Republican Reaction
The killing of Osama Bin Laden will affect the 2012 Presidential race, at the very least in the short term, but perhaps in the long term as well. Foreign policy victories like this can either help (see Saddam Hussein capture in 2003) or not matter at all (see victory in the Persian Gulf War in 1991) in a subsequent presidential election. So that is the grain of salt to take, but given the looming nature of Osama bin Laden, the horror he inflicted on our country, and the celebrations not unlike V-J day we saw last night and the almost universal reaction this morning, I think this has the potential to be a game changer for 2012.
It might very well be forgotten in short order if gas prices and unemployment don’t come down, but in the short term, perceptions about a President can change quickly in the mind of the fickle Independents. The barometer I often use for the mind of the fickle Independent is the reaction of professional sports talk show idiot (who I love to listen to though) Angelo Cataldi on 610 WIP in Philly. All they are talking about this morning is this news, not sports. He is overflowing with praise for President Obama and the “magnificent” speech he gave last night. He put together a 2 minute long song that is being played at every top of the hour that intersperses “Proud to be an American” with Obama’s speech last night.
Here are some statements from potential Republican presidential candidates. See if you can tell which ones are running for President and sense the potential for a political shift and which ones are not and could care less:
Mitt Romney: “This is a great victory for lovers of freedom and justice everywhere. Congratulations to our intelligence community, our military and the president. My thoughts are with the families of Osama bin Laden’s many thousands of victims, and the brave servicemen and women who have laid down their lives in pursuit of this murderous terrorist.”
Mike Huckabee: “It is unusual to celebrate a death, but today Americans and decent people the world over cheer the news that madman, murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden is dead… It has taken a long time for this monster to be brought to justice. Welcome to hell, bin Laden. Let us all hope that his demise will serve notice to Islamic radicals the world over that the United States will be relentless is tracking down and terminating those who would inflict terror, mayhem and death on any of our citizens.”
Tim Pawlenty: “This is terrific news for freedom and justice. In the hours after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush promised that America would bring Osama bin Laden to justice — and we did. I want to congratulate America’s armed forces and President Obama for a job well done. Let history show that the perseverance of the US military and the American people never wavered. America will never shrink from the fight and ultimately those who seek to harm us face only defeat. Today, justice is done, but the fight against radical Islamic terrorism is not yet over.”
Sarah Palin: “Thank you, American men and women in uniform. You are America’s finest and we are all so proud. Thank you for fighting against terrorism.”
Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are quite obviously running for President (both have announced), and thus their statements include mentions of the President. Both Palin and Huckabee haven’t announced, and most likely won’t. In fact, I was struck with the “Palin”-ness of Huckabee’s response.
Minus 10 points to TPaw for mentioning Bush
I was listening (in part) to Angelo on the ride into work this morning and I was also thinking that this is an important shift in the discourse towards Obama. Even Birthers will have a hard time explaining (although I’m sure they will still find a way to twist this into their conspiratorial worldview) why our “Muslim” President killed OBL. However, we can just ask Churchill (except that he’s dead) about how fickle the electorate can be after you have given them victory in a war.
As for the high price of gas, that should take care of itself by election time for two reasons: 1) as gas prices rise, people change their consumption patterns and prices will drop as demand falls; and 2) much of the recent increase in gas prices has been due to the political risk, which has been lessened by the death of OBL (although not immediately, due to the risk of retaliatory strikes by al Qaeda).
Jensen is bitter today. He said Obama “dithered” since August.
So by that failed bit of logic, we could accuse GWB of “dithering” since when? Someone should remind him on the times that GWB told Americans that getting bin Laden wasn’t important.
In delaware it won’t matter as Obama will roll big time and the De GOP will be AWOL.
If you are a gun crazed Republican you might like it here but the rest of are f*cked.
People of color are not welcome in the GOP.
Until Fox News getting the talking points distributed to the wingnut-o-sphere, be prepared for a lot of disjointed, nonsensical jibber-jabber from people like Jensen. (“$#@ Bzzt…Beep…Zburp…$#@” DOES NOT COMPUTE…Bzzt..BErptz…beep…)
In one 24 hour talking head cycle, the wingnuts like Jensen will still be nonsensical, but they’ll all be on the same anti-Obama page.
Im actually having a hard time believing this isnt more than a symbolic victory.
Yes, i understand that Bin Laden, and really Al Queda have been pretty ineffective for some time now. Given the “attempts” in the past few years, we know that the capcity of a “global terror network” is pretty diminished. They last few fuck-ups lit their underpants on fire and thought that an alarm clock taped to a bag of mulch was a viable bomb.
What they had was the bragging point of “America still hasnt gotten Osama” that is gone now. If you look at it in the light of “a president who was actually TRYING to get him”, it didnt take our special forces very long at all. It reaffirms (or maybe just affirms) that people who attack America will get caught and will be killed by badass NAVY SEALS.
All of this is happening in a middle east where 2 dictators were toppled NOT by Osama’s brand of violence, but by peaceful educated (im gonna say it) progressive protests. If, God willing, the west’s involvement in Lybia leads to the end of Gadafy, and a freer Lybia, the credibility of extremist political Islam will be broken for good.
As far as the GOP goes, let them say what they are going to say. Americans poured into the streets at 1am to share a moment of unity. The Tbags who try and turn this against the president will be left behind to steep in their own filth.
Think Progress put up a great summary of the BushCo attitude to capturing bin Laden — reminding everyone (including Jensen) that his boys Bush and Cheney didn’t prioritize capturing bin Laden at all.
