When you or your allies get attacked, pointing the fingers at your past actions is not a winning

[hill2016]

strategy. People want a flag to rally around and "do something" against these perpetrators. They are not interested in self-reflection.

When the US was attacked on 9/11, people who said maybe we shouldn't have been in the Middle East or Africa were ignored. It was all about "let's go after these people". Where do you think the "Blame America First" meme came from?

[cantbeserious]

1. Surely One Recognizes That Humanities Worst Proclivities Are Regularly Abused By The 1%

eom

[AuntPatsy]

6. Obviously they don't...

[cantbeserious]

10. Obviously The 1% Do - By Constantly Appealing To Humanities Worst Behaviors And Tendencies

eom

[AgingAmerican]

2. Um, no

The past is prologue

[Armstead]

3. There is life beyond the primaries you know

I hesitate to respond for that reason, but since you mentioned it....You are correct that the immediate aftermath of something like this is not a time to "point fingers."

But neither is it a time to eitehr alter history, or subsequently gloss over it. We HAVE to understand why things happen in order to realistically address them. A lack of historical memory, and an excess of blind "flag waving" is what sent us into Iraq in the first place.

[hill2016]

5. just telling you

the way the world works.

[Armstead]

8. Well thank you for enlightening me. I'm very grateful

[hill2016]

25. you're welcome

[merrily]

11. Thank God DU has an authority on the world to enlighten the rest of us.

[morningfog]

14. Only in your little mind.

[Hepburn]

19. Only for the 1% and their pal HRC.

[UglyGreed]

4. Our past actions are a direct cause

of the problems the world has today. Give me a break.....

[hill2016]

7. sure

do you think Sanders will point that out during the debate?

[MohRokTah]

13. Were he to do so, it will be called the moment he lost. eom

[Armstead]

16. Maybe so....But better to be honest

[MohRokTah]

17. Losers never accomplish a thing.

If you don't win the election, nothing gets accomplished.

[cantbeserious]

27. The Winning At All Costs Philosophy - Did We Not Have Enough Of That Tripe From Dubya And Minions

eom

[MohRokTah]

28. If you lose, everything is meaningless.

You can't do a damned thing if you lose the election for the office where you could do something.

[Kentonio]

34. If you can't get elected by being honest about your intentions

Then you shouldn't BE elected. Otherwise you're lying to the public and winning election on a false premise.

I hate this idea that you can sneak in and then 'do some good'. It is rank arrogance that presupposes that the politician knows better than the voters about what matters.

[hill2016]

35. great

now let's talk about politicians who get elected by promising lots of goodies but never foist the bill down to the next generation or politician.

Is that being honest?

[restorefreedom]

21. i don't think so

people have seen this movie before. the country had the iraq war shoved down our throats and now isis has been born as a result.

people want to get out of areas where we have no business. i don't think anyone but hawkish fans of trump/rubio/cruz want to "take it there so we don't fight them here."

that bullshit will not play again. people don't want more war.

[hill2016]

26. I thought the moment he lost

was when he screwed up the delivery over Clinton's emails.

[MohRokTah]

30. The real moment he lost...

was the moment when he conceived the possibility of running.

[UglyGreed]

15. I hope so

but it seems you and most Americans rather forget and gear up for more bloodshed since it has worked so well these last 15 years.......

[winter is coming]

24. If he doesn't, O'Malley will. Count on it. n/t

[askew]

31. I hope so. The media is putting a lot of pressure on O'Malley and Sanders to just cede

to Hillary on FP. Seeing Dems in the media saying we need to rally behind her now. It's pretty disturbing.

[winter is coming]

33. Bernie's not going to do that, nor should he. n/t

[merrily]

9. What are DU posts supposed to be winning again?

[morningfog]

12. Ignoring the past and repeating is fucking stupid.

And deadly.

[Hepburn]

18. History means...

...learning from past mistakes.

Voting for the Iraqi invasion was HUGE mistake. If you cannot see this...wow!

[CJCRANE]

20. I've seen this movie before.

It's boring the second time round.

[Avalux]

22. Thinking like that is wrong-headed. "Those who ignore the past are destined to repeat it". nt

[winter is coming]

23. You're not likely to do the right "something" if you ignore the past.

Looking at how you got where you are is an essential part of developing an effective response. You don't want to repeat actions that failed, and maybe you should pay more attention to the people who predicted the actions would fail than to the people who were backing them.

The "let's go after these people" was exploited, and we went after the wrong people, which contributed to where we are now. So yes, let's point fingers. It's long overdue.

[bowens43]

29. thinking like yours is what led to this mess....

[Hepburn]

32. A - freaking - men!

Fuck that Shit!

[Bread and Circus]

36. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it...

[whatchamacallit]

37. So... repeat the same fuckng mistake again because the people are in blind retribution mode?

[hill2016]

38. that's the way the world works

sectarian violence, circle of violence, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth and all that...