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GC congratulates the USN and their CINC [updated]

By: Mike gamecock DeVine (Diary)  |  April 12th, 2009 at 09:00 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

But I am disappointed that my beloved Redstate hasn’t acknowledged the President’s good judgment in this matter and that so many here have used the occasion of an American success to make the perfect the enemy of the good even though this matter was resolved pretty darn close to perfectly.

Well, I don’t like echo chambers anyway, so…

Thank you President Barack Obama for your leadership and the great and heroic work of the United States navy Seals and the Captain of the Maersk Alabama himself in saving the ship, crew and the Captain!

This frequent conservative Republican critic is an American first, and one that knows how to recognize and celebrate a great victory for our country.

I also appreciate that we have sent a stark deterrent message to all future would be pirates that would dare transgress a ship bearing the Stars and Stripes.

[update]

We hope and pray that President Obama will now take further actions, many of which should have been taken over a year ago, to remove the safe harbors and actual port harbors in Somalia that serve the pirates, as suggested here.

God bless the United States of America!

And for those that boxed themselves into perpetual gloom and doom by demanding a rescue be consummated at the precise moment you thought about it and rushed a denunciation of President Obama to press within two days of the hostage taking, I pity you.

A question: Do you enjoy your food, or do you eat it just so others’ can’t enjoy it?

Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer, Examiner.com and Minority Report columns

“One man with courage makes a majority.” – Andrew Jackson

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COMMENTS

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  • Samsara
  • leftylurker

    Then absolutely!

    I just haven’t seen any evidence that he did. I’m still incredibly mad that US shipping has been attacked, and i do think it’s more than a small coincidence that it happened now…

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel
  • SteveLA

    [img]http://www.defenselink.mil/dodcmsshare/newsstoryPhoto/2009-04/lrs_090412-N-XXXXN-001b.jpg[/img]

  • mbecker908

    I’m glad for the Captain. But that doesn’t diminish the facts here. And the facts simply don’t support your conclusion that this President did the right thing. Or will continue to do the right thing.

    As I wrote in another blog…

    First of all, these jerks commit an act of war against us by taking US flagged shipping and holding US citizens hostage.

    Second, TBP issues an order to not act unless the life of the Captain is in danger. That?s an order you give to the cops, not to the SEALs or the Marines.

    Third, just wait until the wailing starts about how the life of the Captain was NOT in danger and the pirates – or what ever politically correct term they come up with for these guys – were murdered by the SEALs. Then some EuroWeenie state will lodge a charge against the SEALs with the World Court.

    Fourth, the guy who is now being held ?prisoner? by the Navy. What the hell are they going to do with him? Send him to GITMO? Will we try and prosecute him? I can just see the lawyers lined up to defend the SOB now.

    Fifth, the ?prisoner? was on board the US Navy ship ?negotiating? for the release of the Captain. I thought we didn?t negotiate with terrorists for the release of hostages. Right now I?m really glad my travels outside of the US are over.

    This was absolutely an exercise in jackassery.

    Obama’s actions were just as indefensible in this case as GWB’s were in not smacking down the Democrats (an action that you also defended). He’s made the world less safe by dithering for four days and treating this as a “police” action and not a military action. We could have been right here four days ago but for Obama’s gutless, witless response. Or, I should say, lack of response.

    This is nothing more than a red flag to the third world that their glory days are here again. The DoJ is in charge and President is slightly less a man than Barney Frank.

    There is absolutely nothing here to rejoice about for the long run. Just watch the show trials with the “prisoner”.

    And since when do you have the right to say anything “On Behalf of Redstate…” Last I knew you speak for Gamecock like I speak for 908 and nothing more. You really should change your title.

  • mbecker908

  • SteveLA

    Sorry for the honk up, but appreciate your help in fixing.

  • mbecker908

    Do you use Firefox? If you do, they have a great toolbar addon that puts in your HTML and BBCode at the touch of a button. It’s called their “Text Formatting Toolbar” and it works great. It’s got a switch that changes the formatting from HTML to BBCode so all you have to do is make sure the switch is set to the correct code and you’re all set. I’d be lost without it.

  • SteveLA

    I’m on Firefox, 3.0x, and have bbcode, and Xinha but am having some sort of bug with Xinha not like cut and pasted links….updated versions and it’s still acting funky.

  • SteveLA

    Thanks

  • bs
  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    doesn’t an “act of war” require some sort of organized country [Iraq], or organization [al-Quaeda]? I mean Somalia is ruled by 300,000 different people, all armed with AK-47s and RPGs. The pirates, we are told, are fishermen during the off season [who knew there was an off season for piracy?]

  • Menlo

    At the very least, Obama certainly deserves no “congratulations.”

  • Doc Holliday

    that no nation that wants to live will ever declare war on us again. We have gone to war against pirates before.

  • DONTREADONME

    read this story from foxnews. It is about the owner of an Italian vessel that has been hijacked by pirates and how much he is in awe of our military for rescue operation for one American.
    http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Apr12/0,4670,EUItalyPiracy,00.html

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    in Toledo has been completely destroyed by the military.

  • pilgrim

    Jean Lafitte at the Battle of New Orleans.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    the Lafitte restaurant was left untouched :-)

  • mbecker908

    no.

    See the World Trade Center. That was an act of war. No “country” involved.

    See the USS Cole. An act of war, no “country” involved.

    See the US Embassies. Acts of war, no “country” involved.

    See the first WTC bombing. An act of war, treated as a random act of criminality. No “country” involved.

    The pirates would seem to be organized, at least along the same lines that aQ is organized. Or the Cali cartel.

    And to reinforce the point that Obama cocked this thing up royally, see Hoohah Mac’s comment here.

  • Flagstaff

    about 20 guys hijacking commercial airliners?

    For all we know, they’re being bankrolled by the same people already.

    As you say, why would there be an off-season if one catch is worth millions of dollars?

    I don’t know if Obama was dragging his feet or not. I doubt that it’ll ever be provable, and it probably wouldn’t matter if we COULD prove it. But Jeff makes the argument for it.

  • Doc Holliday

    Wars. I already know how you are going to respond but I wonder if we are not all picking nits. We are either going to destroy an enemy or not. It is not the name that counts, we could call it declaring donuts as long as we sink a bunch of skiffs and nape a bunch of harbors.

  • Praveen

    You know what I would have expected from Commander In Chief ?

    “Use all means necessary to rescue the captain. Additionally kill the hijackers.”

    This imminent danger thing gets to me. You think the captain was not in imminent danger all these days? I also did not understand the need for WH to issue two orders. Shouldn’t action be the first, only and right choice in this case? What actually changed between those orders?

