Posted By LambChop
Sunday talking heads on Meet the Press revealed the liberal case for use of force in Syria. The frank discussion on potential military action in Syria provided an uninterrupted window into the cluttered living room that is the liberal mind. Sunday’s discussion, moderated by uber leftist David Gregory, reminded the viewer of the elitist cocktail party fodder one would be able to hear at most residences in Georgetown on a given Saturday evening.
One poster child for liberal “foreign policy,” is former U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) the current Director for the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars & Board Member for The Daily Beast. Harmon was a guest pundit as part of the roundtable discussion on Meet the Press Sunday on Syria. Harman is steeped in liberal theology and is considered an “expert” in foreign policy - she is the go-to gal for the liberal talking points on Syria.
NBC News’ Political Director Chuck Todd and former Obama campaign advisor David Axelrod joined Harman and Gregory as part of the roundtable, completed by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, playing the role of token conservative on the panel.
The discussion began with the typical liberal talking points to justify Obama’s inane amorphous red line threats, with the liberal panelists lecturing each other about the United States’ “moral obligation" to protect women and children in Syria. Axelrod vehemently described the horrors of the 400 children “gassed as they slept.” Meanwhile Mrs. Harmon initially began her justification for Obama’s misguided war claiming the President is “taking a principled stand” to save the children. Then the tables took an ugly turn.
The conversation switched to the Obama administration’s promise that any military action would be “contained.” Mrs. Harmon’s contention was that everyone agreed with Obama’s action in theory, but that congressman did not want to go on record because they would be “primaried” and that Obama’s mini strike was the “least bad option.” Chuck Todd, who was taking the “stay out of Syria” side, suggested that the other side had a point – civilians would no doubt die as a result of U.S. airstrikes. Harmon’s response was inaudible during the roundtable over talk, but upon careful reflection she actually replied: “They're going to be killed anyway.” So much for the liberal concern for humanity.
So we should go into Syria because it is the” least bad option”? Harmon’s moral justification that the President is taking a “principled stand” to punish Assad who gassed 400 kids, claiming that it is MORE HUMANE TO BOMB THE KIDS since they are “going to be killed anyway.” Liberalism is truly a mental disorder.
MEET THE PRESS TRANSCRIPT
CHUCK TODD: It was amazing though, you have a Northeastern, moderate Republican, Peter King, a Southern conservative Republican just now in McCaul, a liberal to moderate, centrist Democrat from Orange County, California. And all in some ways beating up the president, even the yes vote for him wasn't exactly a show of confidence on that. What's interesting here is the White House is doing this full-court press, even as they realize the House might be close to a lost cause. They're going to try this P.R. effort, you see the videos are coming out, then you have what Dennis is doing today, what the president's doing tomorrow with a bunch of interviews, then the nation. I thought the most effective thing he did on Friday is the press conference that I was at in Russia is when he made it about-- he made an interesting, I thought, patriotic pitch. Which is, "You know what? We're America. We're stuck. I'm sorry we have to be the world's policeman. I don't like it." You know, it was sort of this reluctant, like, "We have no other choice." No one else will act. No one else is going to punish him. And it's terrible that we're in this position. But we're stuck doing it. I actually thought it was effective. The first message I heard out of the administration that was potentially effective.
DAVID GREGORY: But Newt, Denis McDonough is saying, "It's going to be limited. Don't worry. Very, very limited, very targeted. And by the way, if we don't act, Iran, the real enemy, is watching." That's what Denis McDonough said this morning.
NEWT GINGRICH: No, look, I thought Denis was very effective, making a bad case. And I think that's their problem. If the strategy is inexplicable to a normal American, we're going to sort of punch you, but we're not going to punch you too hard, and we really would like you to leave, but we don't want you to leave enough to get rid of you, and we hope there's a political solution, although we haven't got a clue what it is. I mean, that's very hard to build momentum for. And you have to be communicator in chief before you're commander in chief. And Tuesday night's speech I think really matters, because he has to show a coherence and a discipline and a directness that average Americans can identify with.
DAVID AXELROD: I mean, the issue here-- I'm sorry, Jane, go ahead.
FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN: Well, I get it. I served in the House for nine terms, I won 17 elections, including primaries, I was "primaried," as they say, it's a new word in our lexicon, three times as my vote for the Iraq intervention where I said, "I believe the intelligence--" the intelligence turned out to be wrong and I was wrong. But the notion of going to war or launching a limited strike, at least to me, to project American power in a way that deters really bad consequences in Iran and North Korea and so forth is by my rights, the right thing to do. And I think what's going on here, in my view, is all these folks in both parties, especially in the House, are worried about being primaried. The base in each party is against this. I'm sympathetic to that, the economy hasn't rebounded in most parts of the country. They're against it. So these folks think that the reelection, my view, matters more than perhaps taking a principled stand.
CHUCK TODD: I think that's too hard.
FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN: Well, but let me just-- but they want this to pass.
CHUCK TODD: I think it's perfectly rational. I think it's perfectly rational for them to think--
FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN: Chuck, they want it to pass. They just don't want to vote for it. And that's why again, the president's pitch matters so much.
DAVID GREGORY: America, David Axelrod, doesn't want to go to war. And I don't think America necessarily believes that Denis McDonough says, "We're not going to war," that they can take that to the bank.
DAVID AXELROD: Well, of course, the president here is kind of whipsawed between those who want a more aggressive action and those who are afraid that this will lead to war. And the irony is he was a president who got elected because he recognized early that the case on Iraq was faulty, that it was a bad thing for us to do. But on this, I think that it's very, very clear. Chemical weapons are in a different category. We have 400 kids basically gassed as they slept, tortured, and then killed, their ability to breathe taken from them. And this is what these weapons do. This is why we proscribed them for a hundred years. And the notion that we're going to let that go without an answer is an open invitation to use them again not just by Assad, but other players in that region and around the world.
DAVID GREGORY: I remember how Democrats went after the Bush administration for raising the specter of weapons of mass destruction being used against our own troops to make a case for war. That never happened because there were no W.M.D.'s there. Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff, just said that, Newt, here. He said, "We don't want our own troops being targeted by these awful weapons."
CHUCK TODD: But David, but these weapons are there. I mean, this is a completely different case. The weapons were used, we have the film, we have all kinds of intelligence that suggest who used them. It's a much different thing.
DAVID GREGORY: Is the argument that Syria's going to attack the United States with weapons?
CHUCK TODD: Well, there's no doubt that they're fighting side by side with Hezbollah, they could certainly use them against Israel, they can be proliferated from there. And it gives a signal to everyone else, that every bad actor on the planet, the United States, the world community is in a fetal position and you can do what you want. That would be a terrible signal.
NEWT GINGRICH: I think Peggy Noonan actually captured a good part of this is in her column this week. This country has been engaged in the Middle East seriously since October of 1979. We are tired of being a region where everybody wants to kill each other. It's very un-American. And there's this whole side, we're a country that wants a solution. Tell me what the endgame is. Well, the Middle East, the endgame may just not being not killed. Israel has survived. (OVERTALK)
CHUCK TODD: This is the problem. To me, and I'm as cynical as anybody when it comes to political motivation. And I think about half of the Republican opposition here is a political opposition. But I think a good 50% of it is not. I think about 75% of the opposition to the Democratic party is rational in principle and maybe about 25% of it is politics. I don't think it's as political as you think on this. What does this look like on day four? The president, Denis McDonough has (UNINTEL), what does it look like on day four when we get to Syria? And that's what the president hasn't answered.
FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN: Okay, but let me answer that.
DAVID GREGORY: Okay, good.
FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN: First of all, the word un-American makes me cringe. We're all Americans. We're all patriotic Americans, whatever our point of view is on this. We want America's interest to be advanced. The people who have looked at this carefully thinks day two comes out okay, Israel is prepared for day two, and we're prepared for day two. And day three and four won't be beautiful either. But this is a choice among bad options. This is the least bad option. Even a guy like Nick Kristoff writing in The New York Times--
DAVID GREGORY: Wait a minute, I have to interrupt. But wait a second. When the Iraq--
CHUCK TODD: We're going to kill some civilians in Syria. (OVERTALK)
FMR. REP. JANE HARMAN: They're going to be killed anyway. 5,000 Syrians are dying every--
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