was the stark and sobering ending to an opinion piece in the LA Times yesterday by Paul Whitefield, "Skipping down the road to war with Romney".
He states that he is glad Romney has spoken his bit on Obama's foreign policy, no matter how wrong-headed because he is letting us all see just what kind of President he would be.
Now, I used to think this kind of stuff was just campaign rhetoric, red meat for Republicans who see Democrats as too soft to protect American interests. Then came Bush. And -- surprise -- he meant it. Thousands of lives and billions of dollars later, we’ve learned the cost of not listening to a Republican candidate who talks tough.
So, yes, I’m glad Romney’s letting us know now what kind of foreign policy he’d pursue as president. And I’m going to take him at his word that he’d get tough with Iran, that he’d stand by Israel to the end, even if that end meant another U.S.-led war in the Middle East.
And I’m going to remember that when I vote on Nov. 6. Because now I have two teenage sons. And now I know for sure that when a Republican presidential candidate talks tough, it pays to listen -- and to get the body bags ready.
It wasn't a long piece by any means. It made the point. We are still winding down in Afghanistan. We are still losing the lives of our men and women in service to the U.S. in and out of uniform. If we fall prey to the knee-jerk jingoism being hyped by Romney and his friends, fueled by images of protests from extremists around our embassies, rather than remembering these faces
we will be in deep, deep, trouble.
On the Rachel Maddow show last night her correspondent in Egypt, Richard Engel, pointed out that while news photos show groups of enflamed protesters around our embassy, life in the rest of the city goes on as usual. Yes, we will have to cope with anti-US sentiment, and jihadist Salafist factions seeking the world stage, but to allow Mitt Romney the audacity of promoting himself as the person (surrounded by neo-cons) who will fix any of this from a seat in the oval office is a joke, but one with dire consequences.
Mitt Romney, please take a seat in the empty chair provided to you by Clint Eastwood.
We have a qualified Commander in Chief, diplomat, and President already.
We are going to make sure he has four more years.