,'' what Richard Haas, a former adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell, has called ''à la carte multilateralism.''

After John Kerry's defeat in 2005, the "Bush Doctrine" became defined by the left with the buzzwords "preemptive" and "unilateral." Paul Krugman for example:

On the foreign policy front, the "Bush doctrine" of pre-emption and unilateralism sounded very impressive at first. But Mr. Bush's tough-guy attitude wasn't matched by his willingness to commit resources. His administration sought global dominance on the cheap, with an undermanned, underplanned invasion of Iraq that has, indeed, transformed the balance of power in the Middle East - in favor of Iran.

In December 2006, Gary Hart wrote this in defense of Barack Obama:

His inherent internationalism causes him to ponder why, five years after 9/11 and 15 years after the end of the cold war, the United States “still lacks a coherent national security policy,” rightly finding the Bush doctrine of pre-emption and defeat of evil in the world wanting.

In January 2007, there's this description:

In a sense, it was an extraordinary retreat by Bush - and not just because Fatah and Hamas killing each other daily makes a plan for new talks surreal. More, it winds the United States deeper into the whorls of process, and goes against the Bush doctrine that democratization of the Middle East starts with the defeat of terrorism.

September 2007:

None of the leading Republican candidates has been willing to articulate anything like a new direction for how to confront terrorism or what to do in Iraq, despite the fact that the Bush doctrine of forcibly spreading democracy has been widely deemed a failure, even by a sizable chunk of Republicans.

From the Times review of Norman Podhoretz's World War IV:

Mr. Podhoretz, however, remains an ardent supporter of the Bush doctrine of unilateral action, pre-emptive war and the exportation of democracy to the Middle East.

So, it's easy to see why there might be a little confusion on what exactly Charlie Gibson was getting at when he asked about the "Bush Doctrine." Except for the Times, of course. It's crystal clear for them. Here's how they wrote up the Palin interview:

In the interview Thursday, Palin:

—Appeared unsure of the Bush doctrine — essentially that the United States must help spread democracy to stop terrorism and that the nation will act pre-emptively to stop potential foes.

Asked whether she agreed with that, Palin said: ''In what respect, Charlie?'' Gibson pressed her for an interpretation of it. She said: ''His world view.'' That prompted Gibson to say ''no, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war'' and describe it to her.

Here's what Gibson actually said, however:

The Bush Doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self defense. That we have the right to a premptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us.

Not only was Charlie Gibson wrong about what was enunciated in September 2002, Gov. Palin was 100% correct in asking what the heck he was babbling about as well as 100% correct in what she said.

09/11 10:28 PM

http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODFkOTU3MjUwYWM4N2I1NzE2ZjU3NGQzZjg0MzYyZjk=

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 12:25pm

So you agree that the title of this thread is a lie?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 12:31pm
Not really; Chaffee is also not a Senator currently either - but I'm pretty sure the poster who posted up the OP knew that. The character-number restrictions of title lines for posts here sometimes makes it difficult to convey the point of the thread succinctly enough to be understandable without making it completely illegible through over-abbreviation. Chaffee, until quite recently, WAS a Senator....and during that time, and for the entire rest of his life prior to that (as far as I know), he was ALSO Republican.

So, while it's undeniably true that he is neither one of those things any longer, I don't think the title of this thread is a "lie" - i.e., an intentional falsehood meant to deceive. I think it was an attempt to not say something meaningless, like "SOME GUY calls Palin cocky wacko." That's all.

Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-18-2006
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 7:07pm

Opponents of Republican John McCain — including Democratic rival Barack Obama — have said a McCain presidency would amount to a third term for President Bush.


Well of course they did.

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-06-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 7:13pm

Yep....because it's true.

Or did you have some evidence you'd like to present which disputes that fact?

Now in darkness, world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has sturck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees, the war pigs crawling Begging
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 7:40pm

*** "Former Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee has called vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a "cocky wacko" and said her selection as John McCain's running mate has energized supporters of Democrat Barack Obama."

Obviously he hasn't looked at the polls or talked to dem fundraisers lately.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 7:44pm

*** Thank goodness someone in the Republican Party had the guts to call it like it is.

Would that be liked the Democrat Presidential Candidate, the VP candidate, the should-have-been VP candidate, and the former Dem President ALL agreeing that Obama doesn't have enough experience to be President? LOL!

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2003
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 7:51pm
When I heard that clip of the Bush Doctrine question today it wasn't preempted with any explanation or suggestion of whether or not Palin handled the question well.
NIU Ribbon   Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-31-2008
Fri, 09-12-2008 - 7:55pm

I did a winky on that post, if you missed it. I do think Palin drinks the koolaid of the neocons and believes wholeheartedly in the Bush Doctrine.


I find it rather telling that she did the "deer in the headlights" look when Gibson asked the question. Instead of tapdancing around with talking points, she should have pinned him down and asked him what