Romney Now Flip-Flopping on Foreign Policy

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Asked to comment on specific clauses of the Hamas Charter, more than 70 percent of Palestinians agreed with the section that says, “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.”

Man, if I was a Jew I'd be planting some Gharkad trees, whatever those are.

 

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Should we just start a new thread about Romney's flip-flopping? This thread has been successfully derailed.

On that subject, I think the value in calling your opponent a flip-flopper was used up by Bush. "Etch-a-sketch" might be of value though.

 

[A'isha]

Man, if I was a Jew I'd be planting some Gharkad trees, whatever those are.

These.

 

[RandFan]

But you have to temper your remarks with the knowledge Irish Catholics were increasingly seeing the chance of a political solution, causing less and less support for the IRA. This in turn radicalized the IRA causing them to continue to lose support and also splinter.

And Catholics did get what they wanted...to be left alone, and not have to deal with groups like the UVF promoting their own little version of how Ireland worked.

I suggest reading this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_for_Peace_People#Peace_petition

This and later events prove that the Catholics didn't give up and that Unionists had equally had a gutful of the crap going on and wanted to just get on living with their neighbors

Good post. Thanks.

 

[SezMe]

Link to an editorial on Romney's views on torture ("enhanced interrogation") here. Link to Charlie Savage article here. It does not seem as if Mitt has previously flip-flopped on this issue, although if he did change his present position, I would not be entirely surprised.

Actually, I do think this is one area that Mitt has been relatively consistent on. He has assembled a foreign policy team that would give Cheney a woody (for example, John Bolton) and has been bellicose on foreign policy throughout the campaign. My post was meant to highlight hypocrisy rather than flip-flopping.

 

[Virus]

I don't see how it's a flip-flop. You could try for peace while being realistic that Palestinians don't want it.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

You could try for peace while being realistic that Palestinians don't want it.

You could try for a marriage reconciliation while you badmouth your spouse, but it probably won't work.

And it's simply not "realistic" to claim that the Palestinians don't want peace.

 

[Chris_Halkides]

We will see what happens in the fullness of time

Actually, I do think this is one area that Mitt has been relatively consistent on.

I agree, but it is interesting that one of the articles to which I linked suggested that a flip flop was coming.

 

[Virus]

You could try for a marriage reconciliation while you badmouth your spouse, but it probably won't work.

And it's simply not "realistic" to claim that the Palestinians don't want peace.

It is when they teach from Nazi textbooks and vote for parties with explicitly genocidal agendas.

 

[RandFan]

It is when they teach from Nazi textbooks and vote for parties with explicitly genocidal agendas.

Tell me something Virus, isn't the of those who want to commit genocide to eventually win and secure peace?

 

[Virus]

Tell me something Virus, isn't the of those who want to commit genocide to eventually win and secure peace?

That's not a proper sentence.

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

It is when they teach from Nazi textbooks and vote for parties with explicitly genocidal agendas.

They all do?

Or isn't it just some of them? And aren't some Israelis and some Americans also hate-filled violent extremists?

 

[RandFan]

That's not a proper sentence.

Wow, no kidding. I'm sorry. I'm not even on drugs right now.

Would you not agree that the goal of the Palestinians is to defeat Israel and THEN live in peace? Isn't the peace the ultimate goal? Otherwise, what is the purpose of violence? Are you suggesting that mothers send their sons off to die only because the mothers love violence? Are you suggesting that the Palestinians hope that the aggression and violence will never end?

 

[TellyKNeasuss]

I'm pretty sure he's talking about Hamas getting voted into power in Gaza. You know, that genocidal terrorist group dedicated to killing Jews and the destruction of Israel?

Do you need a source for that?

I'm pretty sure that the post was about Germans and the NAZI party. Because that's what was mentioned in the post. Generally when people want to discuss Palestinians and Hamas, they mention Palestinians and Hamas in their post.

 

[Virus]

Wow, no kidding. I'm sorry. I'm not even on drugs right now.

Would you not agree that the goal of the Palestinians is to defeat Israel and THEN live in peace? Isn't the peace the ultimate goal? Otherwise, what is the purpose of violence? Are you suggesting that mothers send their sons off to die only because the mothers love violence? Are you suggesting that the Palestinians hope that the aggression and violence will never end?

Why would they want peace? A generous and gullible West forks over billions in aid and gives them the attention and sympathy that a Greek Cypriot or a South Ossetian would never get. When you have the US and EU subsidizing your Nazi textbooks, you're on to a good thing.

You're partially right. They don't want war. Actual, proper, real war with Israel will get them obliterated in about five seconds. What they want is a low-level conflict that simmers at just the right temperature.

 

[Megalodon]

Why would they want peace? A generous and gullible West forks over billions in aid and gives them the attention and sympathy that a Greek Cypriot or a South Ossetian would never get.

You heard it here first... Palestinians want permanent war (even if they somehow manage to destroy Israel), because they're attention-whores.

I give you points for originality...

 

[RandFan]

Why would they want peace?

For the very same reason you and I do. We love our children. We love our families. We don't like to see them suffer and die. We don't like living with the stress and horror of war. We don't like our homes bombed and burned.

Violence is simply a means to an end. For the leaders who don't have to deal directly with the consequences it's often great. For the people who have to die or watch family die it's not that great.

What they want is a low-level conflict that simmers at just the right temperature.

Do you want your loved ones blown up? Do you want to live in a world where you are more likely than not to know someone killed violently? Interesting fact: The Palestinians, genetically, are no different from you or I. It's possible to convince them that violence is necessary but it's not possible to convince them that having their children blown up is no big deal. It's not possible to convince them that stress is fun and brings well being. So long as humans want happiness then they will want peace as that is the surest way to get it.

 

[Virus]

Hardly any Palestinians are dying. You keep conflating war with low-intensity conflict. I just told you they don't want war. But that doesn't mean they want peace.

 

[SezMe]

VIRUS! LOOK OUT!! DUCK!!!

Whew, that was close.

The point going over your head could have been deadly.

 

[RandFan]

Hardly any Palestinians are dying. You keep conflating war with low-intensity conflict. I just told you they don't want war. But that doesn't mean they want peace.

Do they want their family members to die? Do they want the stress that comes from occupation?

You keep conflating the wants of the Palestinian leaders with the wants of the citizens. There is nothing in your euphemistically "low-intensity" conflict for the average Palestinian except the loss of freedom and the very real chance to die at the hands of the Israelis.

Now, who the hell wants that?