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Follow here a very interesting chain of links....John Bolton for President?
UN Ambassador John Bolton is "very seriously" considering running for president in 2012, Townhall's Guy Benson reports.
In an interview, Bolton told Benson that he's even taken the step of "consulting with high-level campaign operatives to discuss feasibility and logistics."
Bolton has had a lot of fans among conservatives ever since his bitter confirmation battle during the Bush administration. Though he's unlikely to have a broad enough appeal to capture the nomination, he could still have an impact on the race. He's consistently been one of the most articulate voices for a muscular U.S. foreign policy, and a leading critic of the current administration when it comes to international affairs, dubbing Obama our first "post-American president."
Should he enter the GOP race, he could help generate more discussion about foreign policy so that it doesn't get ignored at a time of economic challenges.
14 comments:
He's a neocon. That's all I need to know.
Time for fresh blood, not George Bush retreads.
He's no retread.
His stances pissed Bush off royally.
The only 'real' conservative who differed with Bolton is Buchanan, whose paleo world is not paleo but tainted by Walt and Mearsheimer.
His foreign policy stances are PRECISELY what many here have been urging here for years.
The problem is, of course, no one on earth has a clue what he think about domestic policies.
He's a solid, very intelligent man, I'll give you that.
Bush hired him and did not fire him, so there must have been some simpatico there...
It was a recess appt so by not being approved by congress he was automatically fired well before BUsh's term ended ...most responsible for that? Biden and Voinovich
Nothing against the guy, I am just wary of those beating war drums who have never been to war.
yea... why am i not surprised.?
he is probably at least the best republican you got.. second only to Valley Girl pro Prom Queen Dominionist Palin. ..but one good thing about her is that she does make Dubya look smart
Silverfiddle, you mean like Lincoln, FDR, and Wilson?
Acheson?
Nitze?
Like those guys?
Lincoln was in the Illinois Militia and did a brief stint in the Black Hawk war, although he was not in actual combat.
I don't think FDR had much of a choice.
I am for staying out of other peoples business. We are helping Israel by arming her up, and we should be. That is the only true ally we have over there.
As for the Arab and Gulf states, let them fight their own damn wars. Same with the Europeans.
I didn't mean to start something. I am very libertarian on war, you obviously are not. Regardless, preemptive war is a very unconservative concept.
As I said, I think Bolton is a very smart man, I'm just tired of non-warriors beating war drums.
Anyway, he's too honest and straightforward for politics.
Epaminondas:
I enjoy reading your blog and my intention was not to be combative.
You're getting a preview of my Monday blog post, btw. It's important for us conservatives to have these conversations and have differences while still respecting each others' opinions.
Here are four posts that explain where I am coming from. I apologize for blog pimping, but at this point it's probably only you and I on the thread.
Unintended Consequences
George Bush had good intentions, and he really could have tipped over the old Muslim World order, but our allies and public opinion abandoned us, and now the forces of evil there have retrenched.
The Road to Hell
International Progressive projects are just as bad as domestic ones
Neo-Wilsonian efforts to usher in a New World Order is an internationalist progressive pipe dream, and we can't afford it. Conservatives cannot credibly rail against grand progressive projects at home while supporting them overseas
Global War on American Prosperity
Nation Building is folly when not done in cooperation with the people whose nation you are trying to build. Successes in this area have a common theme: Those we helped build or rebuild accepted our help and did most of the heavy lifting themselves.
Also, small government advocates must realize that the central-planning we eschew at home should not be imposed on other nations either.
The Folly of Nation Building
Finally, the human cost of war is all too often blithely dismissed. Couples divorce, families are irretrievably broken, lives are changed forever. People who have survived combat will never be the same again. Children will lose parents; spouses will lose their beloved; siblings and parents will be left with nothing but memories. War wrecks lives and produces a cohort of walking wounded. For this reason, military action should never be taken lightly.
War is Hell
I am a military veteran who thinks our cause in Iraq and Afghanistan is righteous. I also think we need to learn some lessons and do things differently in the future.
As I said, this will be my Monday blog post, with a link to you.
Have a happy Sunday!
SF not to worry, we are all combative assholes, and that's the sport and the best way to flesh out REAL debate.
My own opinion on this is that there is no longer anyway to stay out of each other's business. Therefore we have to tolerate each other. Unfortunately there are those who cannot do that.
If you are in business and want to expand your market, you come up to other cultures. That is the nascence of our contact with those who regard us as the forces of arrogance because we make up laws right out of our own heads, rather than submit to what they say are god's perfect words.
I personally believe Samuel Huntington had it right for all the reasons he stated.
So there we are. We don't have to make the world a place Jefferson would be happy to farm anywhere in. But to avoid worldwide cataclysm, say if we take a few pieces off the board, by making it possible for a few folks to set up a way to make their lives better on this world, and their kids, then maybe they will worry more about schools and roads, and taxes, and less about making sure we submit to Allah. And then we don't have to slaughter people by the scores of millions.
Maybe.
Worth a shot?
Some people think so.
Check out the actual person with my name. He did it.
Back ground... I've been speaking with arabs in the gulf most days since 9/13/2001. Spent most of my professional career in cardiac research and flew 150k actual miles a year for about 15 years, spending most time overseas wherever societies had enuf dough for the luxury of research
Now personally, I'd just as soon go the Truman route (or the Sherman route) because I think minimizing American casualties should always be our priority, and the FIRST DUTY of the president.
I'll be reading your blog.
Welcome.
We hold no grudges here and we let it ALL hang out
@SF..
"Anyway, he's too honest and straightforward for politics."
Amen, but he's not there to win (for me), he's there to force the debate.
There are unavoidable consequences to action and inaction. Bolton leaves no escape hatch for fools. Right or wrong.
We need an out of the box thinker anyway.
Thanks for the reply, and I readily cop to being a combative asshole!
I am a Sherman fan myself. He really hated war, so he thought those who started it should be made to pay the harshest penalty possible, hence his "War is hell" quote. I agree completely. Unfortunately with the UN and CNN we cannot fight like that nowadays. If we could, this shit would be over. But our enemies know the score, so they play international outlets to their advantage.
Michael Savage listed warlike peoples who had been conquered and thus lost the war lust (Japan and Germany, etc) and stated that this is why we are having problems with militant Islam: They've never had their asses definitively kicked. There may be some truth in that.
Anyway, thanks again for the response. I think we share common philosophies, we may just differ somewhat in execution. Think how boring it would be if everybody agreed on everything...
btw, your conversations with Gulf Arabs would make for some interesting blog posts.
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Anon - very humorous - this ticket would be guaranteed to cause many progressives to stroke out and die. but there is just no way.
SF - I have posted many times here with 'Sherman's 3 laws'
"All attempts to make war easy and safe will end in disaster and humiliation"
"War is cruelty and you cannot refine it. The crueler it is , the sooner it is over" ... and the fewer the casualties (as he proved in 1864-5)
"This war differs from other wars, in this particular. We are not fighting armies but a hostile people, and must make old and young, rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war. "
But the quote on my masthead ...
to the city fathers of Atlanta...
"But, my dear sirs, when peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then will I share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter."
It is good to hate war, but it is more important to understand, once unleashed, the purpose and means to the only exit strategy which makes sense.
And I will mimic Disraeli for that:
All intelligent men share the same exit strategy
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