For the work week ending June 2
http://bullmooseblogger.blogspot.com/archives/2006_05_28_bullmooseblogger_archive.html
I like to read the Bull Moose (Marshall Whitman) blog. I don’t know why. The man, for a democrat, seems rather self loathing. Let’s go thru his blatherings for this week.
Monday (Memorial Day)
You can’t disagree with honoring those that have fallen for our country. I have some friends now residing in our national cemeteries.
Tuesday, May 30
Big day – Two entries, Containment and GOP Good News
(Marshall rips into the dems, again and again)
(More after the flip.)
In Containment, he refers to the Iran as “governed by a madman who might not necessarily be governed by the normal rules of statecraft.”
Rather than digress to the obvious analogy, let’s just focus on his argument. Here we have the first President who is trying to get around the rules of the Ayatollahs in real charge of the USA. He still is a very constrained leader. The population is very young and very idealistic. Also pro western, as so few were alive at the time of the 1979 revolution (on a side note, very nationalistic if we push it), which he must cater to. This is the first President to write directly to the POTUS. I don’t understand his argument that the Iraqi President is a madman. Just more Bull Moose “Truthiness” Here is the example he “selectively” cites, from an interview the Iranian president gave to Der Spiegel:
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,418660,00.html
SPIEGEL: Of course we are entitled to write about the findings of the past 60 years’ historical research. In our view there is no doubt that the Germans — unfortunately — bear the guilt for the murder of 6 million Jews.
Ahmadinejad: Well, then we have stirred up a very concrete discussion. We are posing two very clear questions. The first is: Did the Holocaust actually take place? You answer this question in the affirmative. So, the second question is: Whose fault was it? The answer to that has to be found in Europe and not in Palestine. It is perfectly clear: If the Holocaust took place in Europe, one also has to find the answer to it in Europe.
On the other hand, if the Holocaust didn’t take place, why then did this regime of occupation …
SPIEGEL: … You mean the state of Israel…
Ahmadinejad: … come about? Why do the European countries commit themselves to defending this regime? Permit me to make one more point. We are of the opinion that, if an historical occurrence conforms to the truth, this truth will be revealed all the more clearly if there is more research into it and more discussion about it.
SPIEGEL: That has long since happened in Germany.
Ahmadinejad: We don’t want to confirm or deny the Holocaust. We oppose every type of crime against any people. But we want to know whether this crime actually took place or not. If it did, then those who bear the responsibility for it have to be punished, and not the Palestinians.
I would be remiss, if I didn’t mention the next few paragraphs didn’t delve into the President’s belief, or non belief, but it has to be taken into the context of public schools in Iran and other muslim countries. If you have been tought all your life that there is a zionist conspiracy and that the holocaust never happened, does that make you a madman? A bigot, yes, but no more than other US allies in the region. Uneducated, definitely. But not necessarily a madman. And the context of his response was that if (since) the Germans caused the holocaust, then they should be the ones to pay for it, not Palestinians. Again, a view shared by US allies in the region.
In GOP Good News, yet again, Whitman rails against democrats.
Here is a snippet:
But there is a silver lining. Some Democrats are rushing into the grasp of the loony tune lefties. (snark: Perhaps Whitman thinks everyone to the left of him is loonie, and everyone to the right is corrupt. It’s the “I’m sane, it’s the rest of the world that’s crazy” defense.)
Move On has moved on to Connecticut to attempt to purge one of the most esteemed centrists in the party – Joe Lieberman. They are joined by the flotsam and jetsam of the internet and Howard Dean’s organization in an attempt to demonstrate to the country that hawkish moderate liberals are not welcome in the Democratic Party.
At a time when the Democrats should be presenting a reassuring centrist face to the country – they are in a rush to lurch to the left. This upcoming weekend the leadership of the party will be headed to Vegas to pay homage to a far left wing internet impresario. And this is how they are sending the message that they will not follow the Republicans’ example and pander to the base?
What Whitman doesn’t get is that the dems are not rushing to the far left. They are trying to get back to the center. Lieberman, much like Zell Miller, is about as much of a democrat as Whitman is. It’s not about Lieberman’s support for the war (although some liberals are opposed to his stance), it’s about his contempt for rape victims. It’s about his support for a whole host of republican issues. By focusing on one stance, Whitman uses distraction instead of the true issue. If Lieberman ran as a republican, at least that would be a truly honest stance for Lieberman.
As the Repubs started catering to the far right wing base, the DLC started going after the center right repubs, forgetting, not just the base, but the center left moderates. Whitman mocks Kos (the impresario), and in an early May post referred to dems as “Liliputions” (shows his elitist attitude towards the vast number of people that work, live and vote in this country). But he doesn’t attack the argument. Instead he uses the standard republican trick. If you can’t attack the message, attack the messenger.
