Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann exchange blows over the need for war with Iran. by Jake Morphonios
(libertarian)
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Interventionist neo-cons want an American Empire – a global hegemony achieved through military conquest. These elitists love to mock the anti-war candidate, Texas Congressman Ron Paul. He consistently advocates the founding fathers’ policy of befriending all nations and resisting the temptation to meddle in their internal affairs. Paul has pointed out how neo-con interventionists conduct clandestine operations inside other countries to provoke a response that could be used to publicly justify war. Paul spoke this week with syndicated talk show host Alex Jones.
Jones asked,
“Now they want to go after Syria. It’s been admitted the US, Israel and others are staging giant military attacks inside Iran. What do you make of Congress not being consulted on that?”
Paul explained,
“Unfortunately that’s been happening for a long time and Congress is just totally negligent on this. The other night when they were talking about this in the debate when they asked what the President’s responsibility is on this when [Iran] shoots down a drone. And the argument was, ‘should we be able to go in and get it or should we just go in and destroy it' – and my suggestion was, why don’t we try to avoid it by not sending drones over a sovereign nation just looking for a problem to start another war over. They never talk about the lack of wisdom in having been over there in the first place.”
While some Americans can understand Paul’s logic, others cannot. Take Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, for example. The congresswoman is known for being a strong proponent of “preventative war” with Iran. In the recent Fox News debate, Bachmann sparred with Congressman Ron Paul over the need to go to war with Iran to prevent them from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Bachmann said that America must be willing to support war to stop Iran before it annihilates Israel and nukes the United States.
Congressman Paul was invited to respond. He cleaned Bachmann’s clock with reason, logic and facts – saying, in part:
“We are begging and pleading and talking about starting a war to get our drone back. Why were we even flying a drone over Iran? Why do we have to bomb so many countries? Why do we have 900 bases in 130 different countries when we are totally bankrupt? I think this wild goal to have another war in the name of ‘defense’ is a dangerous thing. The danger is really in us overreacting… and we need to only go to war when there has been a declaration of war.”
Bachmann had been spanked in front of millions of viewers. What is a neo-con to do in a situation like this? Since she couldn’t compete with the logic of Paul’s position, she instead attempted to manipulate the emotions of the weak-minded in the audience. Borrowing a page out of the Sean Hannity Debate Book, she ratcheted up her rhetoric – adding on grander claims and more elaborate adjectives to increase the emotional impact of her weak position. She responded to Paul:
“The problem would be the greatest under-reaction in WORLD HISTORY if we have an AVOWED MADMAN who uses that nuclear weapon to WIPE NATIONS OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH… NOTHING could be more dangerous than the comments we just heard [from Paul]”.
Are you kidding me? Her banter was so over-the-top that one can’t help but laugh at the Congresswoman. Really, congresswoman? There is an “avowed madman” who is going to “wipe nations off the face of the earth”? Is this madman’s name, “Cobra Commander” by chance?
How does one respond to such a bizarre claim? Ron Paul demonstrates:
“If she thinks we live in a dangerous world now, she ought to think back to when I was drafted in 1962 with nuclear missiles in Cuba. Kennedy called Kruschev and talked him out of having a nuclear exchange. And you’re trying to dramatize this like we’ve got to go and treat Iran like we’ve treated Iraq. We cannot solve these problems with war. We can solve our problems if we follow our Constitution and only go in if we have declared war – and then win the war and get it over with instead of this endless fighting and attitude that we have enemies all around the world.”
And Bachmann’s bizarre retort?
“I stand on the side of peace with the American people.”
I hope that as this campaign season progresses, attention will be paid to the substance and logic of the candidate’s words, rather than blindly following a path to war because some neo-con politician manipulated your weak brain with melodramatic one-liners. If you consider the values of honesty, integrity and truth to be important, then listen to what Congressman Ron Paul has to say. If you prefer to be spoon-fed war propaganda and have trouble comprehending facts and logic, well, there’s always the Sean Hannity show.
Jake Morphonios has worked as a political consultant and campaign strategist for over two decades and is the author of "Organizing a Grassroots Political Machine", used in the Steve Forbes 2000 Presidential campaign.
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