The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Assad Never Lost Legitimacy

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Assad Never Lost Legitimacy

By Aaron Goldstein on 8.18.11 @ 5:11PM

I read Senator Marco Rubio's statement on Syria today (H/T Daniel Halper of The Weekly Standard) and found myself taken aback by his first sentence:

Bashar al-Assad and his murderous regime's enablers lost their legitimacy to govern a long time ago.

Could anyone please tell me a time during the course of Assad's presidency, which dates back to June 10, 2000, when he was ever legitimate? It annoys me to no end when I hear people, whether its Rubio or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, proclaim that a dictator has lost his legitimacy. I would dare say it annoys me even more hearing it from Rubio considering his family were Cuban exiles with no love lost for Fidel Castro.

Bashar al-Assad did not lose legitimacy. He has no legitimacy to lose. The only thing for him to lose is absolute power.

View all comments (4) | Leave a comment

Occam's Tool| 8.18.11 @ 5:29PM

Always be sure to fire two bullets in these situations at the head. There is always a possibility of a random richochet which does not kill initially. But the chance that two shots that connect with the skull will not perform properly is small.

This guy Assad needs two bullets.

PCC| 8.18.11 @ 5:35PM

Dear Mr. Goldstein,

Of course you are right that, in a world of Jeffersonian democracy, Mr. Assad and his ilk have no legitimacy to lose.

However, out here in the real world, there are all sorts of degrees of legitimacy, and all sorts of ways to claim it and to lose it.

Mike W| 8.18.11 @ 10:26PM

The bozos and liars that brought us the Iraq debacle and trying to generate support for an intervention in Syria.

Never mind that Syria is for the most part a secular society with a Christian community that does well there. The neocon butt munches want Assad deposed and a resulting jihad government that can really threaten Israel.

Has anyone looked at what happened to Christian in Iraq? They have been decimated.

You lousy worthless scum are trying to do it again.

Warrior| 8.18.11 @ 10:41PM

So you believe it's productive to take Marco Rubio's comments out of context and compare them with Hillary Clinton's? You never seem to have a problem with the GOP staying quiet on just about every conservative issue imaginable. Yet there's no issue with calling out a Tea party senator. You might want to stay with your best subjects to report on, like the attendance at the Orioles game.