[dropcap]U[/dropcap].S. HOUSE Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor dipped briefly into Colorado politics to take part in a fundraiser for Congressmen Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, and Mike Coffman, R-Aurora.
Advocates for immigration reform protested outside Denver’s Brown Palace, decrying policy positions of the House leaders and the long-stalled negotiations in Washington. Many protesters belonged to the Service Employees International Union, whose membership is largely made up of immigrants. The union has made immigration reform a top priority.
At what was billed a “pro-Israel” breakfast, sponsored by former Sen. Bill Armstrong and former Gov. Bill Owens, Cantor decried what he called the Obama administration’s inaction on Syria, implying the administration was responsible on some level for continuing conflict in that country, including the rebel rocket attack that today killed 13 in the northern city of Aleppo. Cantor said Russian President Vladimir Putin “saw that – no consequences,” which he suggested prompting Putin to move into Crimea unafraid of response from Washington.
“Doug Lamborn knows this,” Cantor told the group of mainly Jewish, metro Denver Republicans. “Doug is anything but weak.”
With Congress in recess, Cantor and Boehner are on a week-long tour to raise money for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
[ Photo: Advocates for immigration reform outside Denver’s Brown Palace. ]
The Obama administration is responsible for the civil war in Syria? I did not know that. And was Syria responsible for the American Civil War? And Mexico responsible for the Taiping Rebellion? Wonders never cease.
I gather that following the conclusion of the Brown Palace breakfast the participants all headed for a local recruiting station to sign up for duty in Syria. Dan
I think Daniel Buck forgot that it was President Barack Obama who was hellbent on attacking missiles at Syria, last year, until a offhand comment by Secretary of State John Kerry was seized upon by Russia to avoid a missile strike that would have been ordered by the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
David Tanner, The administration decided not to get militarily involved in the Syrian Civil War, for a variety of reasons, details here,
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21602254-what-can-america-do-now-bashar-assad-looks-set-stay-power-business
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/13/130513fa_fact_filkins?currentPage=all
That was a prudent decision in my view — the situation in Syria can perhaps best be summed up by “the enemy of my enemy is my enemy — and in any event does not make us responsible for the war, which was already well underway. Notice that in the above summary of the Brown Palace breakfast, “Cantor decried what he called the Obama administration’s inaction on Syria, implying the administration was responsible on some level for continuing conflict in that country, including the rebel rocket attack that today killed 13 in the northern city of Aleppo.”
America is responsible for the continuing conflict, and for I gather the Syrian government and as well for the rebels’ actions?
Notice that Mr. Cantor does not say precisely what he would do about it. Decry the rebels missiles but lob some of our own? Send in U.S. troops, to fight alongside Assad’s forces or those of the rebels, which include Al Quaeda groups? Talk about a dilemma. Details here,
http://www.newsweek.com/rebels-fighting-each-other-syria-al-qaeda-group-wins-major-victory-250623
Dan
Points well taken in both comments Mr Buck. Enjoyed your comment concerning republican (small caps intended) chicken hawks and military duty. So true.
The republican “participants” no doubt retired to the Ships Tavern for another round of chest thumping and bourbon on the Speaker.