Krauthammer Pile-On Posted by Patrick Barry

Never underestimate Charles Krauthammer - you may think you know how he feels, but then, all of sudden, he lurches into a hyperbolic rant that's completely inconsistent with his previous position.  Case in point: today's squirm-inducing endorsement of John Mcain, principally for reasons of foreign policy, and intended to drive people into the voting booths  and from there under their beads where they will remain, paralyzed with fear.  Earlier this month, Krauthammer gave Barack Obama slight praise on the subject, saying "In the foreign policy debate with McCain, as in his July news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Obama held his own -- fluid, familiar and therefore plausibly presidential."  This morning's op-ed finds a very different Krauthammer, wondering how, in a world brimming with existential crises, we could possibly consider voting for someone who thought 9-11 was only a "tragedy."

Fortunately, in spite of all the loathsome details that fill up Krauthammer's op-ed, it's still possible to dismantle his arguments. Matt Yglesias got things started this morning. Responding to Krauthammer's catalog of 'disasters only-John McCain-can-face' (which include Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, instability in Pakistan, the "generations-long struggle with Islamic jihadism," Russia's resurgence, and something ludicrous about the Falkland Islands), Matt argues:

This is a common conservative conceit — that progressive approaches to national security might be good enough if you don’t really care, but in a dangerous world you need to turn to conservative ideas. Here it’s instructive to consider the record. Even if you engage in the conservative conceit that George W. Bush deserves no blame for 9/11 even though his administration came into office and explicitly chose to put al-Qaeda on the back-burner, it can’t be said often enough that more Americans — and orders of magnitude more people — have died as a result of invading Iraq than died on 9/11. In non-proliferation terms, the situation is worse in Iran than it was when Bush took office. And the situation is much worse in North Korea than it was when Bush took office. Russia starting to push the limits of revanchism isn’t something that “just happened” it was a predictable — and, indeed, widely predicted — consequence of the Bush administration’s approach to Russia and general embrace of unilateralism

I agree with Matt 100% percent in the sense that all evidence points to the fact that conservative foreign policy has set this country adrift. If conservative ideas result in bad foreign policy, and John McCain is running as the conservative candidate (and is thus, by default, the keeper of conservative ideology) then yes, it's reasonable to expect a continuation of this bad foreign policy with John McCain at the helm. 

However, it's not enough to end at the McCain-Bush comparison.  Faced with that criticism, McCain supporters like Krauthammer are likely to respond in the same way as their candidate - by whining that if Obama wanted to run against George W. Bush, he should have done so in 2004.  And in responding that way, they would have a point.  That's why it's equally important to look at John McCain's own positions and statements to see how he would respond to Krauthammer's compendium of calamities.  And doing that leaves you with some worrisome impressions. 

For instance, it's absolutely true, that Pakistan's "fragmentation," as Krauthammer observes, is a serious problem, but one of the reasons for that fragmentation is U.S. support for a military autocrat, a man John McCain praised last winter for doing a "pretty good job." 

Of course no one wants Iran to get nuclear weapons, but it would be nice if got to that point without having to fight a war on a third-front - something John McCain's own surrogates believe is a foregone conclusion. 

Nor is it hard to find objections to McCain's position on Russia, or his ability to deal with terrorists amassed in the Af-Pak region.  The only issue I can't speak to is the Falklands, for which Krauthammer should receive the worst-October Suprise-analogy-ever award. 

So Yglesias is right - if Krauthammer is a conservative, and John McCain is a conservative, and conservatives have been running our foreign policy for the past 8 years, you really have to raise an eyebrow if their asking for another 4.  But you also have to look at policies.  And John McCain's are pretty bad.

Comments

[Floyd]

The statement that "orders of magnitude more people" have died in Iraq than died on 9/11 (that's presumably a reference to Iraqi civilians) isn't really fair - it's comparing apples to oranges. The real comparison would be how many Iraqis have died compared to the number who would have died had Saddam Hussein stayed in power, or the number whose deaths he'd caused in one way or another.

[PensiveGadfly]

Every time I hear about this fellow telling us what he thinks, I remember him chiding those who doubted WMD intelligence as idiots, and I remember him saying--based upon his psychological training--that Al Gore is a pathological liar (not long after the falsely attributed "I invented the internet" comment). After being so demonstrably and totally wrong on really big things, why does he get any hearing any more at all?

