Mar 09 2006
Chicken Hawks Lead The Mob-Think
The reaction by too many regarding the Dubai Ports World buy out of British Company P&O has been very sad and hard to watch. The liberals, who have been throwing mud against the wall since 2000 to see what will stick against Bush, are expected to reach down and use whatever they can to try and win back the power they so desperately crave.
But there is a component on the right which has worried
me more than 100 DPW contracts: the Chicken Hawks. The term ‘Chicken Hawk’ refers to people who sound brave when sending others into battle, but don’t have the spine to fight the battle themselves. You can be a veteran and have evolved to a Chicken Hawk. While not quite an accurate comparison, simply look at Mad Murtha who was once brave and willing to take on this country’s enemies, but now thinks of nothing but defeat.
No, in the DPW acquisition of P&O we have seen a strange and bad alliance. A desperate left willing to do and say anything to win votes, and a frightened, skittish right afraid of anything Arab or, now, un-American. The comments by Rep Jerry Lewis yesterday, as the spineless Congress voted to protect the masses from the evil Arab Company, showed many have decided it was best to follow the Lou Dobbs formula: fereignors are bad.
What has me saddened is how this is playing in our military, and which is why the reasoning of the right is probably more damaging to America’s image than that from the left. Many on the right, like me, backed the regime change in Iraq. We backed sending our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters into a basket case region of the world to clean it up and try and set it right. In Afghanistan our troops have had to reach out to the locals, many who tolerated if not supported Al Qaeda and the Taliban, to build a free society. Our military trained these people, armed them, and then went and fought side by side with them. All the time never sure if these people were what they said they were, or an under cover assasin.
In Iraq the support was all from the middle and right side of the political spectrum – the left wanted no part of it. So we are the ones who sent our neighbors and family members to Iraq to sacrifice life and limb (and many did) to repeat the process. They went into the middle of the turmoil that brought us 9-11 and again reached out to the people, and worked side by side with them. Fought side by side with them. Died side by side with them.
The military doesn’t expect us keyboard warriors to do what they do, they simply hope they are respected and honored for their efforts. But what kind of honor are we bestowing to chicken out when it is our turn to do the most modest of acts: reach out and work with Americans who will now get their paychecks from The UAE bank instead of the UK bank?
The military folks, who risked everything to build bridges of respect and community, must be wondering what kind of cowards we are back here in the US? People are pissing their pants because a country and company, both of which have worked for years with us in the torrent that is the Middle East, is buying some stock in London. And we are falling apart in a panic over it.
People see xenophobia and arab-phobia in this, and there is an undercurrent of that. Many have finally shed all pretense and have raced ahead of this mob mentality of irrational fear to claim if only they were not arabs! And some are still trying to say Arabs are really worth distrusting.
Lou Dobbs likes to ask dissenters to his America Uber Alles tirades what about the 70% of the people who are afraid (or trying to get Bush) in the polls. My first response is at one time majorities in this country backed slavery and racism. So it is not the numbers that matter, it is what is driving the numbers that matters. Fear is driving these numbers, which is always bad. When fear hits a mob you end up with groups like the KKK – which was an organization and a mob think all centered around fear of others who were different. Sorry, but that is a fact of the KKK. So when you see even minor valid comparisons it is good time to do a real hard re-assessment of ones positions.
I know my readership is going to tank again, as it always does when I am blunt, honest and coldly calculating in my comments. Especilly on this subject. People don’t like to face the possibility they are wrong, or cowards. But while the Chicken Hawks run around fearing the Arab Owners of DPW, I fear what the cowards in Congress are leading us to. They blame Bush for not stopping the mob mentality, as they simultaneously use the mob fear to shore up their chances of re-election. In my mind I would not want to be re-elected to lead a country running on fear and lashing out like this. I would put it all on the line – like our soldiers do right now, every day, in the Middle East. So stop blaming Bush because you ‘leaders’ are afraid to get out and face this head on.
The Chicken Hawks are driven by a fear of the “Un-Americans”. The usual suspects who see fit to yank families from their homes and jobs and march them to the borders because they do not have ‘their papers’ in order worry me. Yes, I am talking about illegal immigration – another excuse used to behave poorly. These people equate someone trying to make a living and raise a family, but not registered properly with the government, as some kind of evil parasite that must be excised. Sounds like a tax cheater to me. If we were to have punishments that fit the crimes, all those who’s tax forms were not in order would get uprooted and marched off too! But this is not about law and punishment – it is about fear.
