Round-up: Democrats react to Iran attack in Iraq - Pelosi failed miserably

As we learned about the attack aimed at American forces in Iraq coming from Iran Tuesday evening, already early Wednesday morning in Iraq, a lot of us did as we always do – we scanned Twitter for reactions. It may surprise you to learn that the worst reactions didn’t come from Democrats running to be the party’s presidential nominee. The worst came from Speaker Pelosi and her cohorts in the media.

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Fortunately for the troops and personnel in harm’s way from the ballistic missiles sent from Iran, the 2020 candidates set the right tone. Concern for the safety of the troops and others in the path of the missiles was expressed in social media. Speaker Pelosi, however, turned her concern into a slam against President Trump. By using the words “needless provocations from the Administration” she sounded like the Iranian leadership.

That is not a good look for the third most powerful person in the American government. Her reaction was unnecessarily hackish and just plain wrong. President Trump has not “needlessly provoked” Iran. Iran has been attacking Americans and our interests since the revolution in 1979. If anything, it can easily be argued that Trump has shown great restraint. The drone attack in Baghdad that took out Soleimani was in response to the intelligence of an imminent attack. Plus, just days earlier, Iran-backed militia attacked the U.S. embassy.

It is reported that Pelosi did not speak with Vice-President Pence when he called but returned his call later and he briefed her. Maybe next time she should just take his call.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was handed a note during a House Democratic leadership meeting informing her of the attacks on two military bases in Al-Assad and Erbil, respectively, that house U.S. forces in Iraq. Pelosi returned a phone call to Vice President Pence at approximately 6:34 p.m. when he briefed her on the attack.

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Joe Biden tweeted in a restrained manner. Obviously he was going for a calm and reasoned response.

This was a better response than Quid Pro Joe delivered earlier in the day in a speech in New York. He criticized Trump for his handling of Iran.

Biden criticized Mr. Trump in his speech for bringing the U.S. “dangerously close” to starting anew in the Middle East, despite campaigning on bringing an end to so-called endless wars.

“I have no illusions about Iran. The regime has long sponsored terrorism and threatened our interests. They’ve ruthlessly killed hundreds of protesters, and they should be held accountable for their actions,” the former vice president said. “But there is a smart way to counter them — and a self-defeating way. Trump’s approach is demonstrably the latter.”

Joe Biden has been historically wrong on foreign policy for 40 years. Former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates said those words in his memoir after retiring from working in the Obama administration with Biden. Interestingly, Biden acknowledged in his speech that he’s made mistakes but it was more along the lines of “Hey, everyone makes mistakes”, and not acknowledging his wrong-headedness in foreign policy. Remember, he also advised Obama not to take the opportunity to take out Bin Laden.

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During a town hall in New Hampshire, Tulsi Gabbard said that the drone attack on Soleimani “undermined our national security”. After the response from Iran, she tweeted about her own flashbacks from her time in the service.

Some top candidates stuck with thoughts and prayers for our troops, as they should have done.

Warren has been busy calling Trump’s approval of the drone strike as a wag the dog scenario. At least Meghan McCain got her to acknowledge that Soleimani was a terrorist. Small steps.

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I don’t find a tweet on Bernie Sanders’ Twitter account of this nature. There is a video clip of his interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN where he denounces Trump’s actions and says he’ll do what he can to stop war authorization and funding if it comes up for a vote. He also is on record comparing the strike on Soleimani with Putin’s assassinations of dissidents, so there’s that.

So, how did our betters in liberal media react to the incoming missiles launch from Iran into Iraq? Just exactly as you probably expected. There was plenty of misinformation and finger-pointing at Trump, not Iran.

Then a correction – there were no Americans killed:

Former Bushie Steve Schmidt weighed in with his usual Orange Man bad hot take. He is nothing if not consistent in his anti-Trump criticisms. He returned to his MSNBC gig after serving as a campaign adviser for Howard Schultz’s failed presidential nomination bid.

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The absolute worst reaction from the media though came from MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. At this point, it looks like he is just flat-out cheering for the Iranian terrorists.

O’Donnell mocked Trump’s decision to not make a statement until Wednesday. Instead of acknowledging the wisdom of waiting until assessments could be made and decisions made in response to those assessments, O’Donnell called Trump “speechless”.

History will not be kind to those so afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome that they can’t even pause and unite with other Americans in supporting a president during the aftermath of an enemy attack. Whether it is the top leadership of lawmakers or those in the media, we must believe them when they tell us who they are. They are so psychologically crippled that they broadcast support for America’s enemies instead of America. It’s sickening.

I’ll end with this from Hollywood’s Michael Moore. He is thrilled that so many in the media are openly questioning the Trump administration in the midst of an enemy attack. Instead of just reporting on the events of the evening, he was celebrating the divisive nature of their comments.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 22, 2024
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