It’s John McCain’s party again: How the GOP returned to total hawkishness

[DonViejo]

With the rise of ISIS, whatever GOP debates there were about the wisdom of interventionism are gone

JIM NEWELL

Treasured American war machine John McCain engaged in a touch of gloating this morning on Twitter, linking to an article in the Washington Post about how whatever faction of “anti-interventionism” there ever was within GOP ranks has been effectively stamped out.

John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain
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It's gratifying to see all these doves turn into hawks! http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rise-of-islamic-state-tests-gop-anti-interventionists/2014/09/03/efbe6b86-3382-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_story.html …
10:02 AM - 5 Sep 2014

How gratifying, indeed. What a sunnier, simpler world we now inhabit, in which the GOP no longer has any space for ideological debate about the appropriate use of American military might. John McCain has reason to gloat. He won.

Not that long ago, the prospect of military intervention in Libya in 2011 and against the Assad regime in 2013 split the Republican party. You had unyielding Senate hawks like John McCain and Lindsey Graham arguing relentlessly for intervention and regime change, while other senators like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz weren’t so sure. Yes, they may have had less-than-intellectual motives: these were military actions that Barack Obama wanted, so of course they merited opposition. Well, whatever. The point is that there were Republicans who were against taking sides in various overseas civil wars, to the grating frustration of the traditionally hawkish party establishment.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/09/05/its_john_mccains_party_again_how_the_gop_returned_to_total_hawkishness/

[gratuitous]

1. War hawks, not deficit hawks

First question that should be posed each and every time McCain or any of the other interventionists open their cakeholes is, "And will you be raising taxes to pay for this?" Then step back quickly, so you don't get any splinters.