ARE REPUBLICANS USING ISIL THREATS FOR VOTES IN 2016?

…Syrian refugees escaping to Europe

 

The GOP candidates have been shameful in their attitude toward vetted Syrian refugees.

 

I find it interesting that the Washington Post had written that “there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among all the nation’s Republican elites”. 

 

Now why in the world would the top level people in the GOP be bordering on having a panic attack?

 

Well, as it appears today, with Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson continuing to lead in the polls, they are concerned with each passing day that as they continue to lead, they are scared to death that one of them will get the Republican nomination.  And every day, that appears more and more likely.  They are very aware that if that were to happen, it would “virtually guarantee” that there would be a Democratic president in the Oval Office after November 2016.

 

In addition to this difficult news, to give them even more reason to panic, the political publication Roll Call has named the top nine most vulnerable senators in the country.  All nine of the most vulnerable senators are all Republicans.   The Democrats only need to flip four of the nine seats to pull McConnell’s leader’s chair out from under him.

 

Unfortunately for the Dems though, if the fear of an attack by ISIL in the continental United States continues, the chance for electing a hawkish Republican in the White House and keeping all those Republican Senators will come back into focus.  With the liberals and progressives being more open to taking Syrian refugees and the Republican presidential candidates and Republican governors saying “Not in my backyard!”, long-term, this could give the GOP more clout in the voting booth.

 

Even though it was a Republican administration that got us into the two longest ever foreign wars, the American public still tends to lean toward the conservatives whenever there is an issue of national security. 

 

 

However, President Obama hasn’t helped the situation when, in my view, he has been wrong in his approach for dealing with ISIL.  He is getting a lot of flak from both the Republicans and some Dems for having called ISIL the” J.V. team” and in his saying that ISIL was in the process of being “contained”. 

 

Very few people that follow the news and the politics, and are aware of the recent Russian aircraft bombing, the Beirut suicide attack and the attack in Paris.  These individuals would not agree that ISIL was the “minor league” or was being “contained”.  This kind of thinking could send those that have not decided who they prefer in 2016 to lean toward the Republicans, if this national security issues continue to surface.

But with all that being said, the Republican candidates have continued to be afflicted with their on-going, “Foot-in-Mouth-Disease”.

 

Here are a few examples of what I’m saying:

 

·       Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz both floated the notion Sunday of only admitting Christian refugees from Syria, but not Muslims.

 

·       Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday signed an order trying to get his state of Louisiana to block the settlement of any Syrian refugees.

 

·       Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said House Speaker Paul Ryan should resign if he can’t block any refugees’ arrival.

 

·       Candidates Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and John Kasich joined the bid to block Syrian refugees.

 

·       Donald Trump, had falsely proclaimed that Christians fleeing Syria “cannot come into this country”, but Muslim refugees from Syria “can come in so easily.”

 

·       Trump, again falsely claimed that President Obama wanted to admit 250,000 Syrians into America.  But he also said he would deport refugees, who he speculates are “mostly men” and perhaps part of an Islamic State terrorist plot.

 

·       Lately, Trump has said he would “strongly consider” closing all the American mosques.

 

·       Rep. Mike McCaul (R-TX), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, introduced legislation that would legalize discrimination against Muslims fleeing Syria by giving priority to Christians and other religious minorities.

 

·       The Washington Post’s Abby Phillip documented that more than a dozen governors joined Governor Jindal on Monday in trying to keep Syrian refugees out of their states.

 

But here’s the reality of what’s happening:

 

·       The National Association of Evangelicals’ spokesman for World Relief, the evangelical association’s humanitarian arm stated “We’re saddened and shocked about what happened in Paris,” said Matthew Soerens. “But we don’t think the response should be to close our doors to closely vetted people coming from Syria.”

 

·       Only 2,200 Syrians have been admitted into the US over the past four years (10,000 are expected over the next year) and 70% have either been women or children under age 14.

 

·       The situation here is “entirely different” from Europe, where Syrian refugees are flooding across borders. Here they aren’t admitted until they are vetted for at least 18 months.

 

·       No terrorist incident has ever been traced to somebody admitted through the American refugee resettlement program.

 

·       A plurality of refugees admitted to the United States from all destinations are Christian.

 

·       A disproportionate number of refugees from Iraq admitted to the United States have been Christian.

 

For all the criticism of the president’s approach to the Islamic State, the only other workable ideas in the region would require American combat “boots-on-the-ground” in Syria.  But no candidate except the “low-in-the-polls” long-shot Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has championed that idea.

 

Unfortunately for the President, after the G20 conference, the only questions for the president were:

 

“Is it time for your strategy to change?” “Have you underestimated their [ISIL’s] abilities?” “Do you think you really understand this enemy?”

 

The Republicans are going after innocent victims escaping with their lives from the terrible places that their towns have now become.  The conservatives should instead be demanding more efforts from their president and more clarification of his strategy against the Islamic State.

 

But I don’t expect them to ever change their strategy in attacking the presidents, the Democrats and the Syrian refugees.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015