Where is this mob fear going? There was once another nation in Europe who rounded up undesirables based on tissue thin legal grounds. And while the Chicken Hawks out to purge our schools of illegal alien children strut around showing their bravery, I wonder how they would respond when Mexico and the other countries close our borders to stop us from dumping millions of jobless, homeless people on their streets? Will they then use that as an excuse to place the unwanted into detention camps? What does it take to be ‘American enough’ to pass muster with these folks? Who decides? Lou Dobbs?
The Chicken Hawks really bother me (can’t you tell?). They are not showing a lot of self control and very little logic. When it was their turn to stand tall and brave and reach out to people in the middle east they have responded with panic, accusations and now attempts to close the doors on our allies. All those sacrifices and true acts of courage on the battle field and in the subsequent rebuilding of Muslim nations were apparently for nothing. America was supposed to stand tall, reach out and say: let’s give this brave new world a try. Well, at least that is what I hoped she would do.
We failed. We were once the land of The Free and The Brave. Now it looks more like The Frightened and The Scared. How can anyone who backed the Iraq war look our troops in the eye now and say it was too hard for us to rub elbows with Arab businessmen? We just did not have the spine.
A history lesson.
AJ: They say ignorance is bliss. Only those who believe this would abandon you for your stance on the this issue. If the truth about our becoming “The Frightened and The Scared” is difficult for some to handle then so be it, but those of us who admire your insight and courage will always stick with you.
Thanks for a daily dose of reality.
Im sure alot of congress may have seen an economic advantage on this deal. However saying that doesnt outway the people who voted them in, sending them emails and whatnot and watching the representitive republic work, in action. I know we dont see eye to eye on this AJ, but i always want brutal honesty and you deliver with a passion and i like that about you. The 62-2 voting down of this deal by a selected committee may prove our republic is still working, atleast i expect that from my government, especially the populas.
I’ve recently become a daily reader of your site and I think you’re spot on regarding this issue and many others. There are those who have taken the GWOT and tried to make us an isolationist nation once again. I do not believe that in the 21st century this will ever be achievable – nor would I want it to. It is one thing to believe that immigrants should embrace our language and our laws, it is quite another to declare that they are spoiling our society and should be sent home. What we have learned over the history of civilization is that it is never possible to maintain the status quo. American society has evolved over the last couple of centuries because of our willingness to embrace immigrants of other cultures, people who have made our society vibrant and unique.
We have to look beyond the traditional solutions to our problems with assimilating immigrants. I think that conservatives offer the greatest number of reasonable options. Moreover, I’m grateful that conservatives are willing to argue among themselves over policy, unlike the folks on the left side of the aisle.
In terms of the Dubai Ports deal…. it is truly inexcusable to give ammunition to our critics throughout the world who claim we are bigoted and racist. I truly hope that you are correct that President Bush will sign off on this deal and let the chips fall. GOP representatives and senators are very foolish is they think that the president’s low approval ratings have anything to do with their own approval numbers. I do wonder what would happen if these politicians embraced the president’s agenda and moved it forward in a timely manner, while Democrats like Sen. Rockefeller who have compromised our national security get hauled to the mat.
Thanks for thought provoking commentary. I look forward to more.
I still have yet to see an answer to the question – what happens if the deal is killed? Do we close the ports or what? I’m just curious. AJ, any ideas?
Face it… we’re about to see the right descend into a similar madness that we see from the Daily Kos. Where do Michelle Malkin, Lou Dobbs, and others get more knowledge of the UAE’s reliability than Central Command or the rest of the national command authority?
If this port deal is blocked, I may have to start supporting the Republican Main Street Partnership. Because Malkin, Coulter, and others are people I can no longer abide.
Oops, I should have said “do we close the terminals in question”, not “the ports”. Also, I heard several days ago, maybe on the Rush’s show – I’m not sure, that there are close to 100 terminals at these 6 ports, and DPW would only lease 9 of them. Any truth to that, AJ?
Agree 100% AJ. I retain a little hope that Congress may relent, and as long as Bush continues to back the DPW deal the entire country won’t be dishonored.
But this ports business may be the biggest setback for the nation since 9/11.
New York & Newark?? Oh, hell! Let’s just shut them down until some polititions who HAVE a clue come up with a solution (without impacting federal budgets). Lwet’s see–that would include clinton, schumer, corzine—LOL!
I’d even go for secession at this point.
Hysteria over UAE port deal continues…
By all accounts, this story is leading the pack in the blogosphere in terms of discussion (see Memeorandum for more). Quite frankly, yours truly is beyond rehashing it at this point because some of what I have to say isn’t really fit for print….
What makes it worse is that Congress knows that 45 days will give the passions time to fade, and facts time to sink in.
They’re going to try to kill the deal now – to leave the President with a fait accompli – without an apology if theyare wrong.
Great post, AJ – one of many.
