The US intelligence conclusion that Iraq suspended it’s nuclear weapons program in 2003 has been rejected and harshly criticized by two key American European allies. In turn, European rejection of the American liberal position is creating a crises in faith for liberals all over the United States.
Our closest ally, Great Britain (no longer governed by Bush friend Tony Blair) has publicly opined that the American conclusion is not only wrong but politically motivated. Yesterday, French President Sarkozy discussed two very inconvenient truths: (1) the known Iranian nuclear program (those still whirring centrifuges) have no known civilian application; (2) the Israelis know it.
The European response to the recent NIE regarding Iran does place the liberals in a difficult position. Generally speaking, American liberals embrace any political though coming out of Europe as superior to American political belief. Now that the two major European allies of the United States agree that Iranian nukes are still a major threat, will the liberal head explode with the contradictory pressures of believing the British and French Europeans but disbelieving President Bush?
Worse yet, after decades of claiming European intelligence is superior to American intel in matters Muslim how can the liberal mind now reject the consoling NIE and accept the more alarming European conclusions? Undoubtedly valium and prozac are in high use this week in New York, Washington and L.A. this week.
Not that liberals ever require intellectual consistency as a precondition for belief so we can well imagine that the liberals continued support for a nuclear Iran will not abate-anything that makes the US look bad is consistent enough for the liberal to whole heartedly adopt.
Our closest ally, Great Britain (no longer governed by Bush friend Tony Blair) has publicly opined that the American conclusion is not only wrong but politically motivated. Yesterday, French President Sarkozy discussed two very inconvenient truths: (1) the known Iranian nuclear program (those still whirring centrifuges) have no known civilian application; (2) the Israelis know it.
The European response to the recent NIE regarding Iran does place the liberals in a difficult position. Generally speaking, American liberals embrace any political though coming out of Europe as superior to American political belief. Now that the two major European allies of the United States agree that Iranian nukes are still a major threat, will the liberal head explode with the contradictory pressures of believing the British and French Europeans but disbelieving President Bush?
Worse yet, after decades of claiming European intelligence is superior to American intel in matters Muslim how can the liberal mind now reject the consoling NIE and accept the more alarming European conclusions? Undoubtedly valium and prozac are in high use this week in New York, Washington and L.A. this week.
Not that liberals ever require intellectual consistency as a precondition for belief so we can well imagine that the liberals continued support for a nuclear Iran will not abate-anything that makes the US look bad is consistent enough for the liberal to whole heartedly adopt.
32 comments:
What? No recap of the shitty debate?
And what do you think of Obadiah Shoher's arguments against the peace process ( samsonblinded.org/blog/we-need-a-respite-from-peace.htm )?
Let me get this straight: The same people that told us Iraq HAD a nuclear program are the same ones that are telling us Iran does not. Right?
The strategizers at the strategizing meeting decided to use the Des Moines Register for their debates instead of the Iowa GOP.
The Iowa GOP would have done a far better job. They at least would have asked about issues that Republicans care about as they choose which to choose.
We would have asked about immigration and the War - the 2 BIGGEST ISSUES IN THE FRICKIN WORLD!!!
Where was Mark Klein in the debate?
I'm back finally, Anonymous at 3:51CST. At the end of a long campaign day in northern NH encountered a heavy blizard on the way back to Manchester.
Re Iranian nuclear weapons everyone might be better off if they had them. Nuclear weapons keeps the peace, particularly when adversaries have large armies, or top rated airforces facing off with cocked weapons with hair triggers. North Korea since it built several a-bombs is significantly less bellicose knowing a US/South Korean conventional attack, albeit however unlikely that ever was, is now impossible. India and Pakistan have gotten along much better since them acquiring them.
After Red China got them, it diverted its resources into conquering us the way we subdued the Indians. Rather than using fire water and free food, China flooded America with cheap trade goods much like Peter Styvesant did buying Manhattan with $24 of wampom!
Nuclear weapons supported by relentless diplomacy, cultural and trade contacts, and the containment doctrine got us through the Cold War unscathed.
Israel would be more rather than less secure were Iran nuclearized. The Iranians, like the North Koreans, Indians and Pakistanis, would feel more secure and thus less likely to act impulsively out of fear. Attacking Israel would bring Iran's total obliteration.
The key for America and Israel is to wait out the ayatollahs. Radical Islamic government is inherently unstable particularly in a country like Iran which holds contested, clean elections. The Iowa & Georgia Republican parties should be so clean!) In fact, the government lost badly in the last round of local elections.
On Day #1 of a Klein Administration I intend to restore dipomatic relations without preconditions with Iran. Insane, yes insane, not to be talking directly with a major power at the gateways to Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Europe via Russia's southern border.
