CPAC 2013: War and what it is good for

I was doing fine, I really was. And then I listened to Louie Gohmert, and it all went to hell.

At a panel entitled Too Many American Wars? Should We Fight Anywhere and Can We Afford It?, Rep. Steve King begins by reminding us that some wars are good, listing the American Revolution, the Civil War, and the Spanish-American war as examples. Rep. Louie Gohmert (Yes, Steve King and Louie Gohmert were on the same panel, and sweet merciful crap, these are the people debating where and how to have our next wars) complains bitterly that the Carter-era Iranian embassy did not result in war. The most intellectual member of the panel, Dr. Angelo Codevilla, was more calculated in his words; he was praised by the next panel member for his wisdom, after which that speaker (Rep. Tom Cotten) then proceeded to ignore or contradict his arguments with no seeming awareness of it.

As for Gohmert. Oh my Lord. Holy effing eff. His speech is disjointed and baffling; what he is arguing for is unclear. It is not a mere point of accent; a hard Texas drawl can be a joy to listen to, when employed by a clever mind, but this is not, well, that. On Afghanistan, his most pithy and emphatic statement, "the enemy of my enemy can be my friend", may sum it up best. Simple, to the point, and with nasty repercussions that can be dismissed by simply never thinking about them.

At this point I almost feel I owe Allen West an apology. I had previously tagged him as America's Dumbest Congressman, but compared to Gohmert, West was the picture of coherence. No, forget rhetoric, Gohmert gives off the strong impression of a fellow you could not fully trust with big-people scissors. Listening to him wrestle with an argument is like watching a Cub Scout try to fight off a bear with nothing but his penknife and a neckerchief.

My only conclusion from the panel is that conservatives have no earthly idea what their policies on American wars are. They don't have polices. They are simultaneously for and against defense spending, and for and against drone and other surgical strikes. They are against interventionism; but defenders of Vietnam, had we only finished the job. The one point of perhaps-consensus from the panel is that America needs to be more resolute, and harsher on its enemies, and that most of our problems are caused by being insufficiently determined to beat their enemies completely. More thoughts on the panels below the fold.