Tom Harkin On Chickenhawks And Bravehearts

Tom Harkin, a man happy to embellish his own war credentials, talked about John McCain:

Washington, D.C. — Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

In less widely reported remarks that were recorded only in the fevered imagination of The Minuteman, Harkin went on to appraise the Democratic Presidential field:

"Frankly, I have a similar problem with Barack Obama", Harkin went on.  "Look, the guy is a liberal.  I have no problem with that.  How could I?  I was the most liberal guy in the Senate until he took my crown.  But I think he's trapped by the fact that his father was a Communist and his mother was a flower child who never heard a socialist idea she didn't like.  When a person becomes a left-winger just to please his parents, where is the understanding and commitment?  I don't see any intellectual development here  - the guy planted his flag about one micron away from his mom and dad, which makes him a devoted son but not exactly a someone who reached his beliefs after any kind of intellectual journey.  Obama has a hard time thinking beyond the box his parents put him in, and that worries me."

Harkin then extolled Hillary, the former Goldwater Girl, as someone who had at least been exposed to some conservative people and ideas before rejecting them. 

Widely unreported.

Comments

[Chris]

The die is thus cast--Obama, a liberal's liberal. McCain, a conservative's ... whatever.

[Rick Ballard]

Somehow I don't think that the eaglehawk argument is gonna work for Red BHO (Neville to those whom he seeks to appease) any better than the chickenhawk argument worked for Benedict Kerry.

Red BHO does have the benefit of never having betrayed compatriots in arms but his association with domestic terrorists and the support which he has among foreign terrorists tends to negate that small item.

[Foo Bar]

his mother was a flower child who never heard a socialist idea she didn't like

Obama's mother worked on microcredit programs, hardly the most socialist of approaches to combating poverty.

[MikeS]

So, is McCain's family some kind of a cult that brainwashed him into clinging to guns and the Bible?

[Danube of Thought]

"Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

John McCain retired from the navy twenty-seven years ago. This man Harkin is a God damned fool.

[Danube of Thought]

Let me go a bit further: Although my father, brother, and great grandfather were admirals, and my grandfather died on active duty as a captain, and my great-great-great-grandfather was a Commodore who drove the British from Lake Ontario in the War of 1812, I look down smugly on Tom Harkin as a narrow-minded fool whose life experience consists of being a hick.

How's that?

[Tom Maguire]

Obama's mother worked on microcredit programs, hardly the most socialist of approaches to combating poverty.

As noted, Tom Harkin has a history of exaggerating for political effect.

[Rick Ballard]

Where does working for an NGO fit on the capitalist - socialist line chart? She was paid with Ford or Starr Foundation money and there was never a bit of what is quaintly known as the "profit incentive" involved. A review of the WWB Financials reveals yet another group doing rather well for themselves under the pretense of doing good for others.

Huh uh, no damn socialists in this chicken coop, boss. Just us chickens.

[clarice]

Widely unreported, indeed..that minuteman has some imagination.

[MikeS]

Obama was separated from both his parents at a young age. So, I think the Minuteman's Harkin is wrong about where Barack acquired his radically liberal ideology.

More likely, its source can be traced to traumatic incidents in Obama's life while he was a Community Organizer in Chicago. Or, perhaps he was bamboozled or hoodwinked by the people he met there.

[Stephen Skubinna]

Maybe the Big O's racist granny was a socialist, as well? Is that a "typical white person?"

[Rick Ballard]

TWP Granny was a banker herself. She would probably recognize the difference between NGO feelgooders and the actual microfinance business rather quickly.

[Donna V.]

Quite a few bloggers have said that Harkin insulted everyone who volunteered to serve in the military, and these days, that means everyone in the military.

But it's quite possible that due to his combat-induced PTSD, Harkin believes it is 1970 and the draft is still in force. Because God knows, it must have been hell on him, being a fighter pilot in 'Nam, dodging NVA fire, all of it seared, seared, into his brain,...,

[JustKOS]

Micro finance overseas is usually groups. It's based on 'socialist' banking. Co operatives more than American banking. The loan since isn't that important because it's not that much. You can start out with 2 or 3 million interest from an old loan program from USAID that worked in country and base the repayments on that program's 'repayment interest' and apply it to micro finance. The 2 or 3 million is now going to $100 to $400 loans from 20 or 30 million dollar loans.

If you read the receiving loan groups - co operative names there is a lot of mujer there. Many of the microfinance loans are illegal in the US. For example, men are not allowed the loans, only females. This is a problem for USAID funding. They are audited for this type of thing. The loans above would be illegal.

The microfiance business, especially with USAID or US government money, can be real nasty if you bring up that discrimination is illegal. You can get fired over it. The loans go out and Congress just says it's okay.

The issue brought up by the NGOs is circumcision. If men in Africa get this done, they won't get or give aids according to the UN. If women are circumcised it doesn't have the same cleaning affect, so that's bad.

NGOs and loan discrimination.

