Posted by
Catmman on Saturday, January 12, 2008 8:00:48 PM
"I couldn't here what you said," was the response after spending his time answering the question he supposedly couldn't hear.
I have been extremely hard on Ron Paul the past two weeks (or was it my ghostwriter). Paul can make sense on certain things he says. I have stated such in this blog before.
But he is so wrapped up in his conspiracy minded thinking he can't help but shoot himself in the foot. Even if he gives a reasonable answer (which he started to do a couple of times tonight) he can't just stop there. He has to continue into Kookville - Population: Him.
And as has been stated numerous times, this guy has such a whacked out, messed up understanding of foreign policy it's absurd. He actually suggested tonight that Israel could have teamed up with other Arab states in the Gulf region and deposed Saddam in the first Gulf War. That the US didn't need to do anything. This shows such a fundamental misunderstanding of Middle Eastern affairs and world history as to be staggering.
Exactly what arab states would have aligned themselves with Israel to remove Saddam Herr Doktor? Syria? Egypt? Iran? Jordan? Who? Especially since at one time or another all of those same nations formed alliances of their own to destroy Israel! Also that we (the US) had to exert tremendous pressure on Israel not to act unilaterally against Iraq at this time because we knew the other arab states would not tolerate it and possibly attack Israel. This in fact was a tactic of Saddam. He antagonized Israel (especially with the SCUDS) trying to get them involved militarily so other Arab nations would come on board with him. So what the hell is this guy talking about?
Look at this clip: (H/T:
Hot Air)
Not only does he sound confused, but again shows a complete lack of historical perspective. If you missed it, listen again to his line about "small speed boats" not being a threat. Obviously the guy doesn't remember the USS Cole. A small boat loaded with explosives could have sunk or severely damaged one of those ships Herr Doktor.
And just look at the guy.
This is about halfway through the debate. Does this guy look presidential? Does he sound presidential? He sounds shrill and uses the opportunity to advance kookiness and rant. He doesn't sound like he's purporting a valid political point. He's looking around like he doesn't understand what the heck is going on. Then when he realized he screwed the pooch, he tried to play it off by saying he "couldn't hear you" and just made himself look that much more weird.
And using this as a tirade about "looking for excuses to bomb Iran"? More stupidity. Look Herr Doktor, if the government were looking to go into Iran (either bomb it or invade it) why use this as the "tipping point" when their nuclear program makes for much easier conspiratorial fare? In Pauls eyes we are so trigger happy he can't even grasp the context of the event he's answering a question about. He's right, our ships could have made mince meat out of the Iranians, and had complete justification to do so. Add to that the fact that the Iranians WERE acting provocatively, and we STILL didn't blow them out of the water and Paul STILL doesn't get it.
The other candidates were making the point that had the Iranians needed it, they would have their butts handed to them. In Pauls world even acting defensively is cause for concern and may not be justified. And he also still couldn't avoid throwing in a conspiracy tid-bit about the radio transmissions from the Iranians. None of the other candidates made the point that had the Iranians attacked, that they would call for all out war, just a response - what normal people like to call self-defense. Paul didn't get that or if he did ignored it and went for the anti-war base platitude and conspiracy angle about how we're "looking for excuses to go to war."
I feel the point needs to be made again. If there were a need for some government plot to take us to war with Iran, would we have not went ahead and blown the SOB's up? But what did we do? We acted with restraint, even with justification to blow the SOB's up!
And then we can add this. The FOX haters in the Paulbot universe. He wasn't even asked a question about them by the moderators and none of the other candidates took a shot. He was primed for a flaming collision into obscurity had this subject been broached, but they didn't. So much for the Paulbot FOX conspiracy theories huh?
This performance tonight (and I'm sure there will be other video) will show that Paul is headed for complete and utter irrelevance in this race. Of course, he has been there since his 9/11 remarks, but we won't go there again.
When it comes to kookiness Paul is a perfect shot. I just can't believe he has any toes or feet left though.
It's late and the debate is over. I should just leave Ron Paul alone:
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Content Warning: Language)