Robert Costa's "How Republicans hope to turn Islamic State into a problem for Democrats" is a grimacing portrait in GOP desperation, yet another sign that the party has nothing else to offer:
After more than a decade bearing the political burden of Iraq, Republicans are making a dogged effort to shed it by arguing that the Islamic State’s gruesome ascent is a symptom of Obama’s foreign policy, rather than a byproduct of the 2003 invasion they once championed….
The rapid move to shift responsibility is at the core of the GOP’s plan to define 2016 as a foreign-policy election. Anxious about demographic trends and the leftward drift of the electorate on social issues, many Republicans hope to seize on global unrest and offer voters a steady hand.
Picture for a moment that "steady hand" juxtaposed with the GOP's disorderly minds and overactive glands: Jeb Bush destroyed by a 19-year-old college student; Marco Rubio flustered by a Fox News host, of all people; Lindsey Graham shadow-boxing with the world. These are but a few of the bumbling apologists, quoted by Costa, for a war that should never have been. For them to now shovel blame for the conflict's inevitable outcome on its unfortunate inheritor is a trick so shoddy even the "everyday" American voter can see through it.
Yet, as Costa observes, what else do Republicans have? Their hardcore geezers are dying off and a younger electorate is drifting left (relative to American politics). Plus, most voters care far more about jobs and the economy than they do about Ramadi, Iraq — and jobs and the economy are both headed in a positive direction.
Which leaves Republican presidential candidates in 2016 with the same strategy they tried and failed at in 2012: taking calamitous events they created and heaving the blame on others. In 2012 they tried it with the economy (without offering intelligent alternatives) and they failed; in 2016 they'll try it with foreign policy (without offering intelligent alternatives) and fail.
A certain amount of pity should be allowed, however. They really do have nothing else to offer.