GOPer On Obama’s ISIS Plan: ‘Denounce It If It Goes Bad, Praise It’ If It Works

Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Rep. Jack Kingston, delivers his concession speech after being defeated by businessman David Perdue in the primary runoff at his election night party, Tuesday, July 22, 2014,... Georgia Republican U.S. Senate candidate, Rep. Jack Kingston, delivers his concession speech after being defeated by businessman David Perdue in the primary runoff at his election night party, Tuesday, July 22, 2014, in Atlanta. (AP Photo) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) supports having an authorization vote on whether to use force against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria but he sees an advantage for Republicans on avoiding a public vote on the issue.

“A lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, ‘Just bomb the place and tell us about it later,’ ” Kingston said according to The New York Times. “It’s an election year. A lot of Democrats don’t know how it would play in their party, and Republicans don’t want to change anything. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long.”

Kingston’s comments, published on Monday, ahead of President Barack Obama’s scheduled announced laying out his plan for fighting ISIS. Obama is scheduled to meet with Republican and Democratic congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss his strategy.

Kingston will retire next year from Congress after he failed to secure the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Georgia in a runoff election.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. “A lot of people would like to stay on the sideline and say, ‘Just bomb the place and tell us about it later…”

    I guess we’re supposed to just file this one under “Why can’t Obama lead?”

  2. We like the path we’re on now. We can denounce it if it goes bad, and praise it if it goes well and ask what took him so long

    ‘’…and right after that, we’re gonna release the GOP blueprint for a national healthcare plan…’’

  3. GOPer: We’ll Denounce Obama’s ISIS Plan If It Goes Bad, Ignore IT If It Goes Well.

    There, fixed it for ya.

  4. Talk about leading from behind …

    I used to cover Jack Kingston when he was in the Georgia Legislature. To put it politely, he was not the brightest of fellows then either.

  5. “Kingston will retire next year from Congress after he failed to secure the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Georgia in a runoff election.”

    Can you really call it “retiring” when the guy lost?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

21 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for hair2play Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for bmcchgo Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for Patriott Avatar for schoolyt Avatar for ecmiles Avatar for edwardf56 Avatar for wiscojoe Avatar for rudesan Avatar for trumpdog Avatar for sylhines Avatar for jinx_tpm Avatar for bignose Avatar for arc_of_the_universe Avatar for ottnott Avatar for radgal70 Avatar for tonyjenson Avatar for dnl Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for sherron Avatar for michaelhag

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: