Rightwing Extremism is Serious: And Boy, Lucky They Didn't Take Down a Skyscraper or Two ... or Something*

Geez, I'm getting linked by lefty media folks all over the place this week. But I wonder if idiots like JBW are gonna hammer Alan Colmes for his verboten cut-and-paste hack job, "Why Are Some Right-Wingers Defending Terror Suspects?":

Is terrorism only terrorism when it’s instigated by Muslims? It seems so, to those who want to give a pass to so-called “Christian” militia groups, but make excuses when it’s right-wing alleged offenders. Nine militia group members were arrested over the weekend, with charges such as seditious conspiracy and use of WMD. So is the anti-terror crowd pleased with the FBI’s good work? Not quite.

I seriously doubt Mr. Colmes read my essay cited at the link, or the FDL airhead who linked it in the first place. (Although, checking the posts, I'm listed right up there with Glenn Reynolds -- so there's that at least.) These folks need some kind of PR victory these days, so exploiting the arrests of some obscure militia sounds about right. Of course, it'd make my day if Janet Napolitano put as much effort into interdicting terrorists like Malik Nadal Hasan and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to say nothing of securing the border.

But hey, can't say she didn't telescope her intentions: "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment."

* And just in case anyone snarks, rightwing militias are indeed a serious threat. My point is that perhaps Democratic-leftists might widen their field of vision to also take serious the threat from Islamic jihad domestically... some day, perhaps.

RELATED: At NYT, "9 Tied to Militia Charged in Plot to Murder Officers." (Via Memeorandum.)

Also, from Brian Doherty, "The Hutaree Arrest and Getting Tough on Terror From Left and Right."

Voyeur West Hollywood's Understated Elegance

A Michael Steele/RNC/Voyeur West Hollywood roundup:

The Washington Post reports on the RNC S&M controversy, "FEC report details lavish Republican spending, including nearly $2,000 at Voyeur West Hollywood." And at Huffington Post, "Michael Steele Called Tone Deaf By GOP Brass, Urged to Resign."

But what really caught my attention was this passage, from HuffPo, on the "understated elegance" of Voyeur West Hollywood, where RNC insiders and staff visited (although Michael Steele is said not to have attended the club):

The girl at the door sent us in right away and told us to go to a table by the bar and get some free Champagne. Seriously. This club is amazing. There are topless "dancers" acting out S&M scenes throughout the night on one of the side stages, there's a half-naked girl hanging from a net across the ceiling and at one point I walked to the bathroom and pretty much just stopped dead in my tracks to watch two girls simulating oral sex in a glass case.

Really understated elegance here.

Also, Lindsay Lohan was at our table at one point.

Plus, Michelle posts screencaps of Erik Brown's now-defunct Twitter page:

Via Memeorandum.

It turns out that Erik Brown's set to pay back the RNC, "GOP consultant who charged 2K to RNC at risque nightclub to return $."

See also the Daily Caller, "Just a Peek: RNC-funded trip to 'Voyeur' club was an after-party for up-and-coming GOP donors."

Sarah Palin and Reaganite Neoconservatism

Some time back I published, at RealClearPolitics, "Sarah Palin, Neoconservative." As noted there, Palin represents the best of Reaganite neoconservatism.

Thus I'm really excited to see that theme echoed by Norman Podhoretz, at WSJ, "In Defense of Sarah Palin: She understands that the U.S. has been a force for good in the world—which is more than can be said of our president."

What I am trying to say is not that Sarah Palin would necessarily make a great president but that the criteria by which she is being judged by her conservative critics—never mind the deranged hatred she inspires on the left—tell us next to nothing about the kind of president she would make.

Take, for example, foreign policy. True, she seems to know very little about international affairs, but expertise in this area is no guarantee of wise leadership. After all, her rival for the vice presidency, who in some sense knows a great deal, was wrong on almost every major issue that arose in the 30 years he spent in the Senate.

What she does know—and in this respect, she does resemble Reagan—is that the United States has been a force for good in the world, which is more than Barack Obama, whose IQ is no doubt higher than hers, has yet to learn. Jimmy Carter also has a high IQ, which did not prevent him from becoming one of the worst presidents in American history, and so does Bill Clinton, which did not prevent him from befouling the presidential nest.

Unlike her enemies on the left, the conservative opponents of Mrs. Palin are a little puzzling. After all, except for its greater intensity, the response to her on the left is of a piece with the liberal hatred of Richard Nixon, Reagan and George W. Bush. It was a hatred that had less to do with differences over policy than with the conviction that these men were usurpers who, by mobilizing all the most retrograde elements of American society, had stolen the country from its rightful (liberal) rulers. But to a much greater extent than Nixon, Reagan and George W. Bush, Sarah Palin is in her very being the embodiment of those retrograde forces and therefore potentially even more dangerous.

