brent budowsky on Joe Wilson's attack on Obama re: Iraq

[Windy]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-budowsky/joe-wilson-is-wrong-about_b_78267.html

No one has been a stronger supporter of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson than I have, having been one of the original writers of the CIA Identities Protection Act, and someone who believes not only that Valerie was wronged, but that those who committed the wrong committed grave acts that harmed our country.

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The nation owes a debt to Joe Wilson for warning us about the falsehoods and sounding the alarm in favor of truth prior to the catastrophic decision, which Hillary Clinton was one of the most aggressive supporters of, to go to war in Iraq.

Regarding his defense of Hillary, his attack on Obama, and the personal tone of his attack on Obama (a demeaning tone that is symbolic of so much that has gone wrong with Hillary's presidential campaign, I just flat out disagree.

Regarding Hillary Clinton's experience, by far her most important national security experience in her entire life was her five years of all-out support for the Iraq war. Her aggressive and uncompromising support for the war in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006. Her stubborn, relentless support for the war in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Her most recent major experience with national security was her vote for the Lieberman-Kyl resolution, which she falsely portrayed as a vote for diplomacy with Iran, when in truth it was a neocon-inspired push by those who favored war with Iran, as they favored war with Iraq.

Obama has done more than enough foreign travel, but in truth, who cares? I wish I had a dollar for every supporter of the Iraq war in Congress, who spent year after year of this nightmare war regaling us about their latest trip to Iraq and how everything was going just great as they learned on their latest trip.

I was for Al Gore in 2008, and am not behind any candidate just yet, though it is clear that the tone of Hillary's campaign has created huge ill will alienating indepenent voters which is why she usually runs well behind the other Democrats against leading Republicans.

Joe's personal attack against Obama, so common among the Hillary surrogates and supporters, is exactly the disrespectful tone that moves beyond appropriate criticism and creates enormous ill will against Hillary from large numbers of independents, and a growing number of Democrats.

[MethuenProgressive]

1. Joe Wilson's strong endorsement of Clinton is being spun by the Obamas as an "attack"?

What whining weasels the Obamas are.

[Blue State Bandit]

3. "Wouldn't know the diff btw an RPG and a BONG" Are you f-ing kidding me?

Did he relay say this? That's despicable.

[Scriptor Ignotus]

9. it was mccain who said that... - eom

[Blue State Bandit]

10. So continuing the meme is justied why?

[Justice Is Comin]

12. Yeah and it was the weak little Obama

that crawled right into his hole like a good little Democrat.

He's the guy that is a serious candidate for our president? Oh good, he'll sign an executive order that he'll have session of patty-cake every day and sip afternoon tea with those assholes.

Makes bile come into my throat.

[movonne]

4. That sounds very much like the way all political opponents do..

[Usrename]

8. I don't know, what was the title of Wilson's endorsement?

Oh yeah, now I remember; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-wilson/the-real-hillary-i-know-_b_77878.html">"The Real Hillary I Know -- and the Unreal Obama."

It contains a lot of little gems like: "In fact, Obama's supposed "intuitive sense" is no different from George W. Bush's "instincts" and "gut feeling" describing his own foreign policy decision-making. We have been down this road before."

And: "Now, Senator Obama echoes and reflects the same attitude of contempt for "on the ground experience." Acting on his superior "intuition" he has proposed unilateral bombing of Pakistan and unstructured summits without preconditions with adversaries such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il. As we have learned, the march of folly is paved with good but naïve intentions."

And, finally: "She does not have a cowardly record of voting "present" when confronted with difficult issues. She does not claim "intuition" as the basis of the most dangerous and serious decision-making."


Wilson is a pretty smart guy. Why does he go out of his way to call Obama a coward, especially over something that has nothing at all to do with courage? As far as political courage goes, Obama has stood up to the public law enforcement community, and eventually won them over to his side. I don't recall Hillary ever showing this kind of political courage, and yet Wilson finds it appropriate to challenge Obama's guts over something so trivial?

And Wilson wouldn't dare claim that Hillary would give Osama binLaden sanctuary in Pakistan. Her campaign would be over. Her position about "unilateral bombing of Pakistan" and "unstructured summits without preconditions with adversaries such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il" are IDENTICAL to those of Obama. It's been discussed and debated by the two of them, ad nauseum, and they both AGREE on this stuff. There is no real difference, just and unreal difference imagined by Wilson.

So why does Wilson call Obama unreal? That's another very interesting and insulting accusation. And it's also, above all, very deceitful.

