Huge Constituent Backlash at John McCain Town Hall

Well, I guess Syria's not at the top of the list for Arizona voters.

At the Blaze, "VOTERS EXPLODE ON JOHN MCCAIN AT PHOENIX TOWN HALL: ‘WE DIDN’T SEND YOU TO MAKE WAR FOR US’."



More video at Time, "Syrian Woman Confronts John McCain at Town Hall."

Victor Davis Hanson Brings Down the Hammer on America's Juvenile and Narcissistic So-Called Commander-in-Chief

Wow!

Here's an explosive follow up to my previous entry, from Victor Davis Hanson, at National Review, "If It Wasn't Syria, It Would Have Been Something Else":

How did Obama get himself into this mess? It was bound to happen, given his past habits. All we are seeing now is the melodramatic fulfillment of vero possumus, lowering the rising seas, faux Corinthian columns, hope and change, the bows, the Cairo speech, and the audacity of hope. Hubris does earn Nemesis.

1) His inclination is to damn straw men, blame others for his self-inflicted errors, and spike the ball when he should keep quiet and become modest (cf. the bin Laden raid). So in Syria we heard the same old, same old: A host of bad guys, here and abroad, wants to do nothing. Obama alone has the vision and moral compass to restore global and U.S. credibility through his eloquence; but the world disappointed him and is now at fault for establishing red lines that it won’t enforce: He came into the world to save the world, but the world rejected him.

After five years of this, the world caught on, and sees juvenile and narcissistic petulance in lieu of statesmanship—and unfortunately a sinister Putin takes great delight in reminding 7 billion people of this fact almost daily. In terms of geostrategic clout, Obama has nullified the power of his eleven aircraft-carrier battle groups, Putin through his shrewd insight and ruthless calculation of human nature, has added five where they didn’t exist.

2)  Obama thinks in an untrained manner and for all the talk of erudition and education seems bored and distracted—and it shows up in the most critical moments. Had he wished to stop authoritarians, prevent bloodshed and near genocide, and foster true reform in the Middle East, there were plenty of prior, but now blown occasions: a) the “good” war in Afghanistan could have earned his full attention; b) the “bad” Iraq War was won and needed only a residual force to monitor the Maliki government and protect Iraq airspace and ensure quiet; c) the green revolution in Iran was in need of moral support; d) Qaddafi could have been continually pressured for further reform rather than bombed into oblivion; e) postwar Libya needed U.S. leadership to ensure that “lead from behind” did not lead to the present version of Somalia and the disaster in Benghazi; e) long ago, the president could have either kept quiet about Syria or acted on his threats when Assad was tottering and the resistance was less Islamist; f) he could have warned the one vote/one time Muslim Brotherhood early on not to do what everyone in the world knew it would surely do; g) he need not have issued tough serial deadlines to Iran that we have not really enforced and probably have no intention of enforcing.

Instead, Obama relied on his rhetoric and talked loosely, sloppily and inconsistently from crisis to crisis, the only common denominator being that he always took the path of least resistance and thus did nothing concretely to match his cadences. Usually to the degree he made a decision, he made things worse with empty, first-person bombast.

3) Obama cannot attract top talent. Those from prior administrations who are gifted and worked for him or who were promoted by him—Robert Gates, David Petraeus, Paul Volcker, Richard Holbrooke, James Mattis, Stanley McChrystal—either were treated badly, not fully utilized, or ended up regretting their experience. Instead a host of mediocrities are recruited on the basis of either their partisanship, loyalty or demonstrated past lightness—an Eric Holder, Joe Biden, Susan Rice, Timothy Geithner, Chuck Hagel, etc.

Nowhere than in the present crisis is this unfortunate trend more telling: Pro-war John Kerry has opportunistic anti-war baggage, pontificates rather than persuades, and freelances into serial embarrassments; Martin Dempsey, to his credit, cannot square the circle of being an honest man assigned to say things he knows simply cannot be true, and so pleads the military’s version of the Fifth; Chuck Hagel has not recovered from the confirmation hearings, and just wishes Syria would go away; anything that a surprisingly quiet Joe Biden says on the crisis will probably be incoherent and incendiary, and surely contradictory of some past statement; Susan Rice astutely outsourced this crisis; Hillary Clinton whose “what difference does it make?” fingerprints are all over the Syrian and Libyan fiascos wisely got out of town ahead of the posse.

