Monday, May 13, 2013

Grumpypants' War Jabber

Incessant Sunday talk show guest and bitter loser Sen. John "Grumpypants" McCain loves the spotlight, but one wonders why the Beltway media has given him foreign policy "expert" status, especially when he comes up with incoherent reasons for jumping into Syria's civil war.

His latest foray into policy babble was on yesterday's ABC This Week, when he pushed for greater U.S. intervention in Syria, but without considering the consequences of arms falling into the wrong hands:
 MCCAIN: ...if [the Russians] move that in, it's going to make it more complicated, and certainly maybe gives us a little bit of skepticism about a conference. But, we can provide them with a safe zone. We can provide them a place to organize inside Syria. We can give them the heavy weapons that they need...

RADDATZ: Who's -- who's them? Who's them?

MCCAIN: ...well I -- I know them. I have met them. They're there. They...

RADDATZ: But how do you keep out good rebels, and bad rebels?

MCCAIN: Because...

RADDATZ: You've got al-Qaeda rebels, running around...
There you have it.  Grumpypants wants to dump sophisticated arms on Syrian rebels -- the most organized of which are al-Qaeda -- and create a "safe area" and "no-fly zone."  But he essentially says "trust them" regarding the rebels, not having any real basis for his optimism.  Add to that Russia undermining whatever we would do.

Once again, Grumpypants is showing the great judgment and wisdom of the guy who wanted Sarah "Winky" Palin on his Presidential ticket.