    Anyways the good news is that the captain is safe and at least 3 of the bastards are dead. Thank the commander who decided to interpret the situation as necessary and take appropriate action.

  • Uma Richie

    The rescue succeeded DESPITE the president’s leadership, NOT BECAUSE of it.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    Clearly we should have removed the safe harbor and actual harbors in Somolia at least a year ago, but as to this particular matter being resolved with such a great result and in so little time is a credit to Obama, at the least, in not preventing it.

    It is not hogwash to rejoice at a great American victory, no matter how short lived.

    We lose credibility when we don’t apply the same standards to Obama as a republican and when we jump the gun in crticism and thus lock ourselves in to defending a self imposed time table or narrative.

    What matters here is the outcome.

    God bless America.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    Remember before the Inauguration when I praised some of his moves and said that we needed to wait till he acts as president to criticize?

    I was vilified here for that by many.

    Yet, since the Inauguration, you will look in vain for a more compete archive chronicling the missteps of Obama than Gamecock’s archive.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    who are not happy since they they didn’t get to testify. This includes some criminal defendants that would have faced jail time and probably would have lost had they testified but whose charges I got dropped or got a not guilty!

    Some people need to learn how to declare victory and move on to the next subject.

    For me, I missed the verse in Leviticus that requires rescues w/i 4 days and I will celebrate the great victory and then move on tomorrow to criticize Obama like I did Bush for not dealing with the ports of safe harbor if he doesn’t.

    Another thing the posts on this for the last 6 days remind me of are the reporters that were on the ground w/i 24 hrs of Katrina and conveyed the idea that since they could shove a camera in a distressed refugee’s face, that Bush could drop manna and 2000 sq foot mobile homes from the sky and have them all watching cable tv by nightfall.

    Just because people can write what they wish and think ought to happen w/i 48 hrs of an incident doesn’t mean that it can or should be solved w/i that period of time.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • mbecker908

    Had the Navy showed up on scene, evaluated the situation and taken action in three days I’d probably not say a word. Never did I lay down any timeline for action other than what I note here. And if bothered to read the OP you’d note my concerns, 3 out of 5, relate to the after-action.

    Now then, you want to leave theology behind and address the issues. Like the fact that the RoE is clearly a “law enforcement” document. And I’ll wait and see about the probably aftermath relating to how he deals with the outrage of the “world” and the US media.

    There is no comparison between this and Katrina and for you to try to make one is simply BS and misdirection. The Katrina “problem” could have been taken care of if GWB had simply manned-up and pointed out that local officials f-ed up. That will never happen with Obama.

    I must have missed your front paged holiday columns. And frankly I’m kind of sorry I jumped you on this one because if I hadn’t there would have been virtually no comments and it would have faded away appropriately. Good work on collecting recommendations BTW.

    Gamecock, you’re better than this. A lot better.

  • mbecker908

    blog titles. Yours is still BS and you know it. It may be “free speech”, but it’s free speech in precisely the same use of the phrase that kiddies at the New School used. Watch out for the adults, they do show up sooner or later.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    with anything, I haven’t a clue.

    The comparison to Katrina is the behavior of the armchair CINCs here and the reporters on the ground after Katrina hit.

    I guess you missed my occasional sub-contracted assignments at Redstate as well.

    ‘becker, you’re not better than this. A lot not better.

    smile

  • Uma Richie

    I disagree with you on this one, but please don’t take it as representative of my opinion about the rest of your work. You write great stuff here, and frankly, I am honored that you care what I, an infrequent commenter who hasn’t written a diary in months, think about it.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    I guess my intent is that we celebrate the result itself. Life is so glum, and especially so when we can’t even pause to enjoy the infrequent good things.

    I also want to urge that we maintain our credibility by not reaching to criticize the marxist in the white house when we don’t need to, esp after a victory.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    since you know how I am going to respond, tell me, so I will know too!

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    that you meant the Barbary Pirates. History used to be taught in Michigan, too.

  • Harold Vaughn

    I wonder how a defeated party is supposed to grow its ranks by attacking the POTUS on what is overwhelmingly seen by Americans as an Amercian Navy success story?

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    was missing from my post

  • Hooah_Mac

    But that doesn’t mean we should be giving him credit for a success that happened despite him instead of because him.

  • Uma Richie

    The news cycle may be over, but this is far from being a happy ending all around. On the radio this morning, the pirates were trash talking, and the president was looking for help from our allies. The pirates have escalated the situation, and the president needs to show leadership in a “they started it, but I’m going to end it” way (ROE change?, use of convoys?, security forces on US flagged vessels?, direct attack?, energy independence?). I’m not celebrating. I’m worried that the next piracy story will involve an LNG carrier.

  • Harold Vaughn

    an Obama success. But I think we do this by discrediting those who would claim such for Obama, not by attacking the POTUS.

    I’m sure that Obama will give our party much opportunity over the coming weeks to gain from the after math of this.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    fini

  • pilgrim

    President Reagan in 1983 after the students in Grenada were rescued by a military operation. Politically their attack on President Reagan did not work out too well for them in 1984.

    http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v-UNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Gm4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6088,2934764

  • CincoSolas_del_Bronx

    Paul and Peter probably got an earful from their friends too when they insisted on showing honor to emperor and king, when that would have meant people like Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero and various and sundry Herods …

  • Diogenes314

    “…is a credit to Obama, at the least, in not preventing it.”

    Props to the CinC for managing to not get anybody killed. Yet.

  • http://web.mac.com/mayo99/iWeb/Site/VladBlog/VladBlog.html Vladimir
  • mom2oneson
  • Leon H. Wolf

    1) I have edited the title of your post. Diarists do not speak on behalf of RedState. Contributors do not even speak on behalf of RedState. Only the directors speak on behalf of RedState, and then only by consensus. Your presumption here is breathtaking.

    2) I am not sure what you are playing at, but there is no policy of promoting your “holiday” pieces, nor does anyone have any idea what you mean by subcontracted work with RedState. You are a diarist here, period, and you are overstepping your bounds. As I stated above, however, even if you were a contributor (which you are not), you would not be writing posts on behalf of RedState.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    When Erick contacted me twice concerning writing legal pieces on the GITMO tribunals and even offerred to pay my way there to report on behalf of Redstate or Caleb’s prior requests for me to provide frontgage obituaries.

    I would hope that Redstate would not use this glorious occasion to bash Obama, but if you prohibit that sentiment from being expressed as a blog title I respect your perogative.

    Mike gamecock DeVine, diarist period

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    that featured Diarist Period DeVine and I have no policy against Redstate claiming me as one of their own.

