Rep. Alan Grayson on Syria: Congress Should Reject "War Mongering" and Focus on Problems at Home

[joelz]

Lays out the folly of bombing on Amy Goodman this morning

President Obama’s effort to win legislative backing for military strikes against Syria passed its first hurdle on Wednesday when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10-to-7 in favor of bombing Syria. We’re joined by Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, a leading opponent of the resolution in the House. Grayson has set up a website, Don’tAttackSyria.com, which is gathering signatures for a petition calling on Congress to deny permission to attack Syria. "I am very disturbed by this general idea that every time we see something bad in the world, we should bomb it," Grayson says. "The president has criticized that mindset, and now he has adopted it. It’s simply not our responsibility to act alone and punish this."

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/9/5/rep_alan_grayson_on_syria_congress

[TwilightGardener]

1. He's about as helpful as a Republican right now. Instead of reasoned discourse,

you get simplistic, easy arguments to score political points and appeal to Joe Six Pack--reminds me of an entire political party I know. I have much more respect for Dems who give the matter serious consideration and still decide "no" on action in Syria--that's what I expect from Democrats.

[lamp_shade]

3. +1,000,000

He's starting to get on my nerves.

[chimpymustgo]

44. Grayson is RIGHT. You need to calm your nerves, open your mind and pay attention.

We don't need another bullshit war!!!

[wandy]

5. Grayson may be pitching to Joe Six pack because he has to........

Listen.
We're here, we read, we research, we discuss. Sometimes we even flat out argue. It's called being informed or at least trying to be so.

To Joe Six Pack "Shock and Aw 2" is just another reality show he can watch on the TV. Feeling he has nothing to loose he can enjoy the action. He can even root for the "good guys". Just like football, dont ja know.
Trimming wisdom to fit on a bumper sticker has served republicans well.

I suspect Grayson has given this considerable thought. He is just trying to get his point across.

Not that that makes me feel any better about this whole dam mess.

[leftstreet]

6. "RED LINE!!" is reasoned discourse?

[TwilightGardener]

7. Actually, the prohibition on chem warfare is well known and a reasonable position to

take publicly when discussing intervention in a civil war scenario.

[leftstreet]

8. Mature politicians can do it without invoking Hitler

Seems to me

[TwilightGardener]

9. I don't think Obama did that, did he?

Kerry does his own thing--but I don't like Hitler comparisons either.

[leftstreet]

10. Kerry doesn't speak for the Administration?

And yes, Obama did just invoke Wallenberg in his speech in Sweden

[broiles]

14. And Kerry is reasoned discourse?

[TwilightGardener]

19. Often, but not always. He sometimes veers into language and analogies that don't work on me.

But I'm talking about Grayson here.

[beerandjesus]

16. The irony is, the Republicans are the ones who ARE being helpful on this right now.

Sure, they're doing it for the wrong reasons--blind hatred of Obama--but if that's what it takes to keep us out of another war, I'll accept it.

[TwilightGardener]

18. I'd like to hear pros and cons before deciding where to come down on this issue.

Maybe your mind is made up, but mine isn't.

[Maedhros]

21. I begin every debate on war from the same position: NO.

It's up to the Administration to make an iron-clad case for intervention. So far, I haven't seen it. There are many holes in their argument, the biggest being: How will intervention actually make things better? Nobody has a satisfactory answer for that yet.

[TwilightGardener]

24. OK. My first position is usually: WHY?

And then I examine evidence, history, reasons, motives of everyone involved.

[Maedhros]

42. That's the second question

and the Administration has not answered it to my satisfaction.

[lark]

28. I'll play

Pros (not that I agree with these, but they are what I've seen)
Chemical weapons use has been banned for a long time
Alleged evidence that the Assad regime used chemical weapons
red lines
President (country's) integrity is on the line
Help Israel
Sending cruise missiles isn't a war
Stop once millies are fired
Obama is a Dem president

Cons
Evidence is very doubtful
Don't trust NSA or CIA, they lie
Investigators sent to Syria by UN to determine if this happened, let them do their job
Rebels are Islamic extremist with ties to Al-Qaeda and Hezzbollah, no friends of ours at all
We are not the worlds cops
Killing Syrian civilians because other civilians have been killed makes no sense
Russia has subs and ships in area and is threatening retaliation
Firing cruise missiles at Syrian government is war
Once we start, it could easily explode into a larger conflict
Big risk of regional conflict
No reason exists for us fighting the war Israel wants us to do as their proxy
$$ much better spent on creating jobs in this country
It's not about Obama, if he's promoting things that will hurt us, no need to support him in that

As you can probably tell, I have a definite opinion on this.

[JustAnotherGen]

29. +1

I still don't have enough information - but that said . . . I just have been conditioned to never ever trust a Republican. They are doing all this brouhaha now - but watch - next week they'll be right back to racism, sexism, bigoted pandering, etc. etc.

[David__77]

27. What's wrong with appealing to the people? The people aren't stupid.

They oppose the proposed war because they properly assess their own priorities. The elites might think they know better, but the people will show them what they think come election time.

[TwilightGardener]

33. He's not explaining a difficult situation. He's absorbing popular sentiment and pitching it back

unchallenged, to score political points--exactly what teabaggers do. Grayson, above all, is all about himself--strikes me as an attention whore. I remember his stupid comments about Cheney in the past. Or he's an opportunist who wants a little of that Rand Paul post-filibuster glory and thinks he's found his "cause".