My day is not over. A major national newsweekly wants to follow me campaign "the old-fashioned way" tonight in very dark, very cold, and very snowy New Hampshire. (They contacted me.)
With only about 3 weeks left every opportunity to campaign is precious. However things turn out this has been the experience of a lifetime! Means everything to me NH voters, not party hacks with secret agendas, will determine the outcome.
Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) accuses Senate Democratic leaders of developing “Stockholm syndrome,” showing sympathy to their Republican captors.
I always find it hilarious when democrats accuse each other of being hoodwinked by republicans through conspiracies and tricks too clever for them and then they accuse republicans of being stupid, backward and unintellectually curious.
It's amazing what that cowboy george can do, being so stupid and all.
Maybe those guys were voting for doing the right thing...maybe that can really happen amongst some democrats. Maybe they actually vote for what they think is the right thing and that just happens to coincide with the majority of republicans.
If you can't win the vote, how can you say you have the mainstream opinion? You don't by definition.
So, Charlie, who kidnapped you and held you hostage to an extreme position?
Why the comment about the Georgia GOP? A letter caught up with me yesterday from the party stating I wasn't on the primary ballot despite having an energetic following in northeast Georgia.
Georgia law allows the parties full discretion to choose candidates. Top civil rights counsel confirmed for me the matter was litigated with a finding upholding the law.
Re Europe all bent of shape over Iranian nuclear weapons issues. If they're so concerned, let them screw up their economies for a military buildup to deal with the Iranians. We are such total suckers spending ourselves into bankruptcy to defend people who do nothing substantive to assist us.
Just love how we fool ourselves with "coalition" building. Usually means some country with a very positive trade balance with us throws in a couple of very far in the rear support battalions which are quickly pulled out should they see action and take casualties.
Our friends the Brits are pulling out Basra to withdraw to a fortified airfield.
In a Klein Administration we're going to adopt the Hertz approach with a "rent-a-defense" policy. Countries we protect will pay for it. A total joke the Emirates and Saudi Arabia get a free defense ride and gouge us on oil prices. If Prince Walid, Citgroup's largest shareholder, has a spare $400 million to custom outfit a 3 decker Airbus, the Saudis can foot the bill for our costs to protect the kingdom. Some nerve he didn't buy his toy from Boeing!
Well that McCoy verdict is gonna make it pretty hard for Whitaker to run for any office. That was pretty much a political charade from the beginning.
Anonymous at 6:25--Suggest you call Fox to try a copy of the live segment broadcast from MaryAnn's restaurant in Derry, NH. Forget the exact date but I suggest you scroll back on TRS to find it.
Wouldn't be smart to reveal the magazine or the very big deal reporter I'll be meeting with. The weather's so bad now doing it tomorrow night instead.
"Somebody get this clown some help."
Here you have a point. Took Morton Blackwell's week long campaign management course at the Leadership Institute last year. More than one speaker opened by saying anyone in the room is more than a little crazy to try to run for national office. That I put up (for the time being) with the shit I get making an honest effort makes me wonder they might be right after all!
Right you are I have ego to the nth + 1 power. Wouldn't be doing this unless I thought was best person to lead the United States of America at this time.
Despite tonight's cancellation will hit a couple of close by big box stores to campaign. Brrrrrrrr.
Posted the below on the NY Times chief financial writer's blog this morning.
"The only way out of this mess is for me to make a credible showing in the New Hampshire GOP primary in 27 days. Doing that will send the unmistakable message ordinary voters are fed up with these financial shinanigans and want real change.
While largely ignored by the major media, New Hampshire is small enough for me and my volunteers to paper it with campaign signs, and meet large numbers of voters.
Will reach a large segment of the better informed electorate with my purchase of the back cover of the Concord Monitor’s election guide issue coming out among shortly. In the color ad I specifically address the risk of an American bankruptcy and a national political collapse reminiscent of the Soviets. In our case the consequences of a political collapse would be participation in the North American Union operated so that a “Brussels”, likely situated in Mexico or Canada, would make the real decisions.
New Hampshire is the last bastion of real democracy in America. Just takes a $1000 fee to get on the presidential primary ballot. Add to that 45% of the electorate registered independent with the right to vote either party slate.
— Posted by MARK KLEIN, M.D."
http://norris.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/can-things-get-worse/#comments
Dec 14, 4:29 AM (ET)
By MIKE GLOVER
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Will they be checking for out-of-state IDs at the caucuses?
The major presidential campaigns are flooding the state with hundreds of field staffers, and there's at least some concern that those operatives could show up for the Jan. 3 precinct caucuses and distort the outcome of the opening test of the presidential nominating season.
Spokesmen for the leading campaigns reject that suggestion, saying there are strict rules banning operatives brought into the state from actually participating in caucuses.
