Good Citizen posted:

I think it's understandable that McCain of all people might be a little stuck in a Cold War mentality.

quote:

When things don’t go your way, take it as an opportunity to seize the entrepreneurial spirit.

quote:

Once a private business becomes a success, government organizations like the EPA will come in and try to shut you down.

quote:

Government interference can result in some disastrous consequences – like a ghost explosion.

quote:

Jeffy and the Stay Putf Marshmallow Man may be the same person.

BiggerBoat posted:

That's what I'm getting out of this as well, and pretty much everything Obama does and the subsequent right wing media reaction to it. I get the sense that had Obama not wanted to go into Syria we'd be getting the same sorts of "weakness!" type horse poo poo we're hearing now.

beatlegs posted:

Also, tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm sensing that beltway media types (CNN, ABC, etc) aren't falling for the instant right-wing-blame-Obama-bullshit like they used to. I've actually seen Blitzer & co do some unusually strong pushback on the more silly reactionary stuff.

BiggerBoat posted:

"Russia/Soviet Union/Putin and how much Obama is weak and so totally not Reagan"

ToxicSlurpee posted:

How many other right wing talking heads/radio shows/news outlets have used exactly that this time? I've heard that crop up a few times and some people I know on Facebook have posted "Obama isn't Reagan" things.

Sean Hannity posted:

You know what Obama needs to do? Look, let me just cut to the chase here. Obama ought to come out tomorrow and sign on to the Keystone Pipeline. He's never going to do it. Obama ought to come out and say he's unleashing fracking, and drilling, and regulations - needless regulations - immediately so that America's gonna be energy independent in five years and we'll have the ability to export to our European allies. He oughta be taking that stand - just by doing that very thing, that takes away the leverage that Putin has. But he's not going to do it, because he literally is so beholden to environmental left-wing radicals. That's the problem we have in this country!

Naga Warlord posted:

All you libs and commies complaining that the Right won't tell you what Obama SHOULD be doing in response to Putin's actions need to shut your pie holes. Hannity laid out an entirely relevant, effective, and sane idea today for how Obama should respond:


Yup, just open up the Keystone Pipeline and Putin will be all like "whwhwhwahat retreat!!"

http://download.premiereinteractive.com/seanhannity/2014/03/Sean%20Hannity%20-%20Mar%2004%202014%20-%20Hour%203.mp3 - go to 5:40

Darkman Fanpage posted:

Getting our oil from Canada = Energy independence!!!!

Raskolnikov38 posted:

Well let's be honest, if Canada gets too uppity with its oil we can launch the easiest invasion ever.

Darkman Fanpage posted:

Getting our oil from Canada = Energy independence!!!!

Afraid of Audio posted:

Canada is basically America anyway right?

quote:

RUSH: This is Anthony, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Hello, sir. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Thank you, sir. I'd like to say the Putin is not invading the Ukraine. He's ensuring that his 20% pro-Russian supporter base is not dissolved or dismantled before the Ukrainian elections. That way he can ensure that he gets a neutral, non-pro-EU government in this presidential election. He can grow his 20% supporter base to 35% for the next election, and get a pro-Russian government in that election. Every great strategist knows that you first build one's defenses before you move to take the battlefield. I'd like to compare this to our involvement in Egypt where Obama sent money and guns to radicals in his minority supporter base before the Egyptian presidential election. Or compare this to United States crushing Cuba's economy just for being a Russian supporter so close to our border. We don't have the moral ground to stand on and point fingers, sir.

(crosstalk)

RUSH: Here is the problem. And this is exactly who Obama really is. A moral equivalence. This guy from Colorado Springs claims that what Putin is doing in Ukraine is what we have done in Cuba and everywhere else in the world, and why can't they do it if we do it? But we don't do what Putin is doing. That's not who we are.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Another note to seminar callers: You see why we don't permit people to read from prepared scripts on the program. We want you to tell us what you really think, not read something that you found interesting or influential. Because nobody outside of trained professional with read something somebody else wrote and make it sound compelling. I'm one of the few who can do it. I do it each and every day.

