If not for Sonia Sotomayor, the political elite would be debating North Korea. Here, in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Sen. John McCain weighs in:
What has North Korea done since Obama came to office? And we were going to have a new dialogue with them. God Almighty! You know? Two journalists are now in prison. They announced they're reprocessing, proceeding with the fissile material. They were threatening or did shut down that town that the South Koreans funded for them. I mean, I think reality's going to hit the Obama Administration.
Fighting old battles, yes.... but a preview of what Obama will hear from Republicans and provocative, none the less. Note that the country had not conducted its nuclear test when McCain spoke.
Speaking of interviews and Jeffrey Goldberg.... Fareed Zakaria, what gives?...
And what's McCain's solution, then? Start another war?
Better than putting your tail between your legs and running like Obama. You can rule from a position of weakness in todays world.
No, Jeebus defender of all things Obama.
McCain, and other Republicans who were skeptical of negotiations with the Kim kleptocracy in the first place (such as John Bolton, who has been at long last proven right), would probably call for a reaffirmation of sanctions. In addition, we should place the DPRK back on the terror list, and a withdrawl from the Six Party Talks as an acknowledgement for the Chinese con game they are.
Lastly, we should reaffirm with the Canadians, the Australians, the Japanse, the ROKs, and the Indians the Proliferation Secuirity Initiative, which allows us to contain North Korean proliferation. As much as I respect Condi Rice for keeping us out of a rather unneccessary war with the Iranians, the Six Party talks were a bad idea that was executed poorly. The North Koreans not only took us to the cleaners, they did so with Chinese connivance.
Naturally, I don't expect Obama to do any of these things. Neither does Kim, which is why he exploded the bomb. Kim expects, and will receive, Danegeld and appeasement from the Petainist in the White House.
As much as I respect Condi Rice for keeping us out of a rather unneccessary war with the Iranians, the Six Party talks were a bad idea that was executed poorly.
Condi didn't keep us out of anything. The Generals told Bush that war with Iran was out of the question. Get over your Obama hate. And you forgot to watch the news tonight.
Again with that old false choice. I certainly can't speak for McCain, but we have a long list of effective non-military options.