In today’s Featured Debate, we see Lebanon on the brink of its third civil war.
To some, it may appear that Hezbollah is the culprit, but that conclusion mistakes the trees for the forest. All should by now be awake to the fact that in the ongoing conflicts in Lebanon, Israel and Iraq, all roads lead back to Tehran.
Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, the Shiite militias in Iraq. It all leads back to Tehran. As long as the mullahs are given enough room to maneuver, there will be war in the Middle East. As long as our cowardly Western leaders fail to act in the face of this reality, there will be war in the Middle East. They may deceive themselves into thinking that by not confronting the mullahs they valiantly avoid war. In fact, they prolong it.
Jimmy Carter’s descent into useful idiocy is well documented. Yesterday, on Wolf Blitzer’s show on CNN, the former President gave us a close look into his thoughts on the situation in the Middle East. It isn’t pretty:
Let’s inspect Carter’s points.
1. Hamas is not an obstacle to peace in the region
2. Hamas would accept Israel as a Jewish state living alongside a Palestinian state
3. Hamas really wants a ceasefire, but Israel rejects their please for one, and so “the conflict goes on”
The reality is the exact opposite on every point. Hamas has continuously launched rockets and other acts of terrorism aimed at Israeli civilians, they’ve never ceased, regardless of the phony “ceasefires” you hear the AP reporting from time to time.
Approximately 30 seconds after good ole Jimmy announced that Hamas was willing to recognize a Jewish State of Israel alongside a Palestinian state, none other than Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas, contradicted him. It wasn’t “spokespersons” for Hamas that contradicted him, it was the head of the terrorist organization himself.
Lastly, Hamas likes to choose very opportune times to offer “ceasefires.” Namely, as their leaders start being targeted by Israeli helicopters seems to be the running theme. Of course, they cynically offer “ceasefires” knowing that it puts Israel in the position of choosing between targeting the terrorists that have just attacked their civilian population, or being labeled warmongers who don’t want a ceasefire by their friends in the international media. Sadly, a former President of the United States of America never fails to step up to the plate on behalf of the terrorists of Hamas.
UPDATE: John Hinderaker at Powerline has a post on this as well.
Here’s a comment left by David Adams on today’s Featured Debate:
The content of a person’s character is especially important when they’re seeking to be president of ALL Americans.
Obama is guilty of poor judgement in choosing and sticking with his ‘friends’, but his missteps are not gaffes - not the mispronounciation or misapplication of a word or two; his statements reflect his true character.
Right on the money David. It’s just astonishing that someone can run for the presidency for 15 months before the truth starts to leak out.
Inevitably though, it will. The Republicans got lucky in having the real Obama start to leak out with such perfect timing. Think about it, he’s still going to be the nominee (most likely), but since Hillary is still sorta kinda in it, she gets to attack him and expose him instead of McCain having to do it, which would be a much more difficult and risky proposition. Obama will come out of the Democratic contest bloodied up and will have a hard time convincing voters that he can truly transcend partisan politics, a central selling point of his campaign. He’ll be just another politician by the time Hillary is done with him.
Of course, as we’ve seen thus far in this incredible campaign, the tide will turn not once but several times between now and November. Nominating Obama simply makes it much more likely that the tide will turn in favor of McCain just as millions of Americans head to the polls.
I’d like to start off by saying that the moderators did a fantastic job. They asked serious, pointed questions and did not allow either of the candidates to get around them by having some great follow ups.
In fact, you can tell how good of a job they’ve done on being neutral and yet incisive by the way the Kos Kids are reacting:
When a corporate behemoth like Disney decides it can control its News Division to filter, select and distort what the American population will or will not see in order to make decisions about its leaders, whatever murky motivations may underly that decision, there is a fundamental imbalance that needs to be addressed if this country is to remain a Democracy. What we saw tonight was neither Democratic nor Republican--it was corporate and it was disgusting--disgusting beyond my capacity to imagine just a few short years ago.
So let our response begin here, tonight.
Here’s a tough question, if you’re Barack Obama:
Another thing worth mentioning is Hillary’s performance, which was by far her best to date. This matches up quite well, as I see this as Obama’s worst. John Podhoretz at Contentions agrees.
Clinton good. Frighteningly good. Obama bad. Very bad. Any audacious hoper who presumes Obama will unquestionably best McCain in debate should watch this one and worry.
Where was Hillary frighteningly good?
Here:
And here:
Some thoughts I’d like to leave off with:
1 - Obama mentions near the end of the debate that he believes economic progress comes from the bottom up. Really? Well that’s interesting, because if that thought process applies, why doesn’t the political progress in Iraq (which has been phenomenal from the ground up) mean anything?
2 - How can he try and play off that he didn’t sign this memo?
3 - I’ve had just about enough of this populist nonsense that declares tax breaks for the rich to be such a travesty. Read this and try and convince me why we shouldn’t give the rich the biggest tax breaks.
Using recent data, in other words, it would appear on its face that the Democratic proposal to raise taxes on the upper-income earners, and lower taxes on the middle- and lower- income earners, will result in huge revenue losses on both accounts. But some academic advisers to Democratic candidates have a hard time understanding the obvious, devising outlandish theories as to why things are different now. Well they aren’t!
In the 1920s, the highest federal marginal income tax rate fell to 24% from 78%. Those people who earned over $100,000 had their share of total taxes paid rise—from 29.9% in 1920 to 48.8% in 1925, and then to 62.2% in 1929. There was no inflation over this period.
