2008 Kentucky Fried Foreign Policy
posted by on December 18 at 14:00 PM
Posted by Ryan S. Jackson
There was a lot of buzzing this weekend when Mike Huckabee’s foreign policy piece dropped in Foreign Affairs magazine—both because a piece in Foreign Affairs indicates a certain level of “I’m a serious candidate, and these are my serious views,” and because he took the opportunity to state his views on Bush’s foreign policy:
The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out. In particular, it should focus on eliminating Islamist terrorists, stabilizing Iraq, containing Iran, and toughening its stance with Pakistan.
As you would expect, the usual media mayhem ensued: Huckabee, depending on the point of view, was now either the maverick outsider or preparing for wholesale surrender to the World Caliphate. Mitt Romney seemed to believe it was the wholesale-surrender-thing.
As for the document itself: His “get tough” section on Iran includes mentions of 9/11 vigils in Tehran and Iranian help battling the Taliban; his Iraq section could have been lifted from any of the other Republican candidates; and his section on a viable democracy in Pakistan reads more like Barack Obama’s than Rudy Giuliani’s.
Its not the content of the piece that freaked me out so much as the phraseology: When reading it you sometimes get the feeling Huckabee drafted the document while conferring with future Secretary of State Larry the Cable Guy. Take this quote:
Although we cannot export democracy as if it were Coca-Cola or KFC, we can nurture moderate forces in places where al Qaeda is seeking to replace modern evil with medieval evil.
Is a future commander-in-chief really giving a shout-out to Kentucky Fried Chicken in his statement on how he’ll address extremist Islam? And didn’t anyone look at the phrase “replace modern evil with medieval evil,” and maybe die a little?
Or maybe I’m just over-analyzing.
Medieval evil has to be one of the ugliest phrases I've ever read
Who cares if he uses plain-folks language to describe complex ideas? The real problem is that he's not providing any kind of foreign policy alternative. He's just saying he'd do the same shit as Bush with a different "tone," whatever that means.
KFC is modern evil?
He must be talking about the trans-fats.
judging from the way he handled that parole for the murderer/rapist, schmuckabee doesn't exactly strike me as an intellectually rigorous person.
Yup, you're over-analyzing. I see his point and actually agree with him. Wow, that's a scary thought.
"Or maybe I’m just over-analyzing."
careful, asking that question may jeopardize the stranger blog entirely.
Aw, c'mon you guys have it all wrong:
I mean, what's the matter with a little blatant product placement in a presidential candidate's position statement? I'm sure Coca-Cola and KFC (owned by PepsiCo, I believe) made handsome contributions to Mr. Huckabee's campaign in exchange for these mentions.
Besides, think of the possibilities:
- Fred Thompson receives a contribution from Kimberly-Clark every time he uses the word "depends"...
- Ron Paul gets a donation from KBI Holdings, LLC every time his "Blimpie" - er, blimp is shown on TV...
Well, you get the idea.
Dear @5,
With what do you agree? That a southern governor trying to dispel questions on his ability to handle foreign policy made a wise decision to work fried chicken into a point about terrorism? Because if it is the content of his article, I already said that I think his foreign policy, Iraq aside, is fairly reasonable compared to his peers.
"...brought to you by Carl's Jr."
"Why do you keep saying that after ever sentence?"
Given the vagueness of most of the Democratic candidates on foreign policy, it's hard to tell this apart from their pronouncements. That's a problem. If Huckabee gets the nomination and it's hard to tell him apart from the Democratic nominee on foreign policy, a huge potential electoral advantage will have been given away.
I hope to hell the Democrats are paying attention to this. It's time to stop half-assed foreign policy and commit to real changes, starting with an unequivocal withdrawal from Iraq.
Look, let's get serious here.
He's nutso. And an R.
Not gonna happen.
You can put lipstick on a pig all you want, but it's still of the porcine persuasion.
Feel the Blue Wave. It's a comin!
Huckabee is saying Bush got it wrong but prescribes the same policies. Americans don't know enough about foreign policy in general for presidential candidates to say anything of substance. American Power is the only thing that sells well in elections and Mr. Huckabee's form is built upon the corporate imperialism of KFC and Coca-Cola. Add this to his views of American exceptionalism and I’m sure he’d be just like W Bush in office.
I like to watch PETA clips on YouTube while pwning a bucket of KFC drumsticks.
All has been foretold. Everything is proceeding according to the Prophecy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy
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