Most of the concern comes on the Democratic race, where - unlike the GOP - the rules governing who can participate in a caucus technically include recent residents who may leave the state immediately afterward.
With the Democratic caucus contest very tight in most polls, the rival campaigns are keeping a close eye on what the others are doing and some provided The Associated Press with lists of campaign staffers registered to vote in Iowa in the various campaigns.
One campaign listing showed that 51 of the 115 people on the staff of Hillary Rodham Clinton's Iowa campaign are registered to vote in the state, and that 91 of the 131 people working for John Edwards in the state are registered to vote in Iowa.
Another listing showed that 42 staffers working for Barack Obama's campaign have registered to vote in the state, many in the last six months or so.
HARLEM (CBS) ― Have teachers at an East Harlem school been ordered to lower their standards because many students there are poor?
That's the impression some got from their principal's memo.
Last month, Principal Bennett Lieberman sent off a stern memo to teachers.
"If you are not passing more than 65 percent of your students in a class, then you are not designing your expectations to meet their abilities, and you are setting your students up for failure, which, in turn, limits your success as a professional."
Was he ordering teachers to dumb down their classes?
The memo continued:
"Most of our students come from the lowest third percentile in academic achievement, have difficult home lives, and struggle with life in general. They DO NOT have a similar upbringing nor a similar school experience to our experiences growing up."
Some students took offense.
The Des Moines Arts Festival made AmericanStyle magazine's 2008 list of the nation's top 10 fairs and festivals, according to a poll of the magazine's readers.
Ballots appeared in the August and October 2007 issues of AmericanStyle magazine and online.
The 2008 festival will take place June 27-29 in downtown Des Moines' Western Gateway Park.
Ted, respectfully submit that Mark Klein's post at 7:33 on 12/13/2007 contains a threat. He says he's only going to put up with our "shit" for the time being. And what about after the "time being"? What's he gonna do then, Ted? What's he going to unleash upon us when the "time being" is up? It's a pretty scary thought, Ted. I think we need to get this looked into, Ted. I'm serious, Ted. We simply can't take threats such as this lightly. Please, Ted.
Just to clear up some of the confusion, the Republican race in New Hampshire has remained constant in recent months, with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney continuing to hold a double-digit lead over his nearest competitors.
According to the most recent poll, Romney would win 31 percent of the vote if the Republican primary were held today. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, would earn 18 percent and 17 percent respectively. Although Mike Huckabee is leading some Iowa polls, his campaign hasn't surged in New Hampshire: 9 percent of voters back the former Arkansas governor.
From the above comment quoting Principal Lieberman--""Most of our students come from the lowest third percentile in academic achievement, have difficult home lives, and struggle with life in general. They DO NOT have a similar upbringing nor a similar school experience to our experiences growing up."
Thanks heavens the public schools of my parents and my generations didn't set poor children for failure. Extreme poverty, and often very difficult family conditions,were common for the Jewish, Irish and Italian immigrants arriving in America in late 19th and early 20th centuries. Public housing today are palaces compared to tenements where my parents grew up. While my parents for economic reasons had to leave school very young, those who could stay got first class educations in schools designed to develop talent and potential rather than assigning the less fortunate to the social ash heap.
Because of the Great Depression none of my aunts and uncles finished high school.
But they demanded top quality public education for their children so my generation has lawyers, doctors, professors, and even a successful television and movie actor.
With the schools destroyed by political correctness and poor discipline cost me a small fortune to educate my children. Was so hard to find enough quality private high school places in my area send two of my sons to a Catholic high school after finishing K-K8 at Jewish day school.
Saw an example of the demand for quality private education when I campaigned the other day in a NH village home to one of America's oldest prestige boarding school. Went into the school to introduce myself, and as luck would have it, got to do some one-on-one campaigning with staff and students at lunch.
Was interview day for prospective students. There were many black and Asian applicantst. My guess is most would attend public school were they still any good. Their parents' cars parked outside were very average.
The admissions person smiled sympathetically and knowingly when I told her thought it was harder to find slots for my children at first rate private high schools than for me to get into medical school.
REAL EDUCATIONAL REFORM would be one of the top Klein Administration priorities. Want to help transform our schools so many home schooling families will return to public education.
Teachers at the school stand to receive $3,000 bonuses if their school improves.
So Virginia, are you saying they are unable to teach without the incentive to get a bonus? So, they CAN teach, but they ARE NOT teaching. Does that mean that they REFUSE to teach?
So, the remedy for that is to pay them MORE? Will someone explain to me how increased pay alone leads to increased learning by the child?
Since I am not a member of the NEA, or ISEA I would be fired for refusing to do my job. I most certainly would not get a bonus.
I am really enjoying the local news coverage I am seeing on National Fox News. It seems everyone who is anyone in politics is here. I just saw Hillary going through Bill Knapps Drake Diner. Is he one of her contributors? He's a big Democrat Funder in Iowa. Interesting coincidence in venue choice.
