Compare and Contrast

Or putting the lie to Conservative Talking Points.

"First, I’d like to say a few words about the situation in Iran. The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, beatings, and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions, and I join with the American people in mourning each and every innocent life that is lost.

“I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not at all interfering in Iran’s affairs. But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society. And we deplore violence against innocent civilians anywhere that it takes place.

President Barack Obama, June 23, 2009.

There’s never been a better time to be an enemy of the United States of America. Whether you’re a trained jihadist in US custody, a diminutive cult leader starving his own people while developing nukes, or part of a ruthless regime that murders dissidents in broad daylight, you can rest assured that the United States government is unlikely to act—or perhaps even speak—in a manner likely to disrupt your daily routine. While invoking “our values,” hailing the importance of American humility, and rejecting the “failed policies of the past,” the current administration is projecting a dangerous image to the world. This approach may be extolled as cautious pragmatism on the Beltway cocktail party circuit, but it’s most assuredly perceived as something entirely different by America’s current and emerging adversaries around the globe: Weakness.

Guy Benson, "Radicalism, Rewarded," June 24, 2009

Since events in Iran started taking an ugly turn Republicans and Conservatives have said, again and again, why doesn't the President strongly condemn what's going on there. Then they would regularly say something like we don't mean invade, we just mean condemnation. Now that was always not entirely true; of course they want us to invade Iran. If we, as a nation, make a strong statement in favor of those protesting the presumably stolen election, don't they also expect us to follow up that with action? And of course Guy Benson kind of underlines it; Obama's failure to engage Tehran militarily is, in Republican's eyes, weakness.

There's a phrase about what everything looks like when you have a hammer; fortunately the conservatives don't have the hammer for now.