Juan Cole on "Hubert Humphrey republicans"

[n2doc]

Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Hubert Humphreys of the Right
Wrong Information Given out in New Hampshire

Rudy Giuliani maintained during the Republican debate that "It's unthinkable to leave Saddam Hussein in charge of Iraq and be able to fight the war on terror."

If he means by "war on terror" the counter-terrorism struggle against al-Qaeda and kindred groups, then it was in fact unthinkable successfully to fight them and also invade Iraq. The US occupation of a major Muslim Arab country has reinvigorated al-Qaeda. It has drawn major resources away from counter-terrorism. It has delivered millions of Iraqis into a maelstrom of terrorism. There was never any operational cooperation between al-Qaeda and Saddam.


snip:

Gen. Rick Sanchez, in contrast was a commanding officer in that theater. He admits that the US cannot win in Iraq. The best it can hope for, if it does all the right things politically and economically, is a stalemate. If you don't win, you lose. And, by the way, Reid had said exactly the same thing, that military victory is impossible and that only a political settlement has any chance of success.

On Iraq, the leading Republicans don't have a clue, and don't seem to realize that they are making themselves Hubert Humphrey electorally. (Ron Paul gets it on Iraq, but he is not a contender.)

The Karl Rove doctrine that when you dig yourself into a ditch, the best strategy is to dig deeper, has finally met the test of reality-based politics. It isn't going to be pretty.

These guys got away with these hawkish fantasies because they bamboozled the poor evangelicals into believing they would support public morality, and bamboozled poor conservatives into thinking they would uphold small government. Instead, they are hitching their wagons to a multi-trillion dollar quagmire abroad and don't give a rat's ass about evangelical values.

They will lose because their base is disheartened. They will lose because even their base hates this Iraq stuff. They will lose because their base will stay home in droves.

http://www.juancole.com/2007/06/hubert-humphreys-of-right-wrong.html

[dflprincess]

1. Okay, I understand that the author is referring to Humphrey being

slow to break with LBJ on Vietnam (a position of his I still have problems with). But, overall, HHH was a progressive - one of the first to speak about civil rights and he always concerned himself with social programs and making life better for people. To call these bozos "Hubert Humphrey Republicans" because of one issue is an insult to Hubert.

[myrna minx]

2. You posted what I was thinking, dflprincess.

:hi: Please don't besmirch Humphrey's memory with these bozos.

[jean]

3. I agree, it's very insulting to Humphrey

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. A good analogy. Humpty Dumpty would fit right in with those chickenhawks.