Posted on 12/17/2015 8:00:14 AM PST by Isara
Hillary Clinton has no record to run on. Family income is lower and the world is more dangerous. Donald Trump nailed it when he told Chris Wallace, "Hillary calls me 'dangerous'? She's killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity." Trump was referring to the Obama administration's campaign to overthrow Arab dictators like Libya's Qaddafi and Egypt's Mubarak, which contributed to the chaos in the Middle East after the so-called "Arab Spring." Marco Rubio can't attack Hillary's disastrous foreign policy record because--as Ted Cruz observes--Rubio supported all the same stupid policies. Picture a Cruz-Clinton presidential debate: Cruz denounces Hillary's incompetence in promoting chaos in the Middle East. Hillary remonstrates, "But most Republicans supported me!" Cruz counters: "That's right--I'm running against you and against the Establishment in my own party." Game, set, match.
Here's a word of consolation for my neocon friends: It's not personal, just business. I'm a neocon too, an ex-lefty who went rightward with Reagan and carried my spear in the final phase of the Cold War. I was chief economist at Jude Wanniski's supply-side consulting firm Polyconomics, which is as neocon as you can get, and I give the neocons all the credit for Reaganomics. I've published in Commentary Magazine and Irving Kristol's Public Interest. I traveled the world promoting the Reagan model between 1988 and 1993--Mexico, Peru, Nicaragua, and most of all Russia--and learned firsthand how Quixotic was the conceit that our model could be exported.
Every ideology has a use-by date and you're long past yours. Henry Kissinger did great service to this country by opening relations to China, a necessary if not sufficient condition for winning the Cold War. But Kissinger couldn't see past the dull calculus of detente, while Reagan foresaw unconditional American victory over Communism--and without you neocons, he never could have done it. You made a Gargantuan error, though, when you assumed that the Reagan Revolution could be exported to the Middle East, Russia and China, and you misplayed the strongest hand that any world power ever held. America went from only-hyperpower status when George W. Bush took office to a playing second fiddle to Vladimir Putin today. No-one wants to hear your claim that we really won in Iraq in 2008 and lost it all because Obama wouldn't leave a few divisions there. And when the "Arab Spring" came along, you mistook the oncoming express for the light at the end of the tunnel. You and the Obama crowd played "Dumb and Dumber." You both bought into the idea that Muslim democracy would arise from Islamist opposition to the old dictatorships.
So Ted Cruz has thrown you under the bus, just as you threw Henry Kissinger under the bus when Reagan came to office in 1981. Tim Alberta and Eliana Johnson record your outrage in National Review:
So when Ted Cruz, on the campaign trail in Iowa and again in an interview with Bloomberg News, recently pointed the finger at "neocons" in an attempt to defend his own understanding of American interests abroad, the response among some conservative foreign-policy experts - many of whom the term has been used to disparage - was of shock, anger, and dismay. "He knows that the term in the usual far-left and far-right parlance means warmonger, if not warmongering Jewish advisers, so it is not something he should've done," says Elliott Abrams, a former Bush administration National Security Council official and a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
That's chutzpah (like the man who murdered his parents asking the judge for clemency because he's an orphan). "Neocon" became a term of opprobrium because it represented a coherent and well-defined body of thought that produced bad results. To suggest that Ted Cruz is stirring up bigotry against Jews is just nasty.
No, Cruz is doing the right thing: Just as Reagan sacrificed Henry Kissinger, Cruz will sacrifice you. It's all for the greater good. For the past eight years the Republican Party has worn the sins of the George W. Bush administration like the chains on Marley's Ghost. The American public doesn't easily forget that it was stirred to sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan and has nothing to show for it. A break with the Bush past vastly increases the odds for a Republican victory. Rubio can't do this, but Cruz can. Like Kissinger, you should glory in your past contributions and let other people take charge. Go with God. But go.
Personally, I’m sick and tired of hearing the word “neocon”. It seems to me a word that is bandied about by liberals and Democrats trying to equate it with something on the order of Neo-Nazi or something like that.