So I'm saying, "Don't try this at home." But nevertheless, that caller, "Anthony from Colorado Springs," is exactly what I am talking about in terms of who it is that is running this country. That is exactly what the American left believes, that we have plundered the world, that we have run around the world and we have imposed our view, and we have imposed our freedom.

We have imposed our system on people, and in the process we have stolen their natural resources. In some cases, we've taken their oil and we've taken their diamonds. We've taken their minerals, and we have enslaved their people. This is what they believe. So, when the KGB decides to rebuild Russia into the Soviet Union again and takes over Georgia, and now threatens to make a move in Ukraine, all of a sudden, "Hey, we do it! Why are we telling them they can't do it?"

We don't do it.

That's the difference.

We don't conquer. (interruption) Okay... (interruption) Okay... (interruption) The... (interruption) Okay, so you want to ask the question, "Doesn't Russia have the right to go in and squash a bunch of little bugs who border them, who are engaging in the behavior they don't like that they might consider threatening?" Have you forgotten that the Ukrainians disarmed? They disarmed after we promised to defend them.

The Ukrainians do not have a military per se. Let me find that in the Stack here. (interruption) Well, they trusted us. They trusted Bill Clinton. They trusted the UK. Let me find the story here. drat it, I put this the bottom of the Stack someplace. I may have to dig it out. I may have already used it and didn't get to that part of it. But... Here we go. This is it. It's in the French News Agency story: "Ukraine Soldiers Vow Defiance as Bases Surrounded."

Nobody is telling you that Ukraine cannot defend itself. It gutted its army and did away with its nukes. It had a nuclear weapons and it did away with its nuclear deterrent based on assurances by Russia and the US as well as the UK, France, and China that their territory would be inviolate, including Crimea. Bill Clinton signed those assurances for the US, and they were reaffirmed in 2009 by Obama.

...

We liberate people from tyranny, bondage, authoritarianism, and then we pay to have their countries rebuilt, as in the case of the Marshall Plan in Europe and Japan after World War II. Putin knows exactly what he's doing, and he's doing it because he knows exactly he's not gonna be stopped. He knows exactly who he's up against. He knows exactly what kind of opposition he's gonna have. He knows he's basically got an ally.

...

Now, the seminar caller also said that we did to Cuba exactly what Putin is doing to Ukraine. We destroyed the Cuban economy with our embargo because they were a satellite of the Russians, of the Soviets. It was our embargo that destroyed Cuba. No, ladies and gentlemen. You see, this is another predictable lament of the left: The United States is the problem in the world. The United States is the destabilizing agent in the world.

Do you know who destroyed Cuba? His name happened to be Fidel Castro, and the way he did it was to install communism throughout Cuba. It happened when I was a young child, but I remember all the appearances that Castro made. There was a time Castro had the US dangling at the end of a string. He had actually convinced us that he didn't know which way he was gonna go. He could have picked us or he could have gone with the Soviets. I remember he'd show up on Face the Nation. He'd show up on Meet the Press with the cigar and his military hat and his uniform on. I remember watching, it was a black-and-white TV, when I nine or 10 years old, I remember watching this stuff, eight or nine.

...

Now, I am not, nor have I advocated military action in Ukraine. That's not at all my position here. It never has been. All I'm doing is pointing out the reason this is happening is because Putin knows full well he can get away with it. It matters who leads this country and what they believe matters. Kerry can sit here and whine and moan about how it's a twenty-first century and it's unfair that Putin is pretending it's the nineteenth century, but welcome to reality. These guys honestly believe -- and nobody will convince me otherwise -- people like Kerry and Obama believe their own PR. They really believe that their presence alone sends a signal to the bad guys of the world that we're not your enemy anymore. You don't have to engage in the kind of activity you're known for.

They have no real understanding. We know Kerry doesn't, his days of Vietnam forward. We know Obama has no experience whatsoever in any of this, ever, doing anything. But we know that there are some universal truths. That bad guys are bad guys, and we know that people who run countries want to control more, and they will invade. It's the way of the world. Ours is a world governed by the aggressive use of force. Since you don't want to be at war all the time, what do you do? You have policies and stature that just shout deterrence. We build the B-2 bomber, for example, hoping we never have to use it.

