Mitt Romney and North Korea’s missile launch
Defying international warnings, North Korea attempted to launch a multi-stage rocket Thursday that potentially would be capable of carrying a nuclear payload into space.
Being North Korea, its effort proved a dismal failure, with the rocket falling apart shortly after launch. However, that doesn’t mean that its ambitions can be safely ignored or downplayed. The U.N. Security Council will be taking up the issue today, and the Obama administration has indicated that a program to deliver food aid to North Korean citizens would be abandoned in response to the provocation.
Mitt Romney, however, immediately condemned the launch attempt as a sign of failure by the Obama administration.
“Instead of approaching Pyongyang from a position of strength, President Obama sought to appease the regime with a food-aid deal that proved to be as naive as it was short-lived,” Romney said. “This incompetence from the Obama administration has emboldened the North Korean regime and undermined the security of the United States and our allies.”
Now, if you want to dissect this problem in partisan terms, we could certainly do that. We could note that the United States first detected the North Korea nuclear program way back in 1989. That would have been early in the administration of the senior President Bush, who did little or nothing in response. In fact, by the end of his term he had pulled all U.S. nuclear warheads out of the Korean Peninsula.
In 2002 — under the second President Bush — North Korea publicly admitted its nuclear program, booted international inspectors from the country and restarted nuclear facilities that had been closed as part of a deal with the Clinton administration.
In 2003, North Korea announced its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. In 2004 it announced it had built a bomb. And in 2006, it conducted its first test of a nuclear weapon.
In other words, most of the major advances made in the North Korean nuclear program have come with Republicans in the White House. Perhaps they too should have “approached Pyongyang from a position of strength” to solve this problem?
In reality, such a partisan analysis would be deeply foolish. I am not attempting in any way to argue that North Korea’s nuclear program represents a failure of Republican policy or Republican presidents. North Korea poses an extremely difficult challenge that has befuddled presidents of both parties going all the way back to Harry Truman. When a country has nothing and wants nothing, there are very few tools available to influence its behavior.
But I will admit to being curious. He has attempted to set up a dichotomy between “strength” on one hand vs. “appeasement” on the other. But what exactly would Romney do as president?
Would he take military action and provoke what by all accounts would be an extremely bloody war in Korea? Would he try to enlist the help of, say, the Russians? You know, the country that Romney recently denounced as “our number one geopolitical foe,” earning him a rebuke from the Russian president that “now is not the mid-70s”?
Would the Chinese — whom Romney has also harshly criticized — be equally willing to help him out? I rather doubt it.
I do know that I am leery of politicians whose first instinct is to bluster about using “strength” to solve international problems that might better be approached through wisdom, patience or cooperation. Been there, done that, and it didn’t turn out so well.
Based on Romney’s public statements, under his leadership we would still have troops in Iraq, despite Iraq’s insistence that they would not allow them. We would still be plotting how to extend rather than end our presence in Afghanistan. And you may remember that after an American drone crashed in Iran last year, Romney insisted that he would have sent troops into that nation to reclaim it, regardless of the consequences.
It’s also important to note that Romney has assembled a Cheney-esque foreign-policy team that is dominated by the same group of neoconservatives that led President Bush into the miscalculated invasion of Iraq.
By his second term, a chastened Bush had learned enough to discard many of those folks and ignore the rest, but by then the damage had been done, both to this country and to his presidency. By recruiting that crowd to his team, and by his evident willingness to follow their advice, Romney shows no such learning curve.
So I’m curious, and the American people ought to be curious as well: What exactly does “approaching Pyongyang from a position of strength” really mean? How would that approach play out, and what would its consequences be? Over the next six-plus months, maybe we’ll get an answer.
– Jay Bookman
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645 comments Add your comment
Adam
April 13th, 2012
10:15 am
What do you expect Romney to say, great job Obama!!
Putting you down as supporting anything a candidate running against Obama says as ok, so long as it’s anti-Obama.
Brosephus™
April 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Adam
It was for the facepalm.
ragnar danneskjold
April 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Has the president apologized to the Norks yet?
Normal, Plain and Simple
April 13th, 2012
10:16 am
All this talk about North Korea is all well and good, but I see a more pressing problem in our future.
Jay, why haven’t you stood against this???
Is Mars Candy Corporation racist?