With the Kennedy tax cuts of the 1960s, when the highest tax rate fell from to 70% from 91%, the story was the same. When you cut the highest tax rates on the highest-income earners, government gets more money from them, and when you cut tax rates on the middle and lower income earners, the government gets less money from them.
I’m still a little confused as to how Obama supporters firmly believe he’s a better match up against McCain. But, then again, they’ve drank the Hope Kool Aid…
A good friend of mine has organized a fundraiser for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. The foundation provides college scholarship grants, along with financial aid and educational counseling, to the children of Special Operations personnel who were killed during an operational mission or training accident. Although the charity is relatively small, there are currently more than 700 children who will need assistance in the coming years. In 2007 alone, the foundation provided a free college education to 111 students across the country.
You can donate here and go here for additional information on the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
Sadly, the night is dedicated to a friend of one of the organizers of the event. Green Beret Staff Sergeant Joseph Curreri tragically died in a diving accident in October while deployed in the Philippines in the fight against global terrorism. He was only 27, and he left behind a wife of little more than one year. Although Joe did not have any children, he was a strong supporter of the SOWF and deeply believed in the foundation’s mission. Below is a portion of a Los Angeles Times article paying tribute to Joe’s life.
Excerpt From LA Times Article:
Born and reared in the suburbs of Baltimore, Curreri became a Civil War buff at an early age and a record-breaking swimmer. When he was 14, he swam across Chesapeake Bay and also founded the water polo team at his high school, the Jesuit-run Loyola Blakefield. Coaches from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and elsewhere urged him to join their swim teams, but he fell in love with USC on a recruiting trip, his mother said. “He was a dedicated Trojan,” she said. His Army buddies, some from competing colleges around the country, recounted how he would devilishly subject them to his singing of the USC fight song.
On the USC swim team, he was a member of a four-man relay team that took first place in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Spring Nationals in 1999. He qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and was voted captain of the swim team for the first half of his senior year. “He was a great competitor and one of the more popular guys on the team,” said Mark Schubert, USC’s former head swim coach and now in charge of USA Swimming, the program that trains the U.S. Olympic team. “He was admired by everybody, with his work ethic and his spirit. He was always one of those guys who cared more about his teammates than he did about himself.” Curreri’s best friend at USC, two-time Olympic silver medalist Erik Vendt, described him this way: “I consider Joe to be the brother I never had. He was the most passionate, unbelievably loyal man I’ve ever met. Guys like him don’t come around very often.”
At 6 feet 1, heavily muscled, with blue eyes and sandy blond hair, Curreri was known for his unconstrained bear hugs for family and friends. His passion extended to matters of the mind and affairs of the heart. About 18 months ago, he married fellow USC graduate Athena Wickham, now an executive in a Los Angeles film production company. “For fun, he read history books and Russian literature,” his wife said. “That was his idea of a good time.” Curreri was planning to pursue a doctorate in history after completing his military service, with the aim of teaching U.S. history to the next generation. “I’m luckier than most people [to] have something like him in my life for the past 5 1/2 years,” his wife said. “I considered myself lucky to have been loved this much.”
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks deeply affected Curreri while he was at USC, according to his friends and family.His longtime interest in war history and public service propelled him to attempt to join the Navy. He wanted to become a Navy SEAL, to make use of his skills as a waterman, but was rejected because of an old back injury from weightlifting in college. After graduating from USC in 2002, he worked briefly as a corporate recruiter and history tutor, and decided to appeal his medical disqualification. Curreri took his case directly to Army Surgeon General James Peake, who granted him a medical waiver, family members said.
Instead of opting for officer school, an option available as a university graduate, Curreri decided to enlist so he could work his way into the Army’s elite Special Forces. In an essay titled “Why I wish to become a Green Beret,” Curreri quoted President Kennedy about the few granted the role of defending freedom in the hour of maximum danger. “When my children ask me what I did to avenge the assault of September 11th, I shall be able to look them in the eye, without a hint of hesitation, and respond that I answered the call of our nation,” he wrote. Curreri joined the Army in 2004 and was assigned as a Special Forces communications sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Lewis, Wash.
He was part of a group helping to train Philippine government troops fighting Islamic militants in the nation’s southern islands and was due to return to the United States with his group Nov. 8.
This is a great cause and a great opportunity to support our men and women in uniform.
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I just listened to John McCain’s big foreign policy speech at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He said the following with regards to treatment of detainees:
America must be a model citizen if we want others to look to us as a model. How we behave at home affects how we are perceived abroad. We must fight the terrorists and at the same time defend the rights that are the foundation of our society. We can’t torture or treat inhumanely suspected terrorists we have captured. I believe we should close Guantanamo and work with our allies to forge a new international understanding on the disposition of dangerous detainees under our control.
I don’t buy it. I think McCain’s stance on torture is an act of political tip-toeing. McCain, like all the other candidates in the race, leaves himself a bit of wiggle room on the matter in the form of the “ticking time-bomb scenario.” I think if it came down to it, and we caught a big stinking fish like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he’d have no trouble authorizing waterboarding with the “ticking time-bomb” defense at the ready. The issue is simply an effective way of distancing himself from Bush.
Truth be told, I think a President Clinton or Obama would do the same.
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