Now, a leftist will never understand that. We build the Strategic Defense Initiative hoping we never have to use it. We hope that its existence alone prevents bad guy aggression. That's how you deal with this. You deal with it by preventing it from happening, and even then you know it's going to now and then.

quote:

Last week, I thought of Ron Silver, the late actor. He was a political activist. He was an ardent Democrat. At Clinton’s first inauguration, he saw military jets flying over the Lincoln Memorial, and was disgusted. Then he thought, “Those are our planes now.” Later, after 9/11, he became a staunch supporter of George W. Bush, and spoke at the 2004 Republican convention. He spoke drat well, too.

I was in Washington last week, walking past the White House. (For some reason, the people never elect me. They won’t let me live there.) I should say, I’ve always loved the White House. It’s one of my favorite buildings. I have loved it since childhood — how it looks and what it stands for. It is a perfect republican building. It is exactly the kind of house the American president should live in. An American, a republican, mansion.

By the way, my great-grandfather had his shop quite close to the White House, at 13th and F. I have a letter to him from FDR.

Anyway, last week, I felt a surge of bitterness. Why? I am disliking the current occupant of the White House more than ever. And, on seeing this house, I winced.

And then I caught myself: “Come on, Jay. It’s still the White House. Presidents come and go. This is a great and glorious country, with a constitution, separation of powers, regular elections . . . Don’t have an ‘our planes’ attitude.”

Like others, I suppose, I have to remind myself of this from time to time. I think I’ll need ever more frequent reminders in coming years.

Darkman Fanpage posted:

Canada beat the US in Olympic hockey, ensuring another four years of a binding peace pact.

Naga Warlord posted:

All you libs and commies complaining that the Right won't tell you what Obama SHOULD be doing in response to Putin's actions need to shut your pie holes. Hannity laid out an entirely relevant, effective, and sane idea today for how Obama should respond:


Yup, just open up the Keystone Pipeline and Putin will be all like "whwhwhwahat retreat!!"

http://download.premiereinteractive.com/seanhannity/2014/03/Sean%20Hannity%20-%20Mar%2004%202014%20-%20Hour%203.mp3 - go to 5:40

K.T. McFarland posted:

...

First: I will reverse my decision to halt the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. America will go ahead as originally planned and build the missile shield, but an accelerated basis. That means U.S. military personal will be working alongside Polish and Czech military to construct and operate the systems. The missile shield is designed to protect Europe from Iranian missiles, but you get the point. Uniformed U.S. military will soon be stationed near the Russian border.

Second: I will reverse course on the defense budget. Your defense minister just announced Russia is negotiating basing rights in seven nations around the world. He also said you were rebuilding old Soviet era military bases in central Asia. Your parliament has just voted unanimously to invade Ukraine. In light of that, this is no time for my Secretary of Defense to announce we’re gutting our military.

Third: I will allow the Keystone Pipeline to go ahead, again on an accelerated basis. That will not only give a boost to the American and Canadian economies, it will start driving down the price of oil.

Fourth: I will give my wholehearted support for fracking and horizontal drilling. American energy companies will now develop the vast oil and gas resources that lie, literally, under our feet. We’ve seen the U.S. go from natural gas importers to exporters in less than five years and the price of gas fall accordingly. We will now do the same with oil. Analysts expect the price of oil could decline by 20%.

...

Fifth: I will send a trade delegation to Poland and other countries in Central Europe to explore ways of helping them use fracking technologies to develop their own gas reserves. Chevron and Shell have already signed a $13 billion deal with Ukraine. I expect others to follow.

...

Sixth: It’s time we refocus on Western Europe’s over-dependence on Russian natural gas. We will explore ways to export our newfound natural gas surpluses to Europe by underwriting building of LNG terminals to accept imports from America. And while we’re at it, we will reassure our NATO allies, especially those that used to be under Soviet control, that Article Five of the NATO charter is still valid. If you are setting your sights on them next, think again. It’s all for one and one for all.

...

Mr. President, you’re a fine physical specimen of a man. You’re strong and healthy. You no doubt want to rule Russian for another decade. But the future you face is very different from the one you imagined.

So, I’ll offer you one last chance. We can have a different future, one that benefits us both.