    Love

  • Doc Holliday

    but I guess the rebuttal would be there were actual states that sanctioned the pirates. Yet this is the same in Somalia, it is run by war lords, those starving guys in skiffs are not making millions they are stealing millions. Someone with power is making millions.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    see Leon

  • Leon H. Wolf

    As an invitation to get passive-aggressive with me or the site. What you do on your own time with respect to promoting or not promoting RedState is your business; that does not make you a contributor or director of this site, nor does it give you license to speak on behalf of RedState. Also, I was aware that the items you mentioned were discussed previously. Generally, I don’t put stuff on my resume that I have discussed doing with others, that never came to fruition. Clearly, your standards are somewhat more lax.

  • Doc Holliday

    that is why it was annoying. Hey I like jokes, But I am not quite sure of your angle when speaking with me yet, ya know what I mean? If it were someone I got along better with all the time, I would know it was a joke. anyway, forget it, peace.

  • http://www.erickerickson.org Erick Erickson

    That was a one time thing where none of the front page contributors could do it, so we thought we’d invite several of our diarists to take up the opportunity.

    It was not, nor do I think I ever conveyed, officially acting in some way for RedState. Likewise it was not us offering to pay your way, but the firm responsible for PR for the GITMO trials, which wanted to send bloggers as well as the press.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    unlike you I do not simply look at the poster and assume a contrary opinion. I have agreed with you in the past [which has obviously escaped your notice] and I have disagreed with you in the past [to which you always take personal umbrage]

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    Pilgrim says:

    “Back in 1983 many were highly critical of President Reagan in the military operation that rescued students in Grenada. Here is a link for an example. Politically, I do not think this attack strategy does any good. I don’t think Obama did anything exceptional to deserve any praise in the rescue mission, but I also don’t think attacking him will do us any good.”

    http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=v-UNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Gm4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6088,2934764

    Obama at the least deserves praise for not preventing the rescue and for his coolness in not going all Carter before it.

  • Justin_Case

    I’m familiar with the words of Jesus who says, “Render unto Caesar…” and would be interested in hearing you elaborate regarding words of Paul and Peter that “show honor” to Tiberius, etc. While we are on the topic of showing honor, just how much honor was shown President Bush by the loyal opposition? For anything?

    A good argument can be made to demonstrate that the current pirate situation is a result of Democrats and foreign governments who have thrown wrenches into every policy that has been proposed or brought into action by the Bush Administration. I include the current sitting President among those who have been part of the problem.

    Now, after the events of yesterday, we are supposed to honor President Obama? If things had not gone as well would we have been allowed to “render” blame towards Mr. Obama?

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • E Pluribus Unum
  • bs

    That’s exactly what I said last night

    Now if only he’d keep his nose out of the rest of the business of the country and we could focus on the rest of the leftist schmucks in Congress.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    the fact that I have been contacted by frontpagers to request permission to re-print columns published elsewhere and to request original copy that was put on the front page
    .
    That said, the purpose of my column was two-fold: to express joy and thanks over the hostage rescue; to be a counterweight to those that have been so negative about this for days; and to try and shame the redstate I love into doing the right thing.

    Did you know Leon, that I have gotten gentle flack from close friends over the years from websites that have made me a frontpager for spending so much time here.

    No one loves Redstate more than I. many people over the years have assumed that I have directorial power here. I have always disabused them of that, even as I have been a liaison for others with the powers that be, and even when i have been contact by same to exercise my moral authority on line to calm controversies.

    It is now perfectly clear to all, as it has always been to me, that I have no actual power and that i am a

    Diarist Period

    That role has served me pretty well over the years.

    And if responding to misleading comments with the facts in a civil way and with humor is what you call passive/aggressive, then call out the shrinks!

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    today

  • CincoSolas_del_Bronx

    so as not to go off-topic.

    The 2 primary references are Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17.

    The principle is that for Christians to whom the authority of God–as revealed in the Scriptures–transcends all human authority, that same God uses human authority in His providential governing of the world, and commands obedience to and honor of that authority, even in the frequent cases where particular bearers of that authority may be opposed to God’s own authority over their own persons.

    The consequence is that while Christian citizens are right to speak about miscarriages of justice in terms of policy, we would err against God’s own authority by withholding appropriate honor, gratitude or prayers from any individual appointed by the Lord to govern the civil realm. The degree to which one speaks dishonoringly against the person would be an indicator of lack of faith in the Sovereign Lord’s ability to use even wicked men to accomplish His holy will.

    And yes, this all assumes that even non-Christians are under the same commands of God as the Christians.

  • Leon H. Wolf

    Re the rest, I could copy and paste what you said to mbecker908, but it’s in the same thread and everyone here can already see it, so I’ll save myself the effort. Erick confirmed that an offer was made *by a third party* to pay for your way to Gitmo. He also expressly and clearly indicated that you were not acting in any official capacity on behalf of RedState. Oh yeah, he also confirmed that it never happened. So maybe you should re-read what you said to mbecker908 and consider whether Erick was supporting your position or not.

    P.S. When you purport to write pieces “On Behalf of RedState”, arrogating directors’ authority is *exactly* what you’re doing. Happy to clear up the facts for you, again.

  • mbecker908

    How could I have missed it. Oh yeah, that’s how… :-)

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    until today, but on the main points, Erick confirms my representation.

    All I knew at the time was that Erick called me twice, as the first trial was postponed. I was told that he wanted me to go to Gitmo and report on the trial for redstate and that my expenses would be paid for. I assumed it was redstate since I didn’t think Erick’s law firm or him personally would send a reporter to Gitmo. I actually had to turn down the first offer due to a trial I had in SC but said that i would still be glad to write columns about the legal matters for redstate, which I did, one of which was frontpaged, as I recall. I was never told that a third party was paying thru redstate.

    The title of my column was rhetorical device put in a diary and was obviously rhetorical. I have written many other similar such column titles here and not had them edited by the powers that be.

    Glad I could provide more facts for you.

  • Harold Vaughn

    said & done in this diary by the “powers that be” to a ?diarist period?.

    It appears that they have been provoked to interpret your actions in a different light than what you have clearly stated where your intentions, and if memory serves, you have done this sort of thing in the past without reprimand.

  • mbecker908

    anything. And, as per usual, you’ve managed to avoid dealing with any of the relevant issues.

    Have a passive agressive day.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    and have no idea what the point is.

    As many here know, i am a speed reader that listens to talk radio 24/7 and so don’t often listen to videos in blogs much less comments.

    But for you dear Commodore, Gamecock went the extra mile and missed Rush for one minute and 9 seconds!