For years now, I have been buying plain M&M’s for a snack. I regularly dump them on my deck and separate the colors. I have just begun to notice that with a most unsettlingly regularity, there always seems to be a minority of Brown, red and yellow M&M’s. Could this be a subliminal effort to promote racism against the Black, Asian, and native Americans among us? There always seems to be more orange, green and blue ones, which I suspect is another subliminal effort to promote Mezzo-American Immigration (Orange), acceptance of Aliens, earthly or otherwise, (Green…They ARE the MARS Company, after all), and, worst of all, a subliminal effort to promote the acceptance of Yankees in the South (BLUE).
Is there no end to their treachery?
Boycott them, I say. End their pernicious efforts, NOW!!
Adam
April 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Brosephus: Well I have to say I really appreciate you introducing me to that.
It’s saved in a text file
Woodstock Mike
April 13th, 2012
10:17 am
Hey Butch!!
I like Rubio or Ryan as GOP VP. They are going to make Biden look like more of a fool, if that’s possible…
Don't Forget
April 13th, 2012
10:18 am
Scout do you really think N Korea would make that move without China’s approval. Remember, we had the Korean war won until China sent 300,000 troops in. Without China, N Korea simply loses a very bloody war, If China helps them, they lose their biggest customer and probably quite a few more.
They BOTH suck
April 13th, 2012
10:18 am
Good morning Casual………. Hope you are having a great morning
April 12th, 2012
4:19 pm
“The person who attacked Ann Romney for staying home and raising 5 kids is a lesbian. She has never raised kids, and never will. She is excused from her ignorant statement”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-birch/hilary-rosen-ann-romney_b_1421774.html
“Hilary Rosen is an amazing, loving and dedicated mother to our twins.”
now out for a jog then to run a few errands………..
You enjoy your day and have a great weekend
Curious
April 13th, 2012
10:18 am
0311,
North Vietnam took over South Vietnam and now when all the US-Vietnam trade, they’re one of our “bestest” buddies.
Suppose there’s a lesson somewhere?
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:18 am
0311 — “But Jay, what do we do if they decide to come across that border without ANY provocation? Let them have South Korea ?
You’ve been to Korea, haven’t you? Man, if the Norks decide to come across in force, they’ll probably *take* most of South Korea before we can get supplementary forces over there to back up the guys we already have on the ground. It’s historically been their fear of our air power (including naval air power) and our nukes that have kept them snarling in their little cage.
If the Norks come over the border in force and with determination at sunup, they’ll be in Seoul by dark. That’s how close the capital is to the DMZ.
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:19 am
is south korea powerless
and unarmed ?
No, but it also doesn’t have a million-man army like NK does. And Seoul — home of some of the world’s largest corporations and household names — is only a few miles from the DMZ, so it wouldn’t take long for it to fall. That’s the underlying fear of what happens if NK gets desperate for food.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:20 am
When a country has nothing and wants nothing, there are very few tools available to influence its behavior.
I guess the reason I has a sad over this is, well, Mitt Romney surely knows this.
But then this is the same guy who marshaled an Army of Stupids yesterday to imagine his wife was being “attacked” by legions of Obama “advisors.” There’s little he won’t resort to.
Butch Cassidy
April 13th, 2012
10:20 am
Woodstock Mike – “They are going to make Biden look like more of a fool, if that’s possible…”
I don’t think it is. As to Rubio, I could see the strategy in trying to appeal to the latin voter, but unfortunately, there are too many differences in the cuban vs, hispanic communtiy for it to work, and could potentially backfire. As to tRyan, it would be more of a gimic than an asset. I wouldn’t mind Chris Christie, but he’s not interested in the job, Too bad Huntsman never made it past the starting gate, he would have been my choice for either POTUS or VPOTUS.
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:20 am
JHM @ 10:18, you beat me to it.
Lyman Hall
April 13th, 2012
10:22 am
Ifn I was Kim Jong Ill jr……………….and if I had a nosey policetype hypocrital bully country like America always getting into my bidness……………..I would get FIVE fake rockets ……put them on fake platforms…………….maybe fire up a Hibachi under each one to make it look real…………..PERPETUALLY.
Maybe get an Army plattoon to come out every once in awhile and MOON our spy satalyttes.
.
It could potentially bankrupt us.
No wait……………………we’re already bankrupt.
Rightwing Troll
April 13th, 2012
10:22 am
So after 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, we need to start bombing North Korea?
