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OPINION

Ron Paul, Obama: Different Guys, Same Foreign Policy

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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Flattus wrote: It's funny to watch Cons attempt to portray this disaster in Iraq as Obama's issue. Sorry, no sale. Thinking Americans know whose war this is. But it's not surprising to see you run from it. From Ron Paul's column today, referring to Necons:

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"They cannot admit they were wrong about the invasion being a ‘cakewalk’ that would pay for itself, so they want to blame last week's events on the 2011 US withdrawal from Iraq. But the trouble started with the 2003 invasion itself, not the 2011 troop withdrawal. Anyone who understands cause and effect should understand this."-- Welcome Our Newest Ally! Iran!

Dear Comrade Flattass,

Doctor Ron “Buy Gold at Any Price” Paul is an interesting man. Very smart too.

But he’s no historian. Or investor.

Half the time I don’t even think he’s sane.

Why is it that libertarians have given themselves over to a man that they treat more as Saint Paul than they do as just another man?

Because what "Saint" Paul has written about the Iraq war isn’t Gospel. It is even accurate.

  • Email Ransom, above

    The trouble in Iraq didn’t start in 2003, or in 1990—the First Gulf War—or with the toppling of the Shah of Iran in 1979. Or in operation “Ajax” in 1953 when we deposed the government of Iran and installed the Shah in its place.

    Everything in history is part of what came before it.

    I have no problem admitting that the Bush administration was wrong in portraying the war as a cakewalk. War should never be declared while dismissing “the many disappointments and many unpleasant surprises,” that Churchill warned was attendant upon any war. I said this at the time.

    War rarely goes as one would wish.

    As one Lt. General told me: “We had a plan. And it was almost like they purposefully [screwed] it up.”

    If the second Bush administration made a long-lasting, salient case for American involvement in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, I don’t remember it.

    But for Doctor Ron “Buy Gold at Any Price” Paul to sit back and say the THAT’S the problem in Iraq now, is either willful ignorance or lack of vision.

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    Here’s the problem in Iraq: They have ten percent of the world’s oil reserves. And there have been, in my lifetime, three powers tussling over the control of the region.

    The first is the Soviet Union, popularly styled as “Russia” today.

    The next is Islamic militants, who you can’t be rooting for—I mean you can be for them, but see the insanity defense about Doctor Ron “Buy Gold at Any Price” Paul above.

    And finally there have been secular dictators, who from time to time have received support from the U.S.

    Now you may argue that we should butt out of the Middle East, as Obama and Doctor Ron “Buy Gold at Any Price” Paul argue, saying: “Let them sort it out internally.”

    But that ignores one reality you can’t get past: What is in the best interest of the United States of America?

    My America is a great country. My America held fair and free elections in Iraq, a first in the Middle East outside of Israel. My America is a voice of peaceful—relatively speaking—change for Arabs who, just like you, covet freedom-- no matter what urban hipster doofuses like you say.

    Is freedom just an American birthright that liberty snobs like you inherited from the blood bought by better men than you?

    I don’t think so. I think freedom is inalienable.

    That means it applies to Iraqis as it does to members of inconsequential third parties like libertarians, who too often just hide their mediocrity behind non-conformity.

    Real reform is accomplished by staying and fighting.

    There is only one right part of this debate.

    If this world is to survive the next 100 years, other countries would do better to imitate the United States—the totality of our national experience, not the last 20 years—than to stick to their outmoded, old fashioned concepts of global real-politik.

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    The worst misfortune to fall on Iraq was Saddam Hussein.

    One might argue that invading Iraq to get rid of him was a mistake. But that doesn’t make leaving Iraq afterward right, either by logic or morality. Nor does it make it in the best interest of the United States.

    I would like the rest of the world to enjoy the blessings that an old-fashioned butt whopping gave both Germany and Japan.

    I want a world that looks more like America, not less.

    That, not nuclear-free zones, or cutting carbon, or making marijuana legal, is how the next century will be decided.

    And make no mistake: Withdrawing from the world won’t make it safer for us. It will just mean we have fewer allies, if any, when the fight comes to your front door.

    Rand Paul will not be president of the United States, yet alone GOP nominee, if he follows his father's foreign policy proclivities.

    Or are you too busy reading that phony Ayn Rand to know this?

    TG2711 wrote: you will never gain peace by dropping bombs or selling guns. -- Welcome Our Newest Ally! Iran!

    Dear Comrade 2711,

    History says that’s not true.

    You are contending that great armies have fought and won, but peace just came accidentally after their victories?

    That’s like saying you’ll never win a fist-fight by throwing a punch or defending yourself.

    Why are liberals and libertarians so pathetically dumb?

    Flattus wrote: Incoherent writing. And did you really think that "Swedish Bikini Model" line was funny? Really?-- Get Ready For Blood, Gore: 'Bear' Obama on the Loose

    Dear Comrade Flattass,

    Yes, I did think it was funny. And anyone who doesn’t think it’s funny is either: 1) a part of the Swedish Bikini Model lobby or 2) a Swedish Bikini Model sympathizer.

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    In either case you’re a fool and a tool of the Swedish Bikini Model conspiracy. Which, by the way, is real.

    Anyone who tells you it’s not is a denier.

    Maury Joseph wrote: Is it Politically Correct to INSULT Bears? --Get Ready For Blood, Gore: 'Bear' Obama on the Loose

    Dear MJ,

    No, it’s not. In a related note, in response to Obama the Chicago Bears have just renamed themselves the Chicago Injuns.