I refuse that word and its usage. You are either conservative or you are not. It is as simple as that. You either believe in the word of the Constitution or you do not.
They used to call themselves neocons.
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2015/12/levin-december-16-2015-goes-after-neocons
“You are either conservative or you are not. It is as simple as that. You either believe in the words of the Constitution or you do not.”
AMEN and AMEN ..!!!!!
So? It still doesn’t make that the predominant reference. I hear that word and I automatically think “bullsh!t”.
It's a term that was originally used to describe people who were determined to export Western-style democracy to countries and cultures that did not share Western values. The fact that some of these same people also supported deregulation, low marginal tax rates, and other elements of the Reagan Revolution is irrelevant to judging their foreign-policy failures.
When liberals use it, it takes on a whole new meaning.
I agree with Laz —>> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3372298/posts?page=85#85
It’s well worth clicking through and reading his post “Elitist vs. Populist”. Really explains a lot and matches what is going on. The battlefield has changed, people need to stop acting like Don Quixote fighting imaginary enemies. That how you lose a war.
I believe ex-Trotskyite Irving Kristol created the term.
Most of the Dr. Strangelove (Charles Krautpliers) types parents or grandparents were Marxist/Leftist/Commie scum.
The neo-cons switched sides when the political winds were about to topple the U.S.S.R. and the rest of the Soviet Bloc.
They are no more conservative than the Chamberpot puppeteers that control their strings. One-worlders at best; traitors at worst. They piss on the constitution as much as Buckwheat and his minions do. They just sound and look better when doing it.
JMHO
Jedi.
Thanks....I’ve got no quarrel with that.
But how could that be?
Oh yes. One particular Freeper has his/her particular idea of what it means to support the Constitution and everyone that happens to agree with him/her is also a conservative and everyone else is a commie pinko bastard.
Whew. I can go back to sleep now and stop worrying my little head.
Thank you. It’s good to see at least one mea culpa from a neocon.
Four interesting things;
1) The true anti-establishment/elitist quote; “Donald Trump nailed it when he told Chris Wallace, “Hillary calls me ‘dangerous’? She’s killed hundreds of thousands of people with her stupidity.”
2) The reference to CFR. Ted’s wife is CFR; http://www.cfr.org/canada/building-north-american-community/p8102
4) This article is NOT pro Cruz.
Interesting fault line in the GOP that is being missed by most of the punditry.
The GOP is in the midst of a debate between the Nationalist vs the Internationalist wings of the GOP. I think after 27 years of the Bush/Clinton/Obama “Lets play Emperor of Earth†strategy, US Voters are looking for a President who will put our well being at the top of their “to do†list for a change
Interesting to note that out of the last 35 years a Bush has been in the White House for 20 years as either President or Vice President. Think the country has enough of the Bush family’s fondness for Internationalism.
You can disagree with what I said, that’s okay. I don’t really care. Nor do I care if anyone else agrees with me.
I said what I said and believe. It is up to you to agree or disagree. I’ll leave the “commie pinko bastard” determination to your own private revelations.
The American public doesn’t easily forget that it was stirred to sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan and has nothing to show for it.
