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General Romney
Author: BobR    Date: 02/24/2012 13:56:56

For anyone who sat through the Republican presidential debate Wed. night, one would think Mitt Romney saw himself as General Patton himself. The candidate talked tough on Middle East policy, and derided President Obama for nearly everything he's done (or hasn't done) thus far. What sort of experience does Romney have with foreign affairs and/or the military? Except for bank accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, practically nil.

The discussion during the debate focused on Iran, as that country publicly pursues a nuclear reactor (and privately is likely pursuing a nuclear weapon). Romney (as well as Santorum and Gingrich) are supporting military action against Iran, with Romney making the omminous prediction that if President Obama is re-elected, a nuclear weapon WILL be used. Of course, N. Korea has a nuclear weapon, and they haven't used it. Iran knows they couldn't use it either, but it might give them some leverage. Israel does NOT want them to have that leverage.

Ron Paul was the only voice of reason in the debate, pointing out that we didn't bomb Cuba, and we talked to Russia (and China) and that situation was defused (and eventually led to disarmament talks). The same could happen with Iran, but not in the amped up "bomb, bomb Iran" political environment we have now.

Iran is not the only hot spot in the Middle East. Syria is quickly approaching the same situation that existed in Libya last year. Genocide and other war crimes are pushing the UN into a situation that could be described as deja vu. The question is: what to do about it? Do we follow the same path as Libya, using a unified NATO front to bomb military targets and provide logistical support for the rebels?

Mitt Romney supports arming the rebels, but for the plan to work, it might require boots on the ground to secure chemical weapons from looters. How many? 75k, or roughly the same number we have in Afghanistan. Apparently, that's okay with Romney. It's likely NOT okay with most Americans. This again is a case where a UN resolution should be used to provide NATO with justification, and let each country provide as they can.

This is what we did in Libya. Romney also supported the military action taken by President Obama in Libya, but criticized him for getting there via the UN process. Apparently he thinks we should gone in there Dubya-style, chest puffed and guns a-blazin'.

With all this bravado and bluster, one would think that Romney was quite the military leader in his younger days. Army?... Navy?... Nope. Romney got a college deferrment first, then a religious deferrment:
Like Giuliani and millions of other young American men at the time, Romney started out with student deferments. But he left Stanford after only two semesters in 1966 and would have become eligible for the draft — except that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Michigan, his home state, provided him with a fresh deferment as a missionary. According to an excellent investigative series that appeared last month in the Boston Globe, that deferment, which described Romney as a “minister of religion or divinity student,” protected him from the draft between July 1966 and February 1969, when he enrolled in Brigham Young University to complete his undergraduate degree. Mormons in each state could select a limited number of young men upon whom to confer missionary status during the Vietnam years, and Romney was fortunate enough to be chosen. (Coincidentally, or possibly not, Mitt’s father, George W. Romney, was governor of Michigan at the time.)

At the same time he was getting the deferrment, he was also publicly supporting the war and the draft:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/06/article-2083002-0F5B49E700000578-789_634x689.jpg


To be fair, President Obama didn't serve in the military either. The draft was no longer in place when he turned 18, and he chose to go to college. President Obama does not, however, thump his chest and proclaim that he'll be a Stormin' Norman military leader. President Obama uses diplomacy first, and follows protocol for using the military when necessary.

Santorum and Gingrich are no better than Romney, but neither are likely going to be the Republican presidential nominee. Mitt Romney proves himself once again to be a hypocritic chicken-hawk who actively avoided military service while supporting the draft for others, and now wants to command that same military with all the soul-searching sobriety of closing a bankruptcy deal.

Our soldiers deserve better. Our country deserves better.
 

37 comments (Latest Comment: 02/25/2012 00:52:05 by TriSec)
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Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 14:10:52
Morning

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:11:49
Good Morning!

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:14:53
ok, that was the tell-- Steph is getting a TV show -- it's gotta be.

Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 14:17:02
Quote by Raine:
ok, that was the tell-- Steph is getting a TV show -- it's gotta be.



That's what I was just thinking - isn't she friends with Dan Abrams from MSNBC

Comment by BobR on 02/24/2012 14:25:09
blog is posted. Thanks to Raine for the research from yesterday's blog comments...


Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:29:23
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
ok, that was the tell-- Steph is getting a TV show -- it's gotta be.



That's what I was just thinking - isn't she friends with Dan Abrams from MSNBC
I think she is friends-- but he's no longer with MSNBC.

besides Current and Free Speech tv, Who else might do a morning show?


Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:30:37
Quote by BobR:
blog is posted. Thanks to Raine for the research from yesterday's blog comments...
You're Welcome.

This was a great post.


Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 14:38:11
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
ok, that was the tell-- Steph is getting a TV show -- it's gotta be.



That's what I was just thinking - isn't she friends with Dan Abrams from MSNBC
I think she is friends-- but he's no longer with MSNBC.

besides Current and Free Speech tv, Who else might do a morning show?



I thought he was still there, hmmm...

Well Morning Joe is too established to ditch. Fox & Fiends - CBS just rebooting AGAIN thier morning show just a few months ago. NBC and ABC are very established too.