For Wednesday, May 31, Whitman uses the parable of the Post Reaganites to warn the democrats:
This is a deeply ironic moment. This White House once thrived on the politics of pandering to the base. Now, they are being devastated by it.
This is a lesson for the Democrats, as well.
(sigh) As I repeat myself, Whitman (a former Republican) must think that everyone to the left of him is the looney base. We want democratic elected officials to vote for democratic principles, not republican principles. A bankruptcy bill designed (by corporations) to enhance corporate profits at the expense of individuals is not democratic. A Medicaire bill designed (by pharmaceutical companies) to increase profits of pharmaceutical companies at a greater expense to our elderly is not democratic.
What Whitman misunderstands is this whole internet thing. It has provided a counterweight to big business dominating campaign funding. What we have, for the first time, is the opportunity for massive dollars to come to individual candidates, in one, five and ten dollar donations, not $5,000/plate dinners and PACs and other areas dominated by big businesses. Let me make this perfectly clear to Mr. Whitman.
This is democracy! What is the problem you seem to have with it?
June 1 – Haditha
Here’s Whitman’s quote, and he argues for restraint and reasonable reporting by the press. No problem so far, but then he gets into this:
These are bleak days in this war. And when we learn the facts about Haditha, we should keep this in mind – if we fail in Iraq those who will benefit are Baathist and Zarqawi’s moral monsters who have committed thousands of bloody massacres as their standard operating procedure.
And if we become the monsters, then what? The use of evil to fight evil is still evil. I’m not talking about war and basic war tactics. I’m talking about what we stand for as a country. I’m talking about torture, rendition, the basic destruction of our constitution. Do we need to become monsters because of 19 guys with boxcutters? We fought nazis. We fought communism.
And what’s more, as we have become more like that which we have fought, we are failing. Just like every other country that thought it was ordained by some divine providence to force their will on others.
We now torture
We kill civilians, old men in wheel chairs and infants.
We detain US Citizens without charges.
We spy on US Citizens without warrants
We threaten the press with jail for leaking embarrassing secrets, while outing CIA agents charged with protecting us from nuclear harm.
We have a President that says he does not have to comply with the bills he signs into law, or any existing law.
Haditha (and apparently others) is a symptom of a much larger problem. And it all boils down to a combination of incompetence and arrogance. And it will probably cost us this war.
The massive incompetence and arrogance of this administration is driving not just the left, but the right also, to question why we went to war in the first place.
Even those that originally supported the war.
Even those that originally opposed the war, but thought, ok, we went to war, let’s do it right, win it and go home.
They look into the metaphorical national mirror and don’t like what they see.
Friday, June 2
Oh happy joy. Today, Whitman goes back to what he does best. Bad mouth the democratic party.
he Moose left the Republicans a few years ago because it had become a corrupted and plutocratic party. The events that have transpired since he left the GOP has only reinforced the Moose’s decision…
…However, the Democrats have hardly offered an attractive alternative for the Moose. They are increasingly defined only by their loathing for all things Bush. Many would rather see Bush fail rather than America succeed in Iraq. The party’s left is dedicated to purging centrists and liberal hawks who deviate from the party line. (emphasis mine)
Nice little straw man argument. He claims “many would rather see Bush fail” but, in typical republican talking point mode, offers no examples. Howard Dean was more a centrist than Joe Lieberman. The bottom line: If someone votes consistently republican, then they are a republican, not a democrat, let them run for election as a republican
Reading Whitman and thinking of his role in the DLC reminds me of an incident that happened about 20 years ago. An F-14 crashed just east of Miramar Naval Air Station (now a marine corps air station) in San Diego, in a huge nature preserve. The press quoted a young woman from Poway, near the crash site, she stated, I just moved here three weeks ago and didn’t know how dangerous that airport is. They should move it.”
Whitman is now a democrat. Therefore, he expects the party to conform to his beliefs.
And this just in: “Many Joe Liebermans”
from the DLC, posted on his blog:
The Moose urges all Mooseketeers to read this from the DLC.
“We deplore this purge effort because Joe Lieberman is an outstanding and respected U.S. Senator. He is a man of utmost integrity who speaks and governs by his values and principles, even when they lead him against the popular tide — as he did when he went to Mississippi to fight for civil rights in 1964. He is a man who always puts his country above his party or his personal interests. Those are qualities we should cherish, not disdain, in today’s far too polarized politics. We need more, not fewer, people with Joe Lieberman’s character in the Democratic Party.”
Note One: Quit talking in the third person. It’s creepy.
Note two: Quite talking about Mooseketeers and liliputions. You sound like disgraced former Vice President Spiro Agnew.
Note to the DLC. Lieberman is an elected official. He is not appointed by you, or by me. He is elected based on the will of his constituents in a lawfully conducted election. As such, each of his words and deeds is up for scrutiny by his constituents, as are his challenger’s words and deeds. That’s called democracy.