I think that this is what, conversely, also accounts for the tremendous enthusiasm she has aroused among ordinary conservatives. They rightly see her as one of them, only better able and better positioned to stand up against the contempt and condescension of the liberal elites that were so perfectly exemplified by Mr. Obama's notorious remark in 2008 about people like them: "And it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Be sure to read it all.

It's not just leftists who reject Palin, but the "conservative intellectuals" as well.

Photo Credit: El Marco, "Showdown in Searchlight: Sarah Palin Pals around with Patriots in the Nevada Desert."

Female Suicide Bombers Kill Dozens in Moscow Subway Attacks!

Graphic images of this morning's dual suicide bombings at Russia's Life News website:

The first explosion occurred at a time when the train doors opened, people began to leave, and others - to enter into the car - told Life News police officer, visited the place of the attack.

- I was in a nearby car when the explosion occurred - told the passenger "Red Arrows", blasted the "Lubyanka." - Next door wagon literally turned out. At least 15 people were killed immediately.

See also, "Moscow Commuters Post Grim Video and Photos Online After Bombings."

Plus, CNN's report is here, "Female suicide bombers blamed in Moscow subway attacks" (via Memeorandum):

See Michelle's post as well, "Jihadi Subway Bombing Horror in Russia…Again."

Michael Yon: The Battle for Kandahar, Part I

Go see the fabulous images, "The Battle for Kandahar: Part I":

The Battle for Kandahar has begun. The face of this battle is not one of sudden fury but a process, a complex struggle for legitimacy between local Taliban governance and Kabul rule.

A scent of weakness is in the air. The Taliban remain deadly and capable – yet they seem to be losing the initiative. “Shaping Operations” are underway. Special Operations Forces are picking off and collecting key Taliban leaders. With our increase in troops, the Taliban must spend more time on self-defence, deducting from their capacity for offensive operations.

This year, 2010, is particularly crucial for the future of Afghanistan. The fight is on for key physical terrain, political terrain, and information dominance. Before Christmas, we will know who won the Battle for Kandahar. Who wins this Battle likely will win the war.

Consider a contribution to keep Michael in the field, at the link. (Via Memeorandum.)

The Truth About American Muslims!

Hey, is the administration taking after Christian militias to get in good with CAIR and the neo-communist left? "Daniel" at Attackerman has the headline of the day, "The Sad Truth About American Muslims and Terrorism":

One of the problems with coverage of terrorism and anti-terrorist stings today is that there’s never enough attention given to the Muslim groups that denounce the attacks. When someone of Muslim descent is arrested for terrorism the reporting rarely includes Muslim advocacy groups (which, alas, I fear I need to stress have no link to terrorists and are entirely peaceful and American) that publish press releases denouncing the attacks.

It’s only in situations like the sting today, where the lunatics are gearing up to kill “the anti-christ” who they believe has taken Muslim form (where have we heard that one before?) that the fact that not all Muslims are terrorists gets any attention at all ...

Oh Jesus this guy can't be serious! No link to terrorism! Well blow me down!

Or, no. Wait a second. It's me right? I'm stupid. I don't know all the Internet traditions! This is a joke, a caricature. Gosh, they almost pulled a fast one on me! Those wily "moderate" Muslim (unindicted co-conspirator) groups have really run a number here, or something, considering their earlier (obviously manufactured) boasts of powerful media influence after our recent totally aberrant attacks seen at places like Fort Hood. ("CAIR boasts of influence on media after Fort Hood: Group treated as voice of Muslims despite fresh evidence of terror ties.")

Yeah, that must be it, but just case, see "Despite Record Levels of Islamic Terror in U.S., FBI raids Christian Groups." And, "Amidst record levels of Islamic terrorism in U.S., FBI raids Christian militia groups."

Also, at Detroit News, "Seven arrested in FBI raids linked to Christian militia group." (Via Memeorandum.)

Henry Farrell: Hey, My Socialism Doesn't Interfere With My 'Rigorous' Non-Partisan Political Research!

Henry Farrell, a fairly well-known academic leftist and conservative blog-basher, pretends to be analytical and "balanced," at the Monkey Cage, "Feavered Speculation":

Peter Feaver is a reasonably well-known political scientist, working in the political science department at Duke University. He is also someone of recognizable partisan inclinations, having served for a spell in the Bush White House. This certainly isn’t a problem as such - I have recognizable partisan inclinations (which I try not to indulge on this blog) myself. But it is a problem if it interferes with purportedly political scientific analysis, or, worse, if it becomes a substitute for such analysis. And … well … how can I put this best … Either Feaver has identified an important new effect, which overturns the existing political science consensus that Presidential rhetoric has no significant consequences for public opinion. Or he is allowing his personal druthers and biases - Obama has a reverse Midas Touch! Everything he touches turns to dreck! - to substitute for actual analysis.

It's a pretty wonkish post, with links to current "cutting-edge" research. But for all of Henry's high-falutin' jargon, he's in pretty epic fail territory. The explanation's found in common sense here, less so confidence intervals, statistical significance, or what not. Face it, Henry: Obama's a loser. Can't console yourself in research suggesting presidents only influence things "at the margins." Folks just don't like Obama's signature legislative "achievement," and never really have.