What is now the least bad choice between terrible and even more terrible alternatives? If the congressional vote is yes, the choice is cynically wasting a few American lives for a possible point, or killing lots more people for a more possible point. Not good choices.

Merciless. But so true.

America's in a bad spot right now. The Worst. President. Ever.

Russian Power Bolstered by Obama Foreign Policy Weakness

From J. Michael Waller, at IBD, "Obama's Weakness Provokes an Aggressive Russia, Say Analysts":

While President Obama is conferring with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 economic summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, current and retired senior American intelligence officials fear he is blind to a growing threat from a resurgent Russia.

These officials say that Moscow continues to probe America's skies and seas with bombers and submarines, both to assert itself and to see just how far Russia can push Obama. In June 2012, Russian strategic nuclear bombers broke protocol and conducted maneuvers in the Arctic without alerting the U.S.

A month later a Russian Tu-95 Bear-H strategic bomber, capable of carrying nuclear-armed cruise missiles, entered American airspace off Alaska and California. Then in August, a stealthy Russian Akula-class attack submarine, designed to hunt and sink American subs, patrolled for weeks off Texas, Louisiana and Florida.

Intelligence officials have raised a litany of concerns about Russian behavior that, when taken together, form what they see as an alarming pattern:

Aggressive spying on the U.S. and allied governments at Cold War levels;

Systematic espionage, including ultrasophisticated cybercampaigns, against private businesses to steal their proprietary information;

Accelerated strategic weapons modernization to enhance the ability to blackmail the U.S. and its allies with thermonuclear destruction.

Despite its own sagging economy and massive U.S. defense cuts, Russia is upgrading its Soviet-era weapons and building new systems superior to America's. At the sprawling Sevmash shipyards in the Arctic port of Severodvinsk, Russian workers are busy building the world's most advanced nuclear missile-firing, Borei-class submarines. To the south, at the Votkinsk Machine Building Plant in Russia's Udmurt Republic, technicians assemble Bulava ballistic missiles to be launched from those subs. Their purpose: to deliver high-tech thermonuclear warheads to incinerate American cities.

The Borei-class submarines will be armed with between 16 and 20 of the latest Bulava missiles, each capable of carrying between six and 10 nuclear warheads.

"The one thing that keeps Russians in the big boys' club is their strategic nuclear force," former CIA director Michael Hayden told American Media Institute. "It's not at all surprising that's something that continues to receive investment."

"The president has to communicate to the Russians that he's tougher than he appears to be in public," argues Robert W. Stephan, a former 20-year CIA veteran.

Instead, the Russians see a pattern of weakness under Obama, analysts say.

There's more at the link, but it's hardly necessary to keep reading. Barack Hussein has degraded American standing, capability, and credibility across the international system.

For more on that see strategic analyst John Arquilla, at Foreign Policy, "Mitt Romney Was Right."

Blurred Red Lines

At the Wall Street Journal, "Harry Truman, please call Obama":

President Obama isn't easy to follow up San Juan Hill, or for that matter even Capitol Hill. Rather than walk point on national security, he prefers to blend in with the enlisted men and women. Consider his astonishing statement on Wednesday at a press conference in Stockholm about his comments last year drawing a "red line" on the use of chemical weapons by Bashar Assad in Syria.

"First of all, I didn't set a red line," the President said. "The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98% of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war.

"Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that—in a piece of legislation titled the Syria Accountability Act—that some of the horrendous things that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for."

Then the President further blurred his own red lines by explaining whose credibility is at risk in the Syria vote in Congress: "Point number two, my credibility is not on the line. The international community's credibility is on the line. And America and Congress's credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important"....

Mr. Obama still hasn't figured out after five years in office that America is the only enforcer of world order, and thus that there is no substitute for the President of the United States. Mr. Obama can't default to "the international community," whatever that is, much less to Congress. He has to lead. If he loses on Syria, it will be because he hasn't.

PREVIOUSLY: "Rush Limbaugh Slams Barack Hussein's 'Psychopathic' Blame-Shifting on Syria 'Red Lines'," and "'My Credibility is Not On the Line...'"

