Thursday, October 9, 2008

More Debate Followup

A couple more things from the last presidential debate.

First, Sen. Obama says Americans weren't greeted as liberators in Iraq. I don't remember it that way:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVeUEABXDfg

Now, I know their attitudes have been as fluid as ... well, ours, but that doesn't change how they originally received us.

Second, the question about healthcare being a right, privilege or responsibility caught me off guard. I kind of wanted to say it was a right, but I saw they would want to make that mean we should provide healthcare to everyone free of charge. I knew that wasn't true, but it took me a while to put my finger on it. (This is why I'm a blogger, not a debater.)

I think healthcare is a right. If we're all created in the image of God, if we all have an unalienable right to life, then healthcare should be a right -- anything that is essential to life is a right.

The disconnect is that the left would say anything that is a right should be provided by government. That is obviously not true.

We all have a right to free speech. That doesn't mean government has to provide everyone with a laptop and Blogger account. It means government can't interfere in our right.

A right to healthcare only means that no one should be denied access to healthcare -- ala, "only party members are permitted this procedure" kinda stuff.
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2 comments:

Vinny said...

When Dick Cheney (among others) said that we would be greeted as liberators, do you think he was referring to the initial reaction that Iraqis would have to our tanks rolling through Baghdad or do you think he was referring to the attitude that the Iraqis would have towards the presence of the American army after we had toppled Saddam’s government? Given how quickly the insurgency arose and how quickly the security situation deteriorated, wouldn’t you agree that the responses depicted in that video were not representative of the collective response of the Iraqis to the American army’s presence? Were we really greeted as liberators in the sense that supporters of the war predicted and expected or did opponents of the war have a better understanding of how we would be treated?

October 9, 2008 at 9:54 PM
ChrisB said...

I'm pretty sure most folks thought the locals would keep their heads down when our tanks first rolled through Baghdad. Once the shooting cooled off a bit most of the country seemed pretty happy to see our guys.

Given that the insurgency was largely Republican Guard and foreign soldiers (before the Sunnis and Shia started shooting at each other), I don't think the mere existence of an insurgency means we weren't welcomed. Even an all native insurgency wouldn't mean that -- if 95% of the country's glad you're there, I think that counts as a warm greeting.

I'll admit the administration was surprised at the switch from conventional to guerrila tactics by the remaining Iraqi army, but I don't think much of anyone expected that.

October 10, 2008 at 11:16 AM

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