[...] It's true that some Republican candidates tried to use the "ISIS crisis" to portray Democrats as "weak on national security." But these Republicans haven't yet been forced to put forward and defend any specific "more aggressive" alternative policy in the court of public opinion. It's one thing to say that you think the President is doing a bad job confronting ISIS. It's quite another to be forced to say what exactly you would do differently.
Do these Republicans want to see U.S. ground troops engaged in combat against ISIS in Iraq and Syria? If so, let them say so on the record; let them introduce and vote for an authorization of force for Iraq and Syria that includes the use of ground combat troops... [...]
===
Robert Naiman Policy Director Just Foreign Policy www.justforeignpolicy.org naiman at justforeignpolicy.org (202) 448-2898 x1