Morning Joe 11/21/2012 -- More on Romney

The Left can't quit talking about Romney and Republicans. Morning Joe had Dan Senor on, and Senor rightly called out Republicans who were on the Romney wagon until he lost, then they abandoned Romney like cowards. Democrats should move along, though, since they believe they have a mandate to govern. I would like to hear Morning Joe put forth the Progressive agenda the Left says the American people are clamoring to pass. Instead, it's just one bit on Romney and the GOP after another.

I think the Left is anxious now that they have momentum -- they have to act. But what will they do? What can they do? The only thing that will turn around the economy is to release private sector business forces to grow the economy, coupled with a plan to cut spending significantly, but Democrats have no plan for either of these. Democrats seem to think if they can get a tax hike on the rich, they'll be sucessful. I don't hear any serious plans beyond raising taxes.

There was a discussion regarding Israel and Hamas with Mika's dad as a guest. The Left tends to blame Israel, but this is becuase it's politically correct to support Palestinians. I support the innocent in all of this, but, realistically, Israel can't sit by and let missiles fly into its cities. If it gets down to might is right, then Israel will be right. Hamas is led by terrorists who aren't right any way you look at it, so if this is the game that is to be played, then Hamas is responsible for all civilian deaths in Gaza. History and inequities can't be sorted out while missiles are flying.

Morning Joe 4/27/2012 -- Juvenile humor

I hate to appear as if I think there's no  reason to laugh at the political class, because God knows there are myriad reasons to roll on the floor laughing, but when recession still lingers, unemployment remains stubbornly high, our government blocks energy production which could create tens of thousands of jobs, we are bogged down in a mideast war which needlessly puts our troops in danger and causes death and physical mangling in order for the President to save face, we're wasting billions on alternative energy bets which aren't panning out, the SS is unraveling with charges of cavorting with prostitutes, GSA is mocking tax-payers by laughing at the money they've stolen and wasted, our Federal agencies are involved in scandals like Fast and Furious and are fast and furiously lying about involvement, it's not so funny for Obama to yuck it up with Jimmy Fallon over student loan debt which threatens a trillion dollar default, or to snicker at Biden who for some unknown reason has no self-awareness. Yes, the political class deserves to be laughed at, but it's not funny anymore.

I think that was the uncomfortable tension felt on Morning Joe this morning with guests Sam Stein and John Heilemann. Donnie Deutsche, of course, jumped in with juvenile humor as Joe and Willie acted like mischievous accomplices snickering as the joke marinated. Biden said Obama has a Big Stick. The grown ups on Morning Joe, like Dan Senor and Jeffrey Sachs and John Heilemann and Sam Stein let it slide -- the others didn't.

Sachs and Senor set the stage for the split between Democrats and Republicans heading into the 2012 elections -- whether to raise taxes and invest in infrastructure to help alleviate the recession, or whether to cut taxes and abolish regulations which are blocking economic growth. Scarborough jumped on Senor and made it clear that he, Scarborough, is for raising taxes on the rich. Scarborough's said in the past that America should invest in infrastructure like the Chinese, praising FDR for his bold investments in the 30s. I agreed with Senor on economics, but I disagreed when the subject changed to foreign policy and war.

Senor is a neo-conservative who thinks we should intervene in Syria and do whatever is necessary in Iran, which means military action. First, Senor makes the mistake of framing the rebels in Syria as freedom fighters when all the evidence shows they are would-be dictators trying to overthrow a the present dictator. Not another America soldier should die in a civil war in a foreign  country. It's insane. Senor said we are isolated internationally because we aren't intervening enough -- this is really insane. We've intervened way too much -- it's time to come home and allow our economy to recover. We can defend against the remainder of terrorists with special forces and intelligence. America has to retire as Global Police -- it's not what we should be about. We should be about innovation, creativity, economic growth, charity, technology -- not these drone missions and wars in nations that never change and only waste the lives of brave men and women who deserve better leadership. War should not be undertaken so superficially and extended for political reasons. It's abusive to our military, and it only creates resentment in the region -- nothing changes for the better.

Morning Joe 2/7/2012 -- Detroit, Catholics and Syria

On Morning Joe today there were several topics not related to Romney or Gingrich. I think I notice a weariness with Republican candidates, so maybe media will stop their obsessive disorder with the primary and look at what's happening around the nation and world.

The guests during the first part were Steve Rattner, Mark Halperin, Dan Senor, Mika's father and David Axelrod. I didn't bother listening to Axelrod because it's like watching a commercial for the 50th time. Axelrod reminds me of Snidely Whiplash.