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • AKSteveB

    but rec because this place wouldn’t be the same without you.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Common_Cents

    I don’t think so. It’s a no-sale on Obama for me. Was there a tough choice to make?

    It appears it took him over 2 days to give a green light on military action? So he would be ok w/ sending military ships to the area but not authorize them from the get go? puzzling.

    Obama’s bacon was saved by the crew taking the ship back. Had they followed conventional passive hijack procedure they would have been kidnapped and taken ashore, Al Qaeda would have loved to have Americans as high value targets.

    But wait! the MSM tells us to not bother the pirate upstanding business men! They are honorable and we should pay them!

    The terrorist pirates have now vowed violent retaliation against Americans. Is that what honorable business men do when they lose out on a negotiation? No, but terrorists do.

    Obama is one lucky man that the crew took back the ship.

  • Justin_Case

    It’s hard to poke holes in God’s Word.

    Although, I tend to believe that Obama is undeserving of honor as a result of his stands on moral issues, I have faith (in this instance it’s difficult) that the Lord does, indeed, use “even wicked men to accomplish His holy will”.

  • CincoSolas_del_Bronx

    One of the dangers of being an evangelical Christian in America is that the wonderful civil rights listed in the Declaration and enshrined in the Constitution can be thought to apply to the kingdom of God as well; an early and frequent casualty of that error is the loss of belief in the complete sovereignty of God over men and nations, with a resulting low view of honoring any form of authority. But the Scriptures of both Testaments show the Lord’s people being preserved not only under Samuel, David and Solomon, but also under Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Xerxes, the Herods and the Caesars, and that under far more strident circumstances than we currently face.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • MellowFellow

    said Mitt Romney at CPAC, and he was right. It may not have been a huge thing to let the Navy grease those pirates, but it was the right thing to do, he did it, and it ended happily. Give him props.

    And it’s just as important for me to stand up for my erstwhile foreign-policy arch-nemesis GC when he’s right. As they say, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn here and there. :)

    God bless, brother, and don’t let the man get you down.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com David Hinz

    For the record — I have tried several times throughout the day to reco this diary and for some reason it will not allow me.

    Possibly my computer is wiser than I am, but I will continue to try, I promise.

    okay, upon sober reflection, my computer most certainly IS wiser than I, but I will still try :-)

  • Doc Holliday

    I have agreed with you many times so saying I disagree with an argument because of the name of the poster, is patently false. In fact, I believe I am one of the least able to hold a grudge on this site. For example, Achance and I went at it a few days ago, the next day we agreed many times.

    Secondly, if you read what I wrote carefully, I was saying you would disagree with what I said would be your response to my previous message. I did not say or mean to imply you always disagree with me. You were already jerking my chain in the thread, I simply stated that you would disagree that I could guess your response. In fact, I was partially correcting myself because an argument could be made we have not declared war solely on pirates, but on states that supported those pirates.

    I am ready to drop this because it is getting a little obtuse and distracting the message.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • redneck_hippie

    Thanks for being here.

    - from one who aspires to be “just a diarist period.”

  • DONTREADONME

    Sorry, GC if I messed up your page here, but my night went from bad to worse- that is 24 to the local news… So here it goes…

    WTFO… Al Franken winner of the election in MN… seriously, so we have had how many recounts and the vote total change, now Franken wins by >300 votes. MN you are now more backwards than our friends in Florida. enjoy your Senator.

    Thanks for letting me yell on your post.

  • Jack_Savage

    The embarrassment won’t be official for a while, but it looks like the thieves will go free. Guess who I think we should declare the new leader of the Democrat Party?

    I’ll bet Minnesota wishes they had a do-over right about now. Jesse Ventura, then this. They really hold democracy as sacred up there.

  • DONTREADONME

    live in MN, you are probably as embarrased as I am and I live in VA. I just do not get it, if you lose by less than 1000 votes take it to court, and if your party has a history vote rigging no worries it is just a matter of courts to get you in the door.

    Be honest, all I hear about this is from RS and when I hear something on the news so my understanding of the situation is limited. Just like marriage argument, I lose my fight after a while… Which is just what they want from me.

    More venting…
    What is the point if a Republican wins by 1% the election is stolen from the democrats but if the Demoncrat wins by 0.01% it is a mandate. Again WTFO.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • DONTREADONME

    for some stupid reason I thought this was an open thread. My sincere apologies to you and your board. think before commenting, I am really sorry.

  • Jack_Savage

    The only silver lining is this – you don’t hear too much crowing from the left about this. First, they realize that they succeeded in simply stealing an election, in plain sight of everyone, and really do not want too much attention drawn to it. Secondly, they know Al Franken is a dimwitted loose cannon, and are dreading the next six years from our new poster boy of the left.

    As a wise man once told me – be careful what you pray for – you just might get it. They are on their way to getting it.

    PS – The only acceptable response from Republicans when Al Franken walks into the Senate is to walk out. Walk out.

  • DONTREADONME

    All I ask is that Obama trust his military to conduct the actions they deem necessary when in a situation like the one that has just transpired. Yes, I am very happy that the actions that have transpired with the hostage situation, have gone the way they did. Now, Obama, you have seen the military do their job after your orders, so please trust them to do the job next time when this type occurence happens again. So, yes, when Obama uses our military properly for actions like this, I support him 100%.

    “Now, I agree with the following: We hope and pray that President Obama will now take further actions, many of which should have been taken over a year ago, to remove the safe harbors and actual port harbors in Somalia that serve the pirates, as suggested here.”

    Got that Obama? Get Er Done, the world is waiting for Americans to lead the way.. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2009Apr12/0,4670,EUItalyPiracy,00.html
    So stop aplogizing for America, and use her as she is meant to be used “In the Lead”!

  • RJD

    Should have. Still not sure how I feel about it.

  • captkirc

    But let my first post be in solidarity.

    I’m sad that this great day for America is being used to score political points on either side.

    I also don’t see how anyone without firsthand knowledge of the situation can criticize the timing of the operation.

    For all any of us know, the Navy acted at the first clean shot they had of all the Pirates simutaniously thus ensuring the safety of the captain. Maybe they had earlier opportunities. Since none of us know, why assume that this was mishandled especially in light of the awesome outcome.

    There are many things that President Obama has done and will do where there is enough information on which to base criticism. This isn’t one of them.

  • mbecker908

    Read Jeff Emmanuel and Hooah_Mac for starters, you won’t even have to leave RS. Then hit Caleb’s current FP diary. If you haven’t figured it out by then, goto Black Five.

