“For too long our leaders have failed us, taking us into one regime change war after the next, leading us into a new Cold War and arms race, costing us trillions of our hard-earned tax payer dollars and countless lives. This insanity must end.”
Donald Trump, circa 2016?
Nope. That denunciation of John Bolton interventionism came from Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii during Wednesday night’s Democratic debate. At 38, she was the youngest candidate on stage.
Gabbard proceeded to rip both the “president and his chickenhawk cabinet (who) have led us to the brink of war with Iran.”
In a fiery exchange, Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio countered that America cannot disengage from Afghanistan: “When we weren’t in there they started flying planes into our buildings.
“The Taliban didn’t attack us on 9/11,” Gabbard replied, “Al-Qaida attacked us on 9/11. That’s why I and so many other people joined the military, to go after al-Qaida, not the Taliban.”
When Ryan insisted we must stay engaged, Gabbard shot back:
“Is that what you will tell the parents of those two soldiers who were just killed in Afghanistan? ‘Well, we just have to be engaged.’ As a solider, I will tell you, that answer is unacceptable. … We are no better off in Afghanistan that we were when this war began.”
By debate’s end, Gabbard was the runaway winner in both the Drudge Report and Washington Examiner polls and was far in front among all the Democratic candidates whose names were being searched on Google.
Though given less than seven minutes of speaking time in a two-hour debate, she could not have used that time more effectively. And her performance may shake up the Democratic race.
If she can rise a few points above her 1-2% in the polls, she could be assured a spot in the second round of debates.
If she is, moderators will now go to her with questions of foreign policy issues that would not have been raised without her presence, and these questions will expose the hidden divisions in the Democratic Party.
Leading Democratic candidates could be asked to declare what U.S. policy should be — not only toward Afghanistan but Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jared Kushner’s “Deal of the Century,” and Trump’s seeming rejection of the two-state solution.
If she makes it into the second round, Gabbard could become the catalyst for the kind of globalist vs. nationalist debate that broke out between Trump and Bush Republicans in 2016, a debate that contributed to Trump’s victory at the Cleveland convention and in November.
The problem Gabbard presents for Democrats is that, as was shown in the joust with Ryan, she takes positions that split her party, while her rivals prefer to talk about what unites the party, like the terribleness of Trump, free college tuition and soaking the rich.
Given more airtime, she will present problems for the GOP as well. For the foreign policy Tulsi Gabbard is calling for is not far off from the foreign policy Donald Trump promised in 2016 but has since failed to deliver.
We still have 2,000 troops in Syria, 5,000 in Iraq, 14,000 in Afghanistan. We just moved an aircraft carrier task force, B-52s and 1,000 troops to the Persian Gulf to confront Iran. We are about to impose sanctions on the Iranian foreign minister with whom we would need to negotiate to avoid a war.
Jared Kushner is talking up a U.S.-led consortium to raise $50 billion for the Palestinians in return for their forfeiture of sovereignty and an end to their dream of a nation-state on the West Bank and Gaza with Jerusalem as its capital.
John Bolton is talking of regime change in Caracas and confronting the “troika of tyranny” in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Rather than engaging Russia as Trump promised, we have been sanctioning Russia, arming Ukraine, sending warships into the Black Sea, beefing up NATO in the Baltic and trashing arms control treaties Ronald Reagan and other presidents negotiated in the Cold War
U.S. policy has managed to push our great adversaries, Russia and China, together as they have not been since the first Stalin-Mao decade of the Cold War.
This June, Vladimir Putin traveled to Beijing where he and Xi Jinping met in the Great Hall of the People to warn that in this time of “growing global instability and uncertainty,” Russia and China will “deepen their consultations on strategic stability issues.”
Xi presented Putin with China’s new Friendship Medal. Putin responded: “Cooperation with China is one of Russia’s top priorities and it has reached an unprecedented level.”
At the end of the Cold War, we were the lone superpower. Who forfeited our preeminence? Who bled us of 7,000 U.S. lives and $6 trillion in endless Middle East wars? Who got us into this Cold War II?
Was all this the doing of those damnable isolationists again?
#1: Hondo68 To: Deckard, Trump Gabbard 2020, *2020 The Likely Suspects* (#0)
Trade Pence for Tulsi 2020.
The Dems are giving her the Ron Paul treatment - pretend that they don't exist, don't cover in the news, don't show in the polls.
Trump/Gabbard 2020?
libertysflame.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=59280
Hondo68 posted on 2019-06-28 12:41:19 Reply Private Reply
#2: tpaine To: Deckard (#0)
A Trump/Tulsi ticket iwould indeed be intriguing, —- If she can keep to a middle road type platform and doesn’t go off the deep end on any socialistic/progressive issues.
I won’t be holding my breath....
tpaine posted on 2019-06-28 14:10:10 Reply Private Reply
#3: Deckard To: tpaine (#2)
Well, she is anti-gun, so there's that.
Deckard posted on 2019-06-28 20:28:30 Reply Private Reply
#4: A K A Stone To: Hondo68 (#1)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-28 21:02:09 Reply Private Reply
#5: A K A Stone To: tpaine (#2)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-28 21:04:56 Reply Private Reply
#6: Deckard To: A K A Stone, Hondo68 (#4)
Attaboy!!
Deckard posted on 2019-06-29 07:08:13 Reply Private Reply
#7: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#6)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-29 07:30:20 Reply Private Reply
#8: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#7)
Oh the irony! You calling someone else a liar when you are the biggest liar here.
And you post the the most unpalatable, off-putting and reprehensible comments of anyone that is not GrandIsland.
You set a fine example for the members of this forum < sracasm > which thanks to you is dying a slow death.