They hysteria over the UAE deal has reached fever pitch amongst the GOP to the point I’m really close to leaving the Republican party and changing my affiliaton to “Independent” (I wrote about that earlier today). The pandering on this issue by Republicans based on *emotional* arguments is greatly disappointing to me. Instead of showing spine, they’re blindly following the polls, joining in on the mob mentality (as you suggested), and are working feverishly to re-estabilish their ‘national security credentials.’
On losing readers over your opinion, don’t let that get you down. While it is important to have readers (afterall, you don’t want to just be talking to yourself) the bottomline is that you have to blog about and express your opinion on what you feel is important. When a blogger stops doing that and starts reshaping his/her opinions based solely on the fact that he or she doesn’t want to offend any readers, it’s not worth blogging. I know you’re not that kind of blogger, and it’s one of many reasons I added you to my blogroll long ago.
Keep up the good work.
–ST
The Motives Behind A SUV Rampage…
In fact, it is often the jihadists themselves who have shed more Muslim blood than any other group, including the US. Witness the death tolls in Kashmir, Algeria, Thailand, and Chechnya for starters. In Algeria alone, more than 150,000 Muslims were k…..
The consequences of killing the port deal are ALREADY starting to happen. It seems the U.A.E. is making noises about denying our ships entry into Dubai.
Congress really needs to wake the hell up, and soon. We’re going to have to deal with Iran pretty soon, and we need a place from which to launch attacks into that country. The U.A.E. is in the ideal location. P*ssing them off is NOT a good idea if you expect to have to deal with Iran. What a freaking nightmare — an Islamofascist dictatorship could go nuclear, because we couldn’t act in time, because a FORMER ally got tired of sticking their necks out for us, because our duly elected representatives got panicky about the polls and drafted an amendment without concern for the consequences, because people have been told that the President is basically handing our ports over to a terrorist state, because the Democrats wanted to help the unions, because Dubai Ports World is apparently more efficiently run (or more union-friendly, or both) than P&O.
AJ, I’m starting to hope like hell right now that somebody in the White House reads your blog.
Harold – 100% dead-on-balls accurate. Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter have NO knowledge of the UAE’s capabilities in this deal. None. Once again they used their powers of innuendo and rumor and they used their big mouths to perpetuate islamophobia and hatred of arab foreigners. It’s disgusting, and their shrill “attaboys” they are giving themselves right now (see MM current updates) is as putrid as any of the KosKids diatribes. I hope against hope that real conservatives can see beyond this morass. If not, then AJ is 100% correct – some on the right are becoming the very same breed of nutwing moonbat that is detestable.
PS: AJ – Those that leave because you are being honest and forthright should not be here in the first place.
Dear AJ,
First, anyone that leaves your site because they don’t agree with
you on one issue is not a member of club that I want to join.
What makes “conservatives” different from the “libs” today is
that we discuss issues and ideas. We don’t march in lockstep.
The Left and MSM tries to play the splits up. Guess none of
them belong to a loving family where different points of view
are allowed.
This paragraph is the most important:
When fear hits a mob you end up with groups like the KKK – which was an organization and a mob think all centered around fear of others who were different. Sorry, but that is a fact of the KKK. So when you see even minor valid comparisons it is good time to do a real hard re-assessment of ones positions..
Lou Dobbs is on CNN now celebrating “the will of the people” with
the CNN anchor who is married to an Iranian. She knows not
what she and CNN are doing.
Lou Dobbs is really pleased with “A FRESH WIND BLOWING IN
WASHINGTON”!
STUPID STUPID UNTHINKING PEOPLE!
More Port…
Well the uber rightis dancing in the streets – as Dubai buckles on the proposed deal:…
Quite frankly, yours truly is beyond rehashing it at this point because some of what I have to say isn’t really fit for print….
Amen, ST
Wow. Take heart, AJ, there are a lot of us who won’t be leaving your site.
But I do think you’re being a bit too easy on the elected Republicans who sabotaged the UAE Ports deal. “Frightened” I could sympathize with and, while supporting less cowardly opponents to unseat them, I’d at least wish for them to do well in the private sector.
But I don’t see fear as a motivating factor in this disgusting display of political opportunism. I see self-obsessed, power-grasping little hate mongers attempting to fuel and stoke constituent fear to their own political benefit.
Every one of those representatives and senators should be targeted for defeat in their next election(s).
And that means, every one of us should be out beating the bushes NOW to find candidates worthy of our support, and start working toward THEIR election victories, whether in 2006, ’08, or 2010.
It is an unfortunate truism that we have the representation, and the government, we deserve. There’s only one way I know of that we can deserve, and get, something better (and getting rid of the current Party candidate selection method is an essential first step).
Merry Whitney