That means something more than just symbolic statement.
But not something too big, nor too small. That is the problem, getting the message just right.
Protein Wisdom has a few opening sentences that would look good framed or cross-stitched or something. Words so fine they should be enshrined somehow, but you know, not pervishly stalkery or religiously so, but the words do deserve something more than a mere post, but not something too extravagant, must get it just right, just the right message.
The post is about an official, always unnamed, who avers they are looking for something for Syria that will send the right message. Intelligent Diplomacy™ is complicated and very hard to do.
So while you're grousing about how much better for all of us do nothing at all, that really is the best option sometimes, that is not an option for a president with something to prove, have a look at how good Jeff's first sentence looks in ASL, if you like, that is my tribute to him.
45 comments:
Last I heard, we'd gone from red lines in the sand to a shot across the bow.
Every cutthroat in the world must be laughing at us right now.
BTW, did you know Choom isn't going to go on TV to tell us what we're doing and why?
It's passe, doncha know.
On DC? Sounds about right.
We'd play bombardment in high school gym class sometimes when it was raining outside. The problem was, my senior year, I had gym class with the starting quarterback for the football team and he was all-state and went on to play pro ball.
Fortunately for me, his first priority was to pick off (and gravely injure) his buddies and he barely knew I existed.
By the time he'd get around to setting his sights on me, it was always time to hit the showers, thank God.
Obama saves shock and awe for the east room.
Now they are talking about Zimmerman... again.
Sorry, another "epistle" warning here:
edutcher said ...
Every cutthroat in the world must be laughing at us right now.
DEad right. No doubt about it, even if under muffled breath depending upon who is listening.
From Protein Wisdom...
...the White House is seeking a strike on Syria “just muscular enough not to get mocked.” “They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic,”...
General George McClellan, circa 1861+, couldn't have said it better.
I find myself in agreement with VZA on 8-28-2013, who said ...
The Assad regime is awful, but I can understand why many of the minorities
and middle class support it. Religious extremism was not tolerated, so the minorities and the non-religious felt safe. As long as you stayed out of political activism, you were free to worship as you wished or not worship at
all. Syria was one of the few Islamic countries that treated their Christian population with something approaching equality. There were thriving Christian communities in Syria and Christians openly practiced their faith, church bells rang, there were religious processions in the villages, towns, and cities, and the Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter are national holidays just like the Muslim holy days. Some of the world's oldest historic Christian sites are in Syria and they were respected and visited by Christians AND Muslims. We visited the village of Saidnaya, a place of pilgrimage for centuries. The people still speak Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. We met Muslims from all over Syria who came to see the famous icon there.
For me, our time in Syria shattered for good all of the stupid stereotypes too
many Americans have of Arabs. Everywhere we went we met a friendly, generous, and educated people. Damascus is a cosmopolitan city with a rich history and a sophisticated cultural and social life, with Muslim and Christians co-existing. Let's not make ignorant comments hoping these good people wipe each other out!
The fundamentalists have hijacked the revolution because they are the most
organized and are funded by extremists from Arab countries. As a result, many Syrians are fleeing and express support for the Assad regime. Who can say they are wrong? Sometimes the devil you know...
Personally, I foresee no benefit, none, szero, nada, from attacked Syria in any manner, let alone the half assed proposal presented. I am a bloodthirsty as anyone, maybe more so, but I do expect gain for the violent effort. There will be none in Syria.
The damn fools who are screaming genocide as justification seem to ignore how much organized genocide we ignored in Africa not so long ago. If Obama wants that dichotomy on his plate....he's an idiot [which I beleive is a given anyway].
Damn! For some reason both spell check and formating have quit in Internet remarks on my PC this morning. Pbbfffftt.
This morning, CNN'S Chris Cuomo brought up Syria's cyber take down of the NYT and Twitter as possible additional casus belli, weighting heavily on the mind of the dear leader.