[SomeThoughts]

Let me see if I get this right. Now, we are blaming everything that has transpired in the last eight years in all corners of the world on the Bush presidency. This is an interesting standard to uphold. If Obama is elected and Iran produces a few nuclear weapons in a few years, then surely it will be his fault.

The efforts to paint McCain as Bush have always been intellectually dishonest, but I see we are now moving toward high fantasy.

[PB]

Anyone wondering if Krauthammer struck a nerve with his piece ... has only to read the wailing and teeth-gnashing breathless response from the Left.

He obviously got something right. Not one response has been articulate or objective. Instead, their full of emotive nonsense like "loathsome."

There's no denying Krauthammer's basic point: Barack Obama is in no way, shape, or form even close to being ready to be President. He has the singular distinction of being even less qualified than Sarah Palin.

Patrick Berry knows this, of course. He knows that he can't actually dispute that basic point. So he responds with empty tripe like this.

It's a pretty simple concept: look at Obama's resume. Look at McCain's. If you take ideology out of the equation, and you're in charge of hiring based on those resumes - who do you pick?

There is only one answer.

So Mr. Berry, why not be honest and say what you really think? Here, I'll help: yes, I know Obama has no business in ANY executive office. I know he has zero executive experience, has never led in the military, or run a business, or a town, or a state. He has zero foreign policy experience, and the sum total of his domestic experience involves a few years as a junior state legislator and a couple years running for President. But see ... he thinks like I do. And I really don't care about the rest. So anyone who points out the truth I don't like must be "loathsome."

There. Was honesty so hard? You know the truth. We know you know the truth. Why not just speak the truth?

And for the record, I'd be happy to argue Obama's policies. But he doesn't have any. How could he? And even if he did, how could we analyze them - since the media never asks those questions?

[Thomas Beck]

Krauthammer never mentioned Sarah Palin even once in his endorsement of McCain today. And he expects us to take him seriously?

[nadine]

I love it where Berry thinks that Mr. Berry thinks that Krauthammer was praising Obama, even a little, when he called him "fluid, familiar and therefore plausibly presidential" in July. The key word there, just to mail Mr. Berry a clue, is "plausibly.". Charles Krauthammer thinks, as he has always thought, there is a large and substantial difference between acting "Presidential" while on a photo-op tour of Europe, which Krauthammer usually calls "Obama's magic carpet tour", and actually having the character, experience and principles to BE Presidential where it counts - in the Oval Office. Krauthammer doesn't even think that Obama managed the first, let alone the second. I guess Mr. Berry missed Mr. Krauthammer's comments that Obama's speech to the Germans had a problem of scale - the venue was so vast, but the speech was so small.

No, Krauthammer has been consistent about Obama all year - lucid, withering, and consistent. He believe that Obama is absolutely unqualified to be President, lacking both character and experience.

[flyovercountry51]

Obama Kenyan Citizenship Issue Still not Resolved
I recently addressed the question around the possibility of Obama not being born in America by being born in Kenya. If that were the case, Obama would be ineligible to run for President. A long shot possibility but worth bringing up as further evidence arises. For whatever reason this is one of the rumors that won’t go away. His so-called Muslim roots and relationship with Ayers has faded into the background but this may just be getting heated up with about a week to go until elections.

Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J. Berg, who filed a lawsuit demanding Sen. Barack Obama present proof of his American citizenship, now says that by failing to respond Obama has legally “admitted” to the lawsuit’s accusations, including the charge that the Democratic candidate was born in Mombosa, Kenya.

As WND reported, Berg filed suit in U.S. District Court in August, alleging Obama is not a natural-born citizen and is thus ineligible to serve as president of the United States. Though Obama has posted an image of a Hawaii birth certificate online, Berg demands that the court verify the original document, which the Obama campaign has not provided.

Now Berg cites Rule 36 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which states that unless the accused party provides written answer or objection to charges within 30 days, the accused legally admits the matter.

Since Obama has only filed motions to dismiss and has not actually answered the charges in the lawsuit, Berg claims, according to Rule 36, Obama has legally admitted he is not a natural-born citizen.

Now Berg is asking the court for a formal declaration of Obama’s admission and asking the Democratic National Committee for another presidential candidate.

In a statement released today, Berg argues that he filed Requests for Admissions on Sept. 15, meaning Obama had until Oct. 15 to answer or face the consequences of Rule 36.