I remember that the GOP freaked out when Obama said he would go into Pakistan to get bin Laden.
I wonder if RWNJs have physical pain when they have to say something nice about President Obama.
Funny how when we stopped torturing people we got credible intelligence on bin Laden’s location. It must be tough to take for RWNJs to realize hyper-masculine strutting, torture and invading countries we don’t like is not as effective as Obama’s more deliberate approach.
Did Palin tweet her response?
Look what Jensen just tweeted when I reminded him about Tora Bora: @unstableisotope celebrating America’s mistakes #liberal
He owes me an apology.
Jensen is the ultimate schmuck. He’s our asshat today.
Don’t hold your breath,UI. The creator couldn’t fit normal brain functions in Jensen’s diminutive head bone.
I think my rage shakes are gone.
Obama killed Osama on the biggest Soshalust holiday of the year, and Hitler, who was a Soshalust because it says so in the name of his political party (nuff said), died on the same day 66 years ago…so, it is without any hesitation, I say here in front of my righteous capitalistic tea party bretheren, that Barack Hussain Obama IS the reincarnation of Adoph Hitler and he must be defeated!
So say we all!
😈
Jensen actually did apologize.
How? In tweet form? Or on air?
In tweet form.
Finding bin Laden 1000 yards from a Pakistani military academy is a little bit like finding Dick Cheney across the street from CIA headquarters.
Delaware’s leading jackbooted thug- Evan Q- has apparently moved on from harassing video trackers and Ginger Gibson to calling out DL bloggers. The big man behind the keyboard is sparing no punches:
“on 02 May 2011 at 12:5119EvanQ(DEConservative)
I just went live with Rick Jensen on 1150 WDEL and praised Obama AND Bush for their tenacity and vigor in tracking down and killing Obama. I believe both Presidents deserve heaps of credit for it. I believe the lions share of the credit goes to the U.S. military and the CIA for the continued focus on Osama bin Laden. I gave a special kudos to Obama for ordering a direct strike mission to retrieve the body and not just a drone attack.
I wish out friends from DL had similar opinions. The fact that they don’t and that they are exposing themselves is a shame.”
Jensen is officially a loser for letting a lunatic like Evan Q on the air in the first place. Are you really that desperate Rick?
Enjoy your view of nothing!
Apparently Jensen *is* that desperate. It isn’t as though anyone here is arguing AGAINST the justice finally served to bin Laden.
But we get a first hand look at how the wingnut lies get created though.
ps.
We thank you for your service in actually being able to listen to Jensen. Seriously.
Joe Scarborough said said pretty much the same as Evan.
Repubs have actually been pretty successful at implanting lies about Democrats, so they keep trying it.
I thought Evan had been selected for a vaccination study of a possible cure for political rabies. I am so sad to see that it failed.
Apparently, Evan is a frequent Jensen caller. How is he getting change for those pay phones I wonder?
Enjoy your view of nothing!
My message to Evan Q, “Fuck Bush.” OBL would have been killed 7 years ago if not for him.
I loved Jason’s comments over at DP.
They’ve been edited and scrubbed by, the lover of free speech, David Andersen.
Can’t Evan just stick to what he does best- being the Witch’s “muscle” and engaging in the occassional giggle-filled pillow fight @ the Founders Values sleep-overs ????
And Anderson would turn America into Afghanistan if he ever had the chance.
Enjoy your view of nothing!
Bush doesn’t deserve credit for getting bin Laden.
Bush said he didn’t think about bin Laden much anymore and he disbanded the OBL unit. He also let bin Laden escape from Tora Bora.
During the presidential debates, McCain said he wouldn’t go into Pakistan to get bin Laden. In fact, McCain said it was a sign of Obama’s inexperience that he said he would.
Obama changed Bush’s policy. Obama deserves the credit. He made getting OBL the CIA’s top priority.
Bush bashing is a sport to you. I think today is a day of celebration not trying to find ways to divide. I see Jason is not atypical. I guess if I want to celebrate the American accomplishment and give due credit, I just need to stay on my side of the aisle. GOD bless the President as he does his best to keep us safe.
Jason – I was commenting on the editing of your comments. It’s so typical of RD to edit/delete anything he doesn’t like.
I was enjoying watching the pea brains at Delaware Politics turn themselves into pretzels trying to give Bush, the President who failed to get OBL for 8 years, the President who allowed OBL to escape from Tora Bora because he needed special ops troops for his vanity war in Iraq, some of President Obama’s credit.
It is hilarious actually. They are idiots. Confronted with factual information, they simply freak out.
@Repuke David – I actually have a different use for a bush, besides bashing it…
Heaven forbid a “conservative” like you would be for free speech,or free thought either
see, people like you and your ilk on DP (anyone see Fay doubting OBL is dead) need the bible, religion, laws, structure to regulate your lives as you have no internal regulating mechanism by which to regulate yourselves.
People that rely on the external control measures show us that you really don’t have what it takes inside to be tolerant,becauses the “other” actually scares you and you feel the desire to dabble. Therefore you must outlaw everything because you cannot control your baser needs and desires
It really is pathetic to see, and a sad commentary on where you are on the evolutionalry scale…
Grow up, go to counseling and realize that your view is not the be all and end all of life-and you are not the boss of me – or anyone else.
How long before Trump demands to see the death certificate?
Did you know that the only people in the world that don’t believe in global warming is the American Republican Party? That’s a fact. The other facts are Polar Bears don’t have ice to hunt on and Seals have vert little habitat to birth their young.Maybe the Koch brothers will come to their rescue?