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Hillary Clinton's 'Nuclear Umbrella' Idea for the Middle East - Where's The Story?
During last Tuesday debate, Hillary Clinton mentioned having something like a 'nuclear umbrella' in the Middle East. Meet the Press hasn't listed their Sunday show on their website yet, but someone on Daily Kos points out some of what was said today. See below.
On "Meet The Press" this Sunday AM, with Tim Russert, David Brooks and others Russert brought up the issue of the "nuclear umbrella" idea that Hillary Clinton floated in her April 16th debate in Philadelphia with Barack Obama.
This is enormous.
Russert brought up the issue of Clinton's proposed "nuclear umbrella" and DAVID BROOKS of all people, replied with something like "I'm surprised the didn't become much bigger in the media - can you imagine 2 Arab nations fighting and the United States getting in the middle of it ?"
Someone else then chimed in, "massive retaliation, that's a very LOADED phrase."
Well, "massive retaliation" IS a very LOADED phrase and I've consulted with George E. Lowe, who wrote the 1964 book "The Age of Deterrence" ( Little, Brown) and has won awards for his writing on nuclear deterrence as well, about WHY "massive [nuclear] retaliation" is such a loaded term and WHY the "Meet The Press" folks may have been taken aback by Clinton's "nuclear umbrella" idea.
This story SHOULD be all over the airwaves and newspapers -- but it's not. Why not?
Comments (14)
"and DAVID BROOKS of all people, replied with something like "I'm surprised the didn't become much bigger in the media - can you imagine 2 Arab nations fighting and the United States getting in the middle of it ?""
The utter lack of self-reflection among these media elites is breathtaking. Brooks has the one of the most desirable pieces of real estate in all of media. He could have wrote about this issue himself - yet he chose to defend flag pin and guilt-by-association questions in two columns and on every talk show he appeared on post-debate. Just f'ing incredible.
April 20, 2008 12:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No kidding, it is a major policy statement that is far outside what most Americans want and yet the media passes it by like it was nothing and goes back to talking about nothing. HEY LOOK THE POPE IS GETTING OUT OF A CAR ZOMG!!!!
April 20, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not only the media passed on it, but so did the Obama Camp.
April 20, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Obama camp passed on it because they do not want to piss off the Israel and Jewish constituencies. There is already smoke coming out of the McCain camp that Obama is soft on protecting Israel. So they left it alone.
April 20, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am sure he was hoping the media would call her on her warmongering though. Shows just how much the media is biased against Hillary - not!
April 20, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
The first guy to hit this was Pat Buchanan. That's how pathetic journalism has become. You have to wait till Pat takes off his bigot hat and puts on his journalist hat to get the story. I swear most of the MSM are a bunch of zombies who can't talk or write until fed a press release by an authorized PR hack.
As to Obama, it is disappointing that he allows himself to be boxed into corners and won't address issues of substance. The biggest concern I've had about him all along is whether or not he can both fight against the "alien being from another non-white planet" swiftboating AND make changes that really do challenge the status quo.
But considering we have in a Hillary a woman who is willing to threaten "massive retaliation" to win a few votes, it's not like we have any other option.
April 20, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keith O called her on her warmongering back in NH. Of course the MSM didn't
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BB4Vvgn_4k
April 20, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
It was a foolish and crazy idea, and shows her clumsiness in the policy realm. She's a bumbler, which is why 1) health care failed in 93 and 2) why her campaign failed. Hillary has proven she's incompetent.
April 20, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
A blogger over at Kos has some background on the history of the use of the terms "nuclear umbrella" and "massive retaliation" and the kinds of folks who throw such terms around today (Hint: they are neocons). Pretty scary stuff if you know the history of American nuclear theory. You don't just casually offer to nuke people or even to defend people in such a blanket way. Who is the foreign policy novice here?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/20/102642/719/954/499420
April 20, 2008 12:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's where I got this - I forgot to give the link, sorry.
April 20, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton isn't going to be called on anything unless 75% of the American population can understand the story by just reading the headline. She has no chance of getting the nomination and so the media is far more focused on his doings.
April 20, 2008 10:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary will say anything.
This is right up there with her saying she will nominate Colin Powell into her cabinet while in SC, create a Department of Blogging, and lobbyist "are people too".
Shame on her. She knows better.
April 20, 2008 10:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
It really is amazing that this comment hasn't gotten more attention. What the hell is "massive retaliation" anyway? She is basically declaring she will form a NATO sort of alliance with the most unstable region in the world. I think Obama's answer of "appropriate measures", while vague, is much wiser. We would have to judge based on the scale of Iranian action.
April 21, 2008 12:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Someone right here (my apologies for forgetting who!) hooked me up with this video, which shows just how obviously Clinton is using the Republican talking points about Iran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFZL33nPoEU
April 21, 2008 3:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
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