Anyway, just know that Henry would never question his radical leftist cohorts for any potential partisan inclinations. No no! This is about what really constitutes "good political science"! (Neocons need not apply?)

And don't miss Feaver's original essay, "Has Obama Lost His Silver Tongue?"

The Present-Day Haters

No More Mister Nice Blog does a big, long-winded tangential (and uselessly self-important) excursion into blathering nothingness, to end up here:

The present-day haters have distilled the old hatreds, the ones based on race and sex, and can apply them just as well outside the old categories as within those categories. Bigotry, in other words, evolves in order to adapt.

The guy's prefacing that he disagrees with Frank Rich. Except that he doesn't. So here's a clue: It's not race, or bigotry, or whatever kind of "hate" you're grasping for. I'm a tea partier. I've been deeply active with tea partiers for over a year. Tea partiers aren't talking about race-hatred, etc. Democrat-leftists are. But I'm also a teacher and political scientist. And the phenomena of ceaseless searching for the ghosts of hatred-past reflects a crisis of the current order. And this is a Democratic Party crisis. Think about it, with reference to Doug Powers' unrelenting fisking of Frank Rich, especially here:

Frank Rich and Friends have more in common with what they accuse tea partiers of being than with the civil rights pioneers whose principles they claim to be standing up for—people who endured similar baseless blanket statements, idiotic and ignorant stereotypes, generalizations, false accusations and yes, even sophomoric homophobic slurs.

Some of us, regardless of our color or sexual orientation, aren’t going to watch our country turned into yet another failed socialist utopia on the ash heap of history without saying a word about it — regardless of the color or sexual orientation of those who are trying to do so. If the only “logical” rebuttal Frank Rich has to people concerned for the future of their children is “racism,” then I’m more positive than ever that I’ve chosen the correct side.

As an added bonus, someone's attached one of my links to this message board entry, which includes the most saddening images of racial violence from the early- and mid-20th century ...

But what's also sad is the complete ahistorical frame of the author, who is apparently only willing to engage those who want to extrapolate Klan hatred as an explanation for the mindlessness of contemporary commercial culture. When the discussion went south, the guy lost it:

Unfortunately, this post was not able to exist for much more than 24 hours without exploding into derailing, misogyny, Obama as secret socialist and finally the Illuminati.

If you can look at graphic photographs of human beings who were brutally murdered surrounded by their murders who are gleeful about the murder they committed and were never punished for, and still derail, I think a lot less of you as a person.

If you can look at people who were horribly murdered and your primacy concern is third hand accounts about someone's niceness, I think your priorities are fucked up. The women who encouraged the lynching of young Emmet Till, and whole heartedly stood by their husbands, were nice community involved women, and their community supported lynching a black child for putting money in a white lady's hand, not on the counter.

If you can look at these photos of murdered people and still think it's all ironic, hilarious, and not worth taking seriously, I'm having a hard time seeing how different you are from the people who thought lynchings were the kind events to be commemorated with post cards and souvenirs hacked off the murdered person's body. Postcards and souvenirs aren't serious business after all.

If you want to learn, go the library. I'm not having a god damn teachable moment. Also, if you are a local or someone who chats with me via the internet let me give you a pro tip: All that bullshit right here, is the exact opposite of what I would like to chat about right now. If you want to have an epiphany on this issue, hug it out or talk it out, do it in your own space that is not at all part of my space. Also, don't tell me about it. Seriously.

All this mostly because of a bizarre tweet that's apparently an attack on Lady Gaga's explicit corporate product placement in "Telephone."

It's kind of a stretch, but I guess just mentioning "The Klan" sends progressive race hustlers into a deathly spiral. And, unfortunately, that's the exact opposite of an "effort to adapt." That's entropy.

Scenes from the Showdown: The Other McCain Reports!

It takes patriots to get the message right, from Robert Stacy McCain, "Tea Party With Sarah Palin: Scenes from the Showdown in Searchlight, Nevada" (the full image is here):

See also, RSM, "Tea Party Express III: Fear and Loathing — and Ann Coulter! — in Las Vegas."

Plus, related news at Instapundit, especially, from Rasmussen, "Most Say Tea Party Has Better Understanding of Issues than Congress." And also Memeorandum.

Angelina Jolie: Good in Green

Well, she's not my favorite, but Angelina Jolie looks beautiful in this picture, from Vanity Fair, "It's Easy Being Green."

Pictures at the link of Natalie Portman and Hillary Swank as well. I was trolling around VF's site to see if James Wolcott allows comments. He does not, which is no surprise, considering the smears.

In any case, I missed inclusion in Sir Smitty's weekly roundup of beauties, so perhaps some Green Angeline will get me back in good graces. In addition, I need to put a couple of links up for those who've been generous with me, or just plain deserving in any case. Thanks to:

* Astute Bloggers.

