@blatham,
blatham wrote:
You folks have probably noticed that FOX has been flopping around like mad trying to figure out how to message the Ukraine situation. Carlson, for example, did a 180 when Putin began the invasion as have others. But indictments of Putin have been weak and without any real sincerity. Blame is still being placed elsewhere with Clinton or Greta Thunberg, for example, named as important factors.
But running through all of their coverage is an entirely predictable story - Biden has been and is weak and incompetent. This is the most common element in their coverage. Initially, this was framed as a pair of opposites - Putin the he-man versus Biden the weakling.
That binary formulation is a staple of far right agitprop. Their heroes (or the
image they portray of them) always take this manly form and those they wish to demean are always feminized or otherwise framed as weak.
But aside from that almost knee-jerk framing, what seems very likely is that what the right is trying mightily to prevent is what Rove succeeded at before Bush's second election - framing the sitting President as a "war President" because that framing sets Biden up as strong, righteous and heroic, precisely the opposite of what they want.
It is very difficult to imagine any "framing" able to persuasively represent Biden as " strong, righteous, heroic", or even moderately competent in routine functions. Noting more than a recitation of his actions in office, relative to the challenges faced by this country, our allies and the free world is sufficient to cast him in an accurate light, as an incompetent lightweight., with no enduring values; an opportunist whose only evident talent is to lead with whatever political breeze that blows
Almost three decades ago he sponsored the "Three Strikes, you're out law significantly increasing the legal penalties for a wide varieties of crimes; He campaigned for President as a moderate, who would find a balance between the "new Left" and more conservative Americans; and then went on to adopt it's whole legislative Agenda ; call for the defunding of Police & replacing them with ill- defined "Social workers". Now with the recent emergence of public resistance to most of his new priorities including defunding police forces , absurdly continued COVID restrictions, and many others he has again reversed course. It turns out that there's very few enduring values there , except perhaps that of enriching himself and his family through corrupt misuse of his office & influence .
The ongoing Russian effort to conquer Ukraine has exposed Biden's clear lack of strategic understanding, foresight , and inability to synthesize the often conflicting implications of external issues as required to create an effective foreign policy in an increasingly dangerous world. By far the most serious vulnerability of Putin's Russia is its dependence on income resulting from the export of petroleum & gas, and the dependence he has steadily developed among European nations for these necessary commodities.
Putin has been very clear, for over a decade, about his intention to forcibly reunite the now separated components of the Soviet Empire. He has amply demonstrated in Chechnya, Georgia and Crimea his planned use of force to achieve these objectives. Sadly for our country (and themselves) our main NATO allies have welcomed their increasing dependence on this reliably untrustworthy and dangerous source.
Biden inherited from his predecessor a newly restored U.S. self-sufficiency in gas & petroleum production, and, in addition, a rapidly growing surplus of these products ready for export. Given the evident excessive dependence of our allies on the gas & petroleum on a Russia led by an increasingly aggressive autocrat, it was surely no unusual act of foresight to retain that increasingly significant advantage. Moreover a little self-knowledge on Biden's part should have led him to recognize that his past behavior in office was likely to be seen as a sign of real weakness on the part of our most prominent (and increasingly aggressive) potential adversaries, in Russia and China. For Biden in this situation to, without reflection, delay or even negotiated compensation, to have thrown that advantage away in the pursuit of a distant AGW goal , was an act of remarkable stupidity that has put us and the free world in a dangerous place. Worse, the production of petroleum does not necessarily increase its consumption - the object here is to be able to compete with and undersell a dangerous competitor, who if we did would have no real recourse.
Now to compound the problem, following a truly remarkable reversal of priorities and policy in this area, on the part of our European allies, ignited precisely by the obvious implications of the new Russian threat, Biden makes a few sympathetic works & gestures, describes his relatively superficial sanctions as serious, crippling actions (which they clearly are not), and fails to take any action to, however belatedly , activate his most important real element of strategic leverage - namely petroleum exports to Europe which could have a truly crippling effect on Putin's economy and ability to subdue his neighbors.
Now we find ourselves importing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Petroleum from Putin's Russia, every day and, with sadly comical irony, looking to "friendly" Venezuela to replace it.
It's very hard to imagine worse or more dangerously inadequate leadership on the part of our Country.
