I commented last week that the Liberal Democrat Party of the US (used to be known as the Democrat Party) protested way too much at Karl Rove’s comments about how Republicans and liberals in general responded differently to the terror attacks on America. Republicans went to war mode, Liberals went into the “Blame America” first/therapy for terrorist mode.
Well, as usual, the leaders of our LibDem Party of the US did precisely what Rove knew they would do — they would attack him….attack the messenger.
I hate to give the hate-mongering LibDems any advice…but here it goes. They should have the conviction, courage and policy positions to attack THE MESSAGE.
Yep, why don’t they come out and prove Karl Rove’s statements were wrong by articulating to the American public their anti-Al Qaeda voting records and their anti-Al Qaeda, proactive agenda to fight the War on Terror?
Answer: They cannot because he was right. Why else are they attacking him instead of proving him wrong?
-Bruce (GayPatriot) — gaypatriot2004@aol.com
I like this new design a LOT better…..
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com
Iraq Coalition Casualty Center (Hat tip: The Corner)
But wait, I thought only poor minorities were put at the front lines by the racist Bush Administration?!?! (PatriotPooch is REALLY going to be confused about this one!)
Well, I think [President Bush has] done an incredible job, his administration, on AIDS. And 250,000 Africans are on antiviral drugs. They literally owe their lives to America. In one year that’s being done. ? Yes, there’s a lot of pressure on President Bush. If he, though, in his second term, is as bold in his commitments to Africa as he was in the first term, he indeed deserves a place in history in turning the fate of that continent around.
–U2’s Bono on Meet the Press (via Powerline).
Democrats are watching with glee as Bush’s job approval stays stuck below 50 percent. But a party that happily allies itself with the likes of moveon.org and many of whose leading members have lost the ability to distinguish between opposition to an incumbent administration and rooting for our nation’s enemies has got serious problems.
–Michael Barone (via Instapundit).
You may recall in my post last week regarding the hyper-defensive reaction of Democrats to Karl Rove’s correct assessment about their weakness in the War on Terror (Methinks the Dems Protesteth Too Much – June 24)… that I made the following statement:
You have heard liberals/Democrats talk ad nauseum about their “support for the troops” though the oppose the War on Terror’s Iraq Theatre. Really? Then why are elected Democrats wildly exaggerating the abuses at Abu Grahib and Gitmo which, ironically, are the stories Al-Qaeda encourages its members to use in its own “terrorism handbook….I have sources who have contacts within the military who tell me there are abuses going on at Gitmo. People are being punched, people are having feces thrown on them and being spit at regularly.
No, the victims are not the terrorist prisoners….these abuses are happening TO US Armed Forces personnel. You know, the same ones who handle the Koran with rubber gloves. Why don’t we hear the Democrats actually DEFENDING our military men and women instead of just using the words “support the troops, oppose the war.”? Why aren’t Dems outraged at the torture of American troops in our own facilities?
GP Commenter “Dunner” challenged me on that statement here.
I’d love to hear more about your “torture of US troops at Gitmo” stories too, if they’re backed up by more than third-party hearsay (“sources with contacts in the military,” indeed…I have those too, Bruce, and they’re called “the media”). Leave the journalism to the journalists, Bruce. I thought you learned that lesson at SU…?
Well, the details about the real torture going on at Gitmo are emerging…thanks to those who know the truth — US military personnel who have visited Gitmo.
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How old is “too old” for men to wear earrings?
-Bruce (GayPatriot) — gaypatriot2004@aol.com
Loyal GP Reader Noah from Southern Maine helped staff the Log Cabin Republican booth during the Portland Pride Festival (June 16-18). He recounted the experience in a recent email to me.
I ended up being in the parade (again), and then it was time for the festival, which was indoors due to rainy weather. The festival went from 1pm to 5pm, and I staffed the Log Cabin table from 3-5. For the first two hours I was able to enjoy the festival, and occasionally I overheard people making comments about Log Cabin being there, ranging from neutral to negative.
I was actually approached by HRC (or rather, a cute boy hired by HRC), and I politely explained to him I felt the organization?s words and actions countered any claim they made about being bipartisan, and they weren?t getting anywhere with the *majority* party. But yes, I?d love a sticker, thanks! I wore the sticker sideways to make a pause sign, and when people asked why it was sideways (or upside-down, as one genius put it), I said it was because HRC wasn?t getting anywhere. (GP Ed. Note: LOL!)
Then it was time to staff the LCR table. Amazingly, only once was I compared to a Jewish Nazi. The new thing I heard, and this really bugs me, is ?You?re too young to be a Republican.? One person actually ripped off my Log Cabin sticker and ripped it up! Anyway, the whole point of the table was a postcard campaign for the Military Readiness Enhancement Act, which would overturn DADT. We collected about 250 postcards, most of which will go to my local rep, Tom Allen (D-ME).
