Unlike most Rep and many Dems, Mr Biden strikes me as a guy who stands up for his errors. I'm a skeptic this lies on him, though maybe a stiffer backbone when confronting GQP nationalists would've given me a bit more heart. He likely realizes that when it comes to the home front, most Americans, especially those on the Right, do not recognize people of color, no matter how loyal they are to the White Oil Agenda. The Afghanistan retreat typifies cutting your losses. Loss was inevitable and our current president is the only one of the last four who had any hope of ending our involvement in this useless war.
I suspect we won't hear any braggadocio on any "secret" help rendered in the past months or what might be going on behind the scenes. The current administration likely realizes the best course is to keep things quiet and not let the cat out of the bag with loose emails or cell phone calls from a country club.
Bottom line: most Americans don't give a hoot for any allies or people left twisting in the wind. But losing a war does smart. Not perhaps as much as being the battleground and losing hundreds of thousands of lives. I think we betrayed a lot of dead civilians in the past twenty years, and there's very little bellyaching about that.
It's all relative Dale. And fake news to boot. You know well that these issues are far more complicated than you or I write or comment about. You've also misdiagnosed in using a favorite term, whataboutism. I'm a bit shocked you would rush to the defense of Mr Trump, even indirectly. You know well I'm far from being a political partisan. I have nearly as much distaste for the clumsy Dems as I do for the traitorous elements in the GOP. As for Afghanistan, it's been the West's practice to leave allies twisting in the wind for decades. The narrative never changes, only the characters.
No, it's not fake news. Biden is on record as not caring a whit about the South Vietnamese, and he repeated the sentiments with respect to Afghans back in 2011.
His new twist is leaving behind American citizens. If we were getting people out, we'd hear about it. At a minimum, the families would rejoice and make news, but alas. People trapped in planes at the airport. Hostages who may be ransomed, as long as it serves the purposes of those who left them behind.
And, yes, whataboutism is in play whenever you bring in the Orange Man or his party to analyze the failings of the current holders of the whip hand.
If you had ever tried to analyze a Democratic failure without bringing the other party into it, that would give me a framework for responding to you.
The big picture, or at least the only one that should matter, if American citizenship and legal residency matter: hundreds of American citizens and thousands of green-card holders still trapped. All due to the cascade failures of the current administration and the permanent professional military and diplomatic bureaucracies.
Unlike most Rep and many Dems, Mr Biden strikes me as a guy who stands up for his errors. I'm a skeptic this lies on him, though maybe a stiffer backbone when confronting GQP nationalists would've given me a bit more heart. He likely realizes that when it comes to the home front, most Americans, especially those on the Right, do not recognize people of color, no matter how loyal they are to the White Oil Agenda. The Afghanistan retreat typifies cutting your losses. Loss was inevitable and our current president is the only one of the last four who had any hope of ending our involvement in this useless war.
ReplyDeleteI suspect we won't hear any braggadocio on any "secret" help rendered in the past months or what might be going on behind the scenes. The current administration likely realizes the best course is to keep things quiet and not let the cat out of the bag with loose emails or cell phone calls from a country club.
Bottom line: most Americans don't give a hoot for any allies or people left twisting in the wind. But losing a war does smart. Not perhaps as much as being the battleground and losing hundreds of thousands of lives. I think we betrayed a lot of dead civilians in the past twenty years, and there's very little bellyaching about that.
I am stunned.
ReplyDeleteI am used to your whataboutist hand-waving and unalloyed partisanship--but callousness? That's a side to you I never want to see again.
This is the worst thing from you I have ever read. I hope never to read its like again.
It's all relative Dale. And fake news to boot. You know well that these issues are far more complicated than you or I write or comment about. You've also misdiagnosed in using a favorite term, whataboutism. I'm a bit shocked you would rush to the defense of Mr Trump, even indirectly. You know well I'm far from being a political partisan. I have nearly as much distaste for the clumsy Dems as I do for the traitorous elements in the GOP. As for Afghanistan, it's been the West's practice to leave allies twisting in the wind for decades. The narrative never changes, only the characters.
DeleteNo, it's not fake news. Biden is on record as not caring a whit about the South Vietnamese, and he repeated the sentiments with respect to Afghans back in 2011.
DeleteHis new twist is leaving behind American citizens. If we were getting people out, we'd hear about it. At a minimum, the families would rejoice and make news, but alas. People trapped in planes at the airport. Hostages who may be ransomed, as long as it serves the purposes of those who left them behind.
And, yes, whataboutism is in play whenever you bring in the Orange Man or his party to analyze the failings of the current holders of the whip hand.
No. Your claims of whataboutism are just looking at the bigger picture. So in that sense, yes: what about the big picture?
DeleteIf you had ever tried to analyze a Democratic failure without bringing the other party into it, that would give me a framework for responding to you.
DeleteThe big picture, or at least the only one that should matter, if American citizenship and legal residency matter: hundreds of American citizens and thousands of green-card holders still trapped. All due to the cascade failures of the current administration and the permanent professional military and diplomatic bureaucracies.