Loose Cannon

Remaining
In his opening statement, Mr. Brennan acknowledged “widespread debate” about the administration’s counterterrorism operations but strongly defended them, saying the United States remained “at war with Al Qaeda.”

He said later that when C.I.A. drone strikes accidentally kill civilians, those mistakes should be admitted. “We need to acknowledge it publicly,” he said. “In the interests of transparency, I believe the United States government should acknowledge it.” (NYT, 2/7/2013)

RedStateVT readers know that we support the use of drones to kill the bad guys, even as we regret the death of civilians. Unlike say, Al Qaeda, which does not regret the death of civilians. Knowing they could never defeat the U.S. on a conventional battlefield, Islamic terrorists adapted, resorting to asymmetrical warfare. And the U.S. has adapted as well, utilizing its technological superiority. 

As to the transparency issue, this is a shackle that the Left has been trying to place on the military and government in general dating back at least to the Viet Nam War. Mistakes are made in the fog of war and bad things happen. Criminal behavior in the military should be exposed and punished, but more often than not the Left wants to second-guess the decisions made by military commanders trying to prevent U.S. soldiers from being killed. We support more transparency around national defense just as soon as we see more of it from Al Qaeda, Hamas, North Korea, China, and Russia.


Ideal
Otherwise, Mr. President, there is nothing to discuss. Your sequester — Republicans need to reiterate that the sequester was the president’s idea in the first place — will go ahead. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 2/7/2013)

Good reminder from Charles.


Fraudulent
The Virginia Legislature has just passed new voter ID laws severely restricting the number of documents voters can use to prove their identity. Because “voter fraud” is not actually a real problem, Virginia’s Republican legislative majority was free to make the rules as hilariously arbitrary as they wanted. And they honestly couldn't have made their actual intentions — the suppression of undesirable poor/minority votes — more plain. (Alex Pareene, Salon.com, 2/5/2013) (Our emphasis)

Critics of voter ID and other laws cracking down on voter fraud claim they’re unnecessary because fraud is nonexistent. For instance, Brennan Center attorneys Michael Waldman and Justin Levitt claimed last year: “A person casting two votes risks jail time and a fine for minimal gain. Proven voter fraud, statistically, happens about as often as death by lightning strike.”

Well, lightning is suddenly all over Cincinnati, Ohio. The Hamilton County Board of Elections is investigating 19 possible cases of alleged voter fraud that occurred when Ohio was a focal point of the 2012 presidential election. A total of 19 voters and nine witnesses are part of the probe. (John Fund, Nationalreview.com, 2/7/2013) (Thanks to our Massachusetts stringer who braved blizzard conditions to source this story for us.)

How embarrassing for Pareene and Liberals! Why we hear that Rachel Maddow is going to devote an entire show to voter fraud. Just as soon as she finishes her 100 night series on "Disarray in the Republican Party."