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:23 am
b. frog — “is south korea powerless and unarmed ?”
No, but North Korea throws at LOT of its limited resources into its military under its longstanding “songun” or “military first” policy. Soldiers get more food rations than citizens, for example.
They have a HUGE ground force, albeit a poorly-equipped one. Their air power is no match for ours, but what they lack in quality they make up for in manpower.
The ROK (Republic of Korea) force is mostly draftees, and from my experience, they’re not highly motivated. However the KATUSAs (Korean Augmentee To US Army) soldiers are motivated and educated, as are the elite ROK troops on the border. We have troops there to back the ROKs up, but my understanding is that they’re only supposed to *delay* an invasion while follow-on troops get moved in. One such unit would probably be my old outfit, the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii.
Butch Cassidy
April 13th, 2012
10:23 am
Rightwing – ‘So after 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, we need to start bombing North Korea?”
Of course, how else can Romney get another tax cut pushed throught Congress?
Joeydg
April 13th, 2012
10:25 am
Consider that you’re all still alive because we invaded Iraq. You people don’t understand how close our country is on a constant basis to being attacked by other nations. Because our nation is so prosperous (and so undeserving of that prosperity in the eyes of other nations), and because so many live what would be considered by most nations to be evil and offensive lifestyles, we’re constantly subject to more threats.
gm
April 13th, 2012
10:25 am
Good old Mitt and the Rep party are just itching to have more American troops die, this is a clear choice in this election stable Obama who has kept this country safe for 4 years or the Mitt and the war heads who have no problem like Bush getting more Americans killed.
Every time Obama uses the diplomatic approach to keep our soldiers safe Mitt and John Wayne rep party call him weak, killing 10 of the top terrorist in the world and making Americans not have to go on security alert ever day the way the last administration did if that is weak, I will take Obama any day.
Adam
April 13th, 2012
10:25 am
stands: Not to mention the first ad – “If we keep talking about the economy, we will lose”
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:25 am
Matti — “I bet they’d really go for some cajun cooking. If our soldiers stood on the border cooking up a massive low-country boil, the NK’s would start defecting and lining up for a bowl of mmmm-mmmm good! The border would be open because those guards would be the first on the other side, marveling at the amazing symphony of spices, meats, and veggies in their mouths.”
The ROK troops were keen to swap rations with us, and they seemed to like the ones that Americans hated.
But they LOVED Tabasco sauce. If you had or could get a bottle of that, the ROKs would *eagerly* trade with you for it.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:27 am
we’re already bankrupt.
Aw. So *that’s* why people lend us zillions of dollars expecting 2% returns on ten-year notes.
getalife
April 13th, 2012
10:27 am
willard has zero foreign policy experience and just another reason he will never be President.
Mick
April 13th, 2012
10:28 am
The mittsiah – saber rattlings at its worst! Hey look at me, I’m the toughest guy on the block but in the real world everybody already knows the toughest guy with all the chest thumping. We did get bin laden…
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:28 am
Not to mention the first ad – “If we keep talking about the economy, we will lose”
well, that should’ve been my tip off that it’d be an anything-goes kind of campaign.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:28 am
ByteMe, have you visited South Korea?
barking frog
April 13th, 2012
10:29 am
Byte me, JHM
so our presence is basically foolish if north koreans can overrun at anytime.
ty webb
April 13th, 2012
10:29 am
“…the toughest guy with all the chest thumping.”
I got kicked out of a hooters once for that.
Paul
April 13th, 2012
10:30 am
It’s standard boilerplate for an election year. No matter the issue, take the opposite position and use any attempt to make your opponent seem weak, out of touch, disengaged or otherwise ineffective.
“I do know that I am leery of politicians whose first instinct is to bluster about using “strength” to solve international problems that might better be approached through wisdom, patience or cooperation. Been there, done that, and it didn’t turn out so well.”
I’ll submit we should discount much of the event-specific rhetoric we hear in campaigns and instead try to discern the big themes. In Romney’s case, it would appear to not learn the lessons Bush the Younger learned regarding foreign policy and to not learn the lessons Bush the Younger did not learn regarding the disconnect between tax cuts and job creation.
“What exactly does “approaching Pyongyang from a position of strength” really mean? How would that approach play out, and what would its consequences be? Over the next six-plus months, maybe we’ll get an answer.”