Early in the show there was talk about the controversy over whether the Super Bowl commerical with Clint Eastwood and Detroit was a Republican boost or a Democrat boost. Rattner showed how the bailout of Chrysler and GM was a huge success and people like Romney look foolish criticizing the bailout when in fact it's so successful. It's only been a couple of years, and GM still owes billions, but Rattner and the administration and Democrat politicians are claiming success and building a case for re-election based in part on the bailout success. Dan Senor said that Detroit is not exactly a model of recovery we want to go by. Detroit is yesterday, unless they can transform and build a dynamic economy, but they can't build a dynamic economy on the GM model. GM is expected to fall again around 2014 when the stimulative effects wear off, because they haven't dealt with union promises which have to be met -- but that will be after the election, so who cares, right? The GM/Chrysler story will be another propaganda failure that's uncovered in a couple of years, although more and more people are seeing through the propaganda now.

On the Catholic/Obamacare issue, Mika received talking points from the White House regarding how to explain the issue. It's no big deal, according to the White House -- the Catholic leadership just doesn't understand the issue. Yes, that's a good response -- go with that one.

The great international Wise Man, Mika's father, was on the show, again, and the panel gathered around His feet to ask questions and receive wisdom. Z-Big, as I call him, says that Turkey is the key to resolution of the problem in Syria. I agree with Z-Big, that if there's going to be a resolution, it will be between Turkey and other players in the region -- it won't be because Obama says Assad has to go and everything's on the table. As Obama sounds more and more determined for Assad to go, more Syrians are killed and Assad is making Qaddafi look like an amatuer. China and Russia have thrown a wrench in the liberal foreign relations plan to get international consensus, then act. I suppose, in the liberal doctrine, the innocent must be protected only when there's consensus -- when two nations support mass murder, then the innocent are screwed. Perhaps when it's made clear to the mideast that if they want to improve their region, then they'll have to act, they'll stop relying on the Great Powers to make decisions -- that's over.

The Left has a lot to work out. The neo-cons know what they want to do -- bomb, bomb, bomb. Whatever we do, I hope we look at what we've done in the past, and what we should do in the future to avoid some of these situation in which we always find ourselves.

Morning Joe 11/23/2011 -- Huntsman at 2% get's 40% of debate time

And Huntsman got more time on Morning Joe than the polls suggest he's earned. Ron Paul is running second in Iowa and New Hampshire and yet no one talks about Ron Paul, and he doesn't get the deserved debate time. Media outlets love Huntsman at this point, and they're trying to propel him into the race, but Huntsman is still a blip on the primary screen. It's amazing.

The guests this morning on Morning Joe were Dan Senor, Steve Rattner, David Gregory, Wes Moore and more of the same old retreads. It would have been nice to get someone who understands libertarian thought on to discuss the popularity of Ron Paul and the media's refusal to pay attention to Paul's ideas. As it was, Scarborough and Senor had a mini-debate discussing old Republican ideas between neo-conservatives and faux-conservatives, with Senor representing the neo-cons and Scarborough as the faux-conservative. Scarborough is a political spinner who will say whatever to fit into where he thinks the most support lies. Because Scarborough thinks that the Republican base is war weary, he supports pulling out of Afghanistan, but because he believes the base is not ready to completely transform how we deal with terrorism, he supported Michelle Bachmann's rebuttal to Rick Perry in the Republican debate last night, that we need to maintain some kind of presence in the Pakistan region and continue to give them aid. Scarborough also believes we need to end Afghanistan and Iraq so we have enough money to deal with Iran.

Senor believes we need to stay in every mideast country we're in and do even more with Syria and Iran. Scarborough and Senor disagree over tactics, not philosophy. Senor compared Huntsman with Paul regarding foreign policy, bu Huntsman said in the debate last night that we should simply reduce our presence in Afghanistan, so Huntsman is in line with Senor and Scarborough, with only small differences regarding the level of involvement in the mideast. Paul wants a policy of non-interventionism, and this is much different than the Republican establishment position. Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Cain are in favor of mideast intervention. I'm not sure where Perry stands except he wants to reassess the aid we're giving Pakistan, unless Pakistan can prove it's an ally.

Bachmann told Perry that he's naive, because Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and that al qaeda can get those weapons and bomb America, so we must continue to give support to Pakistan and maintain a presence on the ground. If Scarborough had integrity, he would have supported Perry's position over Bachmann's, but Scarborough supported Bachmann's position. So, how long do we give aid to Pakistan and how long do we maintain a presence? What incentive does Pakistan have to change if it can blackmail us indefinitely? India and other countries in the region have more interests in the power shifts in that region than we have. This simplistic idea that terrorists are going to get nukes from Pakistan and bomb us is not only naive, it's pathetically gullible. Countries in the mideast have played this blackmail game against the US since Jefferson's time, and we continue to pay what they charge.