    The point is, the people who are writing on this stuff and who are critical of Obama are, in fact, the guys who have done – and do – this specific kind of stuff. The people who are patting BO on the back is utterly clueless about the ramifications of – notsomuch WHAT was done – the WAY it was done. Totally hamhanded.

    Keep in mind that Bill Clinton and his DoJ worked really hard on “terrorism” and even prosecuted the first WTC bomber. One decade of that brought us the second go-round at the WTC.

    Count yourself clueless and do some research. This is precisely one of those things Obama should be rightly criticized for – loudly. He has made the world a much more dangerous place.

  • UpLateAgain

    Disclaimer first: I am coming to loath Obama… not for who he is, but for what he is. In general terms I see him as a destructive force with an agenda which is contrary-to and destructive-of, virtually everything I see as being of value in creating and sustaining American Exceptionalism.

    Despite my disapproval of just about everything this man has done thus far in the conduct of his presidency, I have to give him full credit for the way he handled this crisis. All too often presidents are willing to exercise direct control over military operations. LBJ used to brag, “No GI in Viet Nam takes a crap unless I authorize it”.

    The conciseness of this operation tells me that Obama accepted his required responsibility to authorize the use of deadly force by the military in a non-sanctioned combat zone, and then told them to go do their thing. The operations in the field were conducted at a pace and with rules of engagement dictated by the on-scene commander. The results speak for themselves. It could not have been handled better… at least to this point.

    Had it gone badly, Obama may well have tried to pass the blame to the military, but the public would have blamed him. Handing it off to the IC and staying out of his way is, in fact, just how Dubya would have handled it, and shows leadership (at least in this context)… and that sort of thing was what Bush did best. So to my mind he gets the credit…. not for the rescue (that goes to the SEALs), but for doing exactly what the CINC should do in such a situation.

    Not bad for his first such crisis.

  • captkirc

    “Another way to put that would be he did nothing. Blackfive?s outstanding Uncle Jimbo has been on top of this story from the start. Jimbo is fine with Jonah Goldberg being fine with Obama being credited with no good guys dying, just as he would be blamed if they had. Fine. I can do that. I?ll be fine with people who credit Obama for not screwing up badly enough for any of our troops to be harmed. He is expert at not doing anything in a way that causes nothing to happen. Huzzah. ”

    I had read the three Redstate sources you cited along with a bunch of other writings on the subject prior to posting and came to my own conclusion that there is not sufficient basis to say Obama screwed this up. The captain was rescued and no troops were harmed. I was one of those with an itchy trigger finger frustrated that the rescue took so long, but thankfully it was wasn’t my call because things couldn’t have worked out better and like Caleb said above, Obama would have gotten blamed if things had gone wrong.

    I find the fawning over Obama’s role in this on the left distasteful. I have no problem with people taking exception to that. What I do disagree with are those who say that Obama somehow impeded the operation because in my opinion, there is no factual basis for that claim and it comes off as sour grapes.

    I don’t need to be reminded that treating terrorists like criminals has dire consequences. I saw the aftermath of the WTC attacks on 9/11 from my home10 miles away from NYC. I was a fellow Rudy supporter in no small part because he was the person I felt was best equipped to defend our country from all enemies, foreign or domestic.

    I did my homework prior to drawing conclusions and I respectfully disagree with you on this subject. It’s too bad that Rudy lost, because if he were president those pirates would have surrendered the minute they saw the American flag aboard the Maersk :)

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    in agreement with your suggestion that this was the first clean shot they had to kill the pirates and save the captain’s life.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    it was edited by the powers that be. But you can consider all my columns to be open threads brother.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    it will re-affirm how close DeVine holds the marxist’s feet to the fire

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • mbecker908

    You’ve got no point worth making on this subject and you’ve been throwing ash in the air for the last two days to cloud the point that you’re wrong and your argument is ill conceived and dangerous.

    His post was a wasted effort and yours, on this subject, would be laughable were they not so wrong and so dangerous.

  • Harold Vaughn

    of meekness that we should follow and demostrate as His disciples to those authorities that are placed over us.

    I’m reminded of the Proverbs 15:1 “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.”

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

    It’s good to know what a lawyer in NC thinks about a military operation. That background is very conducive to understanding the facts on the ground, and the insight you have into conventional military and special operations is, I’m sure, invaluable.

    For me, though, I’ll rely on personal experience and the analysis of folks like Caleb (USMC) and Uncle Jimbo (almost 2 decades in Special Forces) over the thoughts and opinions of a lawyer whose only qualification to analyze this or say anything about it is the fact that he has a functioning computer keyboard and Internet connection.

  • Harold Vaughn

    you about the consequences of all this, but why not just let those consequences become the proof when they come to fruition?

    Why is it necessary to call Obama out for mishandling this cituation during a time Americans are celebrating?

    Lastly, I really don’t understand how the tone of your comments helps build the Republican party?

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    even you will like it

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Achance

    What that ROE that The One is being praised for, use force to prevent imminent harm, is less than what any commissioned law enforcement officer has. There were numerous felony acts including piracy and kidnapping. At all times at issue the Captain was being subjected to kidnapping and felony assault. The kidnappers were at all times fleeing felons.

    At any time after the initial boarding, any cop in America could have shot any and all of them without so much as a “by your leave” even to a superior officer. In many states even a civilian would have had the right to use deadly force to protect the Captain. So, whatever else there might be to celebrate about the President’s handling of this matter, it is clear that the same old Democrat “law enforcement” role for the military is firmly in place. We ought to just make it official and paint all our warships black and white as an interim measure before we give them over to the UN and they are painted blue.

  • mbecker908

    lead to consequences. In this particular case Obama is utterly wrong, from start to finish. And it’s important to point it out NOW because his spin machine is turning him into a candidate for a Medal of Freedom over this crap. If we don’t pull out all the stops when the policy is so utterly wrongheaded, the Machine will take poorly thought out commentary like the original post of this diary and the comment by captkirc and Jonah Goldberg’s wrong headed commentary (and he’s not wrong often, but on this one, he’s totally out to lunch) and flap them in the wind howling about how Obama has “stood the test” and is a foreign policy and military genius. Just look at the accounts in AP, MSNBC, CNN and the NYT/WaPo etal.

    This isn’t a little error. This is a major policy problem. You want to wait, hey, nobody made a big deal out Clinton pursuing this policy either. Until 9/11/2001.

    This argument is an exercise in idiocy. It’s being made by the same people who wanted to go to war because somebody called Rush a racist. Bottom line, this issue really is about war. It’s not a tempest in a teapot. It’s life and death and I’ll side with the operators – Jeff E, Hooah, and Uncle Jimbo – over the prevaricators every day.

