For Republicans, "Boots on the Ground" means "Let's get the oil!"

Every single one of the Republican candidates for President of the United States is saying the same thing after the horrific attacks in Paris: We need boots on the ground.

Romney:

Only America can lead this war, and that leadership means being willing to devote whatever resources are required to win — even boots on the ground.

"Mitt Romney: Obama must wage war on the Islamic State, not merely harass it" WashingtonPost.com 11/16/2015

Jeb!:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called for boots on the ground, as well as a clearer strategy and withdrawal plan. “This is the war of our time,” he said on Morning Joe. “We cannot do this by leading from behind, this requires American leadership, it doesn’t require us to be the world’s police, but it does require us to lead.” "Morning Joe 11/16/2015"

The Really Odd Couple:

The 2008 Republican nominee John McCain and current GOP presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham joined the table on “Morning Joe” to advocate for sending in U.S. forces to fight the Islamic State and stepping up the U.S. Both are hawkish conservatives, but Graham has used his presidential campaign to repeatedly focus on the threat of ISIS and advocate for a stronger military option to fight them.

“Paris made things more real than ever,” Graham said, calling for a “ground component to supplement the air campaign.” Morning Joe 11/16/2015

Rubio:

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said U.S. allies should invoke the collective defense clause of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in response to terrorist attacks in Paris. Wall Street Journal 11/15/2015

Kasich:

Today, NATO should invoke Article 5 of our NATO agreement, which basically says an attack on an ally is an attack on us and an attack on all of the Western world.

“John Kasich calls for NATO action following Paris attack” CNN.com 11/14/2015

What they keep forgetting to add is that these boots on the ground mostly would be in Iraq.

This brought to mind another quote. One of the dumbest lines written for a movie, ever.

Sir, do we get to win this time?

John Rambo (aka Sylvester Stallone) Rambo, Part II

Can we get real about this? This sturm und drang about Paris from the Republican side is about oil. They want more of it. They need more of it. Much like supply-side economics, they didn’t get any out of it last time, so they want to double-down and try again.

In one of the most underrated performances of the last 20 years, Richard Dreyfus played Dick Cheney in the Oliver Stone film “W”. In my opinion, he totally caught him. And the attached clip captures Cheney to a tee.

Watch the entire clip and listen carefully, especially to what Jeffrey Wright (as Colin Powell) says.

This is also about blurring the lines regarding what happened last time we sent a bunch of boots into a Middle Eastern country. “If we get a win here, we can sure forget about that last one, right?”

I also just thought of how some Republicans are trying to shove us into another war without putting any of their own skin in the game, but that’s another diary.

That is all.