The Common Ills: Joe hits bumpy waters on the campaign trail and the US is still at war in Iraq

Sunday, December 29, 2019

Joe hits bumpy waters on the campaign trail and the US is still at war in Iraq

In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues and the real winner? The destruction of War Hawk Joe Biden's 'just a good guy' reputation.

For example?

Spencer Neale (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) reports:

Several audience members at Joe Biden's 2020 campaign rally in Milford, New Hampshire, lashed out at the former vice president, calling him a number of insults, including "pervert" and "quid pro Joe."

Biden, 77, was speaking on Sunday night ahead of the state's Feb. 11 Democratic primary, where he is trailing South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, according to RealClearPolitics. A handful of those present interrupted the event on multiple occasions with heckles.
"Quite a start to Biden’s event in Milford, NH — He was quickly interrupted near the top of his remarks by a protestor who called him “creepy” & made false claims about him being a “pervert,” tweeted NBC News's Marianna Sotomayor. "Another woman then yelled “quid pro Joe” before another man began to shout about Ukraine."

Joe's response? To yell. He's so charming. And to accuse them of being Trump supporters. Because in Joe's increasingly addled brain, you either support Joe or you support Donald. It's not that simple, it rarely is.

Yael Halon (FOX NEWS) adds, "Biden, who would be 78 upon becoming president if he wins, repeatedly has defended his fitness on the campaign trail, noting that with age 'comes wisdom'."

The world's still waiting for that alleged wisdom to show up.

Madison Dibble (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) reports Joe's also being mocked by a member of Navy SEAL Team 6:

Robert O’Neill scoffed at the notion that Joe Biden could bring any type of change to Washington, D.C., after spending most of his life in public office.

Biden, 77, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1973, where he represented the state of Delaware for 36 years, only leaving his seat to spend eight years in the White House as President Barack Obama’s vice president. The former vice president took two years off from holding down a job in Washington before announcing his third presidential bid in April.

In a tweet posted Sunday, O’Neill mocked the idea that Biden could be the change he promises for Washington, D.C. “[Joe Biden] was a politician in D.C. for 44 years. But if elected, he’s gonna change Washington…” O’Neill tweeted.

The week's just starting and already rough going for Joe. Wait, we're not done yet. Also turning on Joe? His very own mini-me, Tiny Pete. Donald Judd (CNN) reports:

Pete Buttigieg on Sunday knocked Joe Biden for his vote in favor of authorizing military force against Iraq in 2002 when the former vice president was a senator, calling it "the worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime."

"Well, I certainly respect the Vice President, but this is an example of why years in Washington is not always the same thing as judgment," Buttigieg told Iowa Public Television in a Sunday morning interview while campaigning in the state. "He supported the worst foreign policy decision made by the United States in my lifetime, which was the decision to invade Iraq."

AP notes:

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Sunday called former Vice President Joe Biden’s vote to authorize the Iraq War part of the nation’s “worst foreign policy decision” of the millennial mayor’s lifetime.
Mr. Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was responding to a question about how his foreign policy experience measured up to others’ in the Democratic race, specifically Mr. Biden, who was a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the U.S. went to war.

I'm not a fan of Tiny Pete's but, above, that's what Tulsi Gabbard should have done in the debate back in July. See, it can be done. And Pete's smart enough to know that and smart enough to do it. Tulsi's the one who presented herself as anti-war but, sharing a stage with Joe, she was unwilling to call him out on Iraq -- even when given two opportunities to do so by Jake Tapper. Not only that, she spent the next three days after the debate minimizing Joe's actions. It was embarrassing and it was career killing.

Good for Pete.

Connor Mannion (MEDIAITE) notes that Bernie Sanders has also called Joe out on that vote.

Let's turn to Iraq. The protests have been going on for months. The protests have seen daily attacks on the protesters. Easily over 500 protesters have been killed. And yet, never in one day, has the western press covered the protests the way they are now covering one incident. We said it would happen. A US contractor was killed in a rocket attack on Friday (four US service members were also wounded in the attack -- they are stressed less in reports because the press is trying to pretend the Iraq War ended long ago). His death is being used as an excuse to attack Iranian elements in Iraq. And the 'reporting' on what happened is nothing but stenography for the bulk of the outlets. No one takes dictation better than Hana Levi Julian (JEWISH PRESS):

US military forces struck five Hezbollah targets Sunday in retaliation for an attack Friday on an Iraqi coalition base that killed one US civilian.
Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said the locations – three in Iraq and two in Syria – included storage facilities and command-and-control centers that the Iranian proxy terror group uses to carry out attacks. The statement was conveyed in a news release.

MEMO types:

The US military carried out the strikes on Sunday against the Kataib Hezbollah militia group in response to the killing of a US civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, officials said.

US President Donald Trump was briefed by his top national security advisers following the strikes at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

“We will not stand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to take actions that put American men and women in jeopardy,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters after the briefing with Trump.

Let's talk about who was attacked. This is not a defense of the group. But it is an indictment of the US government. Kata'ib Hezbollah. Who are they? They are Iraqis linked to the Iranian government. They are a paramilitary group. Ooops. They are also a member of the Iraqi forces and you can thank US puppets like Hayder al-Abadi for that and US presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump for that. They failed to stand up for the Iraqi people. They failed to defend democracy. They allowed these thugs, and that's what Kata'ib Hezbollah are, thugs, they allowed these thugs to become part of the Iraqi forces. That was a huge error, to put it mildly. Human rights abuses followed as a result of this -- and were taking place before the militias were made part of the Iraqi forces.

Now these thugs are part of the Iraqi forces and the US government is attacking them -- which means, use logic here, the US government is now attacking Iraqi forces. Somehow that gets left out in the telling, doesn't it?

And tensions escalate. XINHUA reports:

Four Katyusha rockets hit Sunday a base that houses U.S. troops near the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a Interior Ministry official said.
The incident took place in the evening when the rockets struck al-Taji military base, some 30 km north of Baghdad, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

There were no immediate reports about casualties, the official said.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Bodyguard II" and "Grand Dragon Greta and Her Little White Women" and Kat's "Kat's Korner: Coldplay sneaks in as the year winds down" went up last week. The following sites updated: