Democrats pile on to blame America for downing the Ukrainian plane
It's hard to recall, but once upon a time, the majority of American politicians, including Democrats, were able to set aside partisan bickering for at least a moment in the face of foreign aggression against the United States. After 9/11, for example, Congress spontaneously responded by singing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America."
Things are different now. Immediately after news broke that Iran had shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, Leftists began blaming America, using phrases such as "crossfire" (there was none) and "tit-for-tat" (none of that, either). Pete Buttigieg was the first big-profile Democrat caught embracing that concept.
In the hours since Buttigieg put himself out there as a "blame America first" person, other big-name Democrats and media types began to echo that same theme: even though it was Iran that fired the missile after attacking American bases, somehow or other, it was America's fault that innocent people died in the air over Iran.
Barbara Boxer, a former Democrat senator from California, thrust herself back into the spotlight for an attack on her own country:
The tragic crash of a civilian aircraft shows everyone in the world how war leads to heart wrenching unintended consequences. We need a president who understands this. Dump Trump 2020. https://t.co/azGQHub3q9
— Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) January 9, 2020
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) also couldn't resist blaming America for the deaths of innocents:
.@RepSpeier blames Trump for Iran shooting down a passenger jet: “This is yet another example of collateral damage from the actions that have been taken in a provocative way by the president of the United States." pic.twitter.com/DBeGdIozxW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 9, 2020
Not to be left out, Chris "Fredo" Cuomo incoherently tried to shift the blame to the United States for those innocent lives lost:
David, the ability to escape responsibility for this, there's the suggestion, oh, they'll probably blame the United States. Well, how? Forensically, are you going to be able to determine where these missiles came from if they let the NTSB in on the investigation as has been ping ponged back and forth? The latest word is that Iran would let Boeing, the manufacturer, have a representative there, which may well be an NTSB rep to go. Would you be able to rule out that this was anybody but them and then how do you escape responsibility?
NBC's Heidi Przybyla threw in her two cents about America's responsibility:
[images] https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC
Faced with pushback, Przybyla deleted the tweets.
This tweet is being taken as something I did not intend so I am taking it down to prevent any confusion. https://t.co/bj9Bf846e0
— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) January 9, 2020
Outside the U.S., a talking head on the Canadian Broadcasting Company said it was America's fault that a paranoid Iran intentionally shot down a civilian plane over Iran:
DISGRACE: Watch As CBC Tries To Blame Trump For Iran Shooting Down Plane Carrying 63 Canadians. https://t.co/s66lComyfC
— Spencer Fernando 🇨🇦 (@SpencerFernando) January 9, 2020
The reality is that the blame for those civilian deaths rests squarely on Iran's aggressive and itchy trigger finger. As is always the case with tyrants, they know that their victims are stalking them, and that knowledge engenders a paranoia that makes them ever more dangerous.
Aside from the Leftist blame game, we now have footage that purports to show the moment the plane dropped from the sky after one of two surface-to-air missiles struck it. Although the video is not at all graphic (just lights moving and flaring), it's sickening to know what it means:
The one thing the footage shows unequivocally is that there's not an America plane or missile in sight. This is all on Iran. It would be nice to think this footage would silence the "blame America first" voices on the Left, but that's unlikely. They will continue to believe that placating a tyrant is the safe thing to do. The lesson of Neville "Peace in Our Time" Chamberlain is lost on them.
I like to remind people that there's a message running parallel to Passover's central message about the great miracle of God liberating the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and bringing them to the Promised Land. Because of Pharaoh's rigid intransigence in the face of the escalating harm to the Egyptian people from the Ten Plagues, the Passover story reminds us that tyrants do not care about the well-being of those groaning under their tyranny. They will stop the abuse and slaughter only when their own lives are at risk, and it's at that moment that, like trapped rats, they can be at their most dangerous. One way or another, if there is a tyrant in power, people will be hurt — but the only way to end that is to defeat the tyrant.
Trump fully understands that, within Iran, it's the Iranian people's responsibility to checkmate their tyrannical rulers. (The word "checkmate" comes from the Persian phrase "block the king"). However, it is the responsibility of the president of the United States to made sure that the mullahs' tyranny stops short of harming Americans — Trump did that and is responsible only for that.
