Foreign Policy

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Foreign Policy at Jelly Belly: Santorum Mystery Solved

March 29, 2012 | 12:53 PM

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At first glance, it seemed so incongruous that it couldn't possibly be intentional: The schedule for Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said he was going to give a "major" foreign policy address at The Jelly Belly Candy Co.

But huh turned to duh after a little sleuthing.

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Republican presidential race

Let the Campaign Begin; Biden Rips Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum in Toledo Speech

By Major Garrett

March 15, 2012 | 5:33 AM

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Mitt Romney may dismiss Newt Gingrich as a whinning wannabe, and Rick Santorum's campaign may say it's time for the former speaker to bow out. Santorum may call Romney a weak front-runner, and Romney may call Santorum "desperate." But it doesn't matter to Vice President Joe Biden.

From Biden's point of view -- and the view of President Obama's reelection team -- Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich are all cookie-cutter Republicans hard-baked in a rule-free, free-market ideology dangerous to the country's future. In sum, all three represent the same policies and the same threat -- though only one is likely to become the GOP standard-bearer.

Biden delivered the first of several campaign set-piece speeches in Toledo, Ohio, to members of the United Autoworkers Local 12. To the surprise of no one, the vice president trumpeted the success of the auto bailout first started by President George W. Bush ($13.4 billion) but significantly expanded by Obama (roughly $60 billion in loans and stock purchases).

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Biden, campaign, Chrysler, GM, middle class, Obama, Ohio, re-election, Republicans

Even Santorum is Sorry Now about Afghanistan

By Beth Reinhard

March 12, 2012 | 12:12 PM

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Republicans love to mock President Obama as a serial apologist. Mitt Romney's biography is called "No Apology.'' Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich both chided President Obama late last month for apologizing for the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base. "I think it shows weakness,'' Santorum said.

But Saturday's killings of 16 Afghan civilians, allegedly by a U.S. soldier, have even Santorum favoring a mea culpa.

National Journal's Rebecca Kaplan, who is traveling with the Santorum campaign, reports he said, "Obviously this is a horrible situation where if it turns out to be the case that this person did a horrible wrong and it was a deliberate act, a deliberate act by an American soldier, that is something we should clearly say was something that we should apologize for...It's something that the proper authorities should apologize for, for not doing their job in making sure that something like this wouldn't happen, something like this should not happen in our military period.''

Romney also sounded a repentant tone in a somber statement befitting a wanna-be commander-in-chief. "Governor Romney believes the killings are reprehensible and shares the anguish of the victims' families,'' said campaign spokesman Andrea Saul. "These acts by one soldier are not representative of the courageous and honorable conduct of our armed forces. That soldier should be held to account after a full and rapid investigation and we must be clear that America stands with the Afghan people, not against them."

Their comments come in the wake of a new Washington Post/ABC news poll in which 60 percent say the war in Afghanistan has not been worth fighting. Asked whether the U.S. should withdraw its military troops even if the Afghan army is not adequately trained, 54 percent said yes.

The poll numbers collide against the GOP's traditionally hawkish posture. "You've got to be in this for the long haul,'' said Randy Scheunemann, a top foreign policy advisor to the GOP ticket in 2008. "Pulling the plug, which Newt Gingrich seems to be advocating and Rick Santorum seems to be walking up to that line, would be a very dangerous decision. You can't do that lightly. You've got to think about the consequences...I understand it's unpopular, but the statesmanship and leadership expected of a presidential candidate means they put an assessment of national interests first and foremost.''

In an interview Monday morning on NBC's "Today" show, the typically hawkish Santorum said, "Any time you have such a shocking development, I think it's important to take a look and see what the situation is and whether it's possible to continue on...Given all of these additional problems, we have to either make the decision to make a full commitment, which this president has not done, or we have to decide to get out and probably get out sooner given the president's decision to get out in 2014."

Though he didn't call for immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops, Gingrich said Sunday that the U.S. is going to "have to back off that region.''

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Afghanistan

Romney Playing With Fire on Afghanistan

By Alex Roarty

February 2, 2012 | 5:24 PM

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Mitt Romney's sharp criticism Wednesday of President Obama's newly planned troop withdrawal in Afghanistan raises a thorny question for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee: Why is he intent on aligning himself with such an unpopular position? The answer might lie in a candidate willing to lose a battle to win the war.

The Republican front-runner, speaking at a rally in Nevada, said the Obama Administration showed "naiveté" when Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced the country will end combat operations in Afghanistan sometime in 2013.

"He announced that so the Taliban hears it, the Pakistanis hear it, the Afghan leaders hear it," Romney said of Panetta during a rally in Las Vegas, according to CNN. "Why in the world do you go to the people that you are fighting with and tell them the day you are pulling out your troops? It makes absolutely no sense."

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Afghanistan, Barack Obama, foreign policy, Iraq, Mitt Romney

Cain Wants Defense Secretary Job. Really.

By Jackie Koszczuk

January 3, 2012 | 8:39 PM

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Could this be the image makeover of the century in the making?
Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says he wants to be secretary of Defense in a new Republican administration.
Really.
The presidential candidate who would have crashed and burned from his astonishingly poor grasp of foreign policy had he not crashed and burned from his astonishing record of mistreating women told interviewer Piers Morgan on CNN late Monday that he would like to be offered the nation's top defense job.