[narciso]

In a similar light; here's a little excerpt from a review of Perlstein's Nixonland by my 'favorite' book reviewer; Ariel Gonzalez:
who's talked favorably of Nicolson Baker's
anti-war agitprop "Human Smoke" among other gems;
"The left was not not immune to criminal extremism, but a group like theWeathermen
spilled less blood than the Chicago
police at the 1968 Democratic convention, the Ohio National Guard at Kent State, and the good old boys across the Sun Belt who participated in a wave of assault on hippies(he say's this as if it was a bad thing) . .
an unlikely alliance of stockbrokers and construction workers. . .lead pipes with American flags. . .Unfortunately. his cynical strategy was used successfully againstMondale, Dukakis, &Kerry (Gore is left out from this tableau). . .against Hillary & Obama this fall."

The Tiger cages at Vung Tau, were the Abu Ghraib incident of the Vietnam War, and Harkin played a major role in it. He was clearly a player in the pro Sandinista
lobby in the 80s.

[glenda waggoner]

"Going a bit further"...BOY---DOT can sing
when he has a point to make! Sounds good.

[Rick Ballard]

Narciso,

When do you anticipate seeing something on a FISA-FARC link? It's rather entertaining to contemplate a Predator being directed to Raul Reyes on the basis of him being just a tad overconfident about the encryption capabilities of his email program.

I wonder if Harkin's name is now on an Interpol list next to Chavez's.

[Ann]

75,000 people showed up for the Messiah in Oregon. Check out Drudge, it is scary. And then there is this comment from O:

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

The RW seems like Glenda, the good witch, about right now!

[Danube of Thought]

Just like Carter, except this guy wants us to eat less, too.

[glenda waggoner]

Well, then-Obama just lost Iowa, at least.

[RichatUF]

Ann-

The RW seems like Glenda, the good witch, about right now!

Seems that those hinges are really rusty and that lid isn't creeking open. Did see that about BHO today and for some reason thought about this (wonder if Chris Matthews might have helped BHO today?)

graf-

ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. To further conserve energy, I’m proposing tonight an extra ten billion dollars over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems. And I’m asking you for your good and for your nation’s security to take no unnecessary trips, to use carpools or public transportation whenever you can, to park your car one extra day per week, to obey the speed limit, and to set your thermostats to save fuel. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense, I tell you it is an act of patriotism.

BHO's New Politics seems a lot like Carter's Old Politics... wonder if someone could do a mix cutting in clips of BHO and Carter, set to MM's "The Beautiful People"...

[Danube of Thought]

Thanks Glenda. Coupla Martinis always help the singing voice.

[narciso]

I hadn't thought of that connection;although
there is precedent with the "Central Spike"
operations against Pablo Escobar, conducted in part by Boykin, & co; with the aid of future Larry Johnson business partner at Berg & Associates, then Chief of Station in Bogota, William Wagner. If such an operation
had established a net around Reyes FARC operations against the Colombian Govt; that would have been the result. A preliminary examination of those files, reveals the Speaker of the Ecuadorian Congress, Mr. Calle, was directly tied to the FARC; among
other figures. Considering that precedent
it wouldn't surprise me that Harkin would appear on the list; although aides to Jan
Schakowsky would much more likely.

A brief precis of anti private military company crusader and US involvement in Korea
Timothy Shorrock's latest expose reveals some interesting tidbits, that haven't been in the public domain. Remember CACI, the contractor, deeply involved in the aggressive interrogations, at Abu Ghraib. Guess who was on their board from 1999-2001 and probably helped them snag that contract: Richard Armitage. Guess who's on their board now; Ironic, since Shorrock clear tries to tie Rumsfeld to CACI's operations. Yes, one of McCain's senior foreign policy advisors (who Shorrocks does point out, was involved in the Plame disclosure).who's always speaking out against the war, is directly profiting from it's supposedly more sleazy aspects. And it's not an isolated instance. Guess who's on the board of Veritas Capital, which runs Dyncorp, one of the major contractors operating in Afghanistan (as Karzai's security detail)& in Iraq; Armitage and do nothing formerCENTCOM chief Anthony Zinni (no news if he's with Obama, like fellow timeserver McPeak; probably he's for Hillary)He do bring up how former Obama advisor John Brennan's company The Analysis Company; (god that's a weak name) is responsible for more than 2/3 of the PDB. Hope it's working better than the last two; but being he's a Tenet protege who Baer complained had been sent to Saudi Arabia; based on his skills as a briefer for, I doubt it.

On the down side, this book contines to systematically deconstruct the means, material, etc; used to intercept
international communications and financial
transactions;; following in the footsteps of Risen, PBS's Frontline and other sources; going to unneccesarily particular detail. I guess it's pointless to consider pursuing a leak investigation.

[Ann]

Heck with the cruise, we should all close our retirement accounts and head for Idaho. We need directions, plans and many martinis. 75,000 people, 75,000 people....I can't get my head around that, even if it is Oregon. Sheesh, we are doomed.

[Ann]

Rich,

Yes, I would call it: The Darkness Story-The Beautiful People-
The Messiah and Michelle: MM!!!

[ROA]

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

It apparently makes no difference how well insulated our houses are, or what good mileage our SUVs get, the goal is for life to be difficult and uncomfortable.

