Friday, July 11, 2008

Advantage Marina Kats on Iraq


This image (Hillary-McCain) above on www.JohnMcCain.com is unprecedented, and I hope it will serve as a model for Republican candidates all over the country. No self-respecting Hillary Supporter will ever vote for candidates like Jason Altmire (whose district went two-to-one for Hillary) or Patrick Murphy (whose own Bucks County went 72,000 to 41,000 for Hillary). They also won't vote for Pelosi favorites like Sestak Holden, and Schwartz, because Nancy played Lady MacBeth when it came to Hillary's campaign. Altmire and Murphy sold Hillary out for the modern equivalent of 30 pieces of silver -- hefty campaign contributions from Obama, a weak and cynical candidate who apparently doesn't like white people (too "bitter" for his tastes, too apt to value religion and Second Amendment rights, too unlikely to vote for a race-baiter like him). Ah, much more to follow, my friends. Please read below about what you can learn from Marina Kats about Iraq policy. Please feel free to repost any material here -- and tell your friends and supporters that I exist. Thanks. (On Altmire's and Murphy's contributions from Obama -- obviously in exchange for their support -- go to: www.dncreform.com) If you see Jason and Patrick palling around, ask them to return the money.



“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.” - Barack H. Obama. He is one scary dude. Read below on his plan to "reinvade" (!!!) Iraq.

Marina Kats, one tough cookie running for the congressional seat in PA's 13th District

"I am supporting the withdrawal of American troops [from Iraq] as soon as possible, but only when it is safe to do it for us and our national security interests." (Marina Kats, GOP candidate for Congress in PA's 13th district)

When I left Bartlesville, OK, in July, 1979, the price of gasoline was at 99.9 cents for unleaded regular. In my (very happy) years as a speechwriter/policy analyst for Phillips Petroleum (now Conoco-Phillips), I had urged top executives to say, "Gasoline will NOT go a dollar-a-gallon." I guess I left Bartlesville (for U. S. Steel and later Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh) in a nick of time!

The columns below this one deal mainly with the key issue of 2008: the high -- and rising -- price of gasoline. I have suggested that John McCain and other GOP candidate blame it on the Democrats. And since Democrats have been adamantly opposing energy production -- and not only oil production -- for more than 20 years, they seem like the right people to blame.

There is another issue which we all thought (wrongly, it appears) and that's the Iraq War. Because it's rarely on our TV -- not bloody enough anymore for the news channels, who hate George Bush and are totally mystified by the high morale and intense patriotism of America's servicemen and servicewomen -- the war had faded as an issue.

On Fridady (today) and through the weekend I'll be writing about the war. How should Republicans handle it when the issue arises (as it will, albeit rarely)?

Let's focus on the approach taken by Republican Marina Kats. She's running in PA's 13th district (Montgomery County and Northeast Philly) against Allyson Schwartz. Rep. Schwartz raises tons of money but doesn't have an ounce of ideas about how to solve any of America's problems, including Iraq. The idea of America actually taking aim at terrorists and rogue nations seems to distress her mightily.

Here's what The Bulletin of Philadelphia had to say when Marina stepped into the political ring against Schwartz:

"Ms. Kats differs with Mrs. Schwartz strongly on whether Washington should act presently to phase out the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq. Speaking to The Bulletin from her law office in Feasterville, she described looking upon an American flag that was flown for a year and a half over the base of her colleague Christopher Hudock when he was called to active duty in Iraq. Upon returning, he gave Ms. Kats the flag to hang in her office. She describes it as a reminder of the imperative that America prevail."


An emigre from Russia, Marina is a red-white-and blue American. Ms. Schwartz's mom escaped the Nazis in Austria, but when it comes to daughter Allyson, she's about as patriotic as your door-knob. In today's congressional Democratic climate, flag-waving doesn't pay.

Asked when America should leave Iraq, Marina replied, "I am supporting the withdrawal of American troops as soon as possible, but only when it is safe to do it for us and our national security interests."

To me, this is Marina's shot heard round the world. Her statement is getting adopted by GOP candidates across the nation. She might even shorten it to, "We should leave Iraq only when it's safe to do so." There is a rhetorical term for what she's doing, but I prefer to call it, "Making swiss cheese out of Allyson Schwartz types."

We should leave when it's safe for our soldiers to defeat al Qaeda. We should leave when it's safe for Iraqi citizens, so al Qaeda don't murder them by the tens of thousands. We should leave when doing so wouldn't lead to catastrophic price rises in oil."

Above all, we should avoid the Obama Doctrine: "Let's leave, but if we have to, we can re-invade." Nice, Barack, you're retaining the option to go back with guns blazing in Iraq if everything, as the late Tim Russert put it, "goes to hell." Of course, if we leave precipitously, everything surely will go to Hell. Then, commander-in-chief Obama could engage in a re-run of the original invasion of Iraq.

If you "google" two words: "Obama" + "Reinvade," you come up with 1.5 million links. You won't hear much about it from Obama's cheerleaders in the national media, but it is certainly a big deal on the Web. I bet McCain uses it to turn Barcack H. Obama into a human pinata. I would (says he with a wry smile).

If Rep. Schwartz has a different view from Obama -- bail out immediately and then rush back -- she's keeping it a secret. She may be waiting for new talking points from Obama backers Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha.

I don't know about you, but Marina Kats sounds a lot sounder in her Iraq policy than Barack does in his. As for Ms. Schwartz, a former Hillary backer, she's now on board apparently with Obama, which means she must also support leaving Iraq quickly -- and then inevitably going back.

Somehow, I don't think the Obama-Schwartz policy will go over well with Pennsylvania voters.

Republican congressional candidates? I hope your policy is the same as Marina's.
Allyson Schwartz will be tough to beat. As you'll see on OpenSecrets, she's sold out to every special interest group that happened by with a bag-full of money.

If anybody can knock her off her perch, however, it's Marina. You go, gal!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey brainiac, the United States invaded a soverign middle eastern nation without justification, dessemating its economy, infrastructure, school and hospital system, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of two million refugees. Yes, that is the way to combat terrorism! If we leave, we destabilize the middle east??? It was our invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq that has destabilized the middle east. Please, please wake up. There is no Iraq war. Iraq is being occupied by a foreign superpower and even the people of Iraq and its government want us out. And we refuse to go. Is this any way to reverse the trend of young middle eastern men becoming radicalized against the West? Please man, wake up. Please. As Phil Gramm said, "We're more dominant now than we've ever been". This is a frightening statement. Dominance is not at all what we want to be. Have you ever been around someone that is dominant? You either want to push them down or get away from them. (Fight or flight). Domination equals big problems for the US and the world. What we want to be is influential and powerful, born out of thoughtful and positive policies and actions. Come on, even a knucklehead could understand that. I've got a new name for your website, how about "pennsylvanianslivinginabubbleforjohnmccain". Pretty clever huh? I'm sorry, I know all of this is far too truth-based for idealogues like yourself to cope with but you might want to consider confronting the reality we actually live in and the mess we've made rather than railing against a politician. Ok, I've got to get out of the bubble now. There's not a lot of air in here. Ah, maybe that is why those who live in here can't clearly see the truth. Their brains are starved for oxygen.

Anonymous said...

John,

Wow! Are you blind? Get real!

Let assume that your argument is correct (which I vehemently disagree), your so-called invasion of Iraq would then be construed by History as a blessing in disguise for America.

Iraq will be a strong ally of the USA against Iran, whether you like it or not.