    Soceress wrote: Hey, John, how dumb can these people be? They are the ones running the country.-- Media Gives Aid and Comfort to the Idiots

    Dear Comrade Soceress,

    As dumb as someone who stylizes herself a believer in magic spells perhaps?

    The lesson now continues: History is littered with dumb rulers. In fact, a good ruler is a rare thing in history, not the “rule”.

    Just because we elect them doesn’t make them less susceptible to the law of averages. Look at Obama as a reversion to the mean after a great man like Reagan.

    Right Photo: 'Lexie Takes the Helm' at the world wide Ransom Notes HQ in San Diego

    ScrapIron wrote: Obama has presented to the senate, at least three budgets.

    Now, I'm not saying these budgets had anything to do with reality, but the clown in chief at least did what he was supposed to do. -- Media Gives Aid and Comfort to the Idiots

    Dear Brother Scrap,

    I get your point, but this time, unfortunately, it’s at the top of your head.

    I can do what Obama did. I can present a budget that will get no votes or won’t be voted on.

    A president is known for getting legislation he wishes passed.That makes history.

    The rest is just a work of historical fiction.

    Jillocity wrote: hey John...there are actually those of us in CA (don't know about IL or MI) who actually care about what is happening to our Country...don't put us all in the same basket...-- Obama Gets GDP Bassackward

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    Dear Sister Jill,

    I’m now a resident of California for one, whole week.

    Yes, we moved the official HQ of Ransom Notes Radio and Townhall Finance to San Diego.

    I don’t put you all in one basket.

    Just most of you ;-).

    People have asked: “Hey, John, why are you moving to California?” The answer is simple: You move to the sound of the guns.

    DoctorRoy’s Greatest Misses: 1) Obama is a slightly left leaning Corporatist. 2) Well whenever I start to lose my perspective I know I can always fall back on the most trusted reporter in the business to help me get it back. 3) Yeah because things were so much better when the GOP was in charge. --Obama Losers

    Dear Comrade Doctor,

      1) So you agree with the Whole Foods CEO who said that Obama is basically a Fascist. That’s very progressive of you. You know, fascism and communism used to be thought of as the wave of the future. Thank God for Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon and Reagan. And thank God for the United States of America.

      2) You mean me, right Comrade?

      3) Yeah, that whole 3.9 percent unemployment rate under Bush was sooooo hard. Seriously, Doctor: You gotta come up with something better than Bush did it too. Obama’s a freakin’ fascist. He’s against everything that old school liberals like you ought to hold dear. Give him up.

    Ericynot wrote: Seems like if Ransom likes the word "presstitutes" so much, he could at least spell it correctly in his own headline.- Obama Losing It as ‘Press-titutes’ Flee

    Dear Comrade Y,

    Really? That’s all you have?

    Going from having the greatest president since the Pliocene era, to typos? Doesn’t that strike you as an awful coming down?

    Man I hope Soros pays you extra. Because material-wise you guys have to be working double time on message boards.

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    Rightmostofthetime wrote: Ransom generally doesn't fix mistakes, and usually gets defensive when you point them out. If he DOES fix the mistake, he will delete this thread. - Obama Losing It as ‘Press-titutes’ Flee

    Dear Comrade WrongMostly,

    I have not had to edit the pages for comments in over a year. We have a community editor for that. And I never delete comments except to annoy Hillinger and occasionally Comrade Y.

    It makes them apoplectic.

    It’s hilarious.

    As to typos, eh, guilty. But truthfully I see it as a common fault. I see it on Huffington, Chicago Tribune, AP. And they all have copy editors. But still I would like to produce clean copy every time. I have some newer editorial methods that have cut down on the mistakes over the last year.

    Don’t include this column though. ;-)

    Hey: I'm moving.

    More Freedom wrote: I think Ransom is losing it. Since when is not meddling with the military in other countries' civil wars and not creating enemies of half their population, "disengagement", not being a world leader, and "defeatist"? Isn't it more along the lines of minding one's own business? Isn't it leadership by example? Butting into others' conflicts with force is not a good example, and is not following the Golden Rule. It says it's OK for other countries to butt into our business. -- Obama Losing It as ‘Press-titutes’ Flee

    Dear Comrade Freedom,

    No, it actually doesn’t say that at all.

    Since we let Hitler dismember Czechoslovakia and Austria we were temporarily shamed into taking responsibility for the freedom of others.

    And to apply the Golden Rule here is immature.

    The Golden Rule is a personal rule, not one that applies to countries.

    And here’s why: Countries aren’t moral beings. They don’t know the difference between right and wrong. They only know what’s in their best interest.

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    And do you think that if somehow we disengaged from the rest of the world that countries wouldn’t seek to interfere in our affairs?

    They would still. Anytime they wanted to.

    That’s a fact.

    Your argument is childish.

    Dan107 wrote: You would think that the media would report on the logistics of how these children travelled across the breadth of Mexico to reach the U.S. Southern border. Who paid for this human cattle drive? Why didn't Mexico prevent them from crossing their border...? - - Obama Losing It as ‘Press-titutes’ Flee

    Dear Brother Dan,

    Reverend Wright said G@ddam America.

    I say G@ddam Liberals.

    They are the number one abusers of human rights ever.

    They traffic in human beings just the same way a pimp does, getting them hooked and then defeated and demoralized. This is especially true with illegal immigration. Immigrants are here illegally for only one reason: Liberals from both parties wish for them to be here illegally.

    So, yeah: G@ddam the Liberals.

    I can’t. But someone wiser than I needs to.

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