[David__77]

34. I think he's trusting the people.

That's called "populism." It's very unpopular among political elites. I also don't agree with it as a way to conduct politics, but I think he's on the right side of the issue.

[TwilightGardener]

35. Throughout American history, populism isn't always beneficial.

Economically, it can be. It's pretty shaky when it comes to things like foreign affairs. Iraq was pretty popular there for a while.

[MFrohike]

46. It's actually a very simple question

Do you want the US involved or not? That is a bright line question that has to be answered before getting into anything else.

Grayson is no doubt grandstanding a bit. He's a politican, it comes with the territory. I suspect part of his opposition is based on the fact that the factors that caused the gradual decline of the middle class and the last class have only gotten worse. Foreign ventures often overshadow events at home, which is sad, because it's the events at home that have lasting significance.

[Autumn]

2. Rep. Grayson is right. I appreciate him speaking out on this

I stand with him.

[Xipe Totec]

4. Agreed. nt

[zeemike]

11. Me too.

And I am not upset at all that he makes it simple...the war mongers make it simple all the time.

[BuelahWitch]

15. Me too!

[eissa]

26. So do I

So few real progressives left, I cherish those who stand on principle and give voice to those of us who are vehemently against war.

[woo me with science]

38. [phone]

[JRLeft]

12. I am not surprised a bit about those on this site who support death. Bombing will kill a lot of

innocent people but I guess that's OK if a dem president does it.

[tblue]

32. What happened to this party?

The voters, I mean. (The politicians, we know what happened to them.)

[Catherina]

13. But we have no money to Focus on Problems at Home

[Initech]

17. Damn straight! Think of what one $700 billion payment to the MIC could do here!

[blkmusclmachine]

20. NO "War For Profit."

Follow the money.

[Chisox08]

22. We have our problems we have to deal with here and we are not the world's police.

Instead of blowing billions bombing another country, we could be using that money to fix our crumbling infrastructure. We could be using that money to put people to work, providing quality education and health care for all. When it comes to war we always seem to have the money but when it comes to helping our own people who needs it the most we can't afford it.

[HappyMe]

23. Congress should have been

focusing on the problems here ALL ALONG.

Why is this guy awesome for saying that they should be doing their fucking jobs? Syria is something that they should be discussing.

[Ganja Ninja]

25. What give us the right to decide what type of violence is acceptable?

Flying a plane into a building is terrorism but using a Cruise Missile is ok?
Killing people with gas is unacceptable but using a hellfire missile from an unmanned drone is perfectly fine?
Selling gas weapons to a dictator when he's on your side is ok but if he uses them after your mutual falling out he's the bad guy.

It's called "Hypocrisy" America.

hy·poc·ri·sy
hiˈpäkrisē/
noun
noun: hypocrisy;?plural noun: hypocrisies

1. the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense.
synonyms: dissimulation, false virtue, cant, posturing, affectation, speciousness, empty talk, insincerity, falseness, deceit, dishonesty, mendacity, pretense, duplicity;

[TwilightGardener]

31. Chem warfare, WMD use, has historically been an international no-no.

Obama didn't just make that up now.

[Ganja Ninja]

36. But it's ok to sell them then comdem the dictator you sold them to because ..

he's no longer useful and then go after him 20 years late when you covet his oil.

You're not telling me anything I don't already know. I'm just pointing out our own lack of moral high ground. Treaties or not we need to clean our own act up and until we do we shouldn't go around pretending to be the good guys.

[TwilightGardener]

39. I don't know--is Obama bound by what other Presidents have done decades ago?

Do we take ourselves "out of commission" on the world stage until we've cleaned up our act to your satisfaction?

[Kermitt Gribble]

37. Then it should be handled internationally. eom

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

41. I'm rapidly getting to the point of losing ALL respect for the US govt.

Notice that I said ALL respect, I still have a very small amount left, but not much.

[DeSwiss]

30. K&R n/t

[woo me with science]

40. Thank you, Rep. Grayson.

[felix_numinous]

43. Great, thanks for sharing.

if it weren't for these lone voices in the wilderness, life would be much more harsh and different. It seems there are never enough of them when the war drums start up.

[Faryn Balyncd]

45. Grayson should replace Pelosi

[AzDar]

47. Alan!

[felix_numinous]

48. Representative Grayson is representing

the people, who would otherwise have no voice in the matter. This life and death decision cannot be allowed to degrade into a popularity contest, a partisan issue or to be about he next freaking election--and SHAME on anyone who makes it so!

To not know who PNAC is, is to have been asleep during GWB's eight year reign-these are THE most religiously extreme RW deranged fundamentalists in the country. They believe we are in End Times and do not have a problem throwing fire on the relationship between Iran and Israel-- that IF you noticed--has momentarily become peaceful after the election of Hassan Rouhani, who as a moderate just sent holiday greetings to Israel.

But PNAC does not care to make peace--their mission is a combination of Armageddon and Manifest Destiny--there is NOTHING more dangerous than a religious crusader and this is what we have right here in America. Just look at the list of members, and if you back what they are doing, I cannot fathom why you call yourself a liberal.

If they get their way we will be responsible for inciting MUCH more violence in the Middle East than would happen if we FOR ONCE kept our bloody hands out of there.