All in all, it was pretty good. James [Dozier from LCR National] said it was better than a lot of other places he?d been too, where people had been more hostile. Maybe my grassroots campaign to educate gay Portland one bar buddy at a time has actually paid off!
And now I?m back in the regular world, fully recharged and ready to face another year of minority complex. Yay for gay!
Keep up the fight, Noah!
-Bruce (GayPatriot) — gaypatriot2004@aol.com
I have to give my blogger-in-crime, Dan, credit for coming up with this headline when I told him what I was doing this weekend. Heh.
PatriotPartner and I headed up to the King of Blue States — Massachusetts — for a wedding of an old high school friend. And in a sense, we were at the spiritual center of Blue-ness… a commune/dance therapy place called “Earthdance.” It was odd that the two gay Republicans were — at the same time — very uncomfortable, yet the most mainstream, amongst these idealistic forest nymphs.
John and I did NOT stay at Earthdance, but rather at one of the nicest bed & breakfasts I have ever been to — The Mountain View B&B. The owners are an awesome lesbian couple with the cutest son. We had a blast with them and I’d encourage anyone visiting Western Massachusetts to stay with them!
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PatriotPartner and I are watching “Greatest American” live on Discovery Channel. The nominees are Washington, Lincoln, MLK Jr, Reagan and Ben Franklin.
I’ll live-blog the show until the winner is announced.
First observation… I noted that the in-studio audience booed Ronald Reagan, yet the Reagan contingent sounded most enthusiastic about their candidate. Matt Lauer actually gave the “booers”… in the Martin Luther King section, by the way… a verbal smackdown.
9:15 PM — They just announced that by only 1/10 of a vote…. Ben Franklin eeked out President George W. Bush for the 5th top spot in the online and phone voting over the past three weeks. JFK and Clinton… wound up below President GW Bush. Heh.
9:20PM — Every US President since 1933 was named by America to the Top 100…except Gerald Ford. That’s a shame. History will judge him much higher I believe.
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Earlier in the week, Eva Young e-mailed the link to Michelangelo Signorile’s post taking issue with Andrew Sullivan’s Advocate column where that blogger formerly known as a conservative seems to extol the virtues of being HIV-positive.
I have to say that I’m not quite sure what to make of the piece, indeed, find myself agreeing (**GASP**) with some of what Signorile has to say, especially when he asks, “what is the purpose of this column“? I read it through a couple of times and also read BoiFromTroy’s thoughtful post on the topic — as well as some of the comments to Boi’s post and remain perplexed by Andrew’s intentions.
Andrew talks about how long he has survived with HIV, how he feels better, even suggests that he looks better. We all know that thanks to medicines developed in the mid to late 1990s, people with the virus can live normal, healthy lives. Like Andrew, many who follow the regimen don’t get sick. Yet, for some, the drug regimen doesn’t work. Their health continues to decline and many die. As I understand it, doctors have not yet been able to figure out why the regimen works for some, but not for others.
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After Congress regrettably voted to restore funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the umbrella organization for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), I want to draw your attention to an excellent piece in favor of defunding the CPB and privatizing the National Endowment for Arts as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities. In their piece on Culture Agencies from the Cato Handbook for Congress, David Boaz and Sheldon Richman write:
In a society that constitutionally limits the powers of government and maximizes individual liberty, there is no justification for the forcible transfer of money from taxpayers to artists, scholars, and broadcasters. If the proper role of government is to safeguard the security of the nation’s residents, by what rationale are they made to support exhibits of paintings, symphony orchestras, documentaries, scholarly research, and radio and television programs they might never freely choose to support? The kinds of things financed by federal cultural agencies were produced long before those agencies were created, and they will continue to be produced long after those agencies are privatized or defunded.
As with anything by David Boaz, I highly recommend that you read the whole thing.
It is often uncanny how much GP and I agree. Last night, after finishing my post on the reaction to Senator Durbin’s remarks, I scribbled a few notes on topics to blog on today. When I checked the blog this morning as I enjoyed my oatmeal, I was delighted to see that GP had already blogged on two of them, the Kelo decision and the Democratic reaction to Karl Rove’s statement.
When the Senate’s Number Two Democrat compared the actions of U.S. troops to those of the worst tyrannies of the last century, his critics provided numerous examples of the crimes of those thugs and murderers to distinguish them from the alleged abuses at Guantanamo. Now, it is Mr. Rove’s defenders who are providing numerous examples to rebut the critics.
My blog-league provided several. You can also follow the links provided in Instapundit’s post on the topic. (Instapundit has since shown why he’s such a brilliant blogger as he quoted from Bruce’s post in his copious compendium.)
