"Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a fiery rebuke to...Sen. Rand Paul’s line of questioning"

[ProSense]

Secretary of State John Kerry delivered a fiery rebuke to Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s line of questioning at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on possible U.S. engagement in Syria Tuesday. Kerry said Americans were not going to be declaring war “in the classic sense,” and that “100% of Americans would say no to such a scenario.

“We don’t want to go to war. We don’t believe we are going to go war in the classic sense of taking american troops and America to war,” Kerry said to Paul. “The president is asking for the authority to do a limited action that will degrade the capacity of a tyrant who has been using chemical weapons to kill his own people. It’s a limited action. It’s limited.”

Kerry continued, abated, by Sen. Paul saying, “if your goal is not to win you shouldn’t be involved.”

“Senator, when people are asked do you want to go to war in Syria? Of course not. Everybody, 100% of Americans will say no, we say no. We don’t want to go to war in Syria either. It is not what we are here to ask. The President it is not asking you to go to war. He is not asking you to declare war. He is not asking you to send one American troop to war,” Kerry said.

Kerry, making the case that action would be limited, said action was needed to degrade Assad’s capacity to use chemical weapons. Arguing again it wasn’t war in the “classic” sense.

“He is simply saying we need to take an action that can degrade the capacity of a man who has been willing to kill his own people by breaking a nearly 100-year-old prohibition, and will we stand up and be counted to say we won’t do that,” Kerry added. “Ya know, I just don’t consider that going to war in the classic sense of coming to congress and asking for a declaration of war and training troops and sending people abroad and putting young americans in harms way. That is not what the president is asking for here.”

- more -

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/john-kerry-we-are-not-going-to-war-in-the-classic-sense

[tazkcmo]

1. Classic. n/t

[Tx4obama]

2. A link to the video, below

Video here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017142892

[freshwest]

17. Wow, thanks.

[ProSense]

3. Kick! n/t

[DevonRex]

4. Rand Paul looked like the fool he is. I can't believe he has dumbed people down

so much that they believe the FSA is Al Qaeda. They really think there are 100,000 Al Qaeda in Syria I guess. That's how many are in FSA.

Psst. There are only 5,000 or less Al Qaeda in Syria. And the FSA doesn't like them.

[Ohio Joe]

6. I don't know... I think that gives him too much credit

the pauls are smart enough to lie their asses off to take advantage of low information people but no way are they smart enough to actually be the cause of it.

[DevonRex]

9. I guess people

here just prefer to believe Paul. I cannot imagine it. That thing on his head should be the first clue. Then every word he says and the way he talks should make people cringe.

Instead, well, they're attacking Kerry who is no dummy.

[freshwest]

19. He gives me the creeps worse than Romney. In fact he IS worse than Romney!

[ProSense]

7. Stand with Rand "drone a suspected liquor store robber" Paul

knows who is gullible.

[DevonRex]

12. Libertarians of all stripes...

Even the new branch.

[freshwest]

20. And the 'give peace a chance' choir that thinks gassing children is peace!

If that's their view of peace, I'd hate to see what their view of war is. Maybe they think global thermonuclear war is also peace. Yeah, that's the ticket, the world will be at peace then. It'll be so nice and quiet, since the dead don't talk much, huh?

[DevonRex]

21. They would have been the Republican isolationists before Pearl Harbor.

Same sentiments.

I'm coming to realize I just don't really like DU anymore.

I've always disliked Libertarians.

[ProSense]

22. What's interesting is

Last edited Wed Sep 4, 2013, 09:09 AM - Edit history (1)

"They would have been the Republican isolationists before Pearl Harbor."

...hearing the new found love for humanitarian aid after spending all of last year trying to cut aid to zero.

It's all disingenuous, all the time.

[DevonRex]

24. Yeah, like Rand and his phony Libertarian ass would aid anybody but

himself and his campaign for the presidency. Him and that nasty fucker on his head.

