Sep 07 2006
Checkmate
I missed the President’s speech yesterday, but by all accounts in press and blogosphere today it was a deadly effective act of political jujitsu. Another reason Dems lose and lose and lose when dealing with Bush is they believe their own spin: that Bush is dumb. Maybe it is just an ego-defense mechanism, but it gets them into these situations all the time. Many are posting on how Congress and the Dems now have to either support Bush or support the terrorists we have in custody. I was expecting this to come this fall. With some elements of our anti-terrorism programs exposed, these can now be used to exemplify our efforts and corner Bush’s opposition into an “us or them” challenge. It is another unavoidable challenge that the Democrats should have seen coming. They should never have opposed the Patriot Act and rallied to the idiotic idea that the NSA affirm its orders from the Commander-in-Chief in front of a judge (the essence of telling the NSA to get a warrant to execute military surveillance of our enemies). Bush has everyone right where he wants them and is going to force them to get in line behind him or face the political fall out. The key is the Hamdan decision on military tribunals. It is the linchpin which can domino on all other issues. To show how this works (and as many other people have discussed today) there are now faces and foiled terrorist acts associated with the vague concepts that have been debated. Best illustrated I think at The Blotter today:
The super-secret CIA operation was described by the President as tough but necessary, responsible for stopping al Qaeda plots around the world.
One of the most significant targets, the tallest building in Los Angeles, known as the Library Tower.
A former CIA official says it was to be hit by a hijacked aircraft.
Robert Grenier, a former CIA counter-terrorism chief and now Managing Director of Kroll, Inc., “This was a serious serious plot. This was certainly well beyond the level of aspiration.”
But intelligence sources say the CIA’s ability to capture and break the 14 al Qaeda leaders stopped the plot against the Library Tower and more than a dozen others, including a hijacking at London’s Heathrow airport, an attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi Pakistan and a proposed anthrax attack.
We can now use these faces and acts as concrete examples of what could happen if the Dems undo the Patriot Act (which simply elevated terrorism to the same level of crime as organized crime and drug lords). We can now show hard examples of why we need to listen in on terrorists overseas, and when they talk to someone here in the US notify the FBI (which is truly what changed after 9-11 regarding the NSA and FISA – not what the NY Times misreported). We can see what could happen here, how much death and carnage there could be, if the Dems try and bring these evil people to justice in open court, exposing all our anti-terrorims methods and defenses. The far left will rail against this. Their anger at being pushed into a logic corner will infuriate them. The next shoe to fall will be the explosion from the far left – severring them further from reality and mainstreet America. One example of worrying about Bushitler and not Bin Laden’s buddies is here at KOS. As long as Bush is seen fighting terrorists and the left is seen waging war on the GOP, the GOP will win. Me and my family are not at risk of being killed by a terrorist from the GOP.
Update: Lots more on the many foiled plots since 9-11. So much for the dems saying Bush is not up to the job. Seems there a lot of attacks on us. I count nine on this article, and these are the ones the administration is willing to tell us about.
Lets see ..hmm
The MSM is beating the drum that off year second term elections alone and the grassroots strength of fighting the current administration is self supporting to achieve a democratic takeover.
Even though they are portraying the most minimalist view of their agenda. Platitudes from the left are a sunami of nothingness.
If they were to delve into their specifics, they could risk higher personal security costs due to the threat of drive by shootings, by members of their own party.
All they have proposed is “we are different”.
What a generic, asexual,noncommitial glance of suds.
Like nailing jello to a tree, a good thing to try if you are drunk, but not something you wish to try in the middle of a city commission meeting.
I saw an interesting bumper sticker this morning
Abort the Dems, They Do
On the other side of the bumper another sticker read
Katrina exported crime to many cities, tell me again it’s only because of the New Orleans environment.
The speech set the stage for a concerted fight back against the Dems effective lies. Now if congressional candidates are astute enough to jump on board—-
Abort the Dems, They Do
Heh, I gotta get me one of those.
GWB is by far the best politician I have ever seen. That goes back to Truman. DDE may have been as good. It’s hard to tell. That’s why I think he may have been as good.
GWB is reputed to be a formidable poker player. I sure wouldn’t get into a game with him. Chess? Too simplistic.
He reminds me of a Go master. One hundred some stones are placed. You’re feeling good, even though you started with a 19 stone handicap. You stand a chance. Of a sudden the master plays at a place that you thought was dealt with. That battle was decided. Then you see the trap. You try not to cry.
I am not a Democrat, but when the election dust is cleared you might
find how many people do not believe the claims.
And if true, call it “WMD” distortion coming home to roost.
http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03/cover.html
Ken,
“WMD distortion” is behind the curve. While not what we expected, it was not a distortion. You need to look at the current information on WMD in Iraq.
Pat Buchanan and his followers are dubious conservatives:
• They give tepid support to the ideals of universal human liberty.
• They don’t understand the real threat of Islamo-fascism because they oppose our effort to defeat it.
• And finally, they have a sick fear of adding any more Hispanic culture to our already heterogeneous culture.
• For another analysis of the upcoming elections, See:
Election Projection – 2006 Edition
juancole.com today has an excellent elaborated description of Bush’s hyped “value” of captured jihadists. “”Universal human liberty” is NOT a conservative principle. And your wish to add more non-white Latino mix to our already disintegrating nation which witnesses widespread Latino-black gang on gang violence in Southern California, from which whites are retreating, shows your conservative credentials are lacking,Macker.
http://www.juancole.com/2006/09/bush-abu-zubayda-and-end-of-trust-bush.html
I believe this post fairly characterizes much of the Bush propagandizing.
Ken,
Earlier, you cited Pat Buchanan,now Juan Cole. These sources may get your juices going but are poisoned wells for information.
Liberty is the cornerstone of conservatism. And the more universal it is, the safer we will be. Instead of “universal liberty,” the Left promotes “universal misery.” And Buchanan’s “paleo-cons” preach an isolationism that closes its eyes to the rest of the world.
Your reference to the “non-white Latino mix causing disintegration of our society ignores the actual crime rate among immigrants, ( http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/chavez082306.php3 ) , ignores the white gangs, ignores the huge contribution Hispanic and Asian immigrants are making and suggests a race based attitude lurking beneath the surface.
Wake up and smell the coffee!
http://amren.com/Reports/Hispanics/Hispanics.htm
This defining report just released by American Renaissance is
much more factual about Latino crime and general vitiation
of American Culture which,after all, is not-race or culture-neutral but is an extension of English-dominant culture from the innate
get-go.
How many variegated races and cultures can be assimilated
into that (once-)dominant culture is a more pressing question
even, than how fast we can get out of a no-win Iraq war.
And YOUR notion ,Macker,of what constitutes liberty is also
culture-specific and clashes with many other non-Western
notions of same. Moreover the US has no right to foist
ITS values on unwilling peoples on far -reaches of the
globe. That’;s why we left the British Empire, which believed
it had such a right.
As a matter of fact ,Europe’s Islamic problem, is THEIR
problem,not ours–and geophysically, Europe should be
the prime defenders of Western interests in the Middle
East, not America, a globe away with problems of our own,
and in many respects, a super-materialist tawdry least-
common-denominator “Coca-Cola” culture unworthy of
foisting on those in many ways more conservative than
our own.