Hillary, Charles Schumer (the other Senator from New York) and other Democrats have raised a ruckus over Rove’s remarks. Yet, in so doing, they show their true colors. As New York Governor George Pataki put it:
I think it is a little hypocritical of Senator Clinton to call on me to repudiate a political figure’s comments when she never asked Senator Durbin to repudiate his comments. Senator Clinton might think about her propensity to allow outrageous statements from the other side that are far beyond political dialogue –insulting every Republican, comparing our soldiers to Nazis or Soviet gulag guards–and never protesting when she serves with them.
Hillary’s faux outrage confirms a point I had made in a previous post, “It seems that Democrats determine right or wrong in terms of party affiliation.”
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Blogger Law Jedi doesn’ think that Senator Durbin’s remarks earlier this week showed genuine contrition. As I noted previously, his office didn’t term his remarks an apology, but a “Statement of Regret.” Law Jedi offers an alternate version of what the Senate’s Assistant Democratic Leader “needed to say:”
I made an unbelievably indefensible statement last week, comparing our military to the genocidists of the Twentieth Century. The comparison was completely outrageous and I was completely in the wrong for making it. I apologize to the people of America for saying such an upsetting thing about their servicemen and women. We have a military that is trying to keep us safe, and while I am not happy with that FBI report I read and may not be comfortable with some of the treatment it described, the treatment is simply unpleasant, not illegal and not immoral, and is the kind of thing that intelligent people can debate. I apologize and ask the forgiveness of the American people for my truly wrong mischaracterization of our military.
(Hat tip: Patterico)
A reader just Instant Messaged me to note that my blog-league’s post Methinks the Dems Protesteth Too Much made the “Inside the Blogs” feature on CNN’s Inside Politics.
You rock, Bruce!
I’m glad you’re back!
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com
PatriotPartner brought this Supreme Court ruling to my attention last night. This case involves a local government seizing private land and handing it over to a developer. So now eminent domain is allowed for seizure by developers for commercial interests?
From the WSJ:
That protection was immensely diminished by yesterday’s 5-4 decision, which effectively erased the requirement that eminent domain be invoked for “public use.” The Court said that the city of New London, Connecticut, was justified in evicting a group of plaintiffs led by homeowner Susette Kelo from their properties to make way for private development including a hotel and a Pfizer Corp. office. The properties to be seized and destroyed include Victorian homes and small businesses that have been in families for generations.
Kelo v. New London – via Associated Press
Pardon me, but I believe that the Fifth Amendment is pretty clear about this:
No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Our Founding Fathers felt very strongly about this as they came from European monarchies that stole land from the peasants without regard or notice. They specifically wanted to prevent this which is why it became a topic for one of the First Ten Amendments.
“The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.” — Thomas Jefferson
“The political institutions of America, its various soils and climates, opened a certain resource to the unfortunate and to the enterprising of every country and insured to them the acquisition and free possession of property.” –Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson even warned that “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground” when talking specifically about the takings of private property.
DowntownLad has an even more insightful posting: The Slaughter-Rights Case.
We definitely need a REAL Conservative Court…. can anyone deny now that Liberals and ConservsInNamesOnly on the Court are looking to create laws, not interpret the Constitution?
-Bruce (GayPatriot) — gaypatriot2004@aol.com
WELCOME INSTAPUNDIT READERS!!
First of all, Karl Rove is absolutely correct:
Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers…..Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals.
The White House response:
The White House defended Rove’s remarks and accused Democrats of engaging in partisan attacks. Rove, said spokesman Scott McClellan, “was talking about the different philosophies and our different approaches when it comes to winning the war on terrorism.”
Can there be any doubt that what he said is true?
Exhibit A: First of all, Rove said “liberals”… not necessarily Democrats. But wow, the Democrats who, in the 2004 Presidential Election couldn’t run fast enough from the word “liberal” now seem to be embracing it wholeheartedly in their “outrage” I also never saw a Democrat refuse to take campaign money from MoveOn.org and their ilk. (Hat tip: JustOneMinute) (Karl Rove Brilliant Trap #1)
Exhibit B: It was in fact liberals/Democrats who said the following: (Hat tip: Captain’s Quarters, HughHewitt)
US Senator Patty Murray (D-WA): “He’s [Osama bin Ladin] been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven’t done that,” Murray said.
“How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?” (GP Ed. Note: Yes, let’s help the terrorists build Islamists schools, Senator Murray….)
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…as our Greatest American. Results will be reported by Matt Lauer on the Discovery Channel this Sunday night at 9PM Eastern. You know you want to see Lauer choke on the words when he announces Reagan as won….
VOTE HERE (UP TO THREE TIMES PER DAY)
-Bruce (GayPatriot) — gaypatriot2004@aol.com
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