First, we will let American energy companies help you to develop oil and gas deposits in Eastern Russia.

Second, we will encourage Western investment to develop Russian industry outside the energy sector. You are desperate to diversity your economy. We have the technical expertise and capital to help you.

Third, we have a common interest in fighting terrorism and radical Islam. We will be far more successful in our efforts if we do it together. Let’s work together to keep the Middle East at peace.

Fourth, we can have a mutual understanding that the nations on your borderlands should not be a launching pad for aggression against you any more than nations in the western hemisphere should be a launching pad against us. You can keep the Crimea as long as you allow Ukraine and other countries in the former Soviet Empire to continue along their own paths of independent governance. If they seek to join a Russian economic union, fine. If they prefer to improve economic relations with the West, that’s fine, too.

...

If I don’t hear from you within three days, I will release this transcript and start working my way down the list, one new initiative a week. Russians will know the looming economic disaster they face is thanks to you. And for added fun, I’m going to deny visas for your oligarch cronies. They won’t be spending their summer in the Hamptons this year.

Oh, one more thing. Some say we should boycott the G-8 Summit you’re hosting in Sochi in June. Or maybe kick you out of the G-8. Nope, I’d rather see you squirm in person. I’m coming, after implementing the steps I’ve outlined above. We will see who is smirking then.

But I’ve got a question, [strike]do you feel lucky punk! Well, do you?[/strike] can we see the Crimean Peninsula from Sochi?

Putin: (undecipherable)

****
Sadly, that is not the real transcript of the 90-minute Obama-Putin phone call. The real conversation probably consisted of Obama lecturing Putin about what was in Russia’s best interests, and Putin ignoring him, instead daydreaming about what was next on his expansionist agenda.

President Obama prefers public speeches. President Putin prefers to let his actions speak for him.

Obama talks. Putin takes.

Star Man posted:

I love how most people don't even know that the KGB is long gone.

Though I don't know if the FSB is effectively the same thing.

Darkman Fanpage posted:

Getting our oil from Canada = Energy independence!!!!

Zeroisanumber posted:

We wouldn't even be getting oil from Canada. The whole point of the Keystone XL is to allow big oil companies in Canada to transit their lovely oil across the US so that they can ship it cheaply down to Houston and Port Arthur for export across the world. Fuel prices in some parts of the US would probably go up because there won't be a supply of backed-up oil hanging out around the Canadian border anymore.

Install Windows posted:

That's not how it works.

For one thing, we already have several independent pipelines from Canada that do exactly that, some of them have been operating for over 20 years. For another, the XL project is specifically to increase capacity on one of those systems, with the addition of storage facilities in Montana. And for the last, every single day there's trucks and trains hauling oil around that can't fit into the existing pipelines, so it's not like it isn't already on the market! It's just on there in a way that causes more pollution then shoving it down a pipe and having occasional pumping stations.

Incidentally, most of the refineries with the capacity to refine Canada dirt oil into useful products are located in the US - more than anything, Canadian oil gets refined here and sold within the US, while allowing for the US to export its own domestically produced oil which is usually much more amenable to refining and thus more useful for export.

Good Citizen posted:

Does Canadian independence go by mortal kombat rules?

pd187 posted:

eggyolk posted:

Remember when Putin first became a meme on the internet and we all laughed about it on SA? When was that, two or three years ago? Now it's finally making the rounds among people who don't follow politics beyond ARE borders and don't watch any channel besides FOX, so it's now in their echo chamber.

joeburz posted:

Their article on Issa v Cummings would be funny if it wasn't absolutely depressing people think that way.

Big Beef City posted:

Hannity sounded like he was beating off under the desk

Darkman Fanpage posted:

The thing I love most about conservatives loving Putin is their obliviousness to just how staged all of Putin's antics are. Half the time he doesn't even know what the gently caress he's doing. I remember hearing that the reason why he rode a trike motorcycle instead of a regular two wheel was because he'd never ridden a motorcycle before.

Shbobdb posted:

Do you have a video clip or audio file?

pengun101 posted:

http://mediamatters.org/video/2014/03/05/sean-hannity-mocks-obama-for-wearing-bicycle-he/198358
here you go.