Rush Limbaugh Slams Barack Hussein's 'Psychopathic' Blame-Shifting on Syria 'Red Lines'

No doubt truly deranged.

As I said earlier, the president's out of his depth. Seriously. The dude's losing it.

At the Daily Rushbo, "RUSH: Obama Walking Back From ‘Red Line’ Comments May Be ‘Psychopathic’."

'I'd like to know what rock the staff at the NYTimes has been hiding under for the last two years. It's a happy place. I'm guessing there are ponies and rainbows there too...'

That's Rusty Shackleford, at Jawa Report, mocking the nation's newspaper of record on its big "scoop" today on the "smuggled" al Qaeda snuff video.

See, "NYT on Syrian Rebels: What an incredible smell you've discovered!"

Here's the report at the Times, "Brutality of Syrian Rebels Posing Dilemma in West."

And here's the thing: We're to the point where mainstream media outlets are now providing cover for Barack Hussein's disastrous foreign policy by denying massive al Qaeda infiltration among Syria's rebel forces.

Look at the headline at the CNN, clip, for example, "Does execution video prove Syrian rebels to be extremists?"

It's almost embarrassing. The Times' video has blackened out images of the actual executions by gunfire, as if this is something that's unprecedented. But as Rusty notes at My Pet Jawa:

For literally dozens of similar videos of rebels murdering people in Syria, just scroll through our Syria archives. Unfortunately there are so many of these same type of snuff videos coming out of Syria that our archives can't store them all, only the ones from the past 6 months or so.

Here's one right here:



In any case, check Robert Spencer (an expert whether these folks are actually "extremists"), "Brutality of Syrian jihadists shows futility of U.S. intervention." (Via Memeorandum.)

Who's Neville Chamberlain?

I was talking about the levels-of-analysis problem in international relations yesterday, in my World Politics course. I mentioned that at the level of the individual decision-maker, political leaders are often influenced by historical analogies. And then I gave the example of policymakers often basing foreign policy decisions on the "need to avoid another Munich." I then asked my students if they were familiar with the Munich Crisis and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. I've got 45 students in the class and not one raised their hand. It's not unusual, that kind of historical illiteracy. I understand it and I take it in stride (students are in college to learn).

Still, I reflected on this. It was weird. Seems to me that understanding the significance of Munich, and its consequence in turning the term "appeasement" into a harsh opprobrium, is something students should know before the go to college. Or, more broadly, "Munich" is just one more essential lattice step in the complex construction of cultural literacy.



Years ago, just starting out at college, I read parts of Telford Taylor's, "Munich: The Price of Peace." I checked it out at the Orange Coast College library, although I wish I had my own copy. What a classic.

In any case, here's an article on the appeasement analogy, from Fredrik Logevall and Kenneth Osgood, at World Affairs, "The Ghost of Munich: America's Appeasement Complex":

Although the United States was not party to the 1938 agreement, Americans have nonetheless fixated on it for seven decades. “Munich” and “appeasement” have been among the dirtiest words in American politics, synonymous with naïveté and weakness, and signifying a craven willingness to barter away the nation’s vital interests for empty promises. American presidents from Harry Truman on have feared the dreaded “Munich analogy”—and projected an air of uncompromising toughness lest they be branded as appeasers by their political opponents...

Emily Gets Her Gun

It's out.

Emily Miller's new book has been published, Emily Gets Her Gun: ...But Obama Wants to Take Yours.

I've posted numerous video clips of this lady. She's very smart and quick on her feet. And she's well armed, of course. And that makes her a powerful (and self-empowered) patriot of the first rank.

Look! I just found my book at Barnes & Noble in NYC! Tweet me a photo from your local store. #EmilysGun pic.twitter.com/6u57bPOzgv
— Emily Miller (@EmilyMiller) September 3, 2013

And from yesterday on Fox News, "Emily Gets Her Gun' - Emily Miller on Fox and Friends - Gretchen Carlson - Fox News - 9-4-13," and "Emily Gets Her Gun - Emily Miller on Lou Dobbs - Fox Business - 9-4-13."