  • mbecker908

    The account is three years old and he admits he’s a lurker. And his thought process and reasoning ability on this subject is every bit as absent as is yours. His line of reasoning – and yours – will do nothing but embolden terrorists, for the reasons I’ve previously cited, and will give Obama free reign to paint himself as a competent leader, which he’s not.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    You SAY something. You DO something. You WARN. You YELL. You get up an ACT.

  • mbecker908

    taken here. Because if it’s anything less than a full retreat from the BS you posted here, you can expect that I won’t like it any better than I like this lttle exercise in walking your ego around.

  • mbecker908

    if you actually thought about this and drew conclusions, you can take at least another three years off because your ability to draw a reasonable conclusion and make a congent argument are sorely lacking.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    I had to unrecommend. When I read it, I thought it was snark/sarcasm, in jest. After reading through the comments and your defense of the article…

    I don’t think Obama really did anything except embolden the pirates considering it took him so long to give the order. He can’t seem to make a decision without putting it through numerous committees first.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=576&message=4

  • Hooah_Mac

    And I generally find myself recommending your diaries when I am active on the site. I can not in good faith recommend this one for several reasons, mostly because you give President Obama too much credit, but also because of the dustup with the site powers that be.

    If Obama had done anything positive in this situation I would be cheering him on. As I have said elsewhere, I believe it is obvious on the face that the President was at best an obstacle to the successful resolution that eventually happened.

    Ask yourself if you see anything wrong with the Navy having to ask the President for authorization TWICE to do something which is part of SOP in this type of incident? Why were they afraid to simply act? Why was the FBI involved in a clear cut case of high seas piracy? These questions go to the heart of what was wrong here, and how badly it is likely to get for our ability to defend our country and our interests with the current CinC.

    Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, but that doesn’t mean you set your watch by it.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    as I do not attempt a military analysis although the airways are certainly filled with equally credentialed veterans that praise the operation, including its timing, which seems to be your cabal’s only point.

    It doesn’t take a military expert to see the result in a mere 6 days and to understand patriotic decorum, not political savviness to understand that the criticism after days1-5 was premature and that the criticism of a successful operation that saved the ship, crew and captain and killed 3/4 pirates and captured a third is quite misplaced.

    You all come off as nitpickers that can’t be objective.

    Are there significant criticisms of Obama and even Bush about what has not yet been, and needs to be done on the overall piracy situation? Yes, and I stated that fact in the column and a link.

    And now have written my own preview of O.P.P.P., the perils of Obama’s post-pirate presidency…

    enjoy

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/04/14/obamas-piracy-mission-not-accomplished/

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    think that they have to sign legal authorizations for such a operation. And I put caveats in this column and the promise of a column to come after 48 hours (which I just put up – see link below) concerning just such matters and larger ones.

    But, I do think that the fact that we did act so quickly with such a good outcome that it was worthy of praise even for the CINC and esp that we not appear to be oblivious to political considerations and patriotic decorum in the midst of a great outcome.

    Plus, given that we killed 3 of the pirates, that does have a deterrent effect, albeit on of the very few…

    not setting my watch by Obama as my archives before this shows, even the caveats in this column and this

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/04/14/obamas-piracy-mission-not-accomplished/

    and this

    http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law–Politics-Examiner~y2009m4d14-Obamas-piracy-mission-not-accomplished

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    no evidence that Obama’s overlawyering inhibited the rescue and given it was only 6 days, it just seems nitpicky to focus on such minutiae during the immediate aftermath….

    But as always you make good points and when disagreeing do so in a civil manner and don’t play the chicken hawk card.

    Hooah!

    mac

  • Harold Vaughn
  • jimmyg

    The FBI was involved because they are specialists in hostage negotiations. The pirates were holding the Capt. hostage and the FBI was negotiating for his release.

  • Harold Vaughn
  • mbecker908
  • Hooah_Mac

    “FBI was negotiating for his release”

  • Hooah_Mac

    I am not interested in nitpicking or denigrating the President. My point is that I see no reason to give him any credit for this. Our political calculations, the safety of our country and our future are harmed by allowing President Obama to be made a hero when it is not warranted.

    It seems like a little thing, but every time the President does something truly awful with regard to national security going forward, this incident, and the fawning praise, will be thrown in the faces of those who would criticize.

    If you can get a copy of Vice Admiral Gortney’s briefing and listen closely to how he says what he says, you can get great insight into how this went down.

    The fact that the press is blaring that President “authorized” the rescue TWICE should also make a thinking person stop and wonder. This matter did not need the President’s personal approval, and why was he asked twice? These things need to be understood, because if it was mishandled by White House but still had the right result, next time we may not be so fortunate. I am not saying it was mishandled, but there is a lot of evidence suggesting that it may have been…and a press corps with zero interest in asking the questions that will get to the heart of the matter.

    It is possible that the President didn’t “get in the way” and all of the stuff coming out of the White House is just an attempt to claim credit, but there isn’t any way that this can be a positive for the President in the reality of what happened. In the press is another story.

    Sorry for writing a novel here.

  • Maggie_in_Indiana

    Boy this diary took so many turns,thought I’d jump in to ask a question. On Beck,I believe it was brought up that Obama had to act on this by a criminal law in place. Now you all know I don’t write diaries,I stink at it,but it seems a difference of opinion here has left out an important question. Under what law or responsibility did Obama act? Before I get harpooned,remember that this administration is only going to act publicly if it’s actions are not going to appear negative to the voters. Besides this story just made the new edition of text books coming soon to a high school near you.

    GC you are still one of favorite writers here,and hope you’ll continue to contribute in the manner that has earned my utmost respect.

  • Achance

    are going to be vital skills in dealing with this administration. That ROE was more restrictive than the force policy of most police departments. The communists in DC reduced a warship more powerful than most of Africa combined to having less power than a cop’s cruiser.

    I’m reasonably certain the on-scene commander decided it would be easier to get forgiveness than permission. ‘Course, if he’d failed, he would probably be facing murder charges.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    symbol for America

    that’s all

    After 18 years a democrat before 2000. I am grateful for dems that merely don’t screw up!

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    a crime under both common law and statutes of the United States.

    But as many here have said, unless a President intervenes to stop them, the USN operates under standard procedure to conduct such operations. So it was not extraordinary for Obama to “let” this happen. It certainly was not necessary for him to sign legal orders. What I mainly praise si that he did not screw up the matter and that he did also not escalate the rhetoric during the matter.

    Under basic laws of the sea since time immemorial pirates could be summarily required to be flogged and/or to walk the plank as well. same applies to illegal enemy combatants before the US Sup Ct got involved.

