Regarding Iraq, New GOP House Majority Leader Has No Earthly Idea What He’s Talking About

During an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the new House Majority Leader, showed that he is just another GOP mouthpiece that likes to talk smack about President Obama, but when pressed for any ideas or strategies himself, has nothing to offer. Wallace and McCarthy talked bout the present situation in Iraq and the fact that the President recently sent over 300 special forces troops to assist the Iraqi army. Wallace, ever the the GOP’s helping hand, tried to give McCarthy every opportunity to provide some ideas from a GOP perspective. Instead, he got nothing but endless double-talk and vague statements about the need for a strategy from the White House.

WALLACE: Welcome back to “Fox News Sunday.”

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Let’s start with Iraq where as we reported, ISIS is still on the move. Was President Obama right to send these military advisers to help the Iraqi army? Or should he move further and authorize military strikes against is now?

MCCARTHY: I think the first thing he needs to do, because to me, this is not just about Iraq. This is about Syria, this is about Egypt, this is about the entire Middle East.

What is our strategy? Why do you send troops? What are they going to do?

If you don’t have an overall strategy, how do we push back this momentum of this terrorism that’s growing throughout the entire region? To me, the key part was, lay out a strategy, then we can see the outcome of what we need to do to make it happen.

WALLACE: But we cannot allow ISIS to have a safe haven.

MCCARTHY: We cannot allow it. I don’t have a problem sending the 300, but I think it’s more important, what is the strategy you’re going to have going forward. So what military options do you have? I leave everything on the table right now.

WALLACE: Including boots on the ground?

MCCARTHY: I put everything on the table.

But most people when you talk to them don’t think boots on the ground work right now. You don’t need it. But if you don’t have a strategy, what would the boots on the ground even do? That’s the question you have to have.

WALLACE: Does it make sense to authorize military strikes, airstrikes now, simply to degrade, slow down ISIS, which is moving across Iraq?

MCCARTHY: If you have a strategy that says the airstrikes have to go, then yes, that would be right. If you don’t have a strategy, why do you pick what you’re going to do next?

I think the key part is lay out what we want to do for the entire region, to stop the momentum of this growth, we cannot allow them to continue to grow. By not acting, now, they have half a billion dollars. They’re growing each and every day.

By our lack of action has allowed them to grow. So, build an overall strategy that moves that momentum backwards. Airstrikes could be a very good — big key part of it.

So, let me get this straight. Maybe we need to put boots on the ground, but only if we have a strategy. Maybe airstrikes are the answer, maybe not. All depends on having a strategy. Everything is on the table, but you have to have a strategy. We need to stop the momentum of ISIS and we need to have a strategy. Gee, thanks, Mr. McCarthy. Sure glad you were able to clear that right up.

Like his predecessor Eric Cantor, McCarthy offers up no ideas, no plans, no anything. It appears that he knows how to criticize the President and Democrats and that is about it. In that exchange between Wallace and McCarthy, there was not one concise, clear point of view offered. Not a one. The man just hemmed and hawed and essentially spouted off important sounding gibberish. That is all we get from the Republican Party anymore. They are a party of second-guessing critics who know how to say no yet never offer any solutions.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the Managing Editor at Politicus Sports as well as Senior Editor at PoliticusUSA. He was a political writer for 411Mania.com before joining PoliticusUSA. Politically, Justin considers himself a liberal but also a realist and pragmatist. Currently, Justin lives in St. Louis, MO and is married. Besides writing, he also runs his own business after spending a number of years in the corporate world. You can follow Justin on Twitter either with his personal handle (@justinbaragona) or the Sports site’s (@PoliticusSports).