"Chris Matthews, you've got a weak show."
I tell you; these guys at MSNBC must be broadcasting from the White House basement.
Today, I watched Chris Matthews on his Hardball show defending President Obama over the criticism of his killing bin Laden ads. Backing Matthews up were two other liberal guys, Ron Reagan Jr. and David Korn, the latest Obama "biographer". Some Republicans are accusing the president of being opportunistic in using the bin Laden killing for a political ad-you know, the one showing a lonely Obama from the rear gazing out the Oval Office window as the sun sets contemplating the decision that only he could make..... (I am paraphrasing Bill Clinton, who is doing the speaking.) Korn also added that Obama knew if the raid failed, his re-election hopes were over. (I suspect Korn wishes he had not made that statement.)
Here is my take: First of all, I credit Obama for making the right decision, and I congratulate him, his staff, the military who carried it out, and the intelligence that led to the discovery of bin Laden. Killing that ibn sharmota was the correct thing to do. Yes, it is true that bin Laden's death culminated a decade of work by our intelligence, law enforcement and military personnel. If the ad stepped over some taste line, let's let the voters decide.
What grabs me every time about Matthews, however, is how he can accuse his opponents of being or doing exactly what he is doing. In this segment, he showed a clip of Republican Ed Gillespie criticizing the Obama ad and calling it "flakery". Yet, at the same time, Matthews is all over George W. Bush for that "mission accomplished" aircraft carrier bit, and critiquing a Bush ad that talked about the nation's response to 9-11. The whole episode struck me as a one-sided food fight. He even made some reference to basic journalism in attacking the Republicans. "Mr Objective" himself talking about basic journalism!
Of course, Romney is the big target now that he has the nomination sewed up, so the talking heads at MSNBC are all over him 24-7. They showed the clip where he was asked by a reporter if he would have done the same thing Obama did, and his answer was, "Of course. Even Jimmy Carter would have made that decision." So Romney was not criticizing Obama's decision although he did take a shot at Carter. That led to a discussion of Carter's failed rescue mission to Iran to extract the embassy hostages, which resulted in failure when two helicopters collided in the desert and some of our troops were killed.
Enough already! Let's agree that killing bin Laden is a feather in Obama's cap and move on to the other issues that will decide the election.
What bothers me is the insinuation that Romney would not have made the same "tough" call. Of course, he would have. In fact, it was not even a tough call. After all we went through, getting attacked, going to war, etc., etc. and we have credible evidence that we knew where OBL was, how can you NOT give the order to go?
ReplyDeleteIt was really a slam dunk decision by then and a further disgrace had he not given the go ahead. A drone attack would not have given the confirmation we needed.
He has bolixed up the status of combatant prisoners so much that taking OBL captive was out of the question.
As pathetic as it is, that is all he has to run on.
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Huffington, of the Huffpo, said that the President's using the disposal of OBL in a political ad is dispicable. She is a very liberal person and runs the Huffpo, which is a left-leaning publication. What is more important, is the reaction of the SEALS, both retired amd in the service, stating that besides the OK goven by the President, he had little to do with the operation. Here is the link to the post, for your reading pleasure:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2137636/SEALs-slam-Obama-using-ammunition-bid-credit-bin-Laden-killing-election-campaign.html
Squid
"Let's agree that killing bin Laden is a feather in Obama's cap and move on to the other issues that will decide the election."
ReplyDeleteAgreed - but a distinction needs to be made about the killing of Osama and the "Mission Accomplished" banner. In the case of Osama, he was killed. In the case of "Mission Accomplished" it wasn't.
The equivalent would be if Obama made the announcement about Osama's death, and then Osama continued to release his tapes and make attacks on us and our allies.
You have the "Mission Accomplished" banner incident wrong. It was on the carrier before George Bush landed on it. His administration did NOT put it up.
ReplyDeleteAs a point of information, the carrier was returning home from their mission. As far as THEY were concerned, the mission was accomplished.
Good point, Miggie. After all, landing in a jet on an aircraft carrier is the usual way for a President to get around. I'm sure he had no idea that there'd be a huge banner right under him when he made that speech that was being televised.
ReplyDeleteThis IS the issue that will decide the election!
ReplyDelete"We got bin Laden."
End of story.
Oh, and that great piece about the Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney. I haven't laughed so hard in ten years!