Deckard posted on 2019-06-29 07:43:01 Reply Private Reply
#9: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#8)
You think it is reprehensible to outlaw heroin. So good moral people don't care what you think.
Hondo is a documented liar.
You are a drug pusher. Meaning you push for legalization of harmful drugs that fuck people's life up. Me I'm just telling you the way it is.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-29 08:08:07 Reply Private Reply
#10: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#9)
No, I think your precious "war on drugs" is an abject failure that has done NOTHING to stop drug use.
People like you aren't able to see that and want to continue the same failed policies instead of looking for ways to actually reduce drug use.
War on Drugs Has Done Far More Harm Than Illegal Drugs, Major Report Finds
Deckard posted on 2019-06-29 08:18:29 Reply Private Reply
#11: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#10)
You have no virtue.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-29 08:21:07 Reply Private Reply
#12: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#11)
Once again - try reading the article before posting.
At least that way you will appear to be intelligent.
Deckard posted on 2019-06-29 08:28:10 Reply Private Reply
#13: tpaine To: A K A Stone, Deckard, yall (#5)
Are her positions on guns and fuels, etc —— absolute?
Anyone know exactly what she did in the military? —- Might show up her clear stripe...
tpaine posted on 2019-06-29 09:54:22 Reply Private Reply
#14: sneakypete To: A K A Stone (#4)
Flag lover or fag lover????
Either way you are NOT doing your web page any favors by posting hate-filled rants at people you disagree with.
You might find this hard to believe,but I am trying to help you here.
Seriously.
sneakypete posted on 2019-06-29 10:27:14 Reply Private Reply
#15: sneakypete To: tpaine (#13)
From Wiki
In April 2003, while serving in the State Legislature, Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard.[106] In July 2004 she volunteered for a 12-month tour in Iraq, serving in a field medical unit as a specialist in a combat zone with the 29th Support Battalion medical company.[107][108][17][109] Gabbard served at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Iraq, completing her tour in 2005.[110][111]
In 2006 Gabbard began serving as a legislative aide for U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka in Washington, D.C.,[112] and in March 2007 she graduated from the Accelerated Officer Candidate School at the Alabama Military Academy where she was the first woman to finish as the Distinguished Honor Graduate in the Alabama Military Academy's 50-year history. This award, signifying distinguished leadership and academic ability, is given to one top candidate per state in each OCS class and is presented by the authority of the Department of the Army and the Air Force, National Guard Bureau. The accelerated program is the most physically and mentally demanding program.[113] She was the first woman to finish as the distinguished honor graduate in the Academy's 50-year history.[14][112][114][115] Gabbard was commissioned as a second lieutenant and assigned again to the 29th Brigade Special Troops Battalion of the Hawaii Army National Guard, this time to serve as an Army Military Police officer.[116][117][118] She was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009.[119][107][111]
On October 12, 2015, Gabbard was promoted from captain to major at a ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Akaka administered the oath of office to the new major.[120][121] She continues to serve as a major in the Hawaii Army National Guard.[122]
BTW,she seems to have served as enlisted swine while being attached to the medical unit. She is shown in one photo wearing what looks like a Combat Medic Badge,implying she served as a medic in combat. She didn't,but I think they just hand these things out like candy these days to medical units going to the Muddle East,so it's not related to any kind of favoritism or "you go,gurl!" nonsense. They consider the whole country a combat zone,so they stretch the definition of combat so everybody gets a badge. Kinda like in kindergarten,everybody got a treat or nobody got a treat.
In FACT,it is not make clear if she was an actual medic,or attached to a medical unit in some other role.
Not sure how well that sits with her alleged Hindu beliefs.
sneakypete posted on 2019-06-29 10:38:44 Reply Private Reply
#16: sneakypete To: A K A Stone (#9)
Stone,I know this is a very emotional issue,especially for people who may have lost loved ones to drug overdoses or prison,but does there ever come a point where you blame the person that takes the drugs as much as the person that sells the drugs?
After all,every drug dealer in the nation would stop selling drugs if people were willing to quit buying drugs.
The drugs aren't to blame,and neither are the people who are selling them. If you want to insist on blaming anyone,blame the drug user. Without them the whole system falls apart and disappears.
sneakypete posted on 2019-06-29 10:42:46 Reply Private Reply
#17: tpaine To: sneakypete, yall (#15)
Damn shame about this debasement of combat badges... They were greatly respected in my day..
After reading the full wiki on tulsi, I’m starting to doubt she could be any help to Trump.
tpaine posted on 2019-06-29 10:55:27 Reply Private Reply
#18: A K A Stone To: sneakypete (#16)
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-29 11:52:00 Reply Private Reply
#19: Liberator To: A K A Stone (#5)
The Bait: A pretty face, acting temporarily sane & reasonable, and simply saying, "I oppose war" is apparently enough to switch out Trump for this poseur. Nothing should surprise us anymore. No wonder this Republic is doomed.
This broad is as much pro-baby murderer, anti-capitalist, anti-America, anti-truth, pro-commie.... and apt to toss ALL conservatives/Republicans into FEMA concentration camps as much as the next Dem-Rat.
Liberator posted on 2019-06-29 12:32:07 Reply Private Reply
#20: A K A Stone To: sneakypete (#14)
I do believe that your motives are good.
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-29 12:53:04 Reply Private Reply
#21: Liberator To: A K A Stone (#11)
+100
Liberator posted on 2019-06-29 13:12:03 Reply Private Reply
#22: A K A Stone To: Deckard (#6)
"now more than ever, we must remain steadfast in our defense of a woman’s right to choose,” Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
A K A Stone posted on 2019-06-30 09:53:24 Reply Private Reply
#23: Deckard To: A K A Stone (#22)
Attaboy!!
Deckard posted on 2019-07-01 10:44:35 Reply Private Reply