* Carolyn Tackett.

* The Daley Gator.

* Doug Ross.

* Gateway Pundit.

* Grandpa John.

* Hall of Record.

* Left Coast Rebel.

* Obi's Sister.

* Panhandle Poet.

* Pundit & Pundette.

* The Rhetorican.

* Snooper Report.

* Wordsmith.

* Yid With Lid.

Drop a comment or an e-mail if you'd like to be included in the next roundup.

BONUS: Don't miss the masters: GSGF and Theo Spark.

Old News: MSM Launches Latest Tea Party Delegitimation Campaign

Man this is getting old.

From Founding Bloggers, "AP Outrage! Egg throwing = 'Hospitality'":

"Regarding Andrew Breitbart, this gentleman said, 'Get him out of here or I’m going to jail today'."

*****

Yesterday in Searchlight, Nevada, supporters of Senator Harry Reid deliberately misdirected traffic in an attempt to confuse would-be Tea Partiers. One of those who was successfully misdirected was Andrew Breitbart, whom Time Magazine has recently dubbed “The Right’s New Loudmouth.” When they realized exactly who they had ensnared, they surrounded him, accused him of being a racist, threatened violence, blocked cameras that were accompanying him, and threw eggs at his person. As a final courtesy, they called the police and told them that it was Breitbart who had thrown eggs and who had provoked an incident. You wouldn’t know this had happened if you rely upon the Associated Press for your news – in fact, you would have read this:

Reid supporters set up a hospitality tent Saturday in the parking lot of a Searchlight casino, about a mile from the tea party rally.

And from Gateway Pundit, "CNN on Size of Searchlight Tea Party Rally: 'Hundreds of People, At Least Dozens'." (Via Memeorandum.)

Yeah. Right. Dozens:

Just a few dozen here as well, from Nice Deb:

Just Like Bush! Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan!

At the New York Times, "Obama Makes a Surprise Visit to Afghanistan":

President Obama made a surprise trip to Afghanistan on Sunday, his first visit as commander in chief to the site of the war he inherited and has stamped as his own.

Air Force One landed at nighttime at Bagram Air Base after a 13-hour nonstop flight for a visit shrouded in secrecy for security reasons; Mr. Obama quickly boarded a helicopter for the trip to Kabul, landing at the presidential palace for talks with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.

General James L. Jones, the National Security adviser, told reporters aboard the flight to Bagram that Mr. Obama would try to make Mr. Karzai “understand that in his second term, there are certain things that have not been paid attention to, almost since day one.” Gen. Jones said those things included “a merit-based system for appointment of key government officials, battling corruption, taking the fight to the narco-traffickers,” which, “provides a lot of the economic engine for the insurgents.”

At the presidential palace, Mr. Obama and Mr. Karzai walked and chatted along a red carpet as they made their way to an Afghan color guard, where the national anthems of both countries were played, in a welcoming ceremony that lasted 10 minutes.

White House officials disclosed no information about the trip until Mr. Obama’s plane had landed in Afghanistan, and had even gone so far as to inform reporters that the president would be spending the weekend at Camp David with his family. In fact, Mr. Obama’s trip is occurring during the Afghan night, and he is expected to be on his way back to Washington before most Afghanis wake up Monday morning.

This is a good indicator that Obama's looking to bolster his creds by playing up the Commander-in-Chief role. Of course, he'll never do that as well as President George W. Bush. Indeed, the grunts are still warming up to O-Bambi:

Also, at ABC News, "President Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Afghanistan to Meet with President Karzai, U.S. Troops: First Trip to Afghanistan for Obama as Commander-in-Chief."

Added: Now a thread a Memeorandum.

HotAirPundit has the video:

Obama's Entitlement Society

From Mike Lester, at the Rome News-Tribune:

More cartoons at Reaganite Republican, Theo Spark's, and Wordsmith/Flopping Aces.

Using Reagan to Defend ObamaCare?

From Johanna Neuman, "Same Healthcare Arguments, Just Decades Earlier":

When Medicare came into existence in 1965, those opposed - including Ronald Reagan - cried of socialism and loss of freedom.

President Harry S. Truman is considered the grandfather of universal healthcare, having first proposed it in 1945. "The health of American children, like their education, should be recognized as a definite public responsibility," he said.

Twenty years later, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare Act into law, he invited Truman, then 81 years old, to be at his side. Then LBJ enrolled Truman as the first beneficiary of the new program that provided healthcare for the 65-and-older set, calling him "the real daddy of Medicare."

But Medicare, much like President Obama's healthcare reform legislation, did not become law without a political fight. In fact, the American Medical Assn. mobilized a massive campaign against the idea, working tirelessly to stop the reform in Congress.

And to serve as the public face of its campaign against a government-sponsored health plan, the AMA chose none other than Ronald Reagan, the star of "General Electric Theater" and former president of the Screen Actors Guild whose views on politics matched its own.

Warning that enacting Medicare would lead to socialism in America, Reagan said that if Americans did not stop Medicare reform, "one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in America when men were free."

