Month: August 2006

Brian Wimborne in The Australian on why the Left hates Israel:

The state’s success has been the reason the Left turned against Israel. Within a few years of its foundation, Israel had broken the first commandment of the Left’s ideology: “Thou shalt not succeed.” Success is anathema to the Left because it puts an end to victimhood; without victims the Left has no reason to exist. In the eyes of the Left’s supporters, Israel’s great accomplishments meant that the country no longer qualified as a victim. Israel, through being successful, effectively turned its back on the role chosen for it by the Left.

Read the rest.

Were you fooled by Lanny Davis’ piece in Opinion Journal today? On first glance it looked like Lanny was serving up a big ‘ol juicy smack down on his fellow Democrats. Wrong. This ‘liar for liars’ who’s now trying to represent himself as some sort of centrist conscience is doing nothing more than feigning shock and disbelief that intolerance exists within the Left.

I came to believe that we liberals couldn’t possibly be so intolerant and hateful, because our ideology was famous for ACLU-type commitments to free speech, dissent and, especially, tolerance for those who differed with us. And in recent years–with the deadly combination of sanctimony and vitriol displayed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage–I held on to the view that the left was inherently more tolerant and less hateful than the right.

Uh, excuse me Lanny, but have you listened to Al Franken? Or how Keith ‘Mr. Tolerance’ Olbermann? Have you heard the shrieking and the shrillness of any number of speeches delivered by Hillary Clinton in the last 12 months? And what about Al “They Played On Our Fears” Gore?

And of course, there are the character assassination tactics employed by the Clintonistas (of which you claim membership) in the 90’s against a few folks like…

— Kathleen Willey
— Monica Lewinsky
— Paula Jones
— Gennifer Flowers

Pretending that the Left has been “inherently more tolerant and less hateful than the right” proves one thing Mr. Davis. It proves you live in a protected bubble amongst like minded leftists who spend an inordinate amount of time switching between a gaze at their reflection in the mirror and a long hard intent focus on their own navels.

Wake up Lanny. Your ilk has been playing the hate game long before the dope smokin’ sixties, an era you seem happily stuck in.

You know what’s happening right now? Thousands of bloggers are looking at news photos right now…wondering.

Think all Democrats like Hillary? Think again.

Dick Bennett has been polling New Hampshire voters for 30 years. And he’s never seen anything like it. 

“Lying b**** . . . shrew . . . Machiavellian . . . evil, power-mad witch . . . the ultimate self-serving politician.”

No prizes for guessing which presidential front-runner drew these remarks in focus groups. But these weren’t Republicans talking about Hillary Clinton. They weren’t even independents. These were ordinary, grass-roots Democrats. People who identified themselves as “likely” voters in the pivotal state’s Democratic primary. And, behind closed doors, this is what nearly half of them are saying.

“I was amazed,” says Bennett. “I thought there might be some negatives, but I didn’t know it would be as strong as this. It’s stunning, the similarities between the Republicans and the Democrats, the comments they have about her.”

Bennett goes on to say that he’s never seen so many New Hampshire voters show so much hatred towards a member of their own party. Nothing comes close.

Hillary’s team had no comment.

Heh.

Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief of The New Republic.

Ned Lamont is Karl Rove’s dream come true. If he, and others of his stripe, carry the day, the Democratic party will lose the future, and deservedly.

He’s right.

The culprit? That darned ‘No Fly’ list.

A Boston-bound American Airlines jet with 240 passengers and 13 crew aboard returned to London’s Heathrow airport on Monday over a security issue, but there was no threat to the aircraft, the company said.

An airline spokeswoman did not give details, but a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said a male passenger on the flight had matched a name on a U.S. “no-fly” list.

“Flight AA109 … is returning to Heathrow airport due to a potential security issue that needs to be resolved in London,” the airline said in a statement. “There is no threat to the aircraft.”

An American Airlines spokeswoman later told Reuters in London that the incident was now closed.

I work with a guy whose name was on the ‘No Fly’ list. No, he isn’t a terrorist, nor has he ever been one. Yet, he’d often get held up at airport counters until his name was cleared. The whole thing makes me wonder how effective the list is. How is it maintained? How often is it updated, filtered, added to, revised?

The little boy who had an M-16 pointed at him on orders by Janet Reno, has sent a little note to Fidel Castro.

Elian Gonzalez sent a note Sunday wishing a speedy recovery to “my dear grandpa Fidel,” and Cuba’s vice president said the world’s longest-serving leader is recuperating well after surgery.

Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center of an international custody battle with family members in Miami six years ago, published a letter in the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde signed with “little kisses” from him and his half-siblings and cousins.

“We send you this letter to let you know that we are worried about your health,” Elian, now 12, wrote. “We hope for your speedy recovery and take the opportunity to wish you a happy birthday, may you have many more.”

Signed with “little kisses” huh?

How creepy.

Fake a photo, get fired.

If you take pictures for a major media organization and you own a copy of Adobe Photoshop, Charles Johnson is watchin’ you.

UPDATE: Reuters withdraws all photos from photographer.

Former vice president candidate John Edwards is the latest Democrat to publicly call for the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq. His idea? Pull out 40,000 today.

The former U.S. senator from North Carolina told reporters America should “make it clear (to Iraqis) we are leaving, and the best way is to start leaving. We should take 40,000 combat troops out now.”

Edwards has said he regretted his vote as a U.S. senator authorizing President Bush to declare war in Iraq. He said Saturday that he would ask the country’s military leaders for a strategy “to have the (rest of the) troops out in roughly 12 to 18 months.”

“There is no chance other countries in the world will help Iraq as long as we are an occupying force,” he said.

Each time I hear another Democrat whine about Iraq, I think of our brave troops who continue to fight for Democracy while they are bombarded with morale crushing comments from “leaders” like Edwards.

And it sends chills up my spine to think that this man, who today backs surrender, could have stood within a heartbeat of the presidency.

Happy Friday.