Pyongyang’s a special case. A basket case. Nothing we do affects them in any meaningful way. It’s a humiliating example, but it has merit: you treat them like a spoiled kid having a tantrum and go about your business.
As far as the food aid, CNN reports “The Obama administration says the launch prevents the United States from following through on a deal reached in February to provide much needed food aid to North Korea.
“U.S. delivery of food aid is contingent on our ability to monitor the delivery of that assistance so it goes to North Korea people who are starving and not to elites or the military,” a senior administration official said. “North Korea’s provocations make it impossible to have confidence that those monitoring-agreements can be implemented.”
So it wasn’t the launch in and of itself. It was what it represented as far as monitoring agreements. That leaves the door wide open for resumption.
The Obama Administration and Democrats, in particular, will NOT use food as a means of leverage on a government. They will, at some point, find a way to start shipping food in, thereby continuing the grip of the military on the country.
JohnnyReb
April 13th, 2012
10:30 am
I see the Left’s foreign policy expert and team are out this morning still supporting Obama’s failed “let’s talk to them” policies.
Obama ignored the outcome of previous administrations and went for more talk and sanctions. True to course, the N Korean’s played him like a drum, but a small drum – they rolled out the missle before getting the food.
And all that “buddy up to Russia, I can do more once I’m re-elected,” didn’t work. Russia has announced they will not support more sanctions.
That leaves one alternative – strength. You Moonbats boo-hooed strength when Reagan ramped up the military after the Carter disaster. But it worked, didn’t it? Down went the Soviet Union.
Lyman Hall
April 13th, 2012
10:30 am
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:27 am
we’re already bankrupt.
Aw. So *that’s* why people lend us zillions of dollars expecting 2% returns on ten-year notes.
.
The “people” that loan us the zillions of dollars are well aware of Americans 401K accounts and/or the SS scheme.
Also the “one-time” private wealth tax…………….coming down the pipeline.
.
Stand by.
Brosephus™
April 13th, 2012
10:30 am
GDP growth is the worst under Obama than any president in history. Wait, that’s not his fault…
I guess you missed the Executive Order he signed that required corporations to hoarde cash instead of allowing more of it to circulate through the economy. Obama said that, in order to kill a consumption based economy, you had to stop consumption from taking place. His EO also dictated that corps had to, in hi words, “hold Whitey down” by deflating wages as much as possible. So, you’re wrong on this one. It IS Obama’s fault.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:32 am
Clarification for folks:
ROK = Republic of Korea = South Korea
DPRK = Democratic People’s Republic of Korea = North Korea (I call ‘em “Norks”)
The two countries are technically in a state of cease-fire and have been for about 60 years. There is a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two countries. We have troops in the ROK and troops up on the Korean DMZ.
GT
April 13th, 2012
10:33 am
Romney is a political chameleon. You really don’t know what you are getting when you elect him. This thing with the ladies yesterday was almost comical. Obviously he has been camped out looking for a opening to impress the female voter he was on their side. Then Hilary Rosen rightfully ,but not smartly, criticized Ann Romney for criticizing Obama’s economic plan being the cause of the lost jobs in America for women. Rosen was probably reading into this exactly what Romney was allowing for in the Republican Primary race when he explain his wife drove an American car, be it a Cadillac. The woman very much like her husband is in a disconnect to average American, but God knows it better not be said or her dizziness is now being associated to all American women. A little rich since the criticism came from a woman in the first place, one who had to work and have children. Then this was made a hot issue by a paying customer, Romney, who is probably paying the networks more money than anyone in history next year to get “his” message out. When rich Romney cries networks listen, even had his son on defending his mother. Only thing this preppy was lacking was a sweater tied around his neck.
If it is a mystery to so many I suggest next Thursday go to any club that has ALTA women’s tennis teams. Count these stay home moms, see the jewelry, then look at the resumes if any. Then go to a Sunday business women ALTA match on Sunday because they can’t get off of work on Thursday. You will see Rosen was not far off in her estimate of these woman, and also see which group you would be taking your economic advice from.
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:34 am
ByteMe, have you visited South Korea?
Had a college buddy stationed there years ago. That’s the closest I think I’ll come in my lifetime.
so our presence is basically foolish if north koreans can overrun at anytime.