First of all, no fair-minded person can continue to make the claim that Obama is not an accomplished person. And trying to compare him to Bush is even more double-speak. Obama has never shown disdain for "on the ground experience," that's just more pure unsupported BS. Obama has said that it takes MORE than just experience to make the right decisions, it ALSO takes good judgment, and points to Hillary's abysmal record an poor judgment regarding her decision to support Bush's war.

Wilson has reduced himself to a political hack with this piece.

[arewenotdemo]

20. Well, as Hillary's National Security Advisor, Fightin' Joe Wilson could go

toe-to-toe with Ahmadinejad.

And, as Fightin' Joe Wilson himself would tell us, he'd win that battle.

:eyes:

[Usrename]

21. Wilson stood up to Saddam, under pain of death.

I don't think that he's ascared of Ahmadinejad.

[rolleitreks]

2. He owes the Clintons for their support of Plame. They probably called in their marker. n/t

[Cha]

7. Yeah, forget about our

country.

[ClericJohnPreston]

5. Huffpo

the same rag that prints Lawrence O'Donnell and his road rage against John Edwards, has shifted to pure Obama apologists, even if the position is daft.

[Garbo 2004]

13. Huffpo, the same "rag" that prints Joe Wilson's articles supporting Clinton.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-wilson/the-real-hillary-i-know-_b_77878.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-wilson/battletested_b_86355.html

As well as Taylor Marsh who cannot be categorized as an "Obama apologist."

[Cha]

6. It's freakin' contagious..

"Joe's personal attack against Obama, so common among the Hillary surrogates and supporters, is exactly the disrespectful tone that moves beyond appropriate criticism and creates enormous ill will against Hillary from large numbers of independents, and a growing number of Democrats."

They're all alike..talk about brainwashed.

Brent Budowsky gets it, too.. "What America wants, Obama gets, and in some ways, Edwards gets as well. What America does not want, is four years of neo-Bush style personal attacks in their living rooms and their lives of the kind that the Hillar surrogates make a daily art form."

"An art form" from hell.

"Anyone who supported the Iraq war for five bloody, deadly years and then supported the Lieberman-Kyl amendment should show more taste and better judgment and more modestly in boasting of their own "experience' and launching personal attacks on those who were far more right than she."

Actually, anyone who support the War On Iraq for five bloody, deadly years and then supported the vile kyl-lieman bill hasn't had any good taste in 5 years.. why start now?

[TexasObserver]

11. Wilson was good on the Plame issues, but he's a Washington denizen.

He's old school inside the beltway politics, and it isn't surprising he has lined up with Clinton. No telling what they've promised him.

[Tellurian]

15. Obama is the "Old Establishment" as reflected in the DC Vote..

what reason would their be for Wilson to respect Chicago Barry? Joe Wilson recognizes a fraud when he sees one, just as he did with Barry's cousin, Cheney!

[NYCGirl]

17. That's one of the sillier arguments ever.

from Oliver Willis

http://www.oliverwillis.com/archives/2008/02/13/ods-watch-larry-johnson/

Larry Johnson is among the more rabid anti-Obama/pro-Clinton bloggers out there. But his spin -- and it is spin -- on last night's primaries is both silly and insulting at the same time.

Okay. Then if he is the candidate of change fighting Washington, why did a majority of the Washington, DC and the government employees in the surrounding suburbs and those pesky lobbyists and their spouses and employees, vote for Barack? You see, I believe that people act in their own interest. So, when the folks who live inside the beltway, vote in large measure for Barack, then maybe he is not what he claims to be.

You got that? Voters in MD, DC, and VA don't count. Why? Because many of them work for the federal government. Because employees of our government apparently don't have worthy opinions, at least when they don't vote for Hillary Clinton. And this somehow makes Obama the "establishment" candidate.

Who was the inevitable candidate supported by the party bigwigs for almost a year again? In order to narrow it down, I'll give you a clue: it's not a man.

[LSK]

19. who the fuck is Chicago Barry?

[Tellurian]

22. In Obama's younger years, he used the name Barry as his first name..

He was known under that alias as Barry Obama instead of his given name Barack Hussein Obama. He then moved to Chicago and the nickname "Chicago Barry" was born.

[AntiFascist]

14. Gee, if the Democratic front-runner needed help with foreign policy...

you would think that people like Wilson might be extending such help, instead of working to tear him down. This only goes to demonstrate that there are subversive elements at work within the Democratic Party itself. Status quo anyone?

[rinsd]

16. Wilson, Krugman, Edwards...who will be the next DU hero cast aside because he spoke ill of Obama

[Armstead]

23. Endorsing Hillary and cheap shots against her opponent are different matters

[LSK]

18. pretty soon we are going to have a "throw under the bus" contest

[Carolina]

24. K&R