The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Editorial: John Kerry still thinks he's Secretary of Defense
Maybe it's the botox, maybe it's the advanced age (71-years-old), but John Kerry seems really mixed up.
The office he holds is Secretary of State, not Secretary of Defense.
Last week, he appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The next day, his underling Brett McGurk appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Guess who at least made a stab at talking about diplomatic efforts?
That's right, Brett McGurk.
Kerry was much more interested in discussing bombings and military actions.
McGurk, by contrast, repeatedly noted when asked about military issues that those were questions better put to "my DoD colleagues."
When he wasn't confusing himself with the Secretary of Defense, he was just confusing.
From Tuesday's "Iraq snapshot:"
This afternoon, Senator Robert Menendez declared, "I know some may see this as limiting but at the end of the day, Americans will not be supportive of an authorization of an endless war."
He was speaking at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Islamic State and the administration's lack of authorization of force, from Congress, to conduct the current bombings taking place in Iraq. Secretary of State John Kerry was appearing before the Committee "to provide the administration's views," as Committee Chair Robert Mendendez explained.
But he appeared to believe he was elsewhere -- possibly on a parade float?
Kerry was looking around, grinning and waving.
Kerry was there to press for a Congressional authorization for Barack's ongoing war.
And, generous fellow that he is, he offered that the White House would back the ending of the 2002 AUMF if the Congress got the new AUMF.
What a trade?
And many may remember that the White House already backed ending the 2020 AUMF . . . only to change their minds.
Who's to say they'll stick to their word this time?
After all, Barack promised the American people that no US troops would be involved in on the ground combat but when Kerry appeared before the Committee last week, what did he ask for?
That's right, he wants the new AUMF to put in writing that Barack can deploy combat troops onto the ground in Iraq?
Why anyone would trust the nonsense out of the mouths of this administration is beyond us.