Similar to our presence in Germany when we were facing off with USSR: it’s just a tripwire force of about 50,000, if I remember right. It puts our troops in harms way so that they think twice about attacking.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:35 am
b. frog — “so our presence is basically foolish if north koreans can overrun at anytime.”
Don’t you suppose they’ve have done it already if they thought they could get away with it?
Google “Operation Paul Bunyan” and see what kind of overkill we put on the Norks when they get froggy and act up.
Paul
April 13th, 2012
10:36 am
I know this appears to be a thread regarding Romney re what N Korea represents in a larger sense, but after three pages I’d have thought those opposed to Romney’s approach would have contrasted it with what’s worked regarding N Korea with Pres Obama’s approach.
Unless, of course, they can’t really think of what the Obama Administration has done that has ‘worked’ with N. Korea….
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:37 am
T. Webb — “I got kicked out of a hooters once for that.”
I LOLed.
Ayn Rant
April 13th, 2012
10:37 am
Romney is just mouthing the always-failed Republican foreign policy dogma: “When in doubt, bomb something!”
Did it never occur to anyone that North Korea actually needs nuclear arms and a delivery capability to preserve its independence? The country borders on Russia and China, the second and third biggest nuclear powers. Stationed along its southern border is a large contingent of military forces of the world’s foremost nuclear power, the only one that has ever deployed nuclear weapons in war.
barking frog
April 13th, 2012
10:38 am
Byte me
sacrificial forces to get us
into a war. foolish.
Becky
April 13th, 2012
10:38 am
GT-good point.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:39 am
Also the “one-time” private wealth tax…………….coming down the pipeline.
I guess that’s supposed to sound scary, but given that we’ve got an overall individual net worth in this nation that’s something like 4x or 5x the accumulated debt, it’s not unreasonable for such a thing to be on the table, if we really DO have to balance our books at some point.
I mean, if you’re honestly talking, from the right wing, about cutting back old age pensioners’ benefits to close some gap in order to settle down the marketplace, it only seems reasonable to consider, from the left wing, confiscating some accumulated wealth of the best-off.
Not saying either is a sensible approach, but all we get is the latter; never the former.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:39 am
arg. I meant “always the former, never the latter” @ 10.39.
Don’t’ know if I’m coming or going, obviously.
Lyman Hall
April 13th, 2012
10:40 am
And Joe Hussein Mama ———–
.
If you traded with the NORKs,,,,or even knew about such trade and didn’t report it……..you committed some VERY SERIOUS violations of the UCMJ.
.
I’ve had friends get into some major trouble(discharged and barely escaping prison) for merely speaking with the commies.
.
You should turn yourself in.
My Party has ALL the answers. Your party is full of poopyheads! (formerly That Black Guy)
April 13th, 2012
10:40 am
In reality, such a partisan analysis would be deeply foolish, but I just can’t help myself.
I am not attempting in any way to argue that North Korea’s nuclear program represents a failure of Republican policy or Republican presidents, even though I just DID.
There Jay, I fixed that for you.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:41 am
I got kicked out of a hooters once for that.
I hate when that happens.
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:42 am
sacrificial forces to get us
into a war. foolish.
Perhaps. But it’s held for 60 years. And West Germany never got attacked by the USSR, so it worked there too. And then there’s the Alamo.
Butch Cassidy
April 13th, 2012
10:43 am
JohnnyReb – “But it worked, didn’t it? Down went the Soviet Union.”
Yes, and that extended invasion of Afghanistan basically bankrupting the country had nothing to do with it. By the way, I’m not against a show of strength, but pray tell, if we do have to go up against another forreign country, how do you propose to pay for it? Or, is the defecit and debt no longer a concern of yours?
Brosephus™
April 13th, 2012
10:43 am
Paul
Nobody’s done anything that has worked against NK. I don’t think anybody has a clue as to what WILL work. It just makes for good campaign fodder to point out what’s wrong when you have no fear of being called to the carpet on what you would do differently. Obama did it. Bush did it, and I’d guess most candidates running against an incumbent does it too.
ty webb
April 13th, 2012
10:44 am
sfd and joe hussein mama,
I was only checking for authenticity.
Normal, Plain and Simple
April 13th, 2012
10:45 am
THE HOSPITAL BILL
A man suffered a serious heart attack while shopping in a store.
The store clerks called 911 when they saw him collapse to the floor.
