Politics and Culture

Wow! What kind of man clips out the last seconds of somebody's statement so as to twist the man's true meaning? Howard Dean's DNC did it with McCain's "100 years in Iraq quote" and now Jamie Rubin does it with a McCain interview. Does the Huffington Post apologize for promoting this lie? No, it doubles down and finds some other, probably out-of-context quotes to "keep lies alive."

This is getting sad and I don't find the lies interesting. I just put them up so that you guys can be aware in case one of the lied-to works with you or something.

All: Today, Jamie Rubin made a charge against John McCain. Every one of your news organizations put him on the air and covered his charges that John McCain flip-flopped on engagement with Hamas. Now we know that Jamie Rubin didn’t tell the truth.As the entire video — just posted on SkyNews — clearly shows, John McCain absolutely did not advocate unconditional engagement with Hamas. Indeed, Rubin conveniently cut off his follow-up question to which McCain was clear that any engagement with Hamas would be conditioned on their actions and policies — that any actions would be “dictated by how Hamas acts, not how the United States acts...

RUBIN INTERVIEW W/ FOLLOW-UP:

Jamie Rubin: “Do you think that American diplomats should be operating the way they have been in the past, in working with the Palestinian government if Hamas is in now charge?”Sen. John McCain: “They’re the government and sooner or later we‘re going to have to deal with them in one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy towards Hamas is because of their dedication to violence and the things they not only espouse but practice, so, but it’s a new reality in the Middle East. And I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and a decent future then they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that.”Rubin: “So should the United States be dealing with that new reality through normal diplomatic contacts to get the job done for the United States?”

Sen. McCain: “I think the United States should take a step back, see what they do when they form their government, see what their policies are, and see the ways that we can engage with them, and if there aren’t any, there may be a hiatus. But I think part of the relationship is going to be dictated by how Hamas acts, not how the United States acts.”

Note this matches up with Sen. McCain’s CNN interview that same day in Davos, in which McCain conditions any engagement on Hamas renouncing its commitment to the extinction of Israel:
From Davos, John McCain Says Hamas Must Renounce Its Commitment To The Extinction Of The State Of Israel. CNN'S BETTY NGUYEN: " All right, let's shift over to the global front. The Bush administration is reviewing all aspects of U.S. aid to the Palestinians now that Hamas has won the elections. And I do have to quote you here. A State Department spokesman did say this: 'To be very clear' – and I'm quoting now – 'we do not provide money to terrorist organizations.' What does this do to the U.S. relationship with the Palestinians?" MCCAIN: "Well, hopefully, that Hamas now that they are going to govern, will be motivated to renounce this commitment to the extinction of the state of Israel. Then we can do business again, we can resume aid, we can resume the peace process." (CNN's "Saturday Morning News," 1/28/06)

Peggy Noonan took Republicans to task, piling on the evidence that the Republican "brand" is tarnished.

Perhaps the Republican troubles go deeper than a little tarnish and only some Democratic rust will shine the Republicans up. Explanation:

When do you feel more conservative: When money's low and your neighbors are acting up or when you live off your fathers trust fund in his gated mansion?

Likewise, good times prompt Democratic victory, as the populace grows weary of improvement and just wants to relax. To put it another way, people will only vote for Republicans, the "course-righteners" in times of danger or perceived Democratic malfeasance.

The "malfeasance" manifests itself in the "giving away the store" idea, or, the belief that Democrats have or will irresponsibly damage society to benefit the object of their pity du jour. On social issues, this means affirmative action, gay marriage, sex education in kindergarten, etc. In economics, look at California where, after Grey Davis and Arnold Schwarzenegger's inability to reverse Davis's spending, and despite large increases in revenue, we have a 14 billion dollar deficit and the same horribly-achieving schools.

Nixon won because of the radicalization of the Democratic party.

Reagan and Thatcher won because of the inevitable stagnation that comes from socialism.

Arnold Schwarzenegger won liberal California because he vetoes the most outrageous of Democratic ideas like drivers licenses for illegal aliens, gay marriage, and high taxes. Republicans won congress in 1994 because of Clinton's desire to run health care like one giant DMV and allow open gays in the military.

The problem for Republicans, nationally, is that most people have forgotten the seventies doldrums and the prevention of Clinton excesses by Republicans (It's no coincidence that the youngest Americans support the liberal Obama.). It's why "liberal" isn't as scary word anymore- people don't remember that frightening "malaise." It's why 1 per cent growth, 5% unemployment, a 20 per cent dip in housing prices after a fantastic run of five years has many Americans thinking they're in 1930s Oklahoma- they don't have a proper frame of reference.

Right now, in national security, the lack of terrorist attacks and the failure to find WMD in Iraq have caused attentions to wander, a natural and hopefully harmless reaction. Do people remember Carter or Clinton's handling of foreign policy?

If Obama wins, I don't hope that we have a political, Democratic-caused disaster and won't trumpet bad news like many Democrats do now with a Republican in the White House. But, if modern conservatism is the reaction to bad liberal policies and Democrats only louse up the country a little by, say, raising taxes only enough to slow growth and run a few businesses overseas, I don't see a break for conservatism anytime soon.

Reason number one why people will never elect a comedian to high office:

During a speech to the National Rifle Association convention in Louisville, Kentucky Friday, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee joked to the audience that an offstage noise was Barack Obama avoiding gunfire.

"That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak," Huckabee said. "Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."

The line was met with laughter.

What a dummy. I'm sure he didn't mean anything bad by it, but it's not good when a candidate is making jokes instead of just "having a sense of humor."

Barack Obama wants to give undergraduate students $4000.00 to pay for tuition.

In a time of virtually free information and the ability to distribute learning digitally or through teleconferencing at a low cost, college tuition continues to increase faster than the rate of inflation. Some schools have billion-dollar endowments (Harvard's is 35,000,000,000.), but the reason that colleges charge so much, according to this article, is simply because they can.

Now, setting aside that singles and the majority of parents with children who won't attend college will be subsidizing children who are probably better able to pay; the dubious proposition that the United States needs more sociologists; and that by adding some fraud magnet, BS service requirement, the program will be much more inefficient and costly; why wouldn't universities simply increase tuition by $4000.00? It's not like most of them are under-enrolled.

The left equivalent of gas tax holiday- or worse, it's a difficult thing to fight, politically. Who's going to say, "We spend too much money on education."

Despite it almost drifting into Obama-like utopianism, I liked the speech. It sure was different- the kind of thing that makes an impact- perhaps a lasting one. Such ads tend to be ripe targets for satirists, but you can't be scared of that. They also create conversation. Here's Joe Biden feigning even more ignorance than he already has:

In his speech, Senator McCain says that by 2013, "the Iraq war has been won." How? What's the strategy?

Ever heard of the surge?

Here's the full text of the ad.