The Random Political Cartoon Thread

[cpgator]

Originally Posted by JasonF

So obvious that then-candidate Obama was roundly criticized for saying he would do something like that.

And I could be remembering it wrong, but wasn't he criticized for saying it openly - that we would go into Afg without permission or something? I don't think anyone was against the idea, but he wasn't very diplomatic with his response at the time.

Originally Posted by JasonF

so obvious that members of President Obama's own cabinet advised against it.

Who was against the idea? I thought i read that Biden was originally, but was anyone else?

[Jaymole]

Originally Posted by JasonF

So obvious that then-candidate Obama was roundly criticized for saying he would do something like that; so obvious that members of President Obama's own cabinet advised against it; so obvious that if the raid had gone wrong, it could have cost President Obama his re-election chances.

Fair criticism is one thing, but this cartoon is just built on a foundation of bullshit.

Exactly, and if it would have failed, it would have been an even bigger re-election nightmare than Operation Eagle Claw was to Jimmy Carter.

[kvrdave]

Wow, he did the right thing even when failure could hurt his re-election chances? Is he the Christ that was foretold?

[General Zod]

Originally Posted by JasonF

But by all means, let's keep talking about the fact that President Obama killed Osama bin Laden.

I don't think the President 'We don't need to spike the football' Obama is going to stop talking about it. I mean it's the only thing that went right for him over the last 4 years that can't be overturned by the courts.

[JasonF]

Originally Posted by James Fallows

'Even Jimmy Carter'
By James Fallows
Apr 30 2012, 5:42 PM ET

Mitt Romney informs us that the raid that took out Osama bin Laden one year ago was no big deal, because "even Jimmy Carter would have given that order."

Grrrrr.

Necessary disclosure: I worked for Jimmy Carter and admire his intentions, his character, and many of his achievements, although I am not usually considered an uncritical booster of his record as president.

But let's remember:

1) Jimmy Carter is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who spent ten years in the uniformed service of his country. As far as I can tell, this is ten years more than the cumulative service of all members of the Romney clan. Obviously you don't have to be a veteran to have judgments about military policy or criticisms of others' views. But when it comes to casual slurs about someone else's strength or resolve, you want to be careful, as a guy on the sidelines, sounding this way about people who have served.

2) Jimmy Carter did indeed make a gutsy go/no-go call. It turned out to be a tactical, strategic, and political disaster. You can read the blow-by-blow in Mark Bowden's retrospective of "The Desert One Debacle." With another helicopter, the mission to rescue U.S. diplomats then captive in Teheran might well have succeeded -- and Carter is known still to believe that if the raid had succeeded, he would probably have been re-elected. Full discussion another time, but I think he's right. (Even with the fiasco, and a miserable "stagflation" economy, the 1980 presidential race was very close until the very end.)

But here's the main point about Carter. Deciding to go ahead with that raid was a close call. Carter's own Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, had opposed the raid and handed in his resignation even before the results were known. And it was a daring call -- a choice in favor of a risky possible solution to a festering problem, knowing that if it went wrong there would be bad consequences all around, including for Carter himself. So if you say "even Jimmy Carter" to mean "even a wimp," as Romney clearly did, you're showing that you don't know the first thing about the choice he really made.

3) Precisely because of the consequences of Carter's failure, Obama was the more daring in making his go/no-go decision. That's the case I argued last year, and nothing I've learned since then changes my view. As a college student, Obama had seen a marginally popular Democratic president come to ruin because he approved a helicopter-based secret mission into hostile Middle Eastern terrain. Obama went ahead with a helicopter-based secret mission into nominally "allied" territory, also with huge potential for trouble if things had gone wrong.

4) And while the Osama killing reflected a decade's worth of intelligence and effort from people of both parties, and of no party, it happened on Obama's watch. Is there any doubt that if it had happened on Bush's, or on a President John McCain's, it would have been the centerpiece of every political speech and commercial? Was there a single speech in the Republicans' 2004 convention -- in New York -- that did not begin and end with a reference to 9/11, or the removal of Saddam Hussein?