Only problem is the reason we have nothing to show for it is because of 0’s unwillingness to finish the job. ISIS would of been exterminated in 2010-2011 if the US Military had been allowed to finish the job they had 95% complete in Iraq. Instead O pulled everyone out.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, IPA /ˈaɪsÉ™l/), alternatively translated the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS, /ˈaɪsɨs/),[29] is a Salafi jihadist militant group that adheres to an Islamic fundamentalist, Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam.[30] Derived from its Arabic name ad-Dawlah al-IslÄmiyah fÄ« ‘l-Ê¿IrÄq wa-sh-ShÄm (الدولة الإسلامية ÙÙŠ العراق والشام‎), the group is also known under the acronym Da’ish or Daesh (داعش‎, IPA: [ˈdaËÊ•iʃ]).[31][32]
The group has referred to itself as the Islamic State (الدولة الإسلامية‎ ad-Dawlah al-IslÄmiyah) or IS[33] since it proclaimed a worldwide caliphate in June 2014[34][35] and named Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as its caliph.[36] As a caliphate, it claims religious, political and military authority over all Muslims worldwide.[37] The group’s adoption of the name “Islamic State” and idea of a caliphate have been widely criticised, with the United Nations, various governments, and mainstream Muslim groups rejecting both. As of December 2015, the group has control over vast territories in Iraq and Syria with population estimates ranging between 2.8 million[38] and 8 million people,[39] where it enforces Sharia law. ISIL affiliates control small areas of Libya, Nigeria and Afghanistan and operate in other parts of the world, including North Africa and South Asia.[40][41][42]
ISIL gained prominence, when in early 2014 it drove Iraqi government forces out of key cities in its Western Iraq offensive,[43] followed by the capture of Mosul[44] and the Sinjar massacre,[45] almost causing a collapse of the Iraqi government and prompting a renewal of US military action in Iraq. In Syria, the group has conducted ground attacks on both government forces and rebel factions. The number of fighters the group commands in Iraq and Syria, was estimated by the CIA at 31,000, with foreign fighters accounting for around two thirds,[46] while ISIL leaders claim 40,000 fighters, with the majority being Iraqi and Syrian nationals.[26]
Adept at social media, ISIL became notorious for its videos of beheadings[47] of both soldiers and civilians, including journalists and aid workers, and for the destruction of cultural heritage sites.[48] The United Nations holds ISIL responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has charged the group with ethnic cleansing on a “historic scale” in northern Iraq.[49] Around the world, Islamic religious leaders have overwhelmingly condemned ISIL’s ideology and actions, arguing that the group has strayed from the path of true Islam and that its actions do not reflect the religion’s real teachings or virtues.[50] The group has been designated a terrorist organisation by the United Nations, the European Union and its member states, the United States, India, Indonesia, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran and other countries. Over 60 countries are directly or indirectly waging war against ISIL.
The group originated as Jama’at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad in 1999, which pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and participated in the Iraqi insurgency following the March 2003 invasion of Iraq by Western forces. Joining other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council, it proclaimed the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI) in October 2006. In August 2011, following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, ISI, under the leadership of al-Baghdadi, delegated a mission into Syria, which under the name Jabhat an-Nuá¹£rah li-Ahli ash-ShÄm (or al-Nusra Front) established a large presence in Sunni-majority Al-Raqqah, Idlib, Deir ez-Zor, and Aleppo provinces. The merger of ISI with al-Nusra Front to form the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL), as announced in April 2013 by al-Baghdadi, was however rejected by al-Nusra leader al-Julani and al-Qaeda leader al-Zawahiri, who subsequently cut all ties with ISIL by February 2014.[3][51][52][53]
The group has had various names since being founded in 1999 by Jordanian radical Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as JamÄÊ»at al-Tawḥīd wa-al-JihÄd (lit. ”The Organisation of Monotheism and Jihad”).[28] When in October 2004, al-Zarqawi swore loyalty to Osama bin Laden, he renamed the group again to Tanẓīm QÄÊ»idat al-JihÄd fÄ« BilÄd al-RÄfidayn (lit. ”The Organisation of Jihad’s Base in Mesopotamia”), commonly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq or AQI.[54][55] Although the group never called itself so, al-Qaeda in Iraq remained its informal name over the years.[56]
In January 2006, AQI merged with several other Sunni insurgent groups to form the Mujahideen Shura Council.[57] After al-Zarqawi was killed in June 2006, the Mujahideen Shura Council merged in October 2006 with several more insurgent factions to establish ad-Dawlah al-Ê»Iraq al-IslÄmiyah, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI),[58] led by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri,[59] who were killed in a US–Iraqi operation in April 2010, being succeeded by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the group’s new leader.
Of course Cruz & Trump are right to reject the "Neocons."
Out of their own mouths, their approach is definitely not compatible with American Conservatism. (That they were allies in the Cold War, does not change that.)
See The Neocon Phenomenon, to put them in context.
But don't you have to take into consideration the competence of most of those who pose as--and recognize one another--as "pundits?"
Hmmm very good point.
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.