What is Romney's Secret????... by Kelly Thomas
(AP Photo/LM Otero)
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With the results of the South Carolina election, I am asking myself, "Do I have a fixed position about Hillary? Will I support Hillary no matter what?
I have said that I could vote for Barack and I could. Under no circumstance, however, could I vote for a Republican President in this election (maybe Ron Paul if he had a chance of getting elected).
I could vote for any of the Democratic candidates, maybe not Dennis Kucinich; although I will admit that seeing a UFO doesn't sound so bad as 15% of Americans admit they've seen one.
Recently, I read this article by Frank Rich in the NY Times. ( I want to defend the NY Times and have wondered why I liked to read it so much. The NY Times has become maybe the only large newspaper in America that still has in depth reporting-anyway, I think so.)
A buddy of mine said that Rich was a Republican. Huh? In this particular article, in my opinion, Rich reveals his ultra liberal tendencies toward Obama and his distain, like so many, for Hillary.
So what? My wife is constantly saying that "people don't like Hillary." What does that have to do with anything? We are not hiring her as the American Idol but to run the country and maybe straighten it out.
Here's the best example I know: I use to say to people who hated Michael Moore : Well you don't like his movie, Sicko. OK, but what you can't deny is that we have forty-five to fifty million people in this country without health care. Even if you hate Bill and Hillary, you can't deny that Bill left the White House with a gigantic surplus and no war. Now we have the worst deficit in history and a "tar baby" war. So, go figure.
Now, if that is not important, I can say nothing to convince people to "Let's give Hillary a shot."
What stresses me most is the entire war scene. We are in it and don't know, as I've said all along, how to get out. My mantra thus far is that we are there, let's figure it out, but we can't figure it out unless we commit ourselves to more and more years.
What perplexes me always is that we were so stupid to get ourselves in a situation as bad as Vietnam or worse without learning any lesson. Of course, the Republicans are willing to stay.
John McCain says we should stay in Iraq a hundred years if need be.
John and the President(and all those who advised him) have such little savvy about radical Muslims. To hear the President talk about a kind of Korean truce is idiocy at the highest level. Muslims will never let up on us in Iraq or anywhere.
It remains a mess, even if, for some reason, most Americans-who even think about it-have the idea that we've won a war. How absurd. It is true that violence is down. This is good, but it is mainly because we have switched strategy and now gone to one of counter-insurgency which means that we are attempting to win over the people. It is coming in the form of the Sunnis who use to be killing us.
The only way for us to succeed in Iraq is to stay. Regardless of who wins the Presidency, it is going to be an unbelievable dilemma. I will never forgive "W" ,not in a theological sense, but in a foreign policy sense for being so stupid.
Now our government wants to negotiate a status of forces agreement-SOFA(SOFA definition which gives the appearance that we are in a normal situation. I would love to know what is behind the thinking of the military brass on this one. I can't imagine that they are thinking. OK,let's get this agreement and we can stay the course on this debacle?????
I think that probably the only thing to do is to move the troops to bases and keep them there and hope the Iraqi army and police are up to taking over the security. I doubt it. This war is a "tar baby" and there is no good outcome in my view.
Vietnam should have been our guide if we needed one. The Special Forces (Green Berets) started off in Vietnam working the counter-insurgency program and it was working. But, then we introduced conventional forces and it was the beginning of the end even if it did take years. Politically however, Vietnam was better than Iraq. We had a semblance of legitimacy: the conjured up Gulf of Tonkin incident or maybe better the moral idea that we were preventing a big country from swallowing a small democratic one.
It is as though Vietnam never took place, totally ignoring what it taught us. Pretty discouraging to me.
Any military strategist believes that an Iraq success would require a military presence for at least six to eight more years. This doesn't' even consider the problems a stay like this would create for our soldiers and their families( financial problems, PTSD, soldier misconduct and criminal behavior[121 at last count had been convicted or charged with murder stateside]...) Think also about the embedded reporters and the problems their stories and articles cause.
When all else fails, we could ask Mitt Romney what might straighten out Iraq and America. He is good-looking and he is running neck and neck with John McCain In Florida.
For those of us who have kids who are constantly pushing the margins, how in the world does Romney and other Mormons keep their kids in line? Romney's sons should make the hair stand up on any Republican's neck. The sons and their families stand at attention behind Romney, have perfect haircuts and dress . Push their buttons, get programmed answers. They board the Mitt Mobile and they are off to convert the nonbelievers. I am amazed.
If Romney can tell us the secret, this guy can shape up our country and Iraq. I may have to take back my previous statement and consider voting for him. Just between you and me, not going to happen. Come on people, give Hillary a chance.
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