“Obama and the DNC ‘admitted,’ by way of failure to timely respond to Requests for Admissions, all of the numerous specific requests in the Federal lawsuit,” Berg’s statement reads. “Obama is ‘not qualified’ to be president and therefore Obama must immediately withdraw his candidacy for president and the DNC shall substitute a qualified candidate.”

Berg’s original lawsuit leveled several charges at both Obama and the DNC - accusing the former of lying about his place of birth, faking his birth certificate and fraudulently running for office; and accusing the latter of not properly vetting its candidate.

Though it hasn’t given Berg the evidence he seeks, the Obama campaign has publicly answered allegations that the candidate was born in Kenya and faked his Hawaii birth certificate.

“Smears claiming Barack Obama doesn’t have a birth certificate aren’t actually about that piece of paper,” says the “Fight the Smears” section of Obama’s website, “they’re about manipulating people into thinking Barack is not an American citizen.

“The truth is, Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii in 1961, a native citizen of the United States of America,” the campaign website states. It also includes images of a Hawaii birth certificate bearing the name Barack Hussein Obama II.

Berg has also taken the controversy public through his website and through repeated public offers to revoke the lawsuit if Obama will produce legal documents that establish his citizenship.

Without those documents, Berg has chosen to file two additional motions in district court in Philadelphia. The first asks the court to notify Obama and the DNC of what Berg understands they have now legally “admitted,” and the second asks for an expedited ruling, given the quickly upcoming Nov. 4 election.

“It all comes down to the fact that there’s nothing from the other side,” Berg told Jeff Schreiber for his blog, America’s Right. “The admissions are there. By not filing the answers or objections, the defense has admitted everything. He admits he was born in Kenya. He admits he was adopted in Indonesia. He admits that the documentation posted online is a phony. And he admits that he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as president of the United States.”

WorldNetDaily

So what’s the deal behind all this? I guess we’ll see what happens. To be honest, if there is a chance that he isn’t a citizen it’s going to swept under the rug and fixed by the DNC. There’s no way that there are going to let their guy sit out of the race. They destroyed the Clintons to get him where he is there’s no way a little think like not being a U.S. citizen is going to stop them.

[ERd-words]

What good is McCain's experience , if

his judgment is bad? Now, Palin, there's a

lady with experience!

[nadine]

Sarah Palin is the Governor of Alaska. She has MUCH more executive experience than Barack Obama, who has NONE.

Now, if you think that Barack Obama is such a super-human personality that he can just wing the Presidency as an entry-level management job, that's your privilege. Those of us who can tell the difference between glibness and leadership doubt it.

Cool and collected can turn into detached and clueless in a big hurry, if you don't know which way to turn in a crisis.

[bobg]

Ummm...I think Krauthammer may have been saying what everyone says--that Obama is a smooth talker with an attractive facade. Nothing about judgment, experience or leadership. But Yglesias is nothing but foolish. To be so brazen as to imply that Bush is responsible for 9/11 after 8 months in office without commenting on the eight years of Democratic rule under which Al Qaeda was formed, strengthened and ignored just shows that partisanship trumps logic for your pal Matt. And here's the appropriate comparison: if we had chosen what you so intriguingly label a "liberal" response to 9/11, what would have happened? Would Al Qaeda have been disrupted? would other terrorist attacks in the U.S. have occurred? Would Iran and North Korea have behaved differently? Try giving me that alternate history. Here, I'll help: "President Gore would have sent our armed forces solely into Afghanistan to search for, find and kill Osama Bin Laden, they would have succeeded, and we would have lived happily ever after." Try filling in the details--I can't wait. Or even, show me how superior Obama's judgment is: if we had withdrawn all troops instead of adopting the surge strategy, what would have happened? Look forward to reading about it!

[Ray Kennedy]

I have not read commentary so intellectually dishonest as Berry's. I suppose we do have to come to grips with the fact that western thought is in conflict with Muslim approaches. Possibly one who understands and approves of Muslim philosophy can straighten out western ideals to be more compatable. I suggest that all women go out and buy their head scarves.

[Ray Kennedy]

I have not read commentary so intelectually dishonest as Berry's. I suppose we do have to come to grips with the fact that western thought is in conflict with Muslim approaches. Possibly one who understands and approves of Muslim philosophy can straighten out western ideals to be more compatable. I suggest that all women go out and buy their head scarves.

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