jayboat
Banned
Andrew Sullivan sets the neocons' pants on fire with this blog post.
A Neocon Panic
If you believe that the only strategy America can have is bombing, invading and torturing, today's events must be a little disorienting. Here's Goldfarb desperately trying to spin against the administration:
There seems to be real bipartisan support in both the House and Senate for Congressionally-mandated sanctions that are not held hostage to this president's naive focus on diplomatic engagement and the faith this president obviously has in his own powers of persuasion.
Heh. Then this piece of undigested prose from another Kristolite. Jonah Goldberg approvingly reprints the following email:
So let me get this straight, our crack intelligence community knew about this second Iranian nuke plant a year ago (so it couldn't have been that big of secret to begin with) which means our Wonderful and Gracious Dear Leader knew about this second facility and STILL felt the need to reach out to the Iranians as if they were rational actors who could be trusted along with canceling the missle defense site site in Europe?
The sheer simple-minded dumbness of these people never ceases to amaze. Obama has maneuvered these past few months to isolate Iran without seeming to bully or dominate. Because of that, he has a decent chance of getting real sanctions approved by Russia and maybe even China. But this delicate piece of diplomacy and public relations infuriates the unchastened neocon right. They like their foreign policy crude and simplistic and ... well, Cheneyesque. Even after such an approach failed to provide any real results except the occupation of two countries and the nuclear empowerment of North Korea and Iran. Ideology remains entrenched, immune as ever to the facts on the ground.
Obama is more the conservative than they will ever be.
And then he really brings the hammer down with this email from one of his readers in response to the aforementioned blog entry. Neocon Panic indeed.
It must drive them nuts to see a clear, if limited, victory for a strategy that is diametrically opposed to their own. Their ideology being discredited by events, and so they characteristically fall back into blind fits of intransigence, like screaming, foot-stomping children.
That Goldberg emailer fails to see what has happened. Obama has known about this facility from day one. At Cairo, he reached out the Muslim world, undermining the Iranian regime's ability to engage in arm-waving, fear-mongering anti-Americanism. He built himself a triumvirate with Brown and Sarkozy, who actually have an intelligence presence in Iran. He used that presence to build an airtight case. He cut a deal with the Russians. He reached out to Iran, knowing that they would likely reject or ignore his overtures. Then, when Ahmadinejad comes to New York, having to face Western journalists, Obama announces the the existence of the Qom facility, turning the spotlight on Iran when they are unable to hide behind state-controlled media. Obama, cool and calm, pulled off a near-perfect diplomatic pincer.
Finally, after years, we're starting to get somewhere with no threats and no bombs. Like I said, it must drive the neocons nuts. Obama did in eight months what George Bush couldn't do in eight years. How long do you think it will take for Krauthammer find a way to twist this victory into an accusation of naivete?
We know where the naivete exists: among the neocons who predicted an easy, quick victory in Iraq, a country they assured us had no real sectarian tension. I take full responsibility for believing them. But I learned something which they apparently haven't: their claims of hard-headedness are delusional. They don't actually know how the world works. Obama, it seems, may have a better grip.
*
Go ahead and slam me for the cut and paste- it's the truth and all of you know it. Sullivan and his reader just say it a whole lot better than I ever could. Our current president knows how to play the game to win.
A Neocon Panic
If you believe that the only strategy America can have is bombing, invading and torturing, today's events must be a little disorienting. Here's Goldfarb desperately trying to spin against the administration:
There seems to be real bipartisan support in both the House and Senate for Congressionally-mandated sanctions that are not held hostage to this president's naive focus on diplomatic engagement and the faith this president obviously has in his own powers of persuasion.
Heh. Then this piece of undigested prose from another Kristolite. Jonah Goldberg approvingly reprints the following email:
So let me get this straight, our crack intelligence community knew about this second Iranian nuke plant a year ago (so it couldn't have been that big of secret to begin with) which means our Wonderful and Gracious Dear Leader knew about this second facility and STILL felt the need to reach out to the Iranians as if they were rational actors who could be trusted along with canceling the missle defense site site in Europe?
The sheer simple-minded dumbness of these people never ceases to amaze. Obama has maneuvered these past few months to isolate Iran without seeming to bully or dominate. Because of that, he has a decent chance of getting real sanctions approved by Russia and maybe even China. But this delicate piece of diplomacy and public relations infuriates the unchastened neocon right. They like their foreign policy crude and simplistic and ... well, Cheneyesque. Even after such an approach failed to provide any real results except the occupation of two countries and the nuclear empowerment of North Korea and Iran. Ideology remains entrenched, immune as ever to the facts on the ground.
Obama is more the conservative than they will ever be.
And then he really brings the hammer down with this email from one of his readers in response to the aforementioned blog entry. Neocon Panic indeed.
It must drive them nuts to see a clear, if limited, victory for a strategy that is diametrically opposed to their own. Their ideology being discredited by events, and so they characteristically fall back into blind fits of intransigence, like screaming, foot-stomping children.
That Goldberg emailer fails to see what has happened. Obama has known about this facility from day one. At Cairo, he reached out the Muslim world, undermining the Iranian regime's ability to engage in arm-waving, fear-mongering anti-Americanism. He built himself a triumvirate with Brown and Sarkozy, who actually have an intelligence presence in Iran. He used that presence to build an airtight case. He cut a deal with the Russians. He reached out to Iran, knowing that they would likely reject or ignore his overtures. Then, when Ahmadinejad comes to New York, having to face Western journalists, Obama announces the the existence of the Qom facility, turning the spotlight on Iran when they are unable to hide behind state-controlled media. Obama, cool and calm, pulled off a near-perfect diplomatic pincer.
Finally, after years, we're starting to get somewhere with no threats and no bombs. Like I said, it must drive the neocons nuts. Obama did in eight months what George Bush couldn't do in eight years. How long do you think it will take for Krauthammer find a way to twist this victory into an accusation of naivete?
We know where the naivete exists: among the neocons who predicted an easy, quick victory in Iraq, a country they assured us had no real sectarian tension. I take full responsibility for believing them. But I learned something which they apparently haven't: their claims of hard-headedness are delusional. They don't actually know how the world works. Obama, it seems, may have a better grip.
*
Go ahead and slam me for the cut and paste- it's the truth and all of you know it. Sullivan and his reader just say it a whole lot better than I ever could. Our current president knows how to play the game to win.