It's hard to recall, but once upon a time, the majority of American politicians, including Democrats, were able to set aside partisan bickering for at least a moment in the face of foreign aggression against the United States. After 9/11, for example, Congress spontaneously responded by singing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America."
Things are different now. Immediately after news broke that Iran had shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, Leftists began blaming America, using phrases such as "crossfire" (there was none) and "tit-for-tat" (none of that, either). Pete Buttigieg was the first big-profile Democrat caught embracing that concept.
In the hours since Buttigieg put himself out there as a "blame America first" person, other big-name Democrats and media types began to echo that same theme: even though it was Iran that fired the missile after attacking American bases, somehow or other, it was America's fault that innocent people died in the air over Iran.
Barbara Boxer, a former Democrat senator from California, thrust herself back into the spotlight for an attack on her own country:
The tragic crash of a civilian aircraft shows everyone in the world how war leads to heart wrenching unintended consequences. We need a president who understands this. Dump Trump 2020. https://t.co/azGQHub3q9
— Barbara Boxer (@BarbaraBoxer) January 9, 2020
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) also couldn't resist blaming America for the deaths of innocents:
.@RepSpeier blames Trump for Iran shooting down a passenger jet: “This is yet another example of collateral damage from the actions that have been taken in a provocative way by the president of the United States." pic.twitter.com/DBeGdIozxW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 9, 2020
Not to be left out, Chris "Fredo" Cuomo incoherently tried to shift the blame to the United States for those innocent lives lost:
David, the ability to escape responsibility for this, there's the suggestion, oh, they'll probably blame the United States. Well, how? Forensically, are you going to be able to determine where these missiles came from if they let the NTSB in on the investigation as has been ping ponged back and forth? The latest word is that Iran would let Boeing, the manufacturer, have a representative there, which may well be an NTSB rep to go. Would you be able to rule out that this was anybody but them and then how do you escape responsibility?
NBC's Heidi Przybyla threw in her two cents about America's responsibility:
[images] https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC
Faced with pushback, Przybyla deleted the tweets.
This tweet is being taken as something I did not intend so I am taking it down to prevent any confusion. https://t.co/bj9Bf846e0
— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) January 9, 2020
Outside the U.S., a talking head on the Canadian Broadcasting Company said it was America's fault that a paranoid Iran intentionally shot down a civilian plane over Iran:
DISGRACE: Watch As CBC Tries To Blame Trump For Iran Shooting Down Plane Carrying 63 Canadians. https://t.co/s66lComyfC
— Spencer Fernando 🇨🇦 (@SpencerFernando) January 9, 2020
The reality is that the blame for those civilian deaths rests squarely on Iran's aggressive and itchy trigger finger. As is always the case with tyrants, they know that their victims are stalking them, and that knowledge engenders a paranoia that makes them ever more dangerous.
Aside from the Leftist blame game, we now have footage that purports to show the moment the plane dropped from the sky after one of two surface-to-air missiles struck it. Although the video is not at all graphic (just lights moving and flaring), it's sickening to know what it means:
The one thing the footage shows unequivocally is that there's not an America plane or missile in sight. This is all on Iran. It would be nice to think this footage would silence the "blame America first" voices on the Left, but that's unlikely. They will continue to believe that placating a tyrant is the safe thing to do. The lesson of Neville "Peace in Our Time" Chamberlain is lost on them.
I like to remind people that there's a message running parallel to Passover's central message about the great miracle of God liberating the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and bringing them to the Promised Land. Because of Pharaoh's rigid intransigence in the face of the escalating harm to the Egyptian people from the Ten Plagues, the Passover story reminds us that tyrants do not care about the well-being of those groaning under their tyranny. They will stop the abuse and slaughter only when their own lives are at risk, and it's at that moment that, like trapped rats, they can be at their most dangerous. One way or another, if there is a tyrant in power, people will be hurt — but the only way to end that is to defeat the tyrant.
Trump fully understands that, within Iran, it's the Iranian people's responsibility to checkmate their tyrannical rulers. (The word "checkmate" comes from the Persian phrase "block the king"). However, it is the responsibility of the president of the United States to made sure that the mullahs' tyranny stops short of harming Americans — Trump did that and is responsible only for that.