Of course, to be fair, Assad was said to be "freaking out" at the Miley Cyrus performance the other night.
I was looking up weighting versus weighing, which, I presumed I was wrong when I used weighting.
It appears I was right to use weighting... that's rare.
Lem said ....
... Assad was said to be "freaking out" at the Miley Cyrus performance the other night.
Good. Send Miley Cyrus to Damascus and save us the $1.5 million (each) cost of the cruise missiles.
Oh man. This is what MSNBC fantasizes it could do to Ted Cruz.
I read on WSJ Taranto's Best of the Web that Althouse is still unhinged in matters of race.
Like Protein Wisdom says about Syria:
"Perception is reality. So if we just control perception, reality disappears — or rather, adheres to the perception we impose on it. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, and through our iconography and manufacturing of consent we shall lead ye.
Leftists have always believed this. Without somehow recognizing the enormous folly and gargantuan arrogance and narcissism involved in even countenancing such a dangerous bit of hubris."
She was able to see the letters "NIG" on a child's pajamas in the Hillary commercial in 2008, but is unable to see the pattern of crimes by blacks in 2013. Not oppression, crime. Thuggery.
Or as George Mason University professor Walter E. Williams noted:
"“The civil rights struggle is over, and it is won,” Williams said. “Now, I’m not saying that every vestige of discrimination has been eliminated, but the civil rights struggle is over and won. At one time, black Americans did not have the constitutional guarantees of everybody else. Now we do. The fact that the civil rights struggle is over and won does not mean that there are not major problems that black Americans face, but they’re not civil rights problems. And if we view them as civil rights problems, the solutions will be elusive forever."
'Arrogance and narcissism' is correct.
The NYT editorial board doesn't seem to mind the Syrian attack that much. They don't mention it in their "More Answers Needed on Syria" Editorial.
They are worried about how an attack on Syria could make Obama look bad.
Without broad international backing, a military strike by the United States; France and Britain, two former colonial powers; and Turkey could well give Mr. Assad a propaganda advantage.
Whatever happens, the NYT cant have that.
Any action, military or otherwise, must be tailored to advance a political settlement between the Assad regime and the opposition... If military action has a broader strategic purpose and is part of a coherent diplomatic plan, Mr. Obama needs to explain it.
See? They just need to hear the dear leader say it, and it will be made into what he says.
Now I'm hearing on CNN that Obama will consult congress before attacking Syria.
Did Obama blink?
One for the constitution?
Smoke signals are called for.
It's the only kind of sending messages that the primitives will understand.
Lem said...
Now I'm hearing on CNN that Obama will consult congress before attacking Syria.
Did Obama blink?
One for the constitution?
Less that than the DNC.
Since only about 1/4 of the House has voiced concern, I'm betting the Demos want a chance to bloviate about what a bad idea this is (too bad they didn't do this before ChoomCare was passed) so they have some CYA when this thing goes south.
Everything is about covering for Obama.
Blink?? The guy's just looking for a way out from his off the cuff, stupid, red line comment a year ago.
"Perception is reality. So if we just control perception, reality disappears — or rather, adheres to the perception we impose on it. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, and through our iconography and manufacturing of consent we shall lead ye.
Leftists have always believed this. Without somehow recognizing the enormous folly and gargantuan arrogance and narcissism involved in even countenancing such a dangerous bit of hubris."
That should be quilted and framed and hung above every mantle in America.
The post is about an official, always unnamed, who avers they are looking for something for Syria that will send the right message.
IOW, we have to decide which and how many people that had nothing to do with anything we need to kill to make our point. President Peace Prize strikes again! (Via drone and Tomahawk cruise missile, of course.)
@April.
Agreed. And narcissism is the key element.
They act like we're all in their movie, a movie starring Obama, and demand we see them as they see themselves, regardless of their actions.
The British parliament was called back from vacation for Cameron to sell the attack on Syria.
CNN cameras are there right now.
What would we do w/o Cameron... he is making the case!
