Republicans hope to capitalize on (North Korea) blast

[sabra]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061011.KOREAUS11/TPStory/TPInternational/Asia/

Republicans hope to capitalize on blast
GOP seeks to divert attention from Iraq, sex scandal as Democrats gather steam


WASHINGTON -- As new polls showed Democrats taking advantage of a wave of hostile sentiment over the Iraq war and the Mark Foley sex scandal, some Republicans were clinging to the hope that news of the North Korean nuclear test might bring some supporters back to them.

...

With those kinds of numbers, Republicans seemed glad to change the subject after North Korea's nuclear test, believing that President George W. Bush still holds the advantage when it comes to issues of terrorism and national security.

Campaigning in Michigan yesterday, Republican Senator John McCain blamed former president Bill Clinton for not stopping North Korea from developing nuclear weapons in the 1990s.

...

At the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is spending millions of dollars in three dozen key House races, spokesman Ed Patru is convinced the North Korean issue will win votes for his party's candidates.

The Democrats have a "decades-long history of slashing military spending and cutting the knees out from under the intelligence community," Mr. Patru said in an interview. "They believe that we can neutralize the threat of terrorism by sitting around a table and singing Kumbaya."

[MrModerate]

1. They're really grasping at straws if they think . . .

That emphasizing yet another security/foreign policy failure will help their cause. Dems can sweep this straw man aside without missing a step.

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. They're all running around with erections at the thought of more war

It makes them feel so macho.

[BootinUp]

3. Idea for a good commercial

Show the panicked repukes discussing how to turn the momentum around, and have them practice acting like Tim Taylor the tool man, monkey sounds and all.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Capitalizing on their failures: typical Republican strategy

To use one's failures as political capital can only make sense in the mind of the brainwashed.

9/11 -- on Bush's watch
The Iraq quagmire -- on Bush's watch
The invasion of Lebanon -- on Bush's watch
N. Korea nuke tests -- on Bush's watch

How this translates into GWB being strong on issues of national defense and terrorism can only be explained in Freeper logic.

[lonestarnot]

5. Just like them to capitalize on a popcorn fart.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Oh, this should be good

So doing NOTHING about NK for 6 long years (other than insulting them), selling them nuclear materials and then watching them do their first nuclear test is supposed to be good news for Republicans?

I'll have some of what they're smoking.

[kurth]

7. Must... Invade.... North Korea...

Ooops.... Can't. They have nukes.

[Penndems]

8. The escalated problems with North Korea didn't begin until The Village

Idiot uttered the phrase "Axis of Evil". Now every rogue nation feels compelled to arm itself, because of that asinine, arrogant phrase. When I heard him speak those three words during the first State of the Union address, I slapped my forehead in disbelief: "Bush just gave those three countries permission to develop an entire arsenal of nuclear weapons."

If anything, we had North Korea contained during the Clinton Administration. If Bush had kept his piehole shut, we could've continued our one-on-one talks, and maintained our containment of Pyongyang.

Not anymore. :scared:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. Sad

I don't remember exactly who it was who wrote the journal article (Plaid Adder?) around the time of the London "liquid terror" plot but I think he/she made an excellent point about how sad/disgusting it is that the GOP seems obsessed with taking political advantage of tragedies like 9/11 and subsequent attacks and plots. It is truly sickening how they are now apparently attempting to (somehow) take advantage of North Korea's successful(?) nuke test as though it vindicates their (non-)strategy towards North Korea over the past six years. These kind of efforts pretty much say everything that one needs to know about the modern GOP, ESPECIALLY post-9/11. :puke:

[mtnester]

10. This will HELP them?

God help us all.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. If by "slashing military budgets" he means

spending $375B instead of $400B, I guess he's right.


:eyes:

[bluestateguy]

12. What?

The Democrats have a "decades-long history of slashing military spending and cutting the knees out from under the intelligence community," Mr. Patru said in an interview. "They believe that we can neutralize the threat of terrorism by sitting around a table and singing Kumbaya."

Every Republican President from Harding through Ford cut the military budget. Bush Sr. cut the military budget quite a bit too, but many of those cuts did not go into effect until the Clinton years. Clinton increased the military budget in his second term.

[stuartrida]

13. Republicans love terror

that is for sure.

[Felix Mala]

14. Why won't one of our people confront this issue on the yak shows by saying

It's late afternoon in the Bush administration and they are still blaming every twist and turn on Clinton!!! Perhaps Clinton's pact with N. Korea gave us an extra six years without N. Korean nukes and it was up to the newly selected administration to take the next step.

From where I sit, it looks like the best way to get the U.S. off your back is to pursue and secure nuclear capability... Once you're a "member of the club" you get awfully easy treatment from the Bushies,including guarantees you won't be attacked. Doesn't that make the world far more unstable than Clinton left it?

Now we have the spectacle of a Neocon president running to the U.N. for help. I thought the U.N. was useless and anti-U.S.?

[Penndems]

15. "Now we have the spectacle of a Neocon president running to the U.N.

for help."

Yep. Every time this Administration has screwed up, they've run to the United Nations, begging that esteemed body to clean up Bush's messes. We thanked them by sending an asshole like John Bolton to be our Ambassador to the U.N.

Little did the U.N. realize back in 2001 after The Village Idiot took office that they'd be busier within the next five years than they had been during the previous fifty years.

[The Stranger]

16. The GOP CREATED NORTH KOREA.

They fucked the U.S. into Iraq, a nation without WMD, instead of engaging the very fucking nation that HAD WMD.

Holy mindfuck. Please tell me people are not that stupid.

[Sparkly]

17. Isn't that "Kumbaya" thing a little worn out by now??

And, do rightwingers not realize that having our country run by people who GAIN from disasters and threats worldwide is maybe NOT such a good idea? By logical extension, the less they do to stem such threats, the more they have to "capitalize on." :scared:

[stepnw1f]

18. LOL.... Oh Brotha... Sad Isn't It? (nt)

[Eurobabe]

19. WTF do they have to CAPITALIZE on???

These numbnuts need to read and digest Jimmy Carter's opinion piece in the NY Times

[daleo]

20. It's like blaming JFK for Watergate

It makes no sense.

[onehandle]

21. They let 9/11 happen. They let North Korea get the bomb.

Bush is the least popular President ever.

These are things to capitalize on?

Fishing for suckers, 101.

[Supersedeas]

22. how many tragic diversions to they need - Corp Media will find a way

[Raine]

23. Help them?? WHY would it help them??

It shows more ineptness that they are unable to stop an arms build up. The repugs are truly desperate and pathetic if they are pining their hopes on something like that.