Romney and Santorum’s Missile Defense
No surprise that Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have come out rhetorical guns blazing to defend the missile-defense shield–though it is still depressing. Of course it is terrible idea to save billions of dollars in a recession and to avoid antagonizing — sorry, “appease” — Russia. It must be a mistake.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, called the move a slap in the face to eastern Europeans “who have stood so valiantly with America and who took political heat for backing the missile-defense system” and accused the president of caving to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Santorum added:
“The Poles and the Czechs have a legitimate fear of a re-emergence of the Russian threat to their security and are desperately seeking closer ties to the West.”
Contrast that with this statement, reportedly made by an Obama foreign-policy adviser shortly before the presidential election, calling the shield as “a system that won’t work, against a threat that doesn’t exist, paid for with money we don’t have.”
Which soundbite sounds more conservative to you?
Romney is a slap in the face. Funny Romney is attacking Russians, this family has a connections to a Russian business, even his fellow Michigan Mormons work for the company,Kairos Development International, Inc Development, Mitt needs to be asked about his Romney family dealing there, in fact ask a few of Mitt close associations about it. Mitt is such a plastic con man!
Not to mention his latest statements from his political aids, that Mitts move to the right during his last presidential run WAS A MISTAKE, PHEW! And of course, Mitt is talking to the Values votes this week.
Mitt is a liberal, pro abortion, pro gay, Mitt is a conservation, member of the NRA (no he wasn’t), an avid hunter, ( no his not), was endorsed by the NRA (no he wasn’t), pro life, and anti-gay. Mitt is pathological, and needs his meds.
By all means, let’s not look to Reagon who by the very pointless, very expensive, Star Wars program effectively ended the Cold War. Neither should we look to the very real and very frightening idea of a nuclear capable Iran. Also, let’s not mention the fact that without an effective means to defend themselves, these vulnerable countries will be forced to pursue their own means of defense, namely the development of nuclear weapons themselves. We have no allies in Europe worth defending (like Great Britain and France) who would benefit from a shield. Let’s not even mention that the cost of building and maintaining such a shield would be shared by the host nations. Did I fail to mention that we shouldn’t mention the effective technology and economic benefits to those nations?
Instead, let’s focus on how much we don’t like Mitt Romney for imagined and outlandish claims that he is a Russian collaborator. Let’s also borrow buzzwords from the 2008 Republican Primaries in which unqualified candidates expressed their contempt for a fellow Republican who had fewer wives than they did, a more fiscally conservative (and balanced) economic record, and represented a new breed of decent politicians who put the wallets of their constituency ahead of their own. Yeah. That’s a much better course of action.
It is not an outlandish claim, making the statement it is, is for the Romney’s to deflect and to duck.
1. Russia, which is imploding demographically, poses little threat today to Central and Western European countries and will pose less threat in the future as its population declines. Its worries will be internal, and it won’t find solutions for them in military adventures. (And it won’t have enough young men to form much of a military anyway.)
2. If Europeans perceive a threat from Russia, they have the capital to construct their own defenses, the EU economy being several times Russia’s.
3. We have been doing Europeans a disservice for years by subsidizing their defense. There may have been a reason to have American troops in Europe until 1991–but not after.
Mitt Romney 2012!
Santorum would make a good running mate, too!
Call me a Neanderthal, I still am suspicious of Russia.
Karl,
I read the article on Russia population imploding, there are two other elements in the demographics and those are ‘value’ elements. One is the divorce has reached high levels, with children having absent fathers, and “A crime subculture is spreading in Russia, and it is attaining the status of official culture.”
In judging a nation, one should look at all aspects of a nation, a Trojan Horse does not need to house a multitude.
I am not sure how a missile shield can protect other nations for a growing crime wave.
Karl:
There hasn’t been a period in history when Russian didn’t have internal issues that should have their main concern. It isn’t in Russia’s nature to worry about internal issues, instead they seem to always strive to be a major player in world politics. Having lived in Russia, I know that many Russians still refer to the CCCP days as the golden days. The days where they were a super power, the days when they beat America to space. Any means for them to get back on the world stage and to create a little nationalism among its citizens should be considered a real threat. Look at Georgia!
Plus we aren’t helping these EU countries out with these defenses because we feel like they can’t afford them. We are building ties that will yield huge economic and political pay offs down the road. These types of national affairs are obviously one of the many things that Mr. Community organizer never learned.