Listen to Cameron. Look to the Cameron!
When Cameron was in Egypt's land: Let my Cameron go...
Cameron is trending.
Pogo- exactly.
Whew! Off the hook! Brits come through for Obama. Who said he couldn't form valuable strategic alliances?
This could get him, not 9, but 18 holes this afternoon.
President Peace Prize strikes again! (Via drone and Tomahawk cruise missile, of course.)
Are they ever going to name an aircraft carrier the USS Barack H. Obama (CVN 80)?
I kind of hope so, for the humor of it, if nothing else.
I mean, if the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) blows the living shit out of some country it kind of makes sense. The same can even be said for the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), the wimp factor notwithstanding.
I remember back in the early days of internet forums on the original America Online when the first gulf war was on the horizon, and I wrote a comment to the effect that the way Saddam Hussein was acting would get him an asskicking in most neighborhoods. They deleted my comment because it incited violence. Of course it turned out to also be the truth eventually.
bagoh, the truth is acid, it burns the eyes and ears.
Better to kill the prophet, jester, or, say, Kim Jong Un's ex-girlfriend, than let the truth be told.
ndspinelli said...
Blink?? The guy's just looking for a way out from his off the cuff, stupid, red line comment a year ago.
This is the logical culmination of his habit of shooting off his mouth from Skippy Gates to his son, "Trayvon".
No Slam Dunk
Sounds like some composite white women should be a bit nervous now.
The danger of having a sycophant press never stops proving itself. This President is so used to a life where his mistakes are glossed over that he doesn't care how many he makes or how big they are. He has always been just fine in the end. Those around him have not fared so well.
Bingo, for bags at 10:58 AM.
Trivia question...who coined the phrase 'create reality on the ground' during the run up to the Iraq war?
The out for the Russian ships problem is make it a contest : send them a Syrian target coordinate and challenge them to hit it better.
The advantage that the Russian equipment has is that it doesn't need all the parts to be working.
deborah said...
Trivia question...who coined the phrase 'create reality on the ground' during the run up to the Iraq war?
Closest I get is Ilana Mercer.
PS If any of our guys are captured or cut off over there, will they be Benghazied?
Rumsfeld:
"“One thing that is very interesting, it seems to me, is that there really hasn’t been any indication from the administration as to what our national interest is with respect to this particular situation,” Rumsfeld said in an interview with Fox News’s Neil Cavuto."
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/319269-rumsfeld-says-administration-hasnt-justified-syria-attack
I'm thinking Eliot Abrams.
No matter how measured the bombardment there's gonna be "collateral damage." Ya know, cute stuff like some kid's arms and legs blown off. And for what, to assuage dear leader's ego? Obscene.
What does all the "discussion" about ou ou what to do, blah blah, remind me of some home boys trash talkin' on a street corner?
Old rule: when in doubt, don't.
President Dumb Fuck might not remember that. Let's take a poll, eh.
I just don't see any course of action that is in our self interest. To Obama, that's probably a feature and not a bug and all the more reason to act.....If we do act, there's the possibility of a cascade of catastrophic events. The Guns of August scenario. If we don't act, tacit permission will have been granted dictators the right to use poison gas as a crowd control mechanism.....There's just no good outcome to any of this. Here's a suggestion. Name those officers high up in the chemical warfare division. Tell their families and friends to remain distant from those officers as we are preparing a drone strike. The beauty is that you really don't hav to do anything more to fuck with their heads.
I wonder....does the Syrian Army call their chemical warfare folks "Ranch Hands" like we did long ago?
Back in the mid 1990's we were billeted right next to the Ranch Hand compound at Fort Bragg. Some strange stuff going on in there...tried to avoid it or even talking about it. Shudder.
PS: It ain't just the enemy who has chemical capabilities.
The British parliament was called back from vacation for Cameron to sell the attack on Syria.
Asking elected representatives their opinions before launching a war? Man, the British government is weird...
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