Handled.
Today’s talking point de jour among the right wing guests, like Newt Gingrich, on the Sunday shows was that President Obama was “soft on pirates.” And then the President goes and orders deadly force against the pirates, and due to the skill of our military, three pirates were killed and the captain was rescued. Now, if the operation went horribly wrong, like having the captain killed during the operation, than the blame would have fallen on the President, as it should since he gave the order. I am sure Republicans would have somehow found a way to criticize him, even though today they were saying he was soft on pirates.
To his credit, Dana Pico gives Obama credit for his order. I wonder if Newt Gingrich will retract his statement today. It would do him good to follow Dana’s lead and acknowledge the reality of the situation. But I think Newt is probably pissed that he was made to look like a fool today. And that brings us back to my earlier post today: Republicans generally just do not know how to oppose Obama. Just when they think they have an issue….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/12/analysis-obama-beats-firs_n_186028.html
Fox Noise didn’t know how to react this afternoon when the news broke. The link above shows no drama obama at his best
Nah, you folks don’t get it… Obama acted precisely BECAUSE the Republicans were saying he was soft on pirates… which would be a great name for a band…. anyway, that’s how they’ll spin it. He only acts after political criticism, yada yada.
jajajajajajajajajajajaja first national security crisis?
I’m not saying Barry didn’t (or, the Navy didn’t, as it would be pretty hard for any command to make the wrong decision when the Navy comes to you and says; “We can fix this, should we?”) resolve this but this is not his first national security crisis.
Anon idiot… he gave the order on Friday. Today was the first of the “Soft on Pirates” meme from you Republicans.
Kinda blows the hole in that theory, right?
I think anon idiot is just telling us what the spin is going to be.
John Cole at Balloon Juice shows how the megaphone failed via Red State. Funny!
Under the exact same circumstances, the captain would be dead, the pirates would have escaped, and Bush would be attacking Venezuela.
I usually check redstate.com to get the latest right-wing ugliness in condensed form.
It is already ugly out there. But I don’t think the crap they are throwing is going to stick this time.
Obama is soft on pirates because he didn’t torture them before killing them.
Bush would have invaded Pittsburgh.
Glad to see you pants shitting liberals are on board with this… GUNS! OH NO!! Just think….none of this would have happened had the cargo ship been armed to begin with….
Another right wing talking point bites the dust. Wall St. hates Obama because the stock market has gone down…except now it is up. Obama is “soft on pirates” except for the daring rescue by the Navy. Idiots.
LG they were afraid to try Bush. They weren’t afraid of Obama’s apologetic America. I guess now they realize it is still America. The people will fight you back and the President will blow you away. The great stuff hasn’t changed.
May God bless America and our President.
Let me try out some right-wing logic:
“The pirates were emboldened because Bush hollowed out our forces and failed to confront the pirates. ”
Hey, that feels pretty good! Let me try another:
“Bush as Commander In Chief had full power to require merchant marine vessels to carry arms and trained to defend themselves, but he abdicated this responsibility- Disgraceful. ”
Wait, FOX is calling, let me see what they want. I think they are offering me a show!
And the pirates from Somalia operated with relative impunity for many years while BushCo was in power. It wasn’t as though addressing this was a high priority.
BushCo would have used this bit of business to bomb Iran or North Korea.
wow david, its a little surprising coming from you, but im glad to see you can acknowledge when he does something good. Amen brothah.
I saw a number of congratulatory comments by Obama bashers, which I liked very much.
I say we name the new President The Pirate King, after all it is a glorious thing.
http://mikeb302000.blogspot.com/2009/04/it-is-glorious-thing-to-be-pirate-king.html
Hey, have they come up with the story line for the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel yet? Maybe Obama and The Terminator could team up, with Michelle as the smokin’ hot Pirate Queen 🙂
Morning Joe seems to be avoiding this story.
I hope Keith runs the Newt Clip tonight
Juan Cole in Salon: “The Great Right-Wing Freak-Out”
David,
The Somali piracy started around 2005-2006. How else would they already have boats and hostages?
If Obama was really “soft on pirates” he’d have offered Newt in exchange for the ship’s captain.
But he (as usual) decided to go soft on the GOP and shot it out with the pirates instead, possibly precipitating the death of a US citizen.
“And the pirates from Somalia operated with relative impunity for many years while BushCo was in power. It wasn’t as though addressing this was a high priority.”
So…. when was the last an American captain or crew was held hostage by the Somali pirates? However, even though he had to wait to see which way the wind was blowing, I am impressed that President Obama has finally showed a hint of balls. Hey, we couldn’t let the French show us up.
Well I guess you have to buy that these pirates were “trying” President Obama instead of indulging in the lawlessness that they’ve been involved with for quite sometime. And while we are all delighted that this Captain and crew are coming home, these same pirates have more than a few hostages and ships they are still holding. But I take your point that none of this has much meaning unless Americans are involved.
I don’t buy that they were “trying” the president. And, despite those who are attempting to spin this as an act of terrorism, it was a criminal act, as are the other hijackings. As usual, you miss the point by a mile. If we had acted before Americans were directly involved, it would have been perceived as, yet another act of American aggression.
In which case you’ve missed the genesis of this entire conversation — which would be post 13 and my response was directed towards that.
And we have been acting before this. Not in taking out pirates, but certainly coordinating patrol and other actions with other countries’ Naval ships in the area. Not direct force, but there are already those who just think that the fact that we (and others ) are already there is a miscarriage of justice.