All the Republican candidates and the Morning Joe crew lean toward stopping Iran. How? We've helped Egypt and Libya open the way to Islamist governments, Turkey wants power in the region and Saudi Arabia is being squeezed between Islamist power and US alliance. If we bomb Iran, this will turn the region against the US, even if some of them are also afraid of a nuclear Iran. Bombing Iran will force countries to take sides, if it appears that the US and Israel are gaining control of the region. Turkey could even turn against us, although we think that Turkey would love to see a weakened Iran. Bombing Iran will not weaken Iran, it will strengthen the resolve of Islamists to resist US control, and then we'd be in the untenable position, like Britain was in the 20th century, of trying to control a region we don't understand and can't control. Mideast entanglements played a large role in destroying the British Empire, and if we try to play that role in a stirred up mideast, these entanglements will finish us off as well.

Ron Paul has the right idea -- let the countries of the mideast work out their own problems. Paul said we wouldn't like it if China began intervening in our affairs in North America, so why do we intervene in mideast affairs? Yes, we were bombed on 9/11. We responded with great force and destruction -- but, we should have left after responding. As it is now, we're getting deeper and deeper into a mess that will drain us, and it's a despicable misuse of our military and tax payer dollars. We don't need to risk another American life for countries that want us to destroy ourselves and who have bled us for years with bluster and threats. The one attack on 9/11 is not a justification for what we've done since 9/11 -- it's time to come home and build a 21st century defense like no other in the world, then mind our own business unless intelligence uncovers a true threat to national security. We have the technology and intelligence to create a nimble, much smaller defense system that doesn't clumsily trounce through the mideast making matters worse. Our military deserves better than what they've received from their leaders. Republican leaders need to wake up and stop the neo-con drift to destruction. Morning Joe needs to understand that political strategy should take a back seat to national defense.

Will the Republican base be smarter than the political class and support Paul's foreign policy positions? We'll see.

Morning Joe 9/21/2011 -- Democrats or Republicans, or none of the above

On Morning Joe today, the guests were Richard Haas, Dan Senor, John Heilemann and Palestinian Ambassdor Areikat talking about the Palestinian push for statehood which has President Obama in a bind. There were a few cursory criticisms regarding Obama's handling of Israeli/Palestinian relationships, but the main criticism was leveled against Rick Perry for giving a speech in New York which called for ending aid to the Palestinians if they don't drop their demand for statehood, or something like that.

I won't take sides on whether Obama set up this situation between Israel and the Palestinians through his mishandling of the relationships, or whether Perry was reckless for his harsh criticisms of Obama during a sensitive time, but I will talk about a few things in general that struck me as I watched the first segment of Morning Joe.

The Morning Joe crew started out with silliness, as usual, and then made mention of the political sitaution in DC that some have characterized as both parties giving up on governing and simply playing political games until the election. Mika read a Tom Friedman column which was critical of Republicans for not acting like real conservatives, and the question was brought up how Obama can win re-election -- Democrats can hope the nation still balmes Bush, or when it's time to vote, even thoough Obama sucks, the Democrats hope the nation believes the Republican candidate sucks worse. That appears to be the Left/Center strategy -- Vote for Obama because Republicans are responsible for the bad economy and obstruction of recovery. Plus, the Left/Center will keep pounding Perry as too extreme and hope that the idea of extremism extends to all Republicans. This reveals an emptiness on the Left and in the Center.

The second thing that struck me is our lack of a doctrine to deal with foreign nations. We drift from President to President under the illusion we can effectively manage global affairs, especially the relationships between Israel and countries of the Mideast. This attempt to manage world affairs, particularly in the Mideast, has been going on since the beginning of our nation, and most of the same problems exist today as existed in the beginning -- we've poured so much money into that region that there might not be a measurement for the total that the average person can fathom. Each country in the Mideast has its own national interest, and we've tried to manage in the middle of competing interests to the point that the US and Israel are now isolated, with America forced to attempt to block a vote in the UN to create a Palestinian State. Israel is our friend and partner, and we have to support them, but many actions led to the present dilemma, and it's clear that what we've been doing in foreign relations is not working, at least in the Mideast, and I'm not sure if our management has ever worked to achieve our stated goals -- the risk of war is still looms large.

In order for America to set a new foreign relations course for the 21st century, a bold and innovative approach is required to end our role as global manager. This region has to deal with its own problems, from Turkey to Iran to Egypt to Israel to Jordan to Saudi Arabia, etc. It is not in their interest to fight a no-win war, and America can no longer afford the position of dupe and ATM machine as Mideast countries use our involvement for their gain and our loss. The Mideast has nothing to gain and everything to lose in a war against Israel and the US, so despite all the blustering, only suicidal maniacs would start a war, and as crazy as Iran might appear, they have nothing to gain from a war -- they have a lot to gain in prestige in the region from blustering and causing problems, but nothing to gain in war.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do believe that no lasting resolutions can be found until the countries in that region are forced to take responsibility for their own relationships with one another, and that peaceful trade is better for all of them than this game of extortion played against the US with Israel as leverage to keep us sending checks.