Al-Qaeda Terrorists Behead 24 Bus Passengers in Syrian 'Rebel' Massacre

And the U.S. is backing these people?

Bare Naked Islam, "SYRIA: Obama-armed and funded al-Qaeda linked rebels force 24 civilian passengers off bus and behead all of them, including a mother and baby."

And Blazing Cat Fur has video, "Video Content Warning: Obama's Rebel Allies, Moderate Friends Of McCain, Chant Allahu Akbar Decapitate 2 Captives." (And yeah, definitely a content warning. Seems like the jihadis used to complete the beheadings faster in the old days. These monsters take breaks between slashes to whoop and holler. Ghastly terror.)

Also at Jihad Watch, "We're going to war for al-Qaeda: Senate panel approves resolution giving Obama authority to use military force in Syria."

Hothead Anthony Weiner's Meltdown at Brooklyn Bakery

One of these days Anthony Weiner will be long forgotten, but for the moment he keeps laying down the drama.

Video is here, "Anthony Weiner, NYC Mayor Candidate FIGHT, Jewish Heckler, calls him " JackASS " - FULL/ transcript." Also, "Anthony Weiner Discusses His Confrontation With Voter."

And at the New York Times, "Weiner vs. Heckler in a Brooklyn Bakery":

Just when Anthony D. Weiner seemed to be fading from public view — his poll numbers sagging, his entourage of supporters dwindling — he walked into a bakery in Brooklyn.

Mr. Weiner, a Democratic candidate for mayor, was nibbling on a cheese danish during a campaign stop on Wednesday when a man began hurling insults in his direction. The man said Mr. Weiner was a “scumbag” and went after Mr. Weiner’s wife, Huma Abedin, saying Mr. Weiner was “married to an Arab.” Several times, he called Mr. Weiner “disgusting” for sending lewd pictures to women online.

Mr. Weiner, still chewing, turned irate.

“You’re a perfect person?” he said, pointing his finger in the man’s face. “What rabbi taught you that you’re my judge?”

The man interjected. “You’re a bad example for the people,” he said. “Your behavior’s deviant.”

He advised Mr. Weiner to “stay out of the public, go home and get a job.”

Mr. Weiner, however, would not let up...

And so it goes...

More at the Other McCain, "Your Behavior Is Deviant,’ Jewish Voter Tells Disgraced Anthony Weiner."

'My Credibility is Not On the Line...'

What to say here, really?

The mind yet boggles once more over the unrivaled ineptitude of our so-called Commander-in-Chief.

Yesterday Barack Hussein O-Bomba denied he announced a "red line" on Syrian WMD.

RealClearPolitics has the video, "President Obama: 'My Credibility Is Not On The Line'."

And here's the clip, from August 21, 2012, showing Obama's "red line" press conference, at the totally obscure Telegraph UK.

I don't usually feel sorry for him, but the world's just too complex a place for this president. He's seriously losing it.

Yay, Obama Has Finally Demobilized the U.S. Antiwar Movement!

We're all neocon Bush-Hitler war-for-oil imperialists now.

At Twitchy, "Out: Anti-war; In: War is ‘cool’: Ace of Spades, one photo destroy anti-war Left hypocrisy."



And at Business Insider, "In One Chart, Here's Why The Anti-War Movement Collapsed."

Freedom to Blog Update: September 4, 2013

No big long preamble needed.

Robert Stacy McCain has been sued by the Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin.

BRETT KIMBERLIN’S PLAN TO AVOID UNWANTED INTERNET ATTENTION doesn’t seem very well thought-out. http://t.co/UYvJUHzr9e - via @instapundit
— Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) September 5, 2013

Click through for updates at the post.

And at Zilla of the Resistance, "Perpetually #ButtHurt Free Speech Hating #ConvictedTerrorist #SpeedwayBomber #BrettKimberlin Sues Bloggers – AGAIN."

Senator John McCain: Obama Should Have Acted Without Congressional Vote

Here's one time in recent years where I'm fully behind McCain ... or, well, I'm behind him on this idea of the president's disastrous deferral to the Congress. If you bluster about red lines and military consequences, you don't go hide behind the skirt of separation of power. Obama had all the authority to strike over the weekend, under the War Powers Act. These delays are making the United States look weak.