I saw the often very funny O. Kaye Henderson interview Hill about the resignation of a senior campaign advisor over the Clintonesque smear campaign of Obama.
O. Kaye - oh why weren't you a questioner at the debate? You've gone national.
Immigration remains the top issue for Republican Primary Voters—28% name it their most important voting issue.
Twenty-one percent (21%) name national security as their top issue, 19% pick the economy, and 16% the War in Iraq
December 14, 2007
Obama's 'surprises'?
Clinton didn't mention specifics in the taping of an interview on "Iowa Press" this morning, but drew a contrast with unnamed rivals that echoes Bill Shaheen's now-notorious claim that unexplored elements of Obama's candidacy will make him an easy Republican target.
"I’ve been tested, I’ve been vetted," she said. "There are no surprises. There’s not going to be anybody saying, 'I didn’t think of that, my goodness, what’s that going to mean?'"
This appears to be the emerging core of the electability case against Obama: that elements of his public record and -- unspoken -- his private past, could scuttle what should be a Democratic sure thing, and that he is untested by real partisan combat.
Does Hillary know what Bill's been up to during the last 7 years? Is she SURE nothing will come out about which to be embarrassed?
Has she considered what Bill will likely do in the future? Look what he did with cigars when he was the President. What is he willing and able to do as the Prince to Her Royal Queen?
I don't see him as a walk behind her by 3 steps kind of guy.
It was a lot easier to deal with the nuts and sluts when she was first lady. Who will deal with the increased level of nuts and sluts if she becomes President?
Who will be delegated that responsibility? Or, will she just do it herself since she does it the best?
ond this, Klein has very clearly leveled a threat against all of us that dare to disagree with him. Ted, get on this, This Klein scares me as it is.
Ken Hoyle said...
Ted, respectfully submit that Mark Klein's post at 7:33 on 12/13/2007 contains a threat. He says he's only going to put up with our "shit" for the time being. And what about after the "time being"? What's he gonna do then, Ted? What's he going to unleash upon us when the "time being" is up? It's a pretty scary thought, Ted. I think we need to get this looked into, Ted. I'm serious, Ted. We simply can't take threats such as this lightly. Please, Ted.
Friday, December 14, 2007 2:57:00 PM CST
Ken--Chill out, buddy. Absent a credible showing in the New Hampshire primary, will reregister independent in Califoria. No point remaining a Republican if my ideas don't sufficently resonate with the grassroots.
Should I leave will stay far, far away from the GOP!!
It isn't that the NIE report gives false information It is just that the Incompetent GOP has politicized the process to the degree that they manipulate data and then choose the info that fits their warped sense of reality.
Remeber there was much conflicying data on Iraq. our decider decided to ignore the correct info.
I myself would vote for Klein as the current GOP needs to be fumigated that includes the Clintons as they are GOP lite.
hey ghost of a soul
you are projecting. you guys trashed the nie when they said there were wmds. Now, you believe the NIE because it fits your scaredy cat worldview.
I think I'll believe what the President of Iran actually says rather than what our very weak intelligence community has to say.
So Mr and Ms Co-President, Thanks a bunch for gutting the CIA, putting up the firewall between the CIA and the FBI so that 9-11 occurred and for cutting the military down to next to nothing.
Hillary, why did you do that and what do you plan to do next?
Days since Senator Clinton promised she was not interested in attacking Democrats:34
Days that Senator Clinton has spent attacking Democrats since making that promise:30
http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2007/12/obama_backer_questions_hillarys_electability_because_of_bill.php
This has gotten a bit of attention already, but it's worth a quick note:
The chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party, an Obama backer, has taken a shot at Bill Clinton, saying that the Lewinsky mess should lead us to question Hillary's electability and ensures that her candidacy would damage the electoral hopes of the state's Democrats.
In a letter to the Denver Post, the Wyoming chair, John Millin, writes:
For reasons I don't agree with and don't completely understand, most voters in Wyoming seem to hate Hillary Clinton. This is in part due to the perception of her as being someone who supports big government, most notably through a federal government takeover of the health care system. She is also paying a heavy price for the sins of her husband.
If Barack Obama is the democratic presidential nominee, we will be the party of new ideas that understands that a united America will be much better able to address the serious problems facing our country than a divided America.
If Hillary Clinton is our party's nominee, every democratic candidate in Wyoming will be painted with that same liberal, big government brush.
We will also be the target of the locker room jokes that rightfully belong to Bill Clinton.
"Some believe you get change by demanding it. Some believe you get it by hoping for it. I believe you get it by working hard," she said, apparently contrasting herself with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, whose campaign has been marked by confrontational rhetoric, and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), whose watchword is "hope."
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