Robert Gates: Republicans' grasp of national security is at a child's level

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Robert Gates: Republicans' grasp of national security is at a child's level

Former defense secretary condemns media for failing to challenge presidential
candidates on promises he believes are unaffordable, illegal or unconstitutional

David Smith in Washington
Tuesday 26 January 2016 17.29 GMT

Robert Gates, a Republican stalwart and former US defence secretary who served under eight presidents, has derided the party’s election candidates for a grasp of national security issues that “would embarrass a middle schooler”.

An ex-CIA director who first joined the White House under Richard Nixon, Gates joked that if frontrunner Donald Trump wins the presidency, he would emigrate to Canada. He condemned the media for failing to challenge candidates from both parties on promises he believes are unaffordable, illegal or unconstitutional.

“The level of dialogue on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler,” Gates said of the Republican contenders at a Politico Playbook event in Washington on Monday. “People are out there making threats and promises that are totally unrealistic, totally unattainable. Either they really believe what they’re saying or they’re cynical and opportunistic and, in a way, you hope it’s the latter, because God forbid they actually believe some of the things that they’re saying.”

Gates is among Republican elders dismayed by the way this year’s campaign is unfolding, with establishment figures such as Jeb Bush, whose father he served as director of central intelligence, failing to gain traction against mavericks with unusual prescriptions for keeping America safe.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/26/robert-gates-republican-presidential-candidates-national-security

[Martin Eden]

1. Maybe their rhetoric on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler ...

... but what the Repub presidential candidates are saying is red meat for the rightwing voting base.

It's the logical extension of the narrative being repeated over and over and over again on Faux News and talk radio for decades.

[Wounded Bear]

2. Yeah, what he said ^^^

Time to take the RW echo chamber to task. Nice to at least hear some criticism.

[vinny9698]

3. This people know a lot better, but have to appeal to the GOP base

The GOP base has a child's level of understanding of how government and society functions successfully.,
So to appeal to them they have to get down to their level. Once elected they ignore them and hopefully do the proper thing but only for the 1%. That's the crux of the problem

[kentuck]

4. Democrats should run this as a campaign ad...

Dropped right into their laps.

[ronnie624]

5. As a principle architect of the intervention in Afghanistan,

deliberately provoking the Soviet invasion and opening a pandora's box of Islamist extremism, he has little room to talk. The world will be a much better place, when his ilk no longer influence US foreign policy.

[Stellar]

6. Well said...I don't think he cared that much for Obama either.

CHICAGO – Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates discussed his new book, “Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform after Fifty Years in Community Service” at the Union League Club's author luncheon.

The book looks at traits and characteristics of an effective leader.

Amongst some of the topic’s discussed by WGN’s Political Reporter Paul Lisnek is what Gates thinks about the Republican front runners Trump and Cruz' strong language suggesting that the United States wipe out ISIS.

Secretary Gates also worked closely on foreign policy with his former colleague Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who continues to address the ongoing issues regarding her use of a personal server to handle emails.

Gates was quite clear that he had concerns over Clinton’s use of a personal server; it certainly isn't the way he worked.

Regarding the current president, Dr. Gates said Obama believes he is the smartest guy in the room but always listened to what Gates had to say even in moments of disagreement.

As for leaders handling a crisis, like the governor of Michigan addressing the water crisis in Flint, Gates was more concerned with what a leader does to address and resolve the problem than in placing blame.

You can see more of Paul's interview with Secretary Gates at http://www.cltv.com/politicstonight

Video: WGNTV Chicago

In the video, Gates said that the President disagreed with him a lot but always listened to him and asked him what he thought, although they disagreed. Gates said that the President would always try to convince him to stay on.

[ronnie624]

10. Thanks for the link.

And then, of course, there's the duplicitous weapons sales to the Iranian government while supporting Saddam, and then using the proceeds to illegally facilitate the murderous activities in Central America.

Gates embodies everything wrong with US foreign policy.


http://www.juancole.com/2014/01/things-about-criminal.html

[NightWatcher]

7. And economics, public policy, and most everything else

[lark]

8. Republican Party = Ignorance R Us.

Lying, hypocricy, double dealing and stealing from the 99% to give to the 1% is all they do. Everything else is just window dressing to pull in the low information ignorant sheeple.

[LiberalLovinLug]

9. Will this story make the MSM networks?

It should, but I highly doubt it. It only appears on a liberal British newspaper.


I googled "Robert Gates child level nbc news", then the same replacing the "nbc" with "cbs", and "abc" and "fox". I searched the first pages that came up.

The only time the story turned up was the original Guardian story. And Reddit, and other more liberal sites like DU reporting it.

The only ABC news link:
A dead end low information page on "Robert Gates news" just saying when he would be on Face the Nation.

NBC's only link was of a similar nature.

The only CNN link: "Ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates nominated to lead Boy Scouts"

CBS did have a story from 2015 back at the start of the election process where he criticized both parties candidates as not being that impressive.

And of course FOX's was "Robert Gates: US can do more in the fight against ISIS"

[wolfie001]

11. This guy may be the only rational Repub left....

....on a somewhat national level. All the GOP members of Congress/Senate are raving lunatics!!!

[joeybee12]

12. Damn Gates insulting children like that...

Their grasp is better. knr

[lastlib]

13. Repuglikkkans think the world is a playground......

where the biggest schoolyard bully gets all the toys. So they want to be that guy.

[navarth]

15. Well they're supposed to represent Americans, arent' they?

just sayin'

[maxrandb]

16. Their grasp of reality is at an even lower level n/t

[chapdrum]

17. Thank you Sec. Gates for

this classic exercise in rhetoric and onanism.

We certainly appreciate your genteel words of wisdom.

[JDPriestly]

18. Robert Gates, et al., including the leaders of many, many of our administrations going a long

way back, have lied and taken advantage of the ignorance of Americans.

And now, after all the lies and secrets, he is surprised that Americans expect the "totally unattainable." What is unattainable is that we spend so much of our national wealth on defense while we spend so little on our schools, our children, our infrastructure, our environment, all the things that we really need in order to survive.

Our military sucks up the energy and wealth of the country. Everything else is treated as less important.

The military should exist to safeguard everything else, not to take all the resources that we need to support everything else.

Did Gates say anything about how unrealistic it is to expect Americans to protect the rest of the world from itself to the detriment of our own country?

I'm for defense. But not a defense that is out of proportion in size and cost to the reality that it is defending.

And, yes, we have a choice. We did not have to go into Iraq. That was a war of choice. And it turned out miserably for the whole world.

And, yes, we have a choice. We built an atomic bomb. We went to the moon. We can become independent of fossil fuels if we try to do it with the same focus with which we achieved those goals.

Gates is partly to blame for the situation of the country and what is going on in this campaign, in this election season.

You just cannot lie to people and hide reality from people and then expect them to be realistic.

[benld74]

19. Not to mention their grasp of Science and Biology facts

[valerief]

20. And that's just how the GOP like it! nt