To all the nay-sayers.. saying no chance, You'll soon be on board ; )
Posted on 05/18/2007 7:52:44 AM PDT by Reagan Man
It was the decisive moment of the South Carolina debate.
Hearing Rep. Ron Paul recite the reasons for Arab and Islamic resentment of the United States, including 10 years of bombing and sanctions that brought death to thousands of Iraqis after the Gulf War, Rudy Giuliani broke format and exploded:
"That's really an extraordinary statement, as someone who lived through the attack of 9-11, that we invited the attack because we were attacking Iraq. I don't think I have ever heard that before, and I have heard some pretty absurd explanations for Sept. 11.
"I would ask the congressman to withdraw that comment and tell us what he really meant by it."
The applause for Rudy's rebuke was thunderous -- the soundbite of the night and best moment of Rudy's campaign.
After the debate, on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes," came one of those delicious moments on live television. As Michael Steele, GOP spokesman, was saying that Paul should probably be cut out of future debates, the running tally of votes by Fox News viewers was showing Ron Paul, with 30 percent, the winner of the debate.
Brother Hannity seemed startled and perplexed by the votes being text-messaged in the thousands to Fox News saying Paul won, Romney was second, Rudy third and McCain far down the track at 4 percent.
"I would ask the congressman to ... tell us what he meant," said Rudy.
A fair question and a crucial question.
When Ron Paul said the 9-11 killers were "over here because we are over there," he was not excusing the mass murderers of 3,000 Americans. He was explaining the roots of hatred out of which the suicide-killers came. |
Lest we forget, Osama bin Laden was among the mujahideen whom we, in the Reagan decade, were aiding when they were fighting to expel the Red Army from Afghanistan. We sent them Stinger missiles, Spanish mortars, sniper rifles. And they helped drive the Russians out.
What Ron Paul was addressing was the question of what turned the allies we aided into haters of the United States. Was it the fact that they discovered we have freedom of speech or separation of church and state? Do they hate us because of who we are? Or do they hate us because of what we do?
Osama bin Laden in his declaration of war in the 1990s said it was U.S. troops on the sacred soil of Saudi Arabia, U.S. bombing and sanctions of a crushed Iraqi people, and U.S. support of Israel's persecution of the Palestinians that were the reasons he and his mujahideen were declaring war on us.
Elsewhere, he has mentioned Sykes-Picot, the secret British-French deal that double-crossed the Arabs who had fought for their freedom alongside Lawrence of Arabia and were rewarded with a quarter century of British-French imperial domination and humiliation.
Almost all agree that, horrible as 9-11 was, it was not anarchic terror. It was political terror, done with a political motive and a political objective.
What does Rudy Giuliani think the political motive was for 9-11?
Was it because we are good and they are evil? Is it because they hate our freedom? Is it that simple?
Ron Paul says Osama bin Laden is delighted we invaded Iraq.
Does the man not have a point? The United States is now tied down in a bloody guerrilla war in the Middle East and increasingly hated in Arab and Islamic countries where we were once hugely admired as the first and greatest of the anti-colonial nations. Does anyone think that Osama is unhappy with what is happening to us in Iraq?
Of the 10 candidates on stage in South Carolina, Dr. Paul alone opposed the war. He alone voted against the war. Have not the last five years vindicated him, when two-thirds of the nation now agrees with him that the war was a mistake, and journalists and politicians left and right are babbling in confession, "If I had only known then what I know now ..."
Rudy implied that Ron Paul was unpatriotic to suggest the violence against us out of the Middle East may be in reaction to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Was President Hoover unpatriotic when, the day after Pearl Harbor, he wrote to friends, "You and I know that this continuous putting pins in rattlesnakes finally got this country bitten."
Pearl Harbor came out of the blue, but it also came out of the troubled history of U.S.-Japanese relations going back 40 years. Hitler's attack on Poland was naked aggression. But to understand it, we must understand what was done at Versailles -- after the Germans laid down their arms based on Wilson's 14 Points. We do not excuse -- but we must understand.
Ron Paul is no TV debater. But up on that stage in Columbia, he was speaking intolerable truths. Understandably, Republicans do not want him back, telling the country how the party blundered into this misbegotten war.
By all means, throw out of the debate the only man who was right from the beginning on Iraq.
Exactly correct.
You are not alone.
Take me off the Ping List. I’m done with him.
Thanks
I have made the removal.
To all the nay-sayers.. saying no chance, You'll soon be on board ; )
Removed as requested.
(Eaglet, thank you for the FReepMail adding 3 new names to the Great Ron Paul Ping List. I'll add them as requested, and we can compare notes later this week).
Just as a point of personal info, Lynx -- while I have nothing personal against Duncan Hunter, if I were going to abandon Ron Paul (and I'm not, but "what if?"), my second choice would be Tom Tancredo.
Ron Paul is my first choice. Ron Paul will continue to be my first choice. I intend to support Ron Paul all the way through the Republican Primaries.
But that said, if another Conservative can be Nominated, my second choice would be Tom Tancredo: Pro-Life, Pro-Defense, Pro-Guns, Anti-Illegal Immigration, and he's a genuine Fiscal Conservative (unlike Hunter).
Just My Humble Opinion.
(Full Disclosure: I also like Tom Tancredo because he's the only declared Presbyterian in the race. But then again, didn't I just say that he is a a true Fiscal Conservative? Perhaps I repeat myself...)
Beautiful Screen Capture. Ping to Eaglet.
I can't believe people still believe this. I was a good sound bit back when but no one believes it now.
Truth hurts. President Bush doesn’t do sound bites in case you’ve not been paying attention. And your brilliant solutions to the gwot? Or are you a non-believer in Islamists as well?
You can start with securing our borders. Until that is done this war on terror will never be "mission accomplished".
President Bush doesn’t do sound bites in case you’ve not been paying attention.
Oh come on. Bush is full of them, "Bring 'em On" ring a bell.
And for the terrorists who come over here legally, like the 9/11 hijackers? News flash, they didn’t sneak in from Mexico, just one of several examples why we a comprehensive solution to illegal immigration.
You read like a snide lib to me, don’t care how long you’ve been on this site. And you have a problem w/ ‘bring em on?’ hardly a sound bite, more like a rally cry to the troops.
Real conservatives don’t talk nonsense trash about their president, sorry. This is why we lost Congress in 2006, thanks!
Right; too many conservatives stayed home, thanks for proving my point.
They made themselves heard loud and clear to the party. It still not too late for a true conservative to step up to the plate and win the next Presidency. I would venture to bet the nominee for the Republican Party has not thrown his hat in the ring.
This is NOT a reason to abandon our troops. We are at WAR. 100% pettiness.
Don’ put words in my mouth. Never said to abandon our troops. and Never Will.
review
Making excuses for conservatives who don’t vote is the SAME THING.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.