The Barack Obama School of Diplomacy

Last week Barack Obama, in a very defensive move, lashed out at President Bush. Bush stated that some advocate negotiating with terrorist states such as Iran, but that he refused to do so. Obama naturally felt that Bush referred to his long cherished dream of someday negotiating with the only world leader currently calling the Holocaust a hoax and lashed out.

Obama angrily denied that he would ever negotiate with terrorism. Then he turned around and said he intended to open negotiations with Iran. Apparently he does not believe Iran represents a terrorist state. Iranian homosexuals might disagree, had they not been murdered or driven into hiding by the regime. The Iranian president's dream of destroying Israel might also strike some as terroristic.

To back his idea, Obama strangely brought up the Reagan talks with Mikhail Gorbachev. If Barack Obama seriously wants to compare the current Iranian leadership with former Soviet leader Gorbachev, the latter might have a great case for slander in US federal court. Reagan started out his presidency with tough talk and tougher action. He moves against Soviet designs in Grenada, helped anti-Soviet rebels in Afghanistan, and scared the bejesus out of them with the Strategic Defense Initiative. The Soviets spent themselves into collapse and Reagan had given the United States a position of strength from which to begin talks. A position of strength is the only one dictatorial regimes respect. Besides that, Gorbachev advocated expanding liberties and free speech. I do not see Iran's government doing the same.

Obama is not the next Jimmy Carter. He could be far worse. Obama believes that his charm and savvy would be enough to make revolutionary Iran see reason. Five presidents' best efforts tell a different story. Iran's best hope lies in the kind of quiet pressure maintained by Bush, not public enough to force a nationalist response on the part of their people but strong enough to impress the many in that country that yearn for freedom. Iran's mullahocracy may not be as stable as it looks, but giving it credibility by negotiating with it would be a huge mistake.

Our position in the world cannot afford the appeasment impulses of Barack Obama.

McCain Wins Nomination

As of Super Tuesday, the Republican Party received the news it had expected for some time. John McCain is the party's nominee for president.

A couple of months ago, this prospect unnerved many conservative Republicans. McCain does differ in opinion from conservatives on some issues. He, along with other Republicans in border regions, has a different idea about immigration than most. McCain's joke about being a "conservative liberal" probably did not help.

That being said, Republicans have not won elections by selecting doctrinaire nominees. Dwight D. Eisenhower campaigned on "compassionate conservatism" that sought to soften the edges of free market economics. Richard Nixon engaged in heavy handed economic controls to try and right the ship after the disastrous Johnson presidency. Neither George Bush could be called right wingers when one examines their policies. Ronald Reagan even evoked savage conservative criticism when he embarked on a peace path towards Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Union.

We are conservatives, but we also reason and speak freely. This is why the media loves to pick on conservatism, because we are never unified and our debates usually happen in public. Liberals have ousted their own free thinkers, such as Joe Lieberman (you could call him the Democratic version of John McCain.) Liberals started tearing away at Angelina Jolie's statement that US troops are needed in Iraq to prevent humanitarian disasters. They cannot tolerate deviations from their increasingly left wing agenda.

John McCain is not a 100% right wing conservative, this is true. Neither was any other GOP president. We win elections because we choose and support moderate candidates who think and act on their principles instead of the party line. McCain has sacrificed a great deal for his country and he is the only candidate left that America can trust in a crisis.

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Has Mineral County run out of water yet? Just checking. It would be best to keep any other businesses from coming in just in case.