The paramedics rushed the man to the nearest hospital where he had emergency open heart bypass surgery…
He awakened from the surgery to find himself in the care of nuns at the Catholic Hospital. A nun was seated next to his bed holding a clipboard loaded with several forms, and a pen. She asked him how he was going to pay for his treatment.
“Do you have health insurance?” she asked.
He replied in a raspy voice, “No health insurance.”
The nun asked, “Do you have money in the bank?”
He replied, “No money in the bank.”
Do you have a relative who could help you with the payments?” asked the irritated nun.
He said, “I only have a spinster sister, and she is a nun.”
The nun became agitated and announced loudly, “Nuns are not spinsters! Nuns are married to God.”
The patient replied, “Perfect. Send the bill to my brother-in-law.”
Lyman Hall
April 13th, 2012
10:47 am
stands for decibels @10:39
.
Your stoicism in the face of pillage is commendable…………………………or insane.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:47 am
Obama’s failed “let’s talk to them” policies.
Mitt’s “put them on double-secret probation” policy shows huge promise.
Woodstock Mike
April 13th, 2012
10:47 am
The president just reported his income taxes on CNBC. He paid an effective rate of 20%. He and the first lady made roughly $750K in 2011…
He says that he should be paying more, but he wasn’t required to pay more… LOL
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:47 am
L. Hall — “If you traded with the NORKs,,,,or even knew about such trade and didn’t report it……..you committed some VERY SERIOUS violations of the UCMJ.”
(laughing)
.
“I’ve had friends get into some major trouble(discharged and barely escaping prison) for merely speaking with the commies.”
(laughing)
“You should turn yourself in.”
You should cool your jets and stop leaping to conclusions. We traded MREs with ROK troops, nitwit. (laughing)
Adam
April 13th, 2012
10:47 am
Butch: Or, is the defecit and debt no longer a concern of yours?
Was it ever? Talk is just talk.
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:48 am
The patient replied, “Perfect. Send the bill to my brother-in-law.”
Unlike Johnny’s “true story” from yesterday, I’m not running this one past snopes.com
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
10:48 am
Perhaps Obama could take them a basketball signed by Lebron????
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
10:49 am
Come on Jay!!! Lets talk about Hillary Rosen… Why are you libs running from the voice of the democrap party????
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:49 am
Mitt’s “put them on double-secret probation” policy shows huge promise.
I thought his policy was “I have a secret plan”. Isn’t that also his tax reform policy?
Thug
April 13th, 2012
10:49 am
This is 2012 it’s all about,”which side are you on?” Our whole country is hanging by a thread. Do you want the rugged individulism that makes the USA great or government take over of everything? It’s either HOT or COLD, no such thing as lukewarm
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:50 am
Perhaps Obama could take them a basketball signed by Lebron????
I wouldn’t fire my missles for a year for that.
Lets talk about Hillary Rosen
blogspot is waiting, Joseph. I’m sure people you attract to your own blog will be more than interested in thumping their chest in fake outrage.
ByteMe - Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:51 am
It’s either HOT or COLD, no such thing as lukewarm
Of course there is. The swimming pool in the summer is lukewarm.
Silly.
Curious
April 13th, 2012
10:51 am
Johnny Red,
We won the cold war because the USSR went broke trying to keep up. North Korea isn’t trying to keep up.
Look at Cuba. If we had actually traded with them, rather than imposing embargos, Castro and that government would have either been gone or become more capitalist.
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
April 13th, 2012
10:52 am
Can we define “what works” as far as North Korea goes?
We are not bringing american service mena and women home in body bags.
They can’t get their missiles up.
China’s pissed at ‘em and so’s Russia.
Let’s not go to war because some paranoids have their jocky pants bunched up.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:53 am
This is 2012 it’s all about,”which side are you on?” Our whole country is hanging by a thread. Do you want the rugged individulism that makes the USA great or government take over of everything? It’s either HOT or COLD, no such thing as lukewarm
oh how I wish this were parody.
ty webb
April 13th, 2012
10:54 am
“They can’t get their missiles up.”
yeah Granny, I mean come on, don’t they know there’s a pill for that.
Paul
April 13th, 2012
10:54 am
Brosephus 10:43
Yup.
I’m leaning towards a modified Cold War stance regarding N Korea, Iraq, etc.
“A nuke goes off against us or our allies, we detect your signature, we trace it to you, we even think it might have come from you, we obliterate you. Completely.”
