By: SavetheRepublic

SavetheRepublic — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:49:45 +0000

So — you all can spread me as thin as you like, I refuse to be margarinealized.

By: rlw895

rlw895 — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:05:08 +0000

Tom: No, I’m only saying the Republicans miscalculated how many people would care that the administration was lying about this issue during the campaign. It was a sign of how little the Republicans had to work with in trying to woo undecided voters.

By: Tom Chalk

Tom Chalk — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:14:19 +0000

RLW895: Are you saying that the GOP got what it deserved for trying to nail the Obama administration and sour his chances for reelection? Brings to mind the old “Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies.”

By: rlw895

rlw895 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 05:16:59 +0000

I’m glad Sowell believes so strongly in the truth and is so against deception. We should be able to use that against him later. The truth does matter, sometimes more than others. When we are not getting the truth, we should not trust the teller to be honest, especially under similar circumstances. So, the questions are: Were we getting the truth? Did it matter enough to get all huffy about it? What were the circumstances? Let’s start though with Sowell’s truth-telling himself. Actually, I don’t have much of a problem until I get to the “Prior to the attack, the administration’s political theme was that Barack Obama had…vanquished al-Qaida….” The most I can find Obama said was that we had decimated the al-Qaida leadership and had the organization “on the run.” I don’t think anyone would dispute the hit on the al-Qaida leadership. It’s Sowell’s claim that Obama said we had defeated al-Qaida that is not true, or at least a gross exaggeration, as far as I can tell. “On the run” implies that al-Qaida is not on the offensive, but that’s a far cry from “vanquished.” Truth matters, but so do words. Next up, we have “In a larger context, the Benghazi attack showed that you cannot unilaterally end the ‘war on terror’ or the terrorists’ war on us, by declaring victory.” That’s true! What’s not true is the implication that Obama ever “declared victory,” or said anything close to “Mission Accomplished.” Then, finally, we have the zinger at the end: “Once the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi is seen for what it was – a highly coordinated and highly successful operation by terrorists [true!] who were said to have been vanquished [not true, at least if we are to read Sowell’s poor passive voice writing as “who Obama said had been vanquished”] – that calls into question the Obama administration’s Middle East foreign policy.” [huh?] Oh well, ending on a non-sequitur must be an old Sowell trick. Returning to our questions: Were we getting the truth? I agree with Sowell; we were not, as we all know now and the administration admits. That doesn’t make it a lie, which is an untruth told with an intention to deceive, but I willing to go as far as say the administration DID lie to us. Next, did it matter? Well, not to me. It really only mattered to the other side in the presidential campaign, as they tried to make the incident into an issue. But it really only played to the Republican base that wasn’t voting for Obama anyway. To me, what mattered was that the people who died were given the respect that was due them, that the perpetrators be discovered and brought to justice, and that the government learn everything that could be learned from the incident to reduce the risk to our people serving overseas. I don’t think anyone had any doubts the administration was doing their best on all those things no matter what they were telling us about the incident itself. Obama honored the memory of Chris Stevens and the others in his speech at the United Nations two weeks after their deaths. It doesn’t get much better for a career diplomat. Finally, what were the circumstances that led to this lie? Well, there was a very nasty presidential election going on. And it appeared to be close. Under those circumstances, I give anyone a pass unless the lie really mattered to me, and as I already said, this one didn’t. So if we want to know why we didn’t get the truth until much later, blame it on the nastiness of the 2012 presidential campaign and Obama’s opponents in general. If you don’t want the truth, threaten Armageddon if you get it.

Comments on: Shout louder, Hillary

By: SavetheRepublic

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By: Tom Chalk

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