Archive for October 17th, 2007
Losing Presidential Election, Al Gore “Unites” America
Sometimes you don’t have to read the comics section in your local newspaper to get a laugh. Sometimes you just have to read the New York Times.
For instance, take the October 14th Thomas Friedman column, “Who Will Succeed Al Gore“. That’s Freidman’s Sunday column with all the sappy accolades to Al Gore for winning the Nobel Peace Prize; a prize which obviously has nothing to do with “peace” and everything to do with “politics.”
With a straight face, Freidman writes “Gore lost the presidency, but in the dignity and grace with which he gave up his legal fight, he united America.”
Al Gore “united America?” Give me a break! The only event that has truly united America since December 7, 1941 was September 11, 2001…and I’m pretty sure Al Gore was still sitting around in a funk, “faced with what to do with the rest of his life,” as Freidman puts it.
Al Gore “gave up his legal fight!?” He didn’t give up, Tom. He took it all the way to the Supreme Court! To this day, half of Gore’s “united America” still refers to President Bush as the “selected”, not elected, president.
I understand liberal-speak as much as the next right thinking person but what I don’t understand is the contempt for the intelligence of the average American held by liberals. Friedman is a reasonably intelligent fellow although quite misguided. His positions are generally well articulated though not necessarily correct. If he wants to slobber all over Al Gore, who Freidman believes is only the second man in history to walk on water, that’s fine by me. I don’t care.
This time, however, between Tom and me, one of us is sorely lacking in historical perspective.
Ann Coulter said it best. “For liberals, history begins this morning.”
Dems Want to Condemn Turkey before Turkey was Turkey
“I think there was genocide in Turkey in 1915…” said California Rep. Jane Harmon, a co-sponsor of the resolution that would condemn as genocide the mass killings of Armenians nearly a century ago.
That Turkey was not a country until 8 years later, in 1923, and that the killings of the Armenians took place in the former Ottoman Empire in the midst of World War I, the “war to end all wars”, does not appear to be of any consequence.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the resolution stating it is morally imperative that the U.S. condemn the World War I-era mass killing of Armenians by the Turks. Nearly a century has passed since the deaths of the Armenians and Nancy Pelosi believes that now… this year, this month…it has all of a sudden become “morally imperative” for the U.S. to condemn Turkey for the Armenian deaths.
The Democratic resolution now before Congress to condemn Turkey is the latest in a long string of international blunders by Democrats and further makes clear why Democrats can not be trusted with national security and the defense of this nation. Democrats invariably put their own political interest before national security interests.
Turkey is a critical Mid-East ally in the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq. “About 70% of all air cargo going into Iraq comes – goes through Turkey,” said Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Admiral William Fallon, head of U.S. Central Command fears a backlash from Turkey could harm the war effort in Iraq.
A backlash that could harm the war effort in Iraq, says the Admiral. Is there any other plausible reason why the Democrats would choose now to put forth such an idiotic resolution?
Investors Business Daily thinks not. “…Congressional Democrats weren’t interested in justice when they voted on this resolution. They had political mischief in mind. “
“Those who pushed the resolution saw a chance to pander to an aggrieved but well-heeled group – Armenian-Americans - while damaging U.S. ties with Turkey, a key ally in the war on terror.”
“For Democrats, what could be better? Shore up their Armenian-American support at home, while making it harder for President Bush to win in Iraq - a war Democrats have come to loathe, even though they voted for it. Win-win, as political strategists like to say.”
Dan Thomasson writing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, says, “One expects the Speaker of the House to be far more responsible, particularly when it comes to dealing with irresponsible, emotional demands of constituents. But what Nancy Pelosi seems to have forgotten is that her position makes her the next in line to be president of the United States after the vice president and that at times that may require putting the national interests ahead of political expediency no matter how many Armenian Americans are in her district.”
“So ignoring the possible consequences of a diplomatic break, which both Turkish and U.S. authorities warn is a real possibility, Pelosi has allowed the politically mischievous resolution to be voted out of committee and has further inflamed the situation by promising the issue would be taken up by the full House. The result of this, among other things, has been to increase the possibility of a Turkish invasion of Northern Iraq to quell Kurdish separatists who Turks regard as terrorists and the cutting off of vital supply lines and bases for U.S. troops.”
“Short of calling for actual reparations to the descendents of the 1915 victims at the threat of bombing Istanbul and sending a nasty letter to every Turk over there and here, Pelosi and the resolution’s sponsors couldn’t have done more to undercut American interests. Nothing apparently said by a desperate White House backed up by the last nine secretaries of state has so far been able to dissuade the speaker who came to the high office promising to quell the incivility of a place that often more resembles a juvenile detention center than a legislature. Well, how does one spell bi-partisanship now that it is needed. No wonder the only approval rating lower than Bush’s belongs to Congress.”
With vocal opposition from the last 9 Secretaries of State, the White House, every military officer in a command position, half the nation’s newspapers, and the defection of even Democrats who sponsored the Resolution including senate pal John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi is backtracking as fast as she politically can.
“Worried about antagonizing Turkish leaders, House members from both parties have begun to withdraw their support from a resolution backed by the Democratic leadership that would condemn as genocide the mass killings of Armenians nearly a century ago.” reports the New York Times today.
Passing this non-binding, politically motivated Democratic sponsored resolution would be a destabilizing action when the United States needs the help of its allies, including Turkey, in fighting the global war on terrorism and the war in Iraq.