In an 11-minute recording for the AMA, Reagan invoked the name of Norman Thomas, the Socialist Party presidential candidate, saying:

"Now back in 1927 an American socialist, Norman Thomas, six times candidate for president on the Socialist Party ticket, said the American people would never vote for socialism. But he said under the name of liberalism the American people would adopt every fragment of the socialist program. . . . One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project ....

"Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We have an example of this. Under the Truman administration, it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this."

Reagan's prescription? "Write to our congressmen and senators," he said. "The key issue is this: We do not want socialized medicine . . . demand the continuation of our traditional free-enterprise system."

Sound familiar?

Now, of course, Medicare is a vastly popular program for seniors and the disabled, sacrosanct even among Republicans. For example, President George W. Bush twisted arms in a Republican Congress to enact a vast expansion of the program to pay for prescription drugs.

Typical MSM drivel.

There's more at the link, FWIW (which is not much, since Neuman bemoans Tom Daschle's withrawal as HHS nominee, as if he'd have made a bit of difference).

Getting Tough on Illegal Immigration?

Yesterday's Los Angeles Times ran competing commentaries from GOP gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman. See, "California must stem the flow of illegal immigrants," and "Meg Whitman: immigration reform, with respect."

I'm not impressed with either of them. Poizner's trying to rekindle the Pete Wilson magic of 1994 (it's feigned, and some of the thrill is gone, I'd say, in public opinion), and Whitman's simply hoping not to alienate the seal-the-border constituency on the hard right. Since both of these two are basically opportunistic leftists, it's hard to take them seriously.

But conservatives in Arizona are another story, especially Sheriff Joe Arpaio. As ABC News points out, the guy's authentic and making a difference on the front lines of the immigration wars. See, "Arizona Law Promises to Be 'Toughest' on Illegal Immigration: Republicans Float Bill to Charge Illegal Immigrants with Trespassing -- in the State":

A bill empowering police to arrest illegal immigrants and charge them with trespassing for simply being in the state of Arizona, is likely just weeks away from becoming the toughest law of its kind anywhere in the country.

Already passed by the state's Senate and currently being reconciled with a similar version in the House, the bill would essentially criminalize the presence of the 460,000 illegal immigrants living in the state.

The measure allows police to detain people on the suspicion that they are illegal immigrants, outlaws citizens from employing day laborers, and makes it illegal for anyone to transport an illegal immigrant, even a family member, anywhere in the state.

The bill's supporters say a local crackdown has become a necessity because the federal government has failed to adequately seal the borders or actively enforce its laws. They blame Arizona's spiraling crime and unemployment rates on its large population of illegal immigrants.

"When you come to America you must have a permission slip, period," said state Sen. Russell Pearce, the Mesa Republican who sponsored the bill. "You can't break into my country, just like you can't break into my house."

"It will be, there's no doubt, the toughest immigration enforcement bill in the nation," said Pearce, a former deputy in the Maricopa County Sherriff's Office, where he worked for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, nicknamed "America's toughest sheriff." Arpaio, who has stirred controversy over his roundups of illegal immigrants, is being investigated by the federal government for alleged racial profiling ....

Re: James Wolcott: 'I Don't Think the Tea Parties Are Going to Catch Fire'...

Shoot.

I can't even call this a badge of honor. This guy James Wolcott's just too damned stupid (Google link here):

Who is James Wolcott? Apart from being a wannabe intellectual with a sinecure at perhaps the East Coast's most liberal society magazine, he's one who probably shouldn't be commenting on politics. YOU. JUST. CAN'T. BE. MORE. TOTALLY. F**KING. WRONG.

Indeed, this is someone who should just STFU:

What a clown.

I'll have more on both of these jokers, SEK and Wolcott, but a word or two on the latter's cluelessness on the tea parties: The movement's become the dominant grassroots phenomonon of early 21st century. The White House is scared to death of them, and Wolcott's beloved Soros media-machine can't touch 'em. Recall that Media Matters, to discredit the event, claimed that last year's 9/12 tea party march on Washington reached "just" 70,000 activists. Of course, Charlie Martin's rigorously objective crowd estimate concluded that "probably well more than 850,000" were in the crowd.

And just today - roughly a year after Wolcott's lame bloviations above - thousands turned out for the Searchlight tea party, where Sarah Palin gave a barnburner. See Las Vegas Now, "Thousands Gather in Searchlight for Tea Party Rally," and Fox News, "Tea Party Targets Reid, Health Care Law in 'Showdown in Searchlight'."

And in my in-box, from Tea Party Express:

Crowd Estimates Range from 9,000 - 30,000 People for "Showdown in Searchlight"

Crowd estimates from 9,000 - 30,000+ people for today's Tea Party Express "Showdown in Searchlight" event featuring Governor Palin.

Members of the press corps estimated the crowd size between 9,000 - 14,000 but the security and crowd control firm working the event estimated 30,000+.