    My latest puts the matter in more perspective

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/

    http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law–Politics-Examiner~y2009m4d14-Obamas-piracy-mission-not-accomplished

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • captkirc

    So forgive me if I’ve drawn the wrong conclusions from your posts:

    1. Myself and others like me (which include Jonah Goldberg, Bernie Goldberg, and Redstate’s own Mike “Gamecock” Devine) who refuse to condemn President Obama’s handling, or lack thereof, of the hostage situation are wrong, and our kind of thinking is dangerous and emboldens terrorists.

    2. Even though I agree with you that President Obama should not be recieving much of the media praise that he is receiving, and even though I strongly agree that treating Terrorists like criminals is dangerous and was a horrible failure of the Clinton Administration, I am unable to draw conclusions or make cogent arguments.

    I’ve gone back and read Uncle Jimbo’s follow up post on the matter in which he states:

    “My post yesterday pointed out that President Obama did not actually order a rescue attempt, he merely reaffirmed the standing authority on scene commanders had to act if lives were in imminent danger. Jonah Goldberg makes the fair point that Obama is Commander in Chief and this happened on his watch, so he should gain congratulations just as he would have been blamed had it gone poorly. I have no problem with that my beef was with the news agencies i.e. Obama cheerleaders who were spinning the event as a decisive action by the President. It wasn’t. There were also reports that the President gave orders for a rescue if an opportunity presented itself, that does not appear to be true and it would have been a significant escalation from merely confirming standing orders allowing force if a death appeared imminent.”

    …….

    “When it became a national crisis the President can review and potentially change the ROE based on what he wants to happen. If a determination is made to pursue negotiations then tighter restrictions on the local commander’s authority to use deadly force could be applied. He also could have done what some reported and authorized a rescue if an opportunity presented itself. It looks like the only step he took was to allow the normal authorization for deadly force to stand, essentially doing nothing.

    This is in no way reflects badly on the President.”

    I am in complete agreement with everything he wrote. Do you question Uncle Jimbo’s ability to draw conclusions or put together a cogent argument or have my reading comprehension skils failed me as well?

  • captkirc

    So forgive me if I’ve drawn the wrong conclusions from your posts:

    1. Myself and others like me (which include Jonah Goldberg, Bernie Goldberg, and Redstate’s own Mike “Gamecock” Devine) who refuse to condemn President Obama’s handling, or lack thereof, of the hostage situation are wrong, and our kind of thinking is dangerous and emboldens terrorists.

    2. Even though I agree with you that President Obama should not be recieving much of the media praise that he is receiving, and even though I strongly agree that treating Terrorists like criminals is dangerous and was a horrible failure of the Clinton Administration, I am unable to draw conclusions or make cogent arguments.

    I’ve gone back and read Uncle Jimbo’s follow up post on the matter in which he states:

    “My post yesterday pointed out that President Obama did not actually order a rescue attempt, he merely reaffirmed the standing authority on scene commanders had to act if lives were in imminent danger. Jonah Goldberg makes the fair point that Obama is Commander in Chief and this happened on his watch, so he should gain congratulations just as he would have been blamed had it gone poorly. I have no problem with that my beef was with the news agencies i.e. Obama cheerleaders who were spinning the event as a decisive action by the President. It wasn’t. There were also reports that the President gave orders for a rescue if an opportunity presented itself, that does not appear to be true and it would have been a significant escalation from merely confirming standing orders allowing force if a death appeared imminent.”

    …….

    “When it became a national crisis the President can review and potentially change the ROE based on what he wants to happen. If a determination is made to pursue negotiations then tighter restrictions on the local commander’s authority to use deadly force could be applied. He also could have done what some reported and authorized a rescue if an opportunity presented itself. It looks like the only step he took was to allow the normal authorization for deadly force to stand, essentially doing nothing.

    This is in no way reflects badly on the President.”

    I am in complete agreement with everything he wrote. Do you question Uncle Jimbo’s ability to draw conclusions or put together a cogent argument or have my reading comprehension skils failed me as well?

  • Harold Vaughn

    to look like something other than a bunch of 5 year olds who have just had their ball taken away.

    Personally I think the media looks like a bunch of fools for trying to spin this because no matter what they do the Navy and the captan are the only ones that will get full credit for this.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    That was a bad link but I’m getting ready to read that one, anyway, since I have an idea which article it is. ;-)

    Back to why I did what I did. Obama didn’t do anything because it took him 6 days to basically say he was leaving it to the commanders, which he could have done on day one. Given his past actions, this is par for him looking for ways to slide out from blame. Had it gone badly instead of successfully, you can bet Obama would have taken no blame for it even as he laps up the adulation for its success.

    Typically, I agree with you almost 100% on just about every article you write, but not quite 100% and this is one of those times.

  • jimmyg

    http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4400
    I read it, and I think everyone should. What happened was likely more simple than we think. The Seals arrived on scene on Friday and Saturday, when they had the opportunity, they shot the pirates. End of story.

  • mbecker908

    See the top story on the front page.

  • mbecker908

    your nether regions now.

    See top story, front page. Gee, I wonder why they think they can get away with more hijacking? Gee, I wonder the BoyPresident™ is going to do THIS

  • mbecker908

    THIS time.

  • mbecker908

    have been taken by people who apparently don’t think they’ve got much to worry about reinforces my point makes yours look as stupid as it is.

  • mbecker908

    It’s a recipe for disaster.

  • Doc Holliday

    why go after the site in this post once you clarified it was yours alone. C’mon guy, I know I am cocky, but you are the king of cocky and you know it. If you want to thank Obama, fine. I guess I feel he did ok, but nothing any other president would have done. The commander on the ground had the authority to use his judgement, not exactly an unusual case.

    I think Obama is the most polarizing, anti-American president in history, every day shows that.

  • Doc Holliday

    countries such as China, Russia, and even some in Europe focus on the collective. They have many times been amazed at what Americans would do for “just” on American. The issue seems to be how we view individuals versus the state. I am not saying the other view is evil or anything, it is actually more interesting to study why we Americans have such a different view of one single American life. No one has even bothered to ask about the cost of saving this man, I am sure it will be in the millions, but that is what we as a nation are about. To us, an individual life is priceless.

  • pilgrim

    http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2009/04/12/redstate-congratulates-the-commander-in-chief-of-the-us-navy/#comment-4420

    I guess one can be upbraided for promoting RedState. Who knew?

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    I accomplised my objective.

  • Doc Holliday

    We both know we are cocky but I think he has me beat on that, at least on what I write, not think lol. The link you posted was GC mentioning how he promoted RS in another forum, he was kind of being cranky.

