Finally…I Get It

I finally put the pieces together, and I now think I know why the right thinks the Benghazi incident is a political winner for them. It's not that unusual for the opposition party not trusting the White House but this time, they are trying to lay out a narrative of deception for political gain.

The Republican legislators have sided with the president on foreign policy matters when he stuck to the methods used by the previous administration. President Obama deviated from the Bush doctrine when he decided to enforce the Status of Forces Agreement that was signed by President Bush to exit Iraq. He again angered the right when he decided that the United States was not going to intervene in Libya alone. The president's team initiated the bombing of Libya but then quickly turned over the combat operations to the League of Arab Nations and Europe. We still supported the effort with our sophisticated radar systems and logistics. At the same time, the president was getting credit for killing Al Qaeda leaders and dismantling their operations. The neocon wing of the Republican Party never warmed up to Obama because they thought that he should've done more when the Iranian people started protesting. They won't tell you that the leader of that protest now supports a nuclear Iran.

The president's campaign rhetoric of “Bin Laden is dead and GM is alive" alienated the opposition so much that they were looking for ways to give him little or no credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden. Last month, the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi left the administration open for legitimate criticism on foreign policy. There's no question that the communication effort by the administration left a lot to be desired. The Republicans are trying to say that the administration did not want to say it was an al Qaeda operation because that would show al Qaeda has resurfaced and not on the run as the administration has said. There's an obscure boundary in saying that elements of Al Qaeda are still out there and saying that, realistically we must accept  that we will never be completely safe. A couple of days ago the FBI caught a terrorist who wanted to blow up the Federal Reserve. The Republicans are even more frustrated because the investigation probably won't come to any conclusion until after the election. That reminds me of the 2004 election, but the shoe was on the other foot.

I can understand why Mitt Romney introduced his 20% cut across the board tax plan in the primaries, but I don't understand why he's sticking with it. The 20% tax cut across the board, like Herman Cain's 9-9-9, is the shiny object voters cling to. Everyone wants a simple tax plan that fits their definition of tax fairness. It's too late for Mitt Romney to abandon his tax plan, so he's hoping that the media and voters don't realize that his plan is mathematically impossible. He wants to run out the clock knowing that his party just wants to win. You will see his campaign change the subject when a question is asked about the details of the plan or his stance on controversial issues.

The polls are all over the map; if you don't like the results of one poll, it's not that hard to find one that's more favorable. This morning Lawrence O'Donnell said the same-old people are being questioned because in the days of caller ID, "who answers unsolicited calls?” Even an avid poll watcher like me is starting to become a skeptic. Joe Scarborough said no one believes the Gallop Poll, which has Mitt Romney ahead by seven points. Former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell agreed and said that some polls had Mitt Romney within the margin of error in Pennsylvania, but the campaign long pulled their ads knowing that Obama will win that state.

It's funny how  how things change. When I first joined the VA forum Bill & Hillary Clinton were the most vilified politicians in American and on our forum. Today,they are the most admired.

The president went on the Daily Show last night emphasizing that we need to send more Democrats to Washington. While it's true, that Texas will give their electoral votes to Mitt Romney, that's not a reason to stay away from the polls. We still have a say in sending Rose Meza Harrison to Washington instead of Tea Party Republican Blake Farenthod. It's the same way for the senate if we really want to stop obstructionism. We have a chance of sending Paul Sadler to represent us as a United States senator instead of another Tea Party Republican like Ted Cruz. This election will be really close, so let's send a message by giving President Obama the victory on electoral votes and the popular vote.