Jim, here is a challenge:
If Mitt and his brother Scott, will be willing to have an interview and talk about the Russian connection with the Romney family and issues revolving around this —- the Sandy Rios talk show on WYLL Chicago, is a good place to meet, if Ms. Rios is willing. Value Voters listen to her program and can we can see if it is” imagined and outlandish claims”, as they well know it is not.
And this is why Republicans will lose the Presidency in 2012.
You commenters appear to be silly liberals. Like ostriches with your heads in the sand. You perceive no threats and pass the responsibility to those little able to protect themselves. You really want to take that chance with our life and liberty?
A strong defense is conservative! Gains in technology have made missile defense possible and the United States prides itself on being state of the art at everything. Romney and all conservatives, myself included, are all about strengthening our defenses. Its the foundation of a free nation.
Tick off Eastern European allies, so that we can save money for Afganistan and increased domestic spending. What’s worse is I doubt this decision was about a disengagement from the affairs of Russia and its neighbors, but rather it was a temporary shift of focus to other interventions. Obama keeps scoring points with Paleos, but I don’t buy it.
If Romney is about strong defense for America, why was he in a business deal with China to buy an American defense company, which would have compromised our nations security.
Romney is in the business of putting his money in his pocket, and the office of president would pour more money into the Romney trust fund coffers.
Offer stands Romney, both Mitt and Scott, all three of us see if Sandy Rios is willing to host an interview where we talk about the Russian Connections with the Romney family and their associates, and issues revolving around these associations and connections.
[...] over this cancellation, saying that we are turning our backs on our allies or giving in to Russia. Not all conservatives are this insane, however. It is rather sad and telling that some conservatives would defend "a [...]
…“a system that won’t work, against a threat that doesn’t exist, paid for with money we don’t have.”
Sounds like Obamacare!
I’m not Romney’s personal assistant. All I know is that in trying to discredit Romney, the media was so desperate that that had to run a story about him having his dog (in a carrier, behind a wind shield) on top of his car for a few hours while traveling on vacation. If there was even the slightest credible hint of a bogus connection with Russia, especially during the Georgian invasion, they would have been running it constantly.
The few hours with the dog on top, was 12 hours,as one recalls reading, it was a drive to Canada, as understood. Canada is where the Romney family had a home on lake Michigan since Mitt was a child.
There is much more which can discredit Romney besides the nit wit putting his dog on top of his car. They treat women and kids worst, and their cronies make sure of it.
Offer still stand, bring brother Scott along at lets talk about the Russian links, and why someone and their kids were brutally gone after.
Romney and Santorum are irrelevant to the real question, which is to what extent Russia poses a threat to the U.S. or Central and Western Europe.
Russia under the tsars indeed had a history of expansionism, but it never went very far westward. This changed dramatically under Communism, as the Soviet Union picked up a wide swatch of client states.
But even into Stalin’s time Russia’s population was growing. Not so today. Russia is losing population faster than any other European country. I think this makes it less and less likely that Russia will return to a policy of expansionism. Every year that passes makes it more difficult for Russia to engage in military adventures.
As for Star Wars bringing down the Soviet Union, no it didn’t, and neither did America’s general increase in military expenditures. This is a fable that conservatives have touted for a long time. It sounds good, but it makes little sense.
The Soviet Union’s economy did not collapse because it tried to keep parity with American military expenditures–it couldn’t, never had been able to, and didn’t much try during the Reagan years. Its economy collapsed because it was founded on a false economic theory and, eventually, was going to collapse anyway. The regime just couldn’t keep up the facade any longer, and the spirit had gone out of the people.
In readings, the NATO proposal may have had something to do with Obama’s statement; in other news sources, the ship which was hijacked had missiles on board headed to Iran from Russia. We may not know everything going on behind the scenes.
However,
The Russian threat is real, but missiles will not stop it “A crime subculture is spreading in Russia, and it is attaining the status of official culture.”
In judging a nation, one should look at all aspects of a nation, a Trojan Horse does not need to house a multitude.
I am not sure how a missile shield can protect other nations from a growing crime wave.
Other concerns with Russia is it move towards influencing world energy, it movements in Africa and elsewhere, shows a growing spread of influence.