Normal, Plain and Simple
April 13th, 2012
10:54 am
“Why are you libs running from the voice of the democrap party???”
I thought we had decided that Rachel Maddow was the voice of the party?
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:55 am
I thought his policy was “I have a secret plan”.
hmm. Worked for another unabashed Dick back in ‘68.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
10:56 am
ByteMe – Political thug for sale:
I’m just concerned about Bookman talking about things that are irrelevant. We need to talk about issues and the views of our elected leaders. Especially the war on women that Obama has waged….
My Party has ALL the answers. Your party is full of poopyheads! (formerly That Black Guy)
April 13th, 2012
10:57 am
Doggone/GA
April 13th, 2012
9:06 am
“yeah, America’s gonna gobble up some of that”
Unfortuneatly, some Americans will
____________________________________________________________________________
Not THIS American.
I’m voting for Rosie.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
10:58 am
the voice of the democrap party
Rosen has to have experienced the most stratospheric career boost in planetary history. Monday she was just another political consultant with a modest CNN contract; Friday, she is the voice of the DNC.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
10:59 am
GG — “Can we define “what works” as far as North Korea goes? We are not bringing american service mena and women home in body bags. They can’t get their missiles up. China’s pissed at ‘em and so’s Russia. Let’s not go to war because some paranoids have their jocky pants bunched up.”
This.
So what if they’re acting all bluff and blustery? Jackasses locked in their cages will be jackasses, but they’re not getting out. It was true with Saddam Hussein, and it’s true with the Norks.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:00 am
ByteMe – Political thug for sale:
By the way. I feel right at home here on Bookman’s blog. I love the fact that I can get you libs howling at the moon and foaming at the mouth at every word I say.
stands for decibels
April 13th, 2012
11:00 am
Hey Joseph? Since you’ve such a raging stiffie to get your hate on for Hilary Rosen, perhaps you can scan this
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/the-general-election-has-started-and-the-stupid-levels-are-already-off-the
and tell me what Amanda Marcotte got wrong regarding Mrs. Romney’s lament?
godless heathen
April 13th, 2012
11:00 am
mm
April 13th, 2012
9:37 am
I guess the tape came of the bundle of bottle rockets taped together in the rocket housing.
Those clowns in North Korea are laughable.
—————————————————————
When they launch a nuclear tipped bottle rocket our way, we can always hope that it falls apart somewhere over the pole.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:01 am
stands for decibels:
She’s been to the Whitehouse 34 times. She must have a pretty big voice… Why don’t ya’ll wanna talk about her????
Butch Cassidy
April 13th, 2012
11:02 am
Joseph – ” howling at the moon and foaming at the mouth”
Do you combine that with “throat cramming” as well?
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:02 am
stands for decibels:
I didn’t ask about Mitt Romney. I want to talk about Hillary Rosen. Changing the subject is a ploy of the left. Lets talk about news thats happening right now….
JohnnyReb
April 13th, 2012
11:03 am
Butch Cassidy
April 13th, 2012
10:43 am
JohnnyReb – “But it worked, didn’t it? Down went the Soviet Union.”
Yes, and that extended invasion of Afghanistan basically bankrupting the country had nothing to do with it. By the way, I’m not against a show of strength, but pray tell, if we do have to go up against another forreign country, how do you propose to pay for it? Or, is the defecit and debt no longer a concern of yours?
_______________________
Greetings, Butch, how’s the weather in NYC?
There are many ways to project strength. Some that do not are a POTUS and party where the world knows he/they want to cut defense spending in favor of social programs. It does not help to apologize for all that happened beforehand. It does not project strength to announce a pull-out before a surge. Increasing military spending is not all bad. Dems want to cut it and use the money for social programs or stimulus type spending. Military spending is a stimulus in itself as history shows.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:03 am
Poor libs… They just have no answer for Hillary. Its obvious becuase there’s no response. Another Obvious thing is that they must beleive what Rosen says. That just shows the true colors of democrats….
Butch Cassidy
April 13th, 2012
11:03 am
godless heathen – “When they launch a nuclear tipped bottle rocket our way, we can always hope that it falls apart somewhere over the pole.”
No need to hope, it’s a mathematical certainty.
