Steele: Afghanistan Is Obama's War
RNC chair Michael Steele suggested history stands against the U.S. in the war in Afghanistan, a gaffe caught on camera during a fundraiser last night in CT.
"This was a war of Obama's choosing," Steele says in remarks captured on what appears to be a hidden camera. Steele blasted Obama for "demonizing Iraq while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan."
"If he's such a student of history has he not understood that, you know, that's the one thing you don't do is engage in a land war in Afghanistan? Because everyone who's tried, over a thousand years of history has failed," Steele says.
Steele's spokesman walked back the comments, slamming Obama for criticizing George W. Bush and blaming Congress for playing politics.
"The Chairman clearly supports our troops but believes that success of the war effort in Afghanistan requires the ongoing support of the American people," RNC communications director Doug Heye said.
"The responsibility for building and maintaining [a] strategy falls squarely on the shoulders of the President. Like so many Americans, Chairman Steele wants to hear an explanation from President Obama on what his strategy is for winning the war in Afghanistan. The Petraeus hearings were an opportunity -- a missed opportunity -- to do that. Instead, all we hear from the President is criticism of his predecessor for doing exactly the same thing," Heye said. "At the same time, Congress must stop playing politics with the war and provide the funding our troops need to win and come home."
Obama laid out his strategy for the war in Afghanistan in a Dec. 1 speech at West Point, where he announced he would send an additional 30K troops to the country. That surge, at the urging of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, raised the U.S. commitment in Afghanistan to its highest levels.
McChrystal was fired last week after inappropriate comments appeared in Rolling Stone. In his place, Obama tapped David Petraeus, architect of the turnaround in Iraq. Military observers and members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who grilled Petraeus this week, have expressed optimism that Petraeus and McChrystal agree on tactics.
Steele was attending a fundraiser in Noank, along the coast. The event also featured ex-Rep. Rob Simmons (R), who in May abandoned his bid for a US Senate seat. Still, Simmons has been traveling the state raising money for GOP candidates, and his name is still on the ballot -- a sore spot for ex-WWE CEO Linda McMahon (R), who sees evidence of a stealth Simmons campaign.
The video, which is being passed around by Dem operatives:
I guess he can blame Obama for the idiocy of escalating Afganistan. Otherwise isn't this the pot calling the kettle black?
And why is it that anything neocon perpetual war advocate Zionist Bill Crystal doen't agree with a gaffe?
Well said!! Instead all we hear from the President is criticism of his predecessor for doing exactly the same thing.