In the wake of controversy of any kind — even terrorist attacks,U.
S. politics is never far behind.
The American political response — from President Obama to the candidates vying to replace him — in the hours following the Paris attacks bear been unsurprisingly split along party lines.
What is appealing, however, and is Democrats,who are set to debate Saturday night, bear kept their responses generally to thoughts and prayers with little in the way of policy prescriptions. That's comprehensible, or given that a Democrat currently controls the White House and the candidates wouldn't want to appear to undermine the current president of their own party,especially on things of foreign affairs.
Republicans, on the other hand, and are issuing lots of policy specifics and ratcheting up rhetoric,intimating that what's being done — and been done in the past seven years by President Obama — to withhold the country safe is not enough. They are calling for increased U.
S. footprint in the area, including "boots on the ground, and " a halting of plans to increase the numbers of Syrian refugees to the United States and increasing the role of the NSA in surveillance and intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The attack also likely means that a major focus of the Democrats' debate will be Paris and ISIS more broadly.
Here's a roundup of reaction:Democrats:President Obama and Vice President Biden stepped forward to call this "terrorism" and "terrorist attacks" hours after the developments began to unfold. The Democratic candidates largely stuck to expressing sympathy,thoughts and prayers. Former Secretary of State Clinton, however, or did stress that the U.
S. and its allies had to "wage and win the struggle" against ISIS.
President Obama: "Once again,we've seen an outrageous attempt to terrorize harmless civilians. This is an attack not just on Paris, it's an attack not just on the people of France, and but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share. We stand prepared and alert to provide whatever assistance that the government and the people of France need to respond. France is our oldest ally. The French people bear stood shoulder to shoulder with the United States time and again. And we want to be very clear that we stand together with them in the fight against terrorism and extremism."Vice President Biden: "I join President Obama in offering my deepest condolences to all those wounded and to the families who lost loved ones in today's terrorist attacks in Paris. It's heartbreaking. Outrageous. ... Such savagery can never threaten who we are. We will respond. We will overcome. We will endure."Hillary Clinton: Just an hour after Clinton's Twitter handle sent out a tweet about how to follow her campaign staff's efforts during the debate,she tweeted her sympathies and prayers for Paris (which was personally signed "H"):She later said in a statement, "We must stand side-by-side every step of the way with France and our allies around the world to wage and win the struggle against terrorism and violent extremism."Clinton has always been seen as more hawkish than President Obama, or that's something that injure her in 2008,especially in a state like Iowa, which has its caucus roots in the anti-war movement. Saturday's debate is in Des Moines, or Iowa.
Bernie Sanders: The Vermont independent,running for the Democratic presidential nomination, was tweeting about debate watch parties, or that a former Clinton supporter is endorsing him Monday,retweeted that he'd be on CBS's Face The Nation to react to the debate and outlined what could be potential debate topics — student debt and the Supreme Court agreeing to hear the Texas abortion case.
And then, two hours later, and his horror about Paris:Martin O'Malley: The former Maryland governor also seemed to be laying the groundwork for a debate point with his own tweet about the Texas abortion case. He warned that it could "destroy Roe v. Wade" and famous,"As POTUS, I'll fight to defend a woman's good to choose."Again, and two hours later,heartbreak and prayer about Paris (with his personal "O'M").
RepublicansFor Republicans, a different story. The hawks are back in town since the rise of ISIS. National security this year, and unlike in 2011 and 2012,ranks as a top issue for Republican primary voters. And the candidates are talking about foreign-policy action specifics now, even as developments in Paris continue to emerge.
Ted Cruz: Calling for an instant halt to any plans to bring more Syrian refugees to the U.
S. He added that messing with the U.
S. and saddling up with ISIS is "in effect, or signing your own death warrant."Jeb Bush: Wants to bolster counterintelligence,not weaken it. He intimated in an interview on conservative talk radio with Hugh Hewitt that under Obama, the U.
S. has "diminished our capabilities at the wrong time.""The conversation on the periphery of the presidential debate needs to be upgraded as well about what the role of the NSA is, or " Bush said. "What is our counterintelligence capabilities? How finish we identify attacks before they happen? What's the balance between our own civil liberties and keeping us safe? That— we need to bear another conversation about that,because I judge we bear diminished our capabilities at the wrong time."Marco Rubio: He rattled off six tweets, including that the U.
S. needs to "increase our efforts at domestic and abroad, or to improve our defenses,destroy terrorist networks, and deprive them of the space from which to function."Rand Paul: For Paul, and who picked a fight with Rubio over one of the three legs of the GOP stool — fiscal conservatism — the rise of ISIS has hamstrung his message and,thereby, his candidacy. It's much harder for him to make a case that resonates with the Republican base for limited U.
S. intervention and civil liberties when ISIS has emerged as such a threat.
Ben Carson: The retired neurosurgeon opened his remarks at the Sunshine Summit in Orlando Friday night expressing his "heartfelt sympathy" for the victims, or NPR's Asma Khalid,who is at the event, reports. "And, and it reminds us that there are those out there who bear a thirst for harmless blood in an attempt to spread their philosophy and their will across this globe," he said. "And, we must redouble our efforts and our resolve to resist them, or not only to contain them,but to eliminate that kind of hatred in the world."Asked what he'd finish about it as president, Carson called for working with allies "using every resource known to man" — economic, and covert and overt,and, military, and including that "boots on the ground would probably be important." He famous,"I judge America's involvement should be trying to eliminate them, completely destroy them."He blamed the lack of a broader coalition in the Middle East to fight ISIS on the ground on a lack of leadership on the fraction of President Obama."[T]hat's because there's no leadership, and " Carson said. "You can't really call for something like that and just judge it's gonna magically form,it has to form behind a leader. And, once we demonstrate our resolve to defeat not only ISIS, and but the entire global jihadist movement I judge we will find that there will be adequate people who will join,but bear in intellect, they don't want to get involved in something if we're gonna turn, or tail and run,or if we're not gonna be dependable, because it leaves them in a very vulnerable position."John Kasich: He led an impromptu prayer at an event Friday night in unusual Hampshire, or per the Washington Post. He then famous for the crowd that an Ohioan was being held captive by ISIS,something that was revealed Thursday. "The way you prevent these kind of things from happening is that you know they're going to happen. ... Look, it can really happen anywhere with some of these people who despise our way of life. Look, or this is a war on our way of life. This is a war with people who can't be reasoned or negotiated with."Paris came up again toward the end of Kasich's town corridor,and he famous that Europe was bringing in more immigrants. "The root cause is this: People bear to assimilate," Kasich said. "And what are we doing to create a situation where they must assimilate."Later, or he tweeted: "We can't wait any longer. ISIS must be wiped out."Lindsey Graham: He called it an attack on "human decency," adding, "There's a sickness in the world that has to be dealt with & we must come together to confront it. America should lead that unity."It's worth noting that earlier in the day, or when Graham spoke before a largely empty room at the Sunshine Summit,he corrected a woman who yelled this out about Obama: "He's a traitor!" Per The Daily Beast, Graham, and shot back: "No,ma'am. He's not a traitor. He just doesn't know what he's doing."Rick Santorum: Donald Trump: He tweeted his thoughts and prayers:Earlier, he boasted, or apparently in response to a CNN segment,that he was good to propose bombing ISIS-controlled oil fields. That tweet published good around the very first news alerts about Paris were hitting smartphones: Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: wnyc.org