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'A staggering shift' on the politics of foreign policy
'A staggering shift' on the politics of foreign policy
By Steve Benen
If you watched the third and final night of the Democratic convention, it was hard to miss the emphasis on foreign policy, national security, military policy, and international affairs. These issues represented more than a fifth of President Obama's address, and speaker after speaker emphasized Democratic credibility on the subject.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), in particular, seemed to be having a terrific time going after Mitt Romney's foreign policy ignorance, inexperience, and general confusion.
But in the bigger picture, the Democratic message, especially when compared to what Americans heard in Tampa, reinforced what Fred Kaplan called "a staggering shift": it's Democrats who've become "the dominant foreign-policy party."
More extraordinary still, it was the Democrats who saluted, mourned, and celebrated the "fallen angels" and "wounded warriors" of the U.S. military. Romney observed no such ritual.
- more -
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/07/13729999-a-staggering-shift-on-the-politics-of-foreign-policy
By Steve Benen
If you watched the third and final night of the Democratic convention, it was hard to miss the emphasis on foreign policy, national security, military policy, and international affairs. These issues represented more than a fifth of President Obama's address, and speaker after speaker emphasized Democratic credibility on the subject.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), in particular, seemed to be having a terrific time going after Mitt Romney's foreign policy ignorance, inexperience, and general confusion.
But in the bigger picture, the Democratic message, especially when compared to what Americans heard in Tampa, reinforced what Fred Kaplan called "a staggering shift": it's Democrats who've become "the dominant foreign-policy party."
The conventions these past two weeks -- and particularly the final speeches Thursday night -- have cemented the fact that the Democratic party is now the party of national-security policy; not just a wise or thoughtful foreign and military policy, but any kind of thinking whatsoever about matters beyond the water's edge. [...]
It was the Democrats who talked Thursday night of their president's "backbone" and "courage," of the clear message he sent -- as Vice President Joe Biden put it when talking about the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound -- that "if you attack innocent Americans, we will follow you to the ends of the world." By contrast, Biden recalled, Republican challenger Mitt Romney once said that it wasn't worth "moving heaven and earth, and spending billions of dollars, just to catch one person."
More extraordinary still, it was the Democrats who saluted, mourned, and celebrated the "fallen angels" and "wounded warriors" of the U.S. military. Romney observed no such ritual.
- more -
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/07/13729999-a-staggering-shift-on-the-politics-of-foreign-policy
Republicans have never been about national security, but war profiteering. Mitt wouldn't go after bin Laden, but he'd start a war with Iran.
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