GT
April 13th, 2012
11:04 am
Who has had the better track record on foreign policy? Bush spent most of 8 years chasing a ghost in all the wrong places, celebrating on an aircraft carrier a victory that was not even out of the grocery store more less baked, and whose cowboy act was an offensive to about every ally except the ones bought by Hack Murdock’s press, as a fan dancer is to a nun.
Bush didn’t have a foreign policy, his phone barely had long distance capabilities in those days. Homeland Security was his answer to foreign policy, throw rocks at em and then hide in a secure environment at home. Then one day there was a hurricane. No way to blame that one on an evil emperor, if was what is called an act of God. The right who are suppose to have a direct line to God may want to read their tea leaves a little closer before casting their religiously blocked votes. Maybe He is trying to tell ya something.
Joe Hussein Mama
April 13th, 2012
11:04 am
Joseph — “Changing the subject is a ploy of the left.”
This thread’s about Romney and Korea, commie. Stop trying to change the topic, America-hater.
“Lets talk about news thats happening right now….”
Blogspot is ready when you are.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:05 am
What about the Democrat Partys base. Welfare women who stay at home and raise their kids. Shouldn’t they be offended by Rosen’s comments… Since they do nothing and all….
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:05 am
Joe Hussein Mama:
Ditto
JohnnyReb
April 13th, 2012
11:06 am
ByteMe – Political thug for sale
April 13th, 2012
10:48 am
The patient replied, “Perfect. Send the bill to my brother-in-law.”
Unlike Johnny’s “true story” from yesterday, I’m not running this one past snopes.com
____________________
There you go again…. When I state here’s something to lighten your day, it does not mean it’s true. Instead, it was funny to all be sticks in the mud.
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
April 13th, 2012
11:06 am
Joseph
34 times? A paid talking head for CNN been there 34 times?
Golly gosh….I wonder how many times pais talking heads for FOX or CBS or ABC or NBC or PBS have been there.
Please keep doing the FABULOUS research you’re doing on reporters and visits to the White House.
It’s a scandal I tell you.
Damn just damn reporters at the White House.
What the hell is wrong in America?
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:06 am
Rosen has really got you democrat/libs in a tizzy…
Jefferson
April 13th, 2012
11:07 am
Just think how tough it is on working mothers that HAVE to work and worry about money to buy food and pays bills, or does that not make headlines.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:07 am
Granny Godzilla – Union Thugette:
Libs and damage control… Thats almost as laughable as a child racing in the Indy 500….
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
April 13th, 2012
11:08 am
Joseph
as always
thanks for the punchline.
JohnnyReb
April 13th, 2012
11:08 am
Curious
April 13th, 2012
10:51 am
Johnny Red,
We won the cold war because the USSR went broke trying to keep up. North Korea isn’t trying to keep up.
__________________
And just what was USSR trying to to keep up to? It was American military strength.
rightwing troll
April 13th, 2012
11:08 am
So ahhh… how should we deal with North Korea? Any useful suggestions? or just pontification and prognostication based on hatred of Obama?
Here’s a thought, send Zimmerman over there to stalk and entice them into fighting, then we stand our ground and kill them…
Paul
April 13th, 2012
11:09 am
Woodstock Mike 10:47
I thought that was a joke about the president’s and VP’s effective tax rate for 2012. That the Pres paid 20.5% and the VP paid 23%. After all the hoopla about Mitt’s 15%.
But it’s true!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/04/13/president-obama-and-vice-president-biden-s-2011-tax-returns
So the leaders decrying what Mitt represents themselves paid only a few points higher.
Either Americans don’t have a clue about how effective tax rates are different from marginal tax rates, or there’s a lot of emotional political rhetoric being flung about. By Dems saying how horribly low the rates are for the wealthy or by Republicans for saying the wealthy would go broke under Democratic tax reform plans.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:09 am
Jefferson:
I think about my mother. She raised 5 children and stayed home. She worked her but off doing it and then to have a democrat leader tell her that she has no clue about work.. Shameless… But it’s a glaring example of how the left thinks…..
Don't Forget
April 13th, 2012
11:10 am
Hillary Rosen is about to be a stay at home Mom for quite a while herself. Attacking the family members of a candidate always backfires and she should have known that.
Joseph
April 13th, 2012
11:11 am
Paul:
That will be Obama and the dem partys platform for 2012. Divide!!! Thats all they have. They certainly can’t run on the issues. They would be laughed at….