|
|
The
views expressed
on this page are soley those of the author and do not
necessarily
represent the views of County News Online
|
 |
Redstate
The Power of
Changed Minds
By: Erick Erickson
September 19th, 2014
Should any Republican step to any microphone and announce he has
changed his mind on global warming, the press will hail him as a hero.
He has taken new evidence, processed it, and changed his mind. Should
any Republican do the same on gay marriage, tax increases, or a host of
other matters, the same will happen.
The media heralds changed minds, particularly when the mind changed is
to the right of center and the change moves the person to the left of
center. The ability to process new data, reinterpret existing data, and
reach different conclusions has value to the press and Washington
pundits.
A few months ago, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said he would not
support a campaign to bomb the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
He did not see it was in the American national interest. In the past
few weeks, he has changed his mind.
Listening to Senator Rand Paul being interviewed by radio host Glenn
Beck last week, one must appreciate the clarity of mind he had in
changing his position. When he said he would not support bombing ISIS,
they had not beheaded two Americans. They had not encroached on and
threatened American consulates and embassies in the Middle East.
As the senator said to Glenn Beck, they are now a very clear threat to
the United States. At the time he did not support attacking them, they
had not shown themselves to be a clear threat to the United States. New
data supported a new position. In particular, said the senator, it
would be hypocritical and inconsistent to question why Hillary Clinton
did not protect our consulate in Benghazi while he maintained a
position of not protecting our consulate in Iraq. We must protect our
consulates, embassies, and citizens.
The senator is right. Given what ISIS is now doing, we should
annihilate them. It was deeply humorous to watch many in the Washington
pundit class who value changed minds ridicule Senator Paul for daring
to change his mind.
Contrast Senator Paul’s changed mind with that of President Obama. We
are in the mess we are in because of Barack Obama’s pride. The
President rose to national prominence campaigning against the war in
Iraq. He was desperately eager to get every American soldier out of
Iraq. Many people, including former President George W. Bush, warned
that if we pulled our soldiers out of Iraq too quickly, the power
vacuum would be filled by terrible people intent on doing the Middle
East and us a great deal of harm.
That is exactly what happened. The headlines at the time declared that
Iraqi politicians did not want us to stay and would not give our
soldiers immunity. Therefore, according to the Obama Administration, we
had to leave and do so quickly. Subsequent reports and interviews with
Iraqi leaders painted a different picture. According to those reports,
the Obama Administration wanted to make it difficult for us to stay.
The President wanted an excuse to pull all the troops out.
Now ISIS spans the greater portion of Syria and Iraq. Christians and
Yazidi are on the verge of annihilation through a ruthless genocide.
Two Americans have had their heads severed from their bodies. The Iraqi
soldiers keep falling back. ISIS has captured military bases and with
them our weaponry. The cancer continues to spread.
For the rest of this article and more, go to Redstate
|
|
|
|