    You do not need to defend GC to me. I am not a director/frontpager/ or admin here, according to the FAQ I am a “reader”. I am not defending RS for being very protective of their name, I just said GC should not have gone after them in the updated post. In fact, I think if he changed a word or two in the original title, nothing would have been made of it.

    I have often seen titles here and at other blogs that said something like “I think RS users should support the CINC and the Navy for a job well done, if you agree, support and post in this thread” See, the directors here did not like the ASSUMPTION that GC could speak on behalf of the site. I am sure GC meant nothing dastardly when he posted, I bet he was full of pride for the US and our military. Again, I have no power here (and don’t want it, other than a blam stick at night), I did not say anything until after the true powers changed the title of the diary.

    I am worried that we ALL, including the Doc, are spending too much time bickering while Rome is burning. The Drive bye’s keep saying the GOP is weak and divided, it is up to all of us to make them out to be the liars they are. Please, let’s speak no more of this, let the thread play out.

  • Doc Holliday

    agreed with you, nothing would have been said. I think i have used that rhetorical device before too. Hey I never said I have always walked the line, if I did I would need a new screen name. But saying you are ashamed that RS has not congratulated the CINC and Navy is not quite fair, they have congratulated the Navy, maybe for their own reasons they just don’t want to congratulate the CINC. I have made many comments now on this thread and the subject at hand, I think anyone that is that concerned where I stand can find them.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    “But I am disappointed that my beloved Redstate hasn?t acknowledged the President?s good judgment in this matter and that so many here have used the occasion of an American success to make the perfect the enemy of the good even though this matter was resolved pretty darn close to perfectly.”

    That is the first paragraph of the column.

  • DONTREADONME

    Seriously pilgrim, don’t help Doc. :)

  • Doc Holliday

    funny, Pilgrim was not helping me. I am sorry you go so offended the other night when I said I did not need your help. I believe I was correct though, try not to hold a grudge.

    BTW, Don’treads “help” was three posts begging the admins not to ban me for saying bovine excrement in another way. yeah, big help that was. Kind of like saying, “please don’t throw me in the briar patch” lol.

    seriously though Don’t, I did appreciate your misguided help, sorry you took offense.

  • Doc Holliday

    and until you update the title again and mention my name, I out out of this thread I have been giving this stuff away for free :) !

  • Mike gamecock DeVine
  • DONTREADONME

    I understand, I probably would have went the same way with it, especially given what you were responding to. I should have went cryptic and just did what I intended to do, instead of telegraphing what happened. Needless to say, I noticed that within 45 minutes at 1:00 AM on RS my mission was accomplished. No hard feelings, right, can not see the point on being angry with a guy I have found that shares my views 99.5% of the time. BTW the 0.5% is left for future occurences. :) Keep it up man, and I will give very subtle help from now on, OK? :) Just 2 years and six months or so to go to catch up to a veteran. Once again not offended, and I just thought a little light hearted comment snuck in there would be OK.

    BTW, it is easy for any of the veterans around here to get me to see their point of view very easily, that includes you becker, GameCock, frontpagers and the like, Anyway, I enjoy stopping in and reading once in a while.

  • Doc Holliday

    it is no big deal. I am not angry, you are not angry, the sky is blue, or will be someday :) You did get a bit miffed with me when I said I didn’t need your help, it came out wrong i guess. We are only typing and reading the written word, it is up to each of us to give it the best or worst spin. Coming from a fellow traveler, I would expect the best.

  • Doc Holliday

    I actually had to have Eric intervene lol. I am not a company guy, but I respect the site and mostly its rules, and I am still around. I call out friends if I don’t agree, and I agree with those who are not quite kindred spirits when they are correct. I call it the way I see it and let the chips fall where they may.

  • DONTREADONME

    and yes sometimes that gun will go off by accident (me), and someone (you) has to call me a dumb**s for not removing the chambered round. Have a good evening Doc (working on a laser I am making (yeah, I am dork)), can not wait to see the result tomorrow from the country wide activities.

  • Harold Vaughn

    disagreement was with the timing of criticizing a POTUS during a time of an American Navy success.

    The story from the Robert Gates this morning on Fox is also very telling of how much of a coward we have as POTUS right now.

  • Mike gamecock DeVine

    go to 2:03 into the podcast (btw, earlier in the show Hewitt also mentioned Jeff’s Redstate connection several times)

    http://townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=5&ContentGuid=3479d672-4ec4-40e2-bd52-4719a881652c

    Jeff congrats and certainly I agree that if there was a confused, restraining standing order that prevented the rescue of the Captain earlier, then that is a cause for criticism on a matter that should be debated, and if found wanting, corrected forthwith as to future operations and standing orders. It is not clear to me that the standing order was restraining given the inherent nature of hostage taking nor that the SO actually prevented an earlier rescue.

    But your knowledge is appreciated by me and should be by all. I just think we need more time to get all the facts out and time for evaluation and my purpose in my first pirate column on Sunday was that given the great result, even if it was delayed by Obama mistakes, (rather than lack of available resources, personelle and opportunity till Sunday), it was premature substantively and certianly not wise politically to step on the elation w/i 24-48 hours as the nation was celebrating along with the CINC. He is the only one we have and is the symbol of America.

    I don’t think my bona fides as a critic of Obama can be questioned and even in the first piece I warned that Obama would face the overall piracy issue after this celebration, and we now see that is true with the new attacks on US flagged ships. My second piece addresses that, and I wrote a column a year ago urging President Bush to deal aggresively with Somalia and the pirates.

    I must say that I am impressed with your analysis, esp when it is highlighted by a man I have such great respect for as Hugh Hewitt, who was the first national talk show host and blogger to highlight my work over 4 years ago.

    I await more facts to evaluate whether this matter was handled correctly but even if it was not perfect execution over time, I do still exult in the result and the fact that even an inept democrat didn’t cause a bad result this time.

    God bless the work you do brother and I appreciate the robust debate.

  • youthgrunt

    when things go well? Who get the criticism when it goes poorly? I hold President Obama personally responsible for the garbage that has come out of his Homeland Security Department regarding who are dangers to the country. President Obama should get a small, conditioned cudo for bringing the captured Captain home.

    Clearly not everything was done right. He may even have messed things up for later. I don’t know. What I do know is that a captured American citizen is free from pirates and three bad guys are in body bags. This came about by excellent execution by the Navy and the Special Ops.

    The head of an organization gets both credit and criticism. So far, this is the only thing that the administration has done worthy of even limited credit, I am willing to give it to President Obama.