Marco Rubio, The Foreign Policy Go-To Presidential Candidate

Posted by: Javier Manjarres (@thesharktank1) 

The Democrat Party, and like-minded liberal organizations like American Bridge, as well as their media wing, the national press corps, are out doing what they do best, and that is attacking top Republicans who stand to do them damage at the ballot box.

This week’s attack-a-Republican campaign is aimed squarely at Republican presidential candidate, Senator Marco Rubio.

A recent Forbes article questions Rubio hawkish stance on foreign policy, stating that the ” Rubio Doctrine” seems to be a bit out-of-touch with the views of most Americans.”

The article posts these little nifty images and ratings from opinions polls taken of Americans over the past several months. While these ratings maybe accurate, the story does not offer an cross-tab information, nor those it offer the samplings of the poll.

Before you read the Forbes article’s poll results, let’s see what the most recent Real Clear Politics average polls say about  President Obama’s job approval rating when it comes to foreign policy.

After massive quakes, Nepal faces new nightmare

'The people who are being trafficked and exploited aren't stupid. They're desperate'

 
Greg Corombos / WND
 
As Nepal staggers back to its feet after a devastating earthquake and a massive aftershock, a leading humanitarian group says the impoverished nation is at great risk to be exploited by human traffickers.

Why is the threat higher at a moment like this? Experts say when the government is in crisis mode, people with sinister intentions smell opportunity.

“First of all, the human traffickers are already there,” said Anti-Slavery International Director Aidan McQuade. “Second, the social safety nets and the fabric of the state – legal protections and rule of law protections – which had existed prior to the earthquake, weak as they may be, have been weakened even further by the devastation and confusion caused by the earthquake. It’s in these situations, the risk is considerably increased.”

As McQuade intimated, Nepal is already a fertile area for traffickers.

“We already know there has been a considerable reality of trafficking from Nepal, so our concern is that this will be used as an opportunity for unscrupulous people to exploit even more impoverished ones,” McQuade said.

“There are many people who are using the hope and the expectation that people have of a better life as a means to exploit them,” he said. “You can only imagine, now that the country has been so much more devastated by these earthquakes that people are going to be even more desperate to look for better options by which they can help their families.”

Perhaps the most heartbreaking aspect of the problem is that the vast majority of Nepalese men, women and children know they are taking a huge gamble by responding to the promise of good jobs in other countries.

“The people who are being trafficked and exploited aren’t stupid. They’re desperate,” said McQuade, who relayed the story of a young man he met who encapsulates the attitude of many people trying to escape poverty.

Waterboarding Worked

Debra J. Saunders  / Townhall Columnist

 

Dianne Feinstein of California arguably used to be the CIA's best friend on the Democratic side of the Senate. I think it's fair to say that San Francisco voters were not enthusiastic about her pro-intelligence posture during the George W. Bush presidency.

One thing DiFi has going for her, though, is that it's hard even for critics to not crack a smile at her famously idiosyncratic stubborn streak. She's old-school. She makes up her mind and digs in deep. And then something else sticks in her craw.

As Senate Select Committee on Intelligence chairwoman during President Barack Obama's first six years, Feinstein did lock horns with CIA brass -- and it was over the Bush years. She is on a crusade to convince America that Bush-era coercive interrogation techniques were wrong -- a respectable position -- but also produced no intelligence, which is hard to believe.

"I really do respect her passion for national security and her passion for intelligence," former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell told me during a tour to push his book, "The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism -- From al Qa'ida to ISIS," co-written with former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow. "We had a really good relationship," he said. Then, in December 2012, when Morell was acting director, Feinstein gave him the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program, which denied that the interrogation methods had produced valuable intelligence.

Former CIA Directors George Tenet and Porter Goss contend that harsh techniques helped deliver valuable intelligence. And though former CIA Director Leon Panetta said waterboarding is "torture," he said the methods produced clues that led to Osama bin Laden. Democratic committee staffers combed through 6.3 million documents, Feinstein noted. The GOP minority report countered that the Democrats' staff never interviewed CIA officials, even after a federal probe had been closed. My issue with the Feinstein report was that it cost $40 million and years of staff work to try to prove something I do not believe can be proved, i.e., that the CIA could have found the information through other means.

Barack and Michelle Obama's Race to the Bottom

Jeff Crouere / Townhall Columnist

 

As the Obama administration mercifully begins to wind toward the end of its second term, both the President and the First Lady will continue to distract from their horrible record. Their favorite distraction is to claim racial discrimination exists in this nation and is needs to be corrected through government action.

Even though we are not living in Mississippi in 1964, the President and Mrs. Obama continue to emphasize that America has not progressed enough from the Jim Crow era. They minimize the tremendous progress that African Americans have made in this country and focus on the challenges that remain.

Instead of dealing with the problems they have created, the First Couple engage in a continual discussion about race while employing racially divisive rhetoric. Although it may be skillful and political expedient, it has done tremendous damage to race relations in the nation.

The most recent example occurred last weekend when the First Lady delivered the commencement address at Tuskegee University. Instead of focusing on the goals and aspirations of the graduates, she delivered a speech all about the supposed discrimination she faced. Even though Michelle Obama enjoyed the benefits of affirmative action to attend one of the nation's finest schools, she complained that people looked at her with suspicion. She also grumbled about everything from the way the liberal media covered her to the supposed lack of respect she receives for her accomplishments. The speech was all about Michelle Obama, not the graduates who were allegedly hearing an inspirational message. A commencement speaker should motivate graduates to achieve their goals and give them hope for the future. Instead Michelle Obama showed her narcissism and self absorption. Obviously, she has learned from the master of egoism, her husband.

Even though the President is bi-racial and was supposed to be a unifying force in our country, he has succeeded in polarizing Americans. A recent New York Times poll showed that race relations are at a two decade low in our country. This is no surprise since Barack Obama is always highlighting issues of racial conflict and telling Americans there is racial discord throughout the country.

Mohammed cartoons: If you’re not publishing, you’re pretending
 

By Robert Spencer / Jihad Watch

 

This is the Age of Cowardice, as the cowards tell each other that they’re being “prudent,” and “respectful,” and not practicing “cultural arrogance.” But Robert Tracinski here capably explains why, when all is said and done, this is really just the Age of Cowardice. “Mohammed Cartoons: If You’re Not Publishing, You’re Pretending,” by Robert Tracinski, […]

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