Don’t know much about foreign policy

January 25, 2008

Just how far gone is the Republican presidential field? We’re still hearing talk about Saddam Hussein having weapons of mass destruction.

RUSSERT: Governor Huckabee, was the war a good idea, and is it worth the cost in blood and treasure?

HUCKABEE: I supported the president when he led us into this, as did the Democrats. And I think we owe him not a lot of scorn; we owe him our thanks that he had the courage to recognize there was a potential of weapons of mass destruction, and whether than wait until we had another attack, he went and made sure that it wasn’t going to happen from Saddam Hussein.

Now, everybody can look back and say, ‘Oh, well, we didn’t find the weapons.’ It doesn’t mean they weren’t there. Just because you didn’t find every Easter egg didn’t mean that it wasn’t planted.

Look, I can appreciate the fact that Mike Huckabee is frequently confused about current events. I can even appreciate the fact that he’s a busy guy, and probably doesn’t have time to read, you know, books and stuff. I can even appreciate the notion that Huckabee is running on a vaguely-theocratic pseudo-populist platform that doesn’t have anything to do with foreign policy.

But in less than two months, the war in Iraq will have entered its sixth year. That Mike Huckabee is willing to argue, during a nationally televised debate, with a straight face, that Saddam Hussein may very well have had a secret stash of weapons of mass destruction is just humiliating. I’ve frequently been frustrated by Huckabee’s bizarre beliefs and ideas, but this is one of the first times I’ve felt sorry for the poor guy.

After the debate, Huckabee actually managed to make it worse.

Chris Matthews, to his credit, asked Huckabee about his inexplicable WMD remarks, which are obviously and demonstrably false.

The clip shows Huckabee arguing that there’s a “good chance” Saddam’s WMD “may have gone to Jordan.” Jordan? Are you kidding me? Isn’t the talking point for right-wing loonies that the WMD were sent to Syria?

Over the course of the last few months, Mike Huckabee has shown, repeatedly, that he has a child-like understanding of world events and foreign policy, but last night should have removed all doubt.

Hey give the guy credit. At least he’s aware that Jordan and Iraq share a border. He could have thought they were trucked over the border into Somalia.

  • Why feel sorry for someone who is so obviously unqualified?
    The more mockery, the better.
    He should be met everywhere with mocking, delirious laughter and showers of rotting produce.

  • Maybe they were shipped to Michael Jordan.

    And really, this is not war, it’s an occupation. An occupation that has failed to pacify the population, provide security, or rebuild infrastructure.

    OTH, it has provided amazing opportunities for war profiteering and scandelous waste, abuse and outright theft. For instance, where did those palates with tons of hundred dollar bills go?

  • In case you didn’t notice, in an exchange with Colmes and Ari Fleisher the other day, Hannity disagreed with Ari when he said about WMD “We were wrong, Alan. We’ve always said that.” Hannity responded: ” I don’t believe…I mean…Ari, I don’t think you were wrong.”
    http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/01/24/hc-colmes-confronts-fleischer/

    Since there has been other evidence that Huck gets his news from Faux, why would one be surprised that he doesn’t know anything?

    But I agree with woody #2 above, “the more mockery, the better. He should be met everywhere with mocking, delirious laughter and showers of rotting produce.” and that should apply to all the Faux News clowns as well.

  • not to defend SHuckasmear, who I wouldnt vote for with a gun to my head, but Jordan had moved closer to Iraq starting in the late 90s. During the Gulf War, a lot of military hardware, and ammunition, was found in Iraq made in Jordan. There is no reason to assume that if Saddam had an evac plan it would not be Jordan.

    Remember, during the Gulf War, he sent billions of dollars worth of fighter jets to Iran, a country he just finished an 8 year war with.

    Not saying that Saddam did it, by the way, it just is not beyond the bounds of reason. I just don’t like opinions dismissed based on lack of knowledge.

    Ray Robison is the author of Both In One Trench: Saddam’s Secret Terror Documents

    http://www.bothinonetrench.com

  • That’s the great thing about faith. You just decide what you want to believe and presto — it’s true. Unfortunately, I’m really bad at it. I keep deciding that the last 7 years were a bad dream, but — maybe I just need to have more faith?