So: obviously the Administration will want to remind voters that Osama bin Laden is gone, and obviously the Republicans will want to minimize the political significance of that fact. All fine. But not "even Jimmy Carter." I hope that the crack was a scripted attack line, rather than being yet another spontaneous glimpse of the way Mitt Romney feels and thinks. "Even" Jimmy Carter made a daring choice, and paid the price.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...carter/256558/

Originally Posted by Fox News

Biden claims Panetta was only Obama adviser urging a 'go' on bin Laden raid

Vice President Biden claimed Friday that Leon Panetta was the only member of the inner circle who definitively urged President Obama to green-light the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound, as Biden discussed new details about the behind-the-scenes deliberations.

Biden, speaking to the House Democratic Issues Conference in Maryland, candidly admitted that he told the president not to go forward with the mission. Biden said at the time he thought the administration should do more to find out whether bin Laden was actually inside the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Describing the scene when Obama sought the advice of his top officials on whether to go ahead, Biden said most advisers -- aside from himself and Panetta, the defense secretary who was CIA chief at the time -- didn't offer a clear opinion.

"He went around the table with all the senior people. ... Every single person in that room hedged their bet except Leon Panetta. Leon said, 'go.' Everyone else said 49, 51 (percent in favor)," Biden said.

"It got to me. (Obama) said 'Joe -- what do you think?' I said, 'You know, I didn't know we had so many economists around the table.' I said we owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is don't go."

Biden recalled the scene to illustrate his point that Obama showed leadership and, in his words, has a "backbone like a ramrod."

Despite the uncertain and conflicting advice, Obama told his national security adviser the next day, "Go," Biden said.

"He knew what was at stake. Not just the lives of those brave warriors, but literally the presidency, and he pulled the trigger," Biden said. "This guy doesn't lead from behind -- he just leads."

Robert Gates, the defense secretary at the time of the raid, has already said publicly that he had reservations about the intelligence pertaining to the bin Laden compound.

It's not clear exactly what every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and key Cabinet members advised.

A defense official said Adm. Mike Mullen who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time, "certainly recognized the risk, but he did not hesitate in offering his advice that we should go."

One U.S. official told Fox News that Gen. James Cartwright, who was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs at the time, was leaning against a raid and more toward an airstrike in that final meeting.

The official also said that Michael Leiter, then director of the National Counterterrorism Center, was pessimistic on the intelligence.

The official said many in the room were worried about losing their jobs should the mission go wrong. The official added that one of the reasons Panetta came down on the side of approving the raid was he had met with his intelligence team -- and even one of the most pessimistic analysts put a high percentage on the likelihood that bin Laden was indeed in that compound.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...laden-mission/

[DeputyDave]

That Biden bit was just stupid.

[Talkin2Phil]

[Talkin2Phil]

[PatD]

I knew a cartoon like this would be inevitable. It's the logical response to the "Obama-as-Joker" meme from years back.



"When the middle class has fallen, you have my permission to die."

[Dr Mabuse]

[arminius]

Reminds me of Wall-E.

[Jason]

[TheBigDave]

[wishbone]

[The Bus]

[wishbone]

[wmansir]

Originally Posted by The Bus

I don't get it.

[spainlinx0]

Originally Posted by wmansir

I don't get it.

I don't either.

[Groucho]

There's a poster that reads "The Greatest Show on Earth" showing the Olympic rings and some atheletes. Outside on the balcony is a man smoking a cigar, a woman drinking champagne, and a kid drinking a Coke.

The caption:

Spoiler:

"The Olympic Family"

[Tracer Bullet]

I've identified the problem. If I'm reading the date below the signature correctly, this was drawn in the year 3007. It's a wonder we can understand it at all.

[TheBigDave]

[Groucho]

That cartoon raises more questions than it answers.

[Josh-da-man]

Originally Posted by Groucho

That cartoon raises more questions than it answers.

It's quite obvious that it is pointing out that Chick-Fil-A, while condemning homosexuals like Bert and Ernie, has no problem with inter-species copulation or cannibalism.

[Superboy]

Originally Posted by Groucho

That cartoon raises more questions than it answers.

You know Gonzo just ate that bitch out.

[Jason]