Timothy Birdnow

The rats are starting to jump ship.

First, we may not be at war with the Iranian People but we are at war with their government, and that is a difference without that much of a distinction. It is quite unfortunate that they may be caught in the crossfire but that is what happens in war.

Second we are not at war to "liberate the Iranian People" - Trump has been crystal clear about why we are at war. We are at war to prevent the terror masters in Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, which they will use as soon as they have it. As an corollary to that we are threatening to bomb Iran's infrastructure because killing the top leadership has seemed to fail to properly motivate the government there and they have closed the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting the world's flow of energy. One of Trump's demands is that they allow shipping to resume.

While Mr. Trump would like to help the Iranian People it's not his top priority.

So what exactly does Sen. Johnson suggest Trump do? He reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons where Homer is drinking slurpees straight from the tap in the Quickie Mart and Apu, the owner, threatens him "I have asked you nicely to stop and you refuse. You leave me no choice but to ask you nicely again".

That appears to be Sen. Johnson's strategy in dealing with the Mullahs.

The Iranian leadership's strategy is patently obvious and it may yet work. They are buying time. They saw what happened with this partial government shutdown as the Democrats just stuck to their guns and refused to cut a deal and eventually the GOP caved, as usual. They know the GOP is chock-full of knock-kneed cowards. And they know the elections are coming in November and the Republicans are going to be increasingly frightened as that time nears if this thing isn't over. So the Mullahs are playing for time, dragging this out. I suspect they will have another big breakthrough just as Trump is about to start the bombing, then renege on it.

They know they will get people like Johnson to carry their water.

NOT taking this action is a disservice to the Iranian People because it cements the regime in power. Johnson should know that.

So what does he propose we do? If he has a better idea he should brig it forward. It's easy to criticize when you aren't the one who has to take the heat for it.

Oh, wait; here's his answer:

What does Johnson think Trump's been doing all along? He's been putting pressure on our erstwhile allies to step up and they haven't been willing to do that.

This is simply egregious armchair quarterbacking by a guy who wants to get some good press at the expense of the Administration and the nation.

It's guys like this that make us question the whole point of electing Republicans. We put them in and then they turn on us when it's convenient. Johnson is actually one of the better Republicans too, and he may actually believe what he is saying, but he's simply a fool. This is nothing but pandering to easy shibboleths that have no concrete, constructive benefits.

We are at WAR, even if there is no formal declaration from Congress (something that couldn't possibly happen with the Democratic Party hating the President more than they love America). Wars are messy and people get killed and stuff gets smashed. Going after infrastructure is necessary on occasion. Or did we win the Second World War without bombing German and Japanese infrastructure? Shoot; we firebombed the daylights out of Tokyo and incinerated two other Japanese cities with nuclear weapons. If Ron Johnson had been a Senator then would he have called for a "kinder, gentler" approach to fighting the Japanese? Probably, but we would have lost the war. Wars aren't won by winning hearts and minds; they are won by crushing the enemy to the point they realize there is no hope of winning. That has been the great fallacy in modern times, that you win wars but building hospitals and schools. You don't and Iraq should have taught us that.

I cannot fathom how the Republicans became such timid, pucillanimous craven cowards but they are and that will be America's undoing. Nobody expects rationality from the Democrats, not anymore, but the Republicans have a duty to protect this country not just from the Democrats but from foreign threats and they are just unwilling to do the hard work of leading. If they don't want to do the right thing they should leave Congress and let those willing to step up take their places.

Of course most of them aren't there to lead but rather to enjoy the perks and fame that comes with power. Nobody ever made work a part of the deal.

Ron Johnson and the others in the GOP remind me of this.

Hide Comments | Add Comment