VDH: Here Are Some "Coherent Principles" For Conservative Criticism of the War

Exactly.

I supported action the moment I realized that Gadaffy was regrouping and routing the rebels and so we were missing a golden opportunity for, in no particular order, 1, toppling a tyrant and thus giving some hope for an Arab Spring, and 2, justice for the American murdered in terrorist attacks by Gadaffy's direct order.

One can disagree that action is wise in this case but one can't credibly argue that Obama has been a leader or has helped create a strong likelihood of positive outcome. A positive outcome is still possible, but negative outcomes are far more likely now.

And this is all due to the fundamental lie at the heart of "liberal" foreign policy: That American military action is somehow evil, that we are a virus that must be contained.

Not so. American military action is almost always an objective good. The question is never, as the liberals put it, if American involvement is evil for the world. It's not.

The question is whether one particular shithole in the whole amoral world deserves our troops' sacrifice and hardship. Which is a much closer question.

But because Obama and the liberals have spent so many years claiming that America is fundamentally evil, to the extent that their chief foreign policy consists of containment -- containment of America -- that they find themselves in a state of cognitive dissonance when they see a tyrant crushing a rebellion with only America's might capable of saving the situation.

They like to think of themselves as heroes, but they're not, of course. They're villains who have deluded themselves. So when they see a Qadaffy killing rebels, they don't understand. They're confused -- aren't heroes supposed to be on the side of justice and liberation?

But they've spent their whole lives ripping into America for doing just that.

Their only resolution of this contradiction is It's okay when we do it, because our hearts are pure.

No, they're not. They're black with hate and what's worse, they're stupid with hate.

I can understand perfectly well why Chris Matthews and Joan Walsh and the rest of the bastards are so angry we're confronting them with their past evil utterances. It's very embarrassing to be outed as a villain.

But the fact that the charge is deadly makes it no less true.

posted by Ace at 12:11 PM

| Access Comments