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[Me.]

“I've worked for a President and I've got decades of experience managing high-stakes emergency situations that might escalate to violence. Presidents don't actually make moment-to-moment decisions while briefcase-bombs dangle over children's bedrooms. Hillary's campaign could just as accurately have inserted images of her face throughout an episode of 24, since she's promoting the same kind of fear nonsense, promoting the illusion of critical risk that presidents routinely handle while the rest of us sleep. And could someone remind me of an actual transnational terrorist event in which sleeping American kids were harmed in their beds? (Just so you're ready for the Hillary/Rove/Cheney reply to my rhetorical question, it goes like this: "We can't just stand by and wait for it happen!")

There's a funny twist in Hillary's little movie: Just before she answers the fake phone in the fake White House to fake-manage the fake international event, a mother pads into the kids' room to check on them. Weird thing: Mom is fully dressed, white T-shirt under her fully buttoned blouse, even her cuffs are buttoned. If it's 3AM, why is Mom awake and dressed? In case she has to rush the kids away from a terrorist mushroom cloud, obviously. She knows to stay up all night dressed and ready, because as Hillary reminds us, it's a "dangerous world."

If Hillary scares people as a candidate, why should we assume she'll add to our peace of mind as president? And putting aside her silly 3AM horror film, can a president actually influence the safety of our kids? Yes, by reducing the reasons and incentives for adversaries to hate us, by reducing the reasons and incentives for fringe groups to do harmful things. By increasing communication and enhancing relationships around the world. By being an American leader who does not resemble the posturing, blustering Bush.

Which brings us to Hillary's recent description of what she would do if Iran launched a nuclear attack on Israel. Given that Iran doesn't have nuclear weapons and is not at all likely to attack Israel, she could have rejected the question. But instead, in true Cheney style, she pledged "massive retaliation," noting that "we would be able to totally obliterate them." More at link above