In the alternate universe inhabited by the Republican Party and Fox News, the incident in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week proves that Iran is out to destroy America and should immediately be pounded into the sand with all the bombs we can drop on them.
The Fox debate in South Carolina last night was like something out of a grade-B action movie. "Fair and balanced" moderator Brit Hume introduced the correct ideological stance right off the bat when he asked whether "the American commander in the Strait of Hormuz the other day [made] the right decision by responding passively when approached aggressively by Iranian fast boats believed to be from the Revolutionary Guards."
That got all the candidates competing to see who could deliver the toughest sound bite.
In response, Mitt Romney sneered that "Paul should not be reading as many of Ahmadinejad's press releases." A cheap shot, to be sure - especially considering that Paul wasn't saying anything the Pentagon hadn't already said.
You see, back in the real world, the official narrative is already falling apart.
The Navy admitted to ABC News that they can't actually prove that the Iranians radioed to the American ships that "you will explode after a few minutes." This came after various bloggers and Iranian-Americans loudly poked holes in the story, mentioning that the language was not Farsi and that the voice was too clear, with too little background noise, to be coming from a roaring, bouncing speedboat. Nor is there any sign of those threatening white boxes the Iranians supposedly dumped overboard. It's not on the released video, nor the accompanying audio.
In other words, it now looks like this was just a few idiots in speedboats proving their manhood by playing chicken with an American destroyer. Dumb by any definition, but aggressive and warlike? Doesn't sound like it. But the incident was nevertheless puffed up into a jingoistic they-can't-screw-with-us story. Doesn't matter that it's already leaking water; it's already embraced by the GOP for purely political purposes.
Sounds par for the course to me.
The Fox debate in South Carolina last night was like something out of a grade-B action movie. "Fair and balanced" moderator Brit Hume introduced the correct ideological stance right off the bat when he asked whether "the American commander in the Strait of Hormuz the other day [made] the right decision by responding passively when approached aggressively by Iranian fast boats believed to be from the Revolutionary Guards."
That got all the candidates competing to see who could deliver the toughest sound bite.
- Fred Thompson: "I think one more step and they would have been introduced to those virgins that they're looking forward to seeing."
- Mike Huckabee: "Be prepared that the next things you see will be the gates of Hell, because that is exactly what you will see after that."
- Rudy Giuliani: "This incident should wake a lot of people up."
- John McCain: "Don't think that this wasn't a serious situation of the utmost seriousness."
In response, Mitt Romney sneered that "Paul should not be reading as many of Ahmadinejad's press releases." A cheap shot, to be sure - especially considering that Paul wasn't saying anything the Pentagon hadn't already said.
You see, back in the real world, the official narrative is already falling apart.
The Navy admitted to ABC News that they can't actually prove that the Iranians radioed to the American ships that "you will explode after a few minutes." This came after various bloggers and Iranian-Americans loudly poked holes in the story, mentioning that the language was not Farsi and that the voice was too clear, with too little background noise, to be coming from a roaring, bouncing speedboat. Nor is there any sign of those threatening white boxes the Iranians supposedly dumped overboard. It's not on the released video, nor the accompanying audio.
In other words, it now looks like this was just a few idiots in speedboats proving their manhood by playing chicken with an American destroyer. Dumb by any definition, but aggressive and warlike? Doesn't sound like it. But the incident was nevertheless puffed up into a jingoistic they-can't-screw-with-us story. Doesn't matter that it's already leaking water; it's already embraced by the GOP for purely political purposes.
Sounds par for the course to me.
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