The majority of potential 2012 presidential GOP candidates continue to avoid making statements on the uprising in Egypt.
When surveyed by POLITICO Tuesday to ask how each would handle the situation, whether Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak should step down now and if the U.S. should cut off foreign aid to his government, representatives of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal did not respond to requests for comment.
Of course, as I wrote a couple of days ago, Palin did comment that she hoped the news media wouldn’t blame her for whatever is going on in Egypt, and Mitch Daniels told Laura Ingraham that he was just a li’l ol’ country guvner and couldn’t be expected to know nothin’ ’bout no Egypt.
Politico also tells us that Newt Gingrich continues to speak out against whatever Barack Obama is doing, although it’s still not clear to me what Newt would do if he were president (shudder). Gingrich does say that he would study what Ronald Reagan did, because Reagan was right and Jimmy Carter was wrong.
I wish someone would tie Newt down and say, pretend YOU were elected in 2010. Barack Obama is in the Senate. There is no one else to blame. WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Hosni Mubarak is on the phone. WHAT WOULD YOU TELL HIM? I would bet money that Newt couldn’t give a straight answer and would just fall back on bashing President Obama.
Ron Paul wants to cut off foreign aid to Egypt. Paul wants to cut off foreign aid to the whole Middle East, in fact. And yeah, that’s Ron, not Rand.
Rick Santorum complained that the Obama Administration is “not up to speed” on Egypt, but that he has superior military and national security experience (yeah, I hear you giggling out there) and would handle it better, because he “knows the players.” But nothing else he said indicates that he would do anything radically different from what the Obama Administration is doing.
As already reported here, Tim Pawlenty thinks Mubarak should go, and Mike Huckabee thinks Mubarak should stay. Haley Barbour will be traveling to Israel soon, but still hasn’t made a statement on Egypt that I can find.
Elsewhere — Jeffrey Goldberg notes what I’ve been saying for a couple of days — the neocons and Israel are on opposite sides of the Egyptian situation. Heh.
Palin did comment that she hoped the news media wouldn’t blame her for whatever is going on in Egypt.
Once again, it’s all about HER.
I have to admit, I have some grudging respect for those keeping their mouths shut. Mainly because we don’t know where or how it’s going to go, neither does Obama, and neither do they. And sometimes it’s wiser to just shut up and withhold comment.
Newt is Newt, There’s not a thing in the world this idiot doesn’t have an opinion about, which doesn’t mean he knows anything, and is happy to share them on the Sunday Bloviation Fest’s. He and McCain are on so often, you’d thing they were hosts.
As for Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum, a 3rd-rate Fundamentalist, ex-Senator from PA, who thinks he is ‘more up to speed’ and knows more than Obama and the whole US national and international security apparatus, I’d say stick to fetuses and abortions, and leave world affairs to people who might know something about them. As for ‘knowing the players,’ I don’t think he would know Mubarak from Punxsutawney Phil if his life depended on it.
Old Huckabuck has a firm grasp on foreign policy. He says that the Israelis should, and have every right to, continue building settlements in the occupied territories…After all, “God gave them that land.” How do you reason with that kind of mentality? To think that he could even be considered as a contender for President is scary. His lunatic religious beliefs trumps all!
gulag..I don’t know how the scale goes, whether up or down, but I think Ricky” man on dog” Santorum is a 1st rate Fundamentalist.
After all, “God gave them that land.†How do you reason with that kind of mentality?
Well I’d give Huckabuck credit for at least admitting it, anyone who supports the state of Israel must believe the same thing, most just won’t admit it.
Swami,
Good catch. I meant Fundamentalist, 3rd rate ex-Senator. Thanks.
OT, and this story’s been circulating in small spurts lately, but it needs to be much more widely known. Ayn Rand took government assistance while decrying others who did the same. Her comeuppance is long overdue.
Ooh, ooh! Is Sarah Palin the Eighth Biblical Plague of Egypt? Then it could be her fault. Otherwise, prolly not.
The people that live in the middle east have seen what gw did to Iraq and Afganistan. They know about the lies and the slaughter of thousands of Arab people, and didn’t even get a slap on the hand for his bull shit, and they know that our people here condoned it, and even promoted it. So do you think they even want us over there? Hell no they dont. Be aware though they follow our elections carefully. If we can elect one crazy, stupid sob, we can elect another, and thats exactly what palin is. Every time her name comes up as a potential candidate for president, the repulicans piss in their pants, and nod their heads, they know she will pass anything they advise her to into law, and if they want another war she ll start one. The whole w3orld knows this
John McCain ‘Tweeted” that Mubarak should step down..and not a minute too soon. Events now are showing that maybe we didn’t give enough foreign aid to Egypt to support freedom and democracy by propping up a dictator. Hosni says he’ll change the Egyptian Constitution to limit Presidential terms so as to appease the demonstrators. It makes me wonder what kind of a Constitution is it if one man has the power to change it.
““God gave them that land.†How do you reason with that kind of mentality?
Well I’d give Huckabuck credit for at least admitting it, anyone who supports the state of Israel must believe the same thing, most just won’t admit it.”
I support Israel. I’m not keen on their treatment of the Palestinians, or am I fond of any of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism included; but in Israel’s defense, they are the most stable, modern ally in the whole screwed-up Middle East. Better a flawed ally than any bunch of fundamentalist, misogynist, Medieval a-holes (like the Saudis) that you only TALK to because they have oil. It’s a pragmatic position.
“most stable, modern ally in the whole screwed-up Middle East”
Tell that to the millions of Palestinians who have had their land stolen, who have to go through countless checkpoints everyday just to go to work, who live in fear of another military attack everyday. I would argue Israel’s very existence has destabilized the middle east and will continue to do so.
“Better a flawed ally than any bunch of fundamentalist, misogynist, medieval a-holes”
Flawed Ally, I think friendly extortionist better describes their relation to the USA, categorizing all Arab people as medieval A-Holes really shows your true objective.