  • Look, the Republicans are still using talking points from 1969. Changing rhetoric for them takes decades. They’ll still be talking about Saddam’s WMDs in 2058.

  • #8 Ray – the opinion that Saddam shipped weapons to Jordan is dismissed based on solid knowledge – it’s based on the Duelfer Report of 2004.

    So using accepted logic of time, it’s hard to take weapons that were destroyed in 1991 and ship them to Jordan in 2002/3. Unless you have a time machine, which I don’t deny exists, but the probability of Saddam owning a time machine is pretty slim.

  • The Christian Science Monitor

    Thursday 24 January 2008

    Piles of coal, battling windmills, and political leaders descend on college campuses.
    In Springfield, Mo., college students are about to see quite vividly how much energy they consume. Piles of coal will be on display in proportion to what’s needed each day to power their dorms, computers, and dining halls.

    At Radford University in Virginia, students may stumble upon a mock fight between a windmill and a smokestack (costumes courtesy of the campus Green Team).

    At the University of Vermont in Burlington, audience members will be encouraged to bike or walk to a one-woman show in which the fictional first lady calls for a boycott against sex until the nation starts a serious dialogue about climate change.

    The creative tactics are designed to draw students into a series of events this coming week known as Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America. Organizers bill the culminating day, Jan. 31, as the largest teach-in in the nation’s history, drawing parallels to the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s and ’70s. More than 1,500 institutions, most of them colleges and universities, will host classes, documentaries, performances, energy-saving competitions, and discussions with political leaders.

    Eban Goodstein, the man behind the mission, speaks about it urgently: “What our kids have to do is truly heroic,” he says. “If they’re going to stabilize the climate for their children, they have to rewire the entire planet with clean-energy technology.”

    Rewire the entire planet foreign policy, yes you could certainly say that.

  • This is why I am hoping beyond all hope that Huckleberry gets the nomination.

    The guy’s an idiot and it would be sweet, sweet justice for him to represent the GOP and show the rest of the world what nutcases neocons are.

    Yes, the rest are all nutty in their own way, but the media will never highlight McCain’s lies and “GET OFF MY LAWN!” mentality, Romney’s religion will be the focus if he gets the nod, and Rudy! … well, let’s be honest–he’s done.

    So please oh please oh please oh please wingnuts, do us all a favor and vote for Huck!!

    **evil grin**

  • That Mike Huckabee is willing to argue, during a nationally televised debate, with a straight face, that Saddam Hussein may very well have had a secret stash of weapons of mass destruction is just humiliating.

    You call it ‘humiliating’ — I call it ‘appealing to the median GOP primary voter.’

  • Chucklebee is just channeling Ronnie Raygun: “With all this %^$&, there must be a pony in here somewhere.”

  • It was amazing, but not surprising, that every GOP on stage, sans Paul, stood up there and told the American people that the war was a good idea. And Hickabee the biggest moron of them all, not only believes there are WMDs in Iraq, but to equate them with Easter eggs, WTF?

  • What I find funny is that he clearly came prepared with the Easter Eggs quip, but had failed to prepare with the truth. And to complete his analogy, he’s like a kid who spends all his time looking for Easter Eggs on Halloween. Hey, just because all evidence suggests that nobody plants Easter Eggs on Halloween doesn’t mean nobody did.

  • As a resident in north Florida I have discovered that people here are deeply religious for three reasons; 1. They are not required to think past what they learned as a child. 2. They only read the King James Bible, they say it is the one Jesus carried as he walked by the Sea of Galilee. 3. There will always be fried chicken at each Friday night supper. Therefore, the concept of Huckabee as a viable candidate appeals to many people in this area because he utters “words, phrases, and biblical concepts” that undoubtedly [in their mind] make him a Christian. Just as Bush appealed to the Christian base, so does this fellow count on the limited education, knowledge, and understanding of political, historical, and religious history of our general population- and not just in north Florida. Huckabee has probably received an early congratulatory gift from Bush, his personal Jesus bible. Look for him to brandish it in the future as proof of his legitimacy.

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