“This is simply no way to treat our oldest and first ally. President Obama should have stood with France in person, defending Western values in the struggle against terrorism and showing support for the victims of this despicable act of terror. Skipping this rally will be remembered as a new low in American diplomacy.” Rick Perry
Ever since the President decided not to attend the anti-terrorist march in France, the conservatives have been having kittens. According to these conservatives, we have basically snubbed our closest ally. We have shunned them in their time of need. We have abandoned them at the very moment they need us the most.
Rick Perry is not the only one who is jumping on the bandwagon either. We are hearing from all of those wacky conservatives about how important it should have been for the President to go to France for the march. He should have walked arm-in-arm with the French President, German Chancellor, et.al.
According to conservatives, France is and always has been our closest ally and we should show more respect towards them. After all, they have stood by us when we needed them. They have always gone to war with us against the terrorists.
How quickly they forget. Or, more appropriately, how quickly they deliberately change their minds for political gain. Remember “Freedom Fries” or the House cafeteria “Freedom Toast?” Remember when conservatives considered France as the worst European Country? All because France declined to participate in the “partnership of the willing” in the Iraq Invasion during George W. Bush’s presidency.
How about when John Kerry ran for President against Bush. Because Kerry spoke French, he was also labeled as “looking French” by his opponents. Maybe you remember this 2004 New York Times report:
But perhaps the surest indication that the looming political season will be ugly has come from repeated Republican suggestions that Kerry “looks French.”
Not only that: the senator is said to betray a dubious fondness for things French, even the language. A recent comment from Commerce Secretary Don Evans that the Massachusetts Democrat is “of a different political stripe and looks French” was only the latest of several jibes, mainly from conservative talk-show hosts and columnists, that have included allusions to “Monsieur Kerry” and “Jean Chéri.”
For some months now, the Republican House majority leader, Tom DeLay, has been opening speeches to supporters with an occasional routine. He says hi, then adds: “Or, as John Kerry might say, ‘Bonjour.’”
The remark “always brings the house down,” said DeLay’s spokesman, Stuart Roy, who added that its purpose was to highlight “Mr. Kerry’s lack of support for the war on terror and the way he seems to be in agreement with the arguments of the French.”
Of course, that even minded Congressman Randy Webber of Texas just had to make the obvious comparison between the President and Hitler in a tweet. In his tweet, since deleted, he said even Hitler knew the importance of going to Paris. Yesterday, he apologized for the tweet. Not that the comparison wasn’t apt, but because it may have offended some people whose votes they need.
“I need to first apologize to all those offended by my tweet. It was not my intention to trivialize the Holocaust nor to compare the President to Adolf Hitler. The mention of Hitler was meant to represent the face of evil that still exists in the world today. I now realize that the use of Hitler invokes pain and emotional trauma for those affected by the atrocities of the Holocaust and victims of anti-Semitism and hate,” Weber said.
According to that dove Lindsey Graham, the attack was “America’s Fault” and no one else. He said:
“I fear our intelligence capabilities, those designed to prevent such an attack from taking place on our shores, are quickly eroding. I believe our national security infrastructure designed to prevent these types of attacks from occurring is under siege.”
So Lindsey Graham seems to think this was not merely an attack on Charlie Hebdo, it was an attack against our intelligence infrastructure. He later explained on Hugh Hewitt’s show:
Here’s what I take from Paris. We should reevaluate our Defense policies on several fronts…We’re in a religious war. These are not terrorists. They’re radical Islamists who are trying to replace our way of life with their way of life. Their way of life is motivated by religious teachings that require me and you to be killed, or enslaved, or converted. The President of the United States tip-toes around the threats we face, and he is trying to diminish the religious aspect of this war. Why? I don’t know. And he is not engaging the enemy in an aggressive fashion, which makes it more likely we’ll get attacked. What he’s doing is pretending to want to destroy ISIL when in fact, he’s trying to get out of office without having to commit American ground forces to do the job as part of a team in the region, because he made a campaign promise. His campaign promises, Hugh, are getting a lot of people killed!
Of course no one is mentioning that the President is currently bombing the hell out of ISIS in both Iraq and Syria. Nor are they talking about his seeking an AUMF for that war with no timetable, geographical limitations or ban on the use of ground troops. All of that is obviously just “liberal” wussiness.
Finally, the Canadian Senator couldn’t be left behind either. He was up with a Time op-ed that said:
“The absence is symbolic of the lack of American leadership on the world stage, and it is dangerous. The attack on Paris, just like previous assaults on Israel and other allies, is an attack on our shared values. And, we are stronger when we stand together, as French President François Hollande said, for “liberty, equality, and fraternity.”
So, now that the conservatives have something to yell about, France is suddenly our biggest ally. We snubbed them by not having the President there during the rally. It was not only a snub, it was “dangerous” for him not to be there. Very suddenly, France has gone from “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” to our best ally that the President has just thumbed his nose at.
And how did our oldest ally take all of this? A spokesperson for French President Francois Hollande said that the French government was not offended by the president’s absence. “President Obama supported France in their common struggle against terrorism,” the spokeswoman said, calling Obama’s visit to the French Embassy to sign a condolence book “a rather exceptional gesture.” She said that Obama’s actions since last week’s attacks have been “very important” to Hollande. Maybe the conservatives think they are just being overly nice.
This is the kind of idiocy that comes to the forefront when politics, not governing, is the only thing that matters. Anything to get a headline is fair game. Even changing sides when it comes to an ally you have hated and ridiculed for over 10 years so you can pick on the other side.
I wonder if the conservatives will remember all of this next month. That is when they will have to fully fund the Department of Homeland Security for the full year. You know, the agency most responsible for protecting us from these terrorists? So far, that funding doesn’t look good.