I wonder what temperature Reverend Wright plans on keeping his 10,000 sq/ft bungalow?

[Topsecretk9]

When I read what Harkin has to say, all I can take from it is Iowa could use a Change™

[MikeS]

I have a desperate desire to remain ignorant about what people in other countries want or think about how much I eat, what kind of a car I drive, how I control the climate inside my house, and whether I raise my children to be doubters.

[Topsecretk9]

MikeS

I have a desperate desire to remain ignorant about what people in other countries want or think

The only thing I want to know is the person my enemy wants...then I know to vote for the other person.

[Daddy]

Sorta' makes you wonder about Tom Harkin's opinion of the Founding Father's. Be interesting to know if he thought they were fools for nominating General Washington as President and Father of the Country, etc, what with his military resume'. Probably they meant to nominate Martha Washington and just screwed up.

[Jane]

Good Morning everyone. Brace yourselves - Super Tuesday part 8,462 starts in just 24 hours.

[Neo]

Talking about unreported ..

Mobs rampaged through poor suburbs .. in a frenzy of anti-foreigner hatred over the weekend, killing at least seven people, injuring dozens and forcing hundreds to seek refuge at police stations.

Police said violence erupted after midnight Saturday in .. Cleveland that is home to many immigrants. Two of the victims were burned and three others beaten to death. More than 50 were taken to hospitals with gunshot and stab wounds.

[Neo]

I had to watch all those commercials about how Obama had a plan to help people at the gas pump.

So now we get ..

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," he added.

.. some plan .. no gas pump.

[Pofarmer]

and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,"

I ain't gonna tell somebody in Denmark or Russia or India how to live. I don't figure they got much need to be intruding in my life either.

Here's a big ole middle finger for Barak.

People actually show up to listen to this shit?

Please don't tell me the guys go voluntarily, surely they are just along to hit on some swooning Women folk.

If this isn't a low point in American politics, then I am concerned.

[Pofarmer]

.. some plan .. no gas pump.

So I guess you'll get a govt gas card, and when that goes over the limit, no more drivey?

[clarice]

Who are the folks whose "o.k." we need to proceed as usual? The Saudis? Chavez?
Does O even engage gear before yapping?

That Cleveland story is interesting. Same thing happened in South Africa yesterday --against the Zimbabwe refugees huddles in Johannesburg.

[clarice]

**huddleD***

[boris]

For some reason in Johannesburg, South Africa ther is a "rundown inner city area called Cleveland".

WTF?

[clarice]

Interesting,no ,Boris?

Oh, well, I can't imagine how much longer it will be before South Africa becomes the next Zimbabwe. They are already talking about adopting similar ZANU-ian land reform laws.

[Gmax]

Boris

Well named? Probably reminded the namer of someplace he once visited?

[Gmax]

4 years of Jimmy Carter malaise and 55 mph speed limits and wearing cardigans while freezing in the dark could well be just the tonic for the muddle to get rid of progs in govt for another 209 years or so. I am not sure getting the illness just to get the cure is worth though.

[Danube of Thought]

I have this great fear that for most young people today, getting the "rest of the world" to "say OK" is a matter of the highest urgency.

[PeterUK]

"Obama's mother worked on microcredit programs,"

His mother was a loan shark?

[Elliott]

Super Tuesday part 8,462 starts in just 24 hours.

Terminal Tuesday?

I see that the last two polls show Clinton within 5 points in Oregon. One is ARG, though.

[Rick Ballard]

Elliot,

Don't the pictures of the huge crowds arranged by BHO's fasci di combattimento negate even a close finish by RW? It's all emotion now, reason and fact aren't to be found.

[Pofarmer]

I have this great fear that for most young people today, getting the "rest of the world" to "say OK" is a matter of the highest urgency.

Well, I think young people are indoctrinated to seek the approval of others WAAYYYY too much.

[PeterUK]

""We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said."

We are getting the same kind of Cyprinidaen effluvium from Our Dear Leader.Time to remind these mountebanks that they are being paid to mind our store.

"So I guess you'll get a govt gas card, and when that goes over the limit, no more drivey?"

There are also rumblings of a "carbon credit card" foe everyone to ration our energy consumption.The entire tribe of tranzis is rushing like Gaderene Swine in the wrong direction to "history".

[hit and run]

Ann:
Heck with the cruise, we should all close our retirement accounts and head for Idaho. We need directions, plans and many martinis.

YES!!!

Directions

Operation Idaho commences in 5 weeks.

All are welcome.

[cathyf]

Hey, if ya'all come back through South Dakota you might be just in time to help me move in...

[hit and run]

OK! We'll do it!

Actually this will be the first time to drive rather than fly

[VIMH: Sounds smart what with gas at $4/gallon!]

::sneer::

It looks like the route would be through NE on I80 and we wouldn't normally take us through SD -- but -- and this may come as a shock -- I am not exactly into normal.

But really, SD? Shouldn't you get there in time to vote in the Dem primary on June 3?

[MikeS]

Well, I think young people are indoctrinated to seek the approval of others WAAYYYY too much.

Personally, I prefer the "little doubters" that Michelle disapproves of.