Thursday Daily Delawhere [3.6.14]
Brandywine Creek, from the Flying Inn on Flickr.
"Yet if the GOP establishment largely won the battle last night, the Tea Party has already won the war. Every Republican running for office -- up and down the ballot -- did so by running hard to the right and hard against President Obama (even in races that have nothing to do with the president)... And in another example of how the Tea Party has already won the war, just check out the tweet that Sen. Lindsey Graham -- another establishment Republican facing a Tea Party primary field this year -- fired off yesterday regarding the situation in Ukraine: 'It started with Benghazi. When you kill Americans and nobody pays a price, you invite this type of aggression.'" "Bottom line: Establishment Republicans have figured out how to survive (for the most part) in these primaries, but the question is whether this has been good for the party in the long run."Let me give you a hint: it will doom them in national elections, it will guarantee a Ted Cruz or Rand Paul nomination, and will result in a 400 electoral vote landslide by President Hillary Clinton. Now, some would say that is bad for the party. I disagree. I think Republicans love their base to be outraged so that they can be bilked. Nothing better for that than 16 years of Democratic control of the White House.
In a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, McCain (R-Ariz.) said the "blatant act" by Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot stand," even as he acknowledged that the United States does not have a realistic military option to force Russian troops to withdrawal.And that, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with the Republican Party war hawks led by John McCain and Lindsay Graham. Their foreign policy vision essentially boils down to this formula: TOUGH TALK AND THREATS + ? = PROFIT Where profit can either figuratively mean policy success (i.e. regime change, or Russian withdrawal from the Crimea) or literally mean profits for defense contractors. Republicans resort first and always to military threats whenever a crisis occurs, because they truly believe it is the only way to 1) express and demonstrate the greatness of America and our strength, and 2) it is the only way to achieve American foreign policy goals. And yet, even John McCain, the belligerent war monger that he is, admits that we cannot go to war with Russia. So what is the point in threatening a military option? If you cannot back up a threat, doesn't that make you appear even weaker?