Lots of Searchlight pictures at Nice Deb.

I'll have more tomorrow.

The 'Bush Lied' Myth

GSGF keeps bugging to do more neocon blogging, so here a little something, from Peter Feaver, "When Will the 'Bush Lied' Myth Be Abandoned?":

My former White House colleague Pete Wehner has taken up the gauntlet thrown by the provocative leftwing pundit David Corn. Corn listed a number of what he claimed to be unambiguous lies by President Bush in the run-up to the Iraq war and he dared, and then double-dared, anyone to rebut them.

I am not a completely independent observer -- Wehner is a friend and I reviewed his response in draft -- but to my eyes he does a careful and thorough job of demolishing Corn's critique. Of particular value is Wehner's painstaking effort to show how Corn's critique involves cherry-picking intelligence quotes out of context that suit his thesis and ignoring the broad conclusions of those cherry-picked reports or the broader-still findings of the 2002 NIE on Iraqi WMD.

I don't for a minute think that Wehner has put the matter to rest once and for all, however. Even though he convincingly shows that each of Corn's major claims rests on a distortion or outright falsehood, in my experience this business is very much like playing whack-a-mole. The purveyors of the "Bush lied" myth never admit that they have made false claims and never concede when you show their charges to be false. They simply shift the focus a bit and say, "but what about this" and raise a whole new episode.

Nevertheless, I think Wehner has done a service in "re-litigating the past." Democracy flourishes best when there is a healthy marketplace of ideas and the propagation of conspiracy theory myths -- whether it be the "Bush lied" myths or the "9/11 truther" myths or what-have-you -- has a corrosive effect on that marketplace.

Conclusion at the link.

RELATED: Michael Rubin, "Why Neoconservatism Was and Is Right."

**********

UPDATE: I couldn't resist adding this from Peter Wehner:

Why does Saddam get a pass? Why do the words "Saddam Hussein lied" not pass the lips of David Corn more often (if at all)? And why the obsession with ascribing blame to President Bush -- particularly when, as we have seen, the charges against Bush are discrediting to those who make them?

It is impossible to know the answer to these questions. But this whole "Bush lied" enterprise, in addition to damaging the reputation of those who have engaged in it, has done considerable harm to our country. Propagating fantastic conspiracy theories, sowing unnecessary seeds of distrust and division, and allowing ideology to fan a burning hatred for an American president, often does.

The truth is troubling enough. There were serious intelligence gaps that we failed to find before the war. Some claims -- by Bush administration officials as well as by leading Democrats and leaders of other nations -- were made with too much certainty. And as I have written multiple times in the past, there were serious mistakes in the conduct of the war prior to the new counterinsurgency strategy being announced in January 2007. I have no interest in whitewashing history. But it is long past time that critics of the Iraq war stop willfully and deceptively twisting history to serve their own partisan ends.

The Left's Racist Tea Party Fetish

Colbert King offers really disgusting essay at WaPo, "In the Faces of Tea Party Shouters, Images of Hate and History."

Readers can check the link, but I swear it's actually degrading -- and downright ignorant -- to hear a grown black man compare tea partiers to KKK night riders.

My daddy used to drop down into his down home pitter-patter when dissing the self-loathing blacks who refused to get off the plantation. Some folks have attacked me as RAAACIST for ridiculing leftists and Obama-cultists that way. And let 'em. These people have no clue anyway. Besides, I'll let Dan Riehl have the honor of ripping into Colbert King tonight:

No idea what he'd do if his one note, dayz O-pressed us so much and fo so's long, now, theme ever stops resonating, as it should. But it keeps da chicken on da table, Ize guesses.

It is truly sad to see an allegedly free man squander so much of his life and thinking invested in so much racism, hate and non-existent victimization. He can't even see his way clear to open the door and step out from his cage. But they'll feed him, so long as he entertains and serves, I guess. So, it all works out okay in the end. I guess life on the plantation isn't really so bad, after all. If it were, he'd just leave. Then, massa would have to up and find himself another token house negroe, if'n he did dat.

More on the theme at AmSpec, where it's rightfully called "disgraceful."

And still more at BlogProf.

If I don't make fun of it, the sub-human thinking and mindset of tragic people like Colbert King makes me sick.

Spoken like a brotha. Thanks Dan.

Searchlight Tea Party Warns Washington: 'Are We a Threat? You Bet! We Vote!'

Gateway Pundit's got the video. Plus, at the Las Vegas Sun, "Sarah Palin to Tea Party Rally: Don't Sit Down, Shut Up." (Via Memorandum.)

But check out Founding Bloggers, "Pictures From Searchlight Nevada – Tea Party Express Kickoff":

And Robert Stacy McCain scoped things out last night. See, "Eve of the Showdown in Searchlight." Robert's full report is expected later ...

RELATED: At ABC News, "At Nevada Tea Party, Sarah Palin Has Message for Harry Reid, D.C. Establishment: 'You're Fired': 'Showdown in Searchlight' Draws Tea Partiers to Senate Majority Leader Reid's Hometown."