Hasn't Current been trying to really build itself up to get more of a foot hold in the news "market"

Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 14:38:52
Reston? Was that VA?

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:46:08
Quote by wickedpam:
Reston? Was that VA?
What did I miss?


Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 14:50:19
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Reston? Was that VA?
What did I miss?



I'm not sure I missed it too - KTLK keeps crapping out on me

All I heard was Girl Scout, Reston and snotty woman saying something about abortion

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:54:04
Quote by wickedpam:
Quote by Raine:
Quote by wickedpam:
Reston? Was that VA?
What did I miss?



I'm not sure I missed it too - KTLK keeps crapping out on me

All I heard was Girl Scout, Reston and snotty woman saying something about abortion
ahhh.



Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 14:55:24
Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 15:03:29



geez, people, its scouting - its hanging out with friends, camping, selling cookies, building self esteem and making freaking crafts - get over it.



Comment by BobR on 02/24/2012 15:22:00
Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 15:42:53
Wow, Bill Maher wrote a check to the Obama Super PAC--

For A Million Bucks!

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 15:50:31
Bradley manning has been formerly charged:


An Army private declined to enter a plea Thursday to charges he engineered the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history.

Pfc. Bradley Manning also deferred a choice of whether to be tried by a military jury or judge alone.

Military judge Col. Denise Lind presided over the 50-minute hearing at Fort Meade near Baltimore. She didn't set a trial date but scheduled another court session for March 15-16.


Comment by Scoopster on 02/24/2012 15:59:27
Mornin' all & Happy Fridee!!

Lovin' today's bloggie.. The whole war-trumpeting Vietnam dodger thing fits in quite well with the fact that Mitt hasn't had a consistent position on ANYTHING in his life, quite unlike his father.

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 16:10:59
Do people STILL take this the guy seriously? Seriously, he's upset at Obama for $70 fill-up of his Hummer...



Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 16:19:32
Comment by wickedpam on 02/24/2012 16:20:11
Quote by Raine:
Do people STILL take this the guy seriously? Seriously, he's upset at Obama for $70 fill-up of his Hummer...




idiot

Comment by Scoopster on 02/24/2012 16:23:29
Quote by Raine:
Do people STILL take this the guy seriously? Seriously, he's upset at Obama for $70 fill-up of his Hummer...


I seriously can't wait for this dipshit to get voted out of office and into irrelevance.

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 16:56:05
ZOMG -- If Bendy get POTUS on the show next week I would be amazed.

Comment by livingonli on 02/24/2012 17:28:10
Good day everyone. I guess in order to be a good Republican, you have to be a chickenhawk or a thug like Allen West. I still go by the theory that men who buy hummers are trying to compensate for something downstairs.

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/24/2012 17:56:44
Quote by Raine:
Do people STILL take this the guy seriously? Seriously, he's upset at Obama for $70 fill-up of his Hummer...




He has to be one the 10 people who still owns on. What an ass.

Comment by Scoopster on 02/24/2012 18:18:20
What the hell.. now Pennsylvania has that damned vaginal ultrasound bill going in its legislature!

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/24/2012 18:32:50
Quote by Scoopster:
What the hell.. now Pennsylvania has that damned vaginal ultrasound bill going in its legislature!



I am seeing the bony, callused finger of ALEC here.

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/24/2012 21:15:33
ALEC killed the blog???

Comment by livingonli on 02/24/2012 21:21:26
Those right-wing nutjobs can do things like that when they try to turn back the clock.

Comment by Raine on 02/24/2012 21:26:24
Quote by Mondobubba:
ALEC killed the blog???

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was my distraction...

Did y'all see the HUGE crowd that showed up for Romney today?

http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f47e332ecad047038000010/mitt-romney-empty-stadium.jpg





Comment by livingonli on 02/24/2012 21:36:10
I've seen bigger crowds at Red Bulls games.

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/24/2012 21:54:15
Quote by Raine:
Quote by Mondobubba:
ALEC killed the blog???

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants was my distraction...

Did y'all see the HUGE crowd that showed up for Romney today?

http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/4f47e332ecad047038000010/mitt-romney-empty-stadium.jpg






Wow that is wow...

Comment by Mondobubba on 02/24/2012 21:55:33
Have I mentioned how much I hate people who speak in an epliptical, passive-agressive way with endless rhetorical questions that I have no answer for.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 02/24/2012 23:23:36
Hello, bloggers!! I hope that everyone is well.

BobR, what I find amusing is that the GOP keeps on putting up armchair generals like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney who have no combat experience and yet try to seem like war heroes. The word zero is more apt than hero.

As for myself, I have been subbing non-stop. I am also studying non-stop, as I am flying out to Boston early Friday morning.

Comment by TriSec on 02/25/2012 00:52:05
A dear friend of mine from Scouting has gone off the deep end and has right-wing IVs installed.

I'm about to de-face him rather than continue to read his posts and start to think of him differently.

(For the record, he is a complete gentleman; it's only via Facebook. When we are at events or otherwise in uniform....it's like our polar opposites don't exist. As it should be.)