Vivek Takes Pages from Democrats’ Playbook

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican presidential candidate, was in beast mode at Wednesday’s GOP primaries. Ramaswamy seems like a good man who says a lot of the right things. But, he lost me during the debate with just a few words.

Ramaswamy, on the subject of Ukraine, took a big risk when he challenged his opponents to name at least three provinces located in Eastern Ukraine. He then attacked Nikki Haley for her intelligence. Chris Christie then stepped in to defend Nikki Haley. Ramaswamy then launched a brutal attack.

He said, “I believe we learned something from Chris Christie.” “We learned three important things. Three things were learned. Chris Christie doesn’t even know which provinces in Eastern Ukraine he wants us to fight. Chris, you’re foreign policy experience consisted of closing a New Jersey-New York bridge. Do everyone a favor and walk off the stage. Enjoy a nice meal. And get out of here. “When it comes to Nikki I think that if you are going to send your children to die in someone else’s war, then…

Chris Christie interrupted, “I’ve never heard you not speak.”

Ramaswamy emphasized, “I am still speaking and I haven’t finished yet.” “You missed your chance. Listen to what I’m saying. They’ve been pushing for this for over a year. Our taxpayers sent $200 billion. They couldn’t tell you which provinces they want to defend. These are the same people who boasted about their alleged ‘foreign-policy experience’. It’s intellectual fraud.”

He continued, “These people lie to you.” “The people who told us about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to justify this invasion did not know a thing about them, but they sent our sons and daughter to die. They are the same people that told you about the weapons of mass destruction in Afghanistan where the Taliban still rule 20 years after. These toxic neocons are responsible for $7 trillion of the national debt. Dick Cheney is a fascist, no matter how much lipstick you put on him. “You can see it is Dick Cheney again today!”

Ramaswamy certainly has shown himself to be a formidable force, whether on the stage of a debate or in an unfriendly interview, but calling a fellow Republican like Dick Cheney a “fascist neon” is not going to do him any good. He sounds more like a Democrat. Democrats and their supporters are always calling Republicans Nazis or fascists. The GOP does not need its members to use the same rhetoric.

His rhetoric on Iraq was completely wrong. The fact remains that, despite the current debate about the war in Iraq, the Bush Administration acted on the conclusions of the intelligence community about Saddam Hussein’s possession of weapons of mass destruction. The CIA, as well as the intelligence agencies in France, Germany, and Israel, believed that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs. Bipartisan investigations conducted after the war found that contrary to claims made by many leftists, the intelligence community was never under political pressure to change its assessment of Iraq’s chemical and biological capabilities.

Will Ramaswamy join Democrats in chanting, “Bush and Cheney lied, people died” or will he heed his own advice and research the topic before speaking about it?