Scott Eric Kaufman, Self-Hating Skankwad, Does It Again!

Here's a follow up to January's entry, "Scott Eric Kaufman: If You Smear My Grammar at Least Edit Your F**KED UP Prose and Use Spell Check."

It turns out the hypocritical skank is at it again. See, "Donald Douglas Somehow Managed to Top Himself." The gist of the attack is that somehow I'm functionally illiterate:

... because he’s proven it’s possible to be gainfully employed in academia and functionally illiterate, I can’t even manage a few moments of schadenfreude.

Sure, to be fair to Skanky Little Scotty, my bad. I could have sworn that was Jeff's comments at the post, "Shorter Jeff Goldstein." Chalk one up for the Big Bad Boys at Lawyers, Gays and Marriage, where academic giants like Robert Fuckwad Farley stiff good-faith conservatives for a thousand bucks while sucking back a few whiskey sours. That's real class.

Besides, Little Scotty's schtick is to attack conservatives for bad writing and alleged "functional illiteracy" while demonstrating -- once again! -- actual functional illiteracy. See the original post in question:

Consider, for example, the condensed verion of the the rational arguments with which he and his commenters engaged my argument the other day ...

Look, I know math instructors don't like students to use a calculator (they need to show work). But I've never heard English instructors argue against spell check. No matter. When you troll the web all day to demonize supposedly inferior academics who cares if your own posts are routinely riddled with factual inaccuracies, spelling errors, and blatant lies? Hey, that's the postmodern sensibility, you know. Anyway, it's at the screencap just in case Skankwad Scotty updates the post. And folks can excuse my own alleged illiteracy, especially since Goldstein writes like this most of the time:

It is an Orwellian world in which we live when fucking novelists want to distance themselves from those who criticize the government.

Anyway, since Skanky Scotty was just doing skanky snark, I'll counter with the real thing:

Scott is a fly-eating fuck who wouldn't know his asshole from the worthless scrolled-end of the diploma granting his non-existent "Doctorate of Philosophy of English." You'd think a goddamned prick like this would have better things to do than travel around the web swinging his little penis and yelling, as if mentally challenged, "I'm smarter than you 'cuz I'm a self-proclaimed radical academic leftist with super cool blogging YouTubes to prove it!" This pretentious cock would do everyone a big favor if he'd for once turn his sights on the real evil, the Democratic-left's alliance of hate. But being the bottomless shit-eater that he is, he'll dismiss his ideological brethren as some kind of aberration, rather than the genuine representatives of his buttfucked worldview that they are:

Fuck you, Scotty Self-Hating Skankwad. Go shovel your shitpile of sickening self-said academic superiority somewhere else, you ugly motherfucking prick.

Fidel Castro Hearts ObamaCare!

At the Washington Post, "Cuban Leader Applauds US Health-Care Reform Bill":

It perhaps was not the endorsement President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress were looking for.

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro on Thursday declared passage of American health care reform "a miracle" and a major victory for Obama's presidency, but couldn't help chide the United States for taking so long to enact what communist Cuba achieved decades ago.

"We consider health reform to have been an important battle and a success of his (Obama's) government," Castro wrote in an essay published in state media, adding that it would strengthen the president's hand against lobbyists and "mercenaries."

Hey, awesome! I'm sure recipients of the Cuban healthcare system can rejoice in El Presidente Castro's ringing affirmation of ObamaCare! See, El Marco, "Health Care Cuban Style":

And check out America's Dear Leader trumpeting the benefits of socialized medicine in the United States ... Yes We Can! ...

Democrat Thugs Attack Tea Party Express at Nugget Casino in Searchlight!

In my in-box from Tea Party Express and at Gateway Pundit:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 27, 2010

Harry Reid Supporters Egg Tea Party Express Buses in Route

Supporters of Senator Harry Reid have just thrown eggs at the Tea Party Express bus caravan - striking at least one of the three buses (the red Tea Party Express bus) with multiple eggs.

About 35 Reid supporters had lined Highway 95 in front of the Nugget Casino in Searchlight where they were attempting a counter-demonstration the tens of thousands of tea party supporters who are gathering for the "Showdown in Searchlight."

More details to follow...

Added: There's now a Tea Party Express thread at Memeorandum.

Also, Founding Bloggers reports that Andrew Breitbart was attacked as well, "Harry Reid Supporters Threaten Violence Against Breitbart at Tea Party Protest."

Hate-o-Crat Eliminationism: Leftists Move to 'Get Rid of Republicans Entirely'

Yesterday on MSNBC, Representative Alan Grayson alleged that all Republicans have left is "fear and hatred." He then goes on to call for the total elimination the GOP, and not just in November: "We have to put end to the style of politics, and that means getting rid of Republicans entirely."