[freshwest]

23. I'm with you. But the Libertarians come from that same poison tree as the Koch family, so they will.

Daddy Koch made a mint with Stalin and thought Mussolini's governmental style was what the USA should adopt. They have worked on it relentlessly, probably in the business coup like Prescott, and created the Birchers and Libertarian party. No doubt made excuses for all that Hitler did and was against the war. Figures...

[DevonRex]

25. Who does this new bunch think they're fooling?

They're so Libertarian they shrug and say "Dead is dead."

I've got news for them. It does matter how you die. Chemical weapons aren't an easy way to go. You can't predict the amount anyone gets. It can be quick. It can be slow and terrifying and painful. The Napalm that some of those people got is horrific. Burns that never stop burning.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/30/20262021-doctor-napalm-like-attack-on-syrian-schoolkids-was-apocalyptic?lite

By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News
Children in the Syrian province of Aleppo earlier this week suffered napalm-like burns after an incendiary agent was dropped on their school by what rebels say was a government jet. At least 10 people were killed, and dozens more were injured.
A humanitarian doctor who treated the children after the Monday incident described the scene as "apocalyptic."
"As they all started to arrive, it felt like I was living a horror film," said the volunteer doctor, who asked only to be identified by her first name, Roula. "As they were coming in, because of their burns, they were radiating so much heat. The hospital got so, so hot."

Roula said her first thought after seeing the "petrified" children covered in unidentified white matter was that there had been another chemical attack — something she and others have feared ever since an Aug. 21 massacre in Damascus was determined by the U.S. and other nations to have involved chemical weapons.'

[Dr Fate]

31. I hope voters listen to moderates like Bohner , McCain and Cheney instead of this wack-job.

[Logical]

5. LOL, at least you are off Snowden for a while. n-t

[Blue_Tires]

8. This is why war fucks everything up...

Paul (rightly, imo) opposes involvement, albeit for the most wrong-headed, idiotic, and indefensible reasons possible...

Kerry puts the well-deserved clown suit on Paul and exposes him for the slimy little shit that he is, but he could not have picked a worse issue, argument or occasion to do so...

[Hekate]

10. KnR. We're in for a bumpy ride... nt

[ProSense]

15. It always is, isn't it? n/t

[davidn3600]

11. When were we designated the world's policeman?

If we have evidence that Assad is using chemical weapons, shouldn't we go to the UN or the international courts?

Why is it only our responsibility to take action?

[Hekate]

16. I don't know how old you are, but we've been that for a looooong time

I'm a Boomer, and I don't remember us ever not being in that role.

It's a very good question, though.

[Blanks]

29. We should consult our Russian friends.

and I think we are friends now, and the last I heard Putin was in support of a UN humanitarian mission - a US attack, not so much.

We should respect the wishes of other leaders throughout the world rather than just bombing shit when it seems like our defense contractors could use a few extra bucks.

[Cha]

13. thanks Kerry explaining that to rand.

[Supersedeas]

14. that qualifies as fiery?

[ProSense]

26. Maybe not to you. n/t

[Sand Wind]

18. Kick nt

[Jesus Malverde]

27. the quote where he said bombing another nation is not going to war.

Sure showed Rand.....

[ProSense]

28. Yes, Rand got his ass handed to him. n/t

[Dr Fate]

30. Tea baggers and the Far Left are two peas in a pod, as usual.

Thank God the majority of the voters will see that only the crazies are opposed to this humanitarian bombing.

They know that the truth always lies somewhere in the middle.

My guess is the average voter will be too embarassed to agree with anyone but the sensible voices of the middle- like McCain(R), Boehner(R), Graham(R) ,Kerry, Obama, etc.-not to mention the many trusted voices in the media.

[sulphurdunn]

32. "Humanitarian Bombing."

That turn of phrase deserves a Double Speak Citation, a Euphemism Medal and an Oxymoronic Order of Orwell Oscar.

[David Zephyr]

33. Integrity humiliates demagoguery.

Thank you.

[William769]

34. Kick & recommended.