Here's a lengthy interview from today's CBS News This Morning:



And see Fox News, "McCain opposes Syria strike resolution." (Via Memeorandum.)

The Democrats' 'Smart Power' Lies in Ruins

A long, devastating indictment of the amateur years of Obama-Democrat foreign policy, from Jim Geraghty, at National Review.



PHOTO CREDIT: White House Flickr.

Code Pink Protests Senate Hearing on Syria

At the Other McCain, "DIE, HIPPIES! Instead of Bombing Syria, Why Don’t We Bomb Code Pink Instead?"

Cleveland Kidnapper Ariel Castro Commits Suicide

My wife called him a coward. Last night we saw the news and she said, "He took the easy way out."

At the Los Angeles Times, "Ariel Castro, captor of Cleveland women, found hanged in prison."

And at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "Ariel Castro hangs himself, defense attorney says prison denied request for suicide evaluation," and "After Ariel Castro death, attorney said survivors will not make statement."

Recognizing the Wrong People — Implications for U.S. Intervention in Syria

An essay on Diana West's book, American Betrayal, from Clare M. Lopez, which was apparently yanked from the Gatestone Institute's homepage after first being published.

At Diana's blog, "Clare Lopez: Recognizing the Wrong People."

It's not clear what happened, but I like how Ms. Lopez extrapolates from FDR's recognition of the murderous Soviet regime in 1993 to the foreign policy fiascos of the current, Muslim-infiltrated Barack Hussein administration:

As the world confronts the next horror of innocent Syrian men, women, and little children, hundreds of them apparently, killed in late August 2013 by a rocket barrage of the deadly chemical weapon, sarin, the U.S. and the world once again have the opportunity to react rationally, soberly, and with core U.S. national security interests uppermost in consideration. It seems most likely that the Iranian-and-Hizballah-backed regime of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad is responsible for this latest war crime, and the outcry to empower his al-Qa'eda- and Muslim Brotherhood-dominated rebel opposition has become overwhelming. U.S. naval forces are positioned near Syria in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, pending a White House decision on U.S. action. Yet, even as one side of this intra-Islamic sectarian civil war is getting the worst of it, with more than 100,000 casualties racked up so far, and no end in sight, with chemical weapons against civilians introduced into the conflict, there has never been a more critical need for rational, sober-minded thinking about where U.S. interests and responsibility lie. While a 2012 Presidential Intelligence Finding for Syria authorized the extensive clandestine CIA, financial, and Special Forces training support that has been channeled to Syrian rebels (jihadis and non-jihadis alike), in the months since then, any decision to expand that support, now that chemical weapons have been used against civilians in a large-scale attack, demands a significantly better informed assessment of the probable beneficiaries of such assistance than has been the case to date.

Any decision to deploy U.S. military force beyond a punishing strike against the specific Syrian base and military unit that carried out this chemical weapons atrocity must take into consideration the consequences of an al-Qa'eda and Muslim Brotherhood victory in the Syrian civil war. It is hard to see how enabling the replacement of Iranian proxies and Shi'ite jihadis in Syria with Sunni jihadis aligned with al-Qa'eda and the Muslim Brotherhood will advance either U.S. national security interests in the region or those of our closest allies, Israel and Jordan. Providing generous humanitarian assistance to civilian victims is urgent and right; but, before America recognizes any more totalitarian-minded enemies of genuine liberal democracy, it would do well to enlist common sense, good judgment, and a judicious measure of national self-interest. It is high time we stopped empowering those who wish us ill.

Previously on Diana West here.

'Model of the Year' Kate Upton on 'VANITY FAIR' 100th Anniversary Cover

Via Kate Upton and Vanity Fair on Twitter.

And here's the background on Ms. Upton as "Model of the Year."

Plus, an encore from Randy's Roundtable featuring lots of bodacious photos of the young lady.

Smokin! Kelly Brook in New 'Juliet' Video from Lawson

Ravishing.

At Digital Spy, "Lawson, Kelly Brook star in new single 'Juliet' music video - watch."



And at London's Daily Mail, "Now that's a teaser! Lawson do their best to resist the charms of Kelly Brook in a preview from the video for new single Juliet."

Lawson's Wikipedia entry is here.