Talk about fanning the flames. Check out Radio Equalizer, "Lib Talker Malloy Calls for Deaths of Limbaugh, Beck and O'Reilly" (via Memeorandum):

And from Bob Parks, "Let's Compare Hate":

... here are just a few samples of violence committed over the recent years by those tolerant, compassionate progressives ...

18 February 2010

Official: Plane crash pilot left anti-IRS Web note
Originally media-speculated as a Tea Party activist, Joseph Stack was a registered Democrat

4 September 2009

ELF Claims Responsibility For Radio Tower Sabotage

4 September 2008, World Socialist
Mass arrests of protesters at Republican National Convention

2 September 2008, Daily Mail, UK
250 arrested as Republican Convention protest descends into violence

2 September 2008, MPR News, Minneapolis
Authorities say splinter groups caused most of protest violence

28 August 2008, Guardian, UK

US election: Hundreds of anti-war demonstrators march on the Democratic convention hall

24 January 2008, Denver News
Anarchists Stalk Democratic Convention

11 September 2006, BBC
Bush assassination film defended

8 October 2005, Seattle, WA
Veteran’s Home Vandalized

4 September 2005, Louisiana

Democrat Senator Threatens Violence Against Bush
Mary Landrieu: I’ll Punch Bush, ‘Literally’

1 September 2005, National
Leftist Radio Host Encourages Looting

25 April 2005, National
Leftist Radio Threatens to Assassinate Bush

1 April 2005
Violent leftist/Democrat physically assaults conservative Pat Buchanan at Western Michigan University

17 February 2005, Portland, OR
Former Pentagon Adviser Assaulted at University
Protester throws shoe at Richard Perle

24 January 2005, Milwaukee, WI
Five Democrats Charged with Election-Day Tire Slashing

5 charged in GOP tire slashings

30 November 2004
Entire run of the November issue of the Yale Free Press, a conservative student publication, was stolen over the Thanksgiving break
Editors say Yale Free Press stolen

8 November 2004, San Francisco, CA
Muslim/Democrat Mob Attacks College Republicans

30 October 2004, Durango, CO

Liberal Professor Assaults Conservative Student

22 October 2004, Tuscon, AZ
Conservative Commentator Assaulted at University

5 October 2004, Orlando, FL
Democrat Mob Storms GOP HQ, Injures Staffers
Protesters Ransack Bush/Cheney Headquarters In Orlando

October 2004, National:

A Pattern of Leftist Hatred

17 September 2004, Huntington, WV:
3-Year-Old Girl Attacked by Democrat Thugs
Democrats accused of ripping Bush signs

20 March 2003, Madison, WI:
Republican Headquarters Vandalized
GOP headquarters in Madison hit with bricks, paint bombs

11 March 2003, Los Angeles, CA
Peaceniks Destroy 9-11 Memorial

1 March 2002
Liberals steal entire press run of a monthly conservative publication at the University of California-Berkeley and harass and intimidate its staff

October 1999
Liberals at California State University at Sacramento stole 3,000 copies of the student newspaper.
They were enraged because the paper, The State Hornet, had published the picture of a Hispanic man being arrested and charged with resisting arrest at a football game.

13 February 1996

Liberals steal press run of conservative newspaper Carolina Review in an effort to preserve victory for their liberal candidate

1992
Liberals vandalize offices of The Collegian at the University of Massachusetts

Timeline of Earth Liberation Front actions
Including break-ins, arson, use of pipe bombs, tree spiking, equipment sabotage, willful destruction of property, among other crimes.

And this is just a sample ...

Now That ObamaCare Has Passed...

Via Sir Smitty, a hammering video from the Heritage Foundation:

And via Memeorandum, at The Hill, "Obama Begins Tough Sell of Healthcare and Education Reform."

The piece notes that President Obama has dared Republicans to repeal the law. And no doubt that challenge is the pretext for all that will happen politically in 2010. And it's a big one. Democrats are taking on a huge challenge. They passed the bill with majorities opposing the legislation. And polls out this week found the public unhappy with the result. At CNN, "Americans don't like health care bill." And Gallup finds the most resistance among elderly Americans, "Majority of Poor, Young, Uninsured Back Healthcare Bill: A majority of seniors say passing it was a bad thing." So not only does Obama have to sell the legislation, he needs to energize the youth demographic - the newer voters who helped drive the Democrats to victory in 2008. But enthusiasm among the college-age cohort has declined dramatically over the last year, so the hurdles are extremely high for the president. This helps explain, obviously, why the Democratic-left has launched violent jihad against conservatives, Republicans and tea partiers. The "race card" is all they have left. That and a few well-placed but scurrilous allegations in the Oba-media might help shift a few fence-sitters over to the socialists. It won't be enough, of course. The GOP will pick up seats in November. That won't be enough to repeal the legislation, but it will set the table for the GOP to return to the White House in 2012. And when you see John McCain inviting Sarah Palin to introduce him at campaign rallies, there's hardly better indication of where the balance of ideological power is today in American politics.

Prepare for battle folks. The Dems are going get what's coming to them, big time.