Redstate

One Way Stox

Did I just read that Bush will propose statehood for Iraq?

And it has been a very long time coming for him. Hopefully they will find somebody to challenge him in 2008.

This would give the pro-troops a 50-49 plurality. Throw Johnson's proxy in – though it doesn't work that way – and it is an even split with Dick Cheney breaking the tie. This right now has everything to do not with cloture or passage, but with the Democrats' grasp on setting the agenda.

There are Republicans in the Senate who are most definitely not our our side on this issue. Certainly a few (like Snowe), maybe as many as a half dozen. Then there are others who haven't really picked a side (like Coleman).

Words like "important" and "momentous," though used, had no place in Congress on Friday.

I disagree about the stakes. I think this is a big deal. The world is watching. Our troops are watching this, our allies are watching this, and our enemies are watching this. And it tells them all the wrong thing. That we are looking for any way out and surrender is inevitable. It is just a matter of time.

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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman

Which made we want to vomit. If one gives her the benefit of the doubt and accepts the notion she truly believes the surge is all a tragic miscalculation that will result in the unneeded death of troops, what is there to smile about, unless the real objective was to rebuke and dis the real enemy, Bush. Then Nancy would have something to smile about today.

Today wasn't about the seriousness of events on the ground. It was about Nancy and the rest of her pathetic party's petty hatred of the President and the satisfaction they received by publicly rebuking him on the world stage, the troops, national interest and national security be damned. That's what Nancy was smiling about.

“They chose dishonor. They will have war.” - Winston Churchill

....is no Freshman. He was elected in 1989, and is a Subcommittee Chairman on HASC.

..... clearly, the Republicans gained strength over the last couple of days, and it ended up unifying them more.

When the R's were in the majority, Hastert would have closed the debate.

It's telling that Pelosi left Skelton out there to close. No Hoyer, no Pelosi closing.... just Skelton.... who probably hated that this resolution was up anyway.

Meanwhile, Putnam, Boehner and Johnson all whacked Murtha for his slow bleed language, without any Democrat standing up.

It was beautiful.

I live in PA congressional district 4, and since Hart lost it to Altmire(he is a complete dope!) I have considered Phil English, of PA district 3, just north of me, my congressman. I called his office and urged told one of his staff that I feel he should vote against the resolution. Much to my disgust, he sided with the Dems. I have devote myself to finding a candidate capable of taking him out in the primary, and winning the general election.
I've also been thinking about the 4th district seat. If Hart doesn't run again, I think that a good candidate to challenge Altmire would be Lynn Swann.

Oh yes, here. "Eccentricities" is putting it mildly. From near the bottom of this 2003 speech:

The panicky effort of the Fed to stimulate economic growth does produce what it considers favorable economic reports, recently citing second quarter growth this year at 3.1%. But in the footnotes, we find that military spending—almost all of which is overseas- was up an astounding 46%. This, of course, represents deficit spending financed by the Federal Reserve’s printing press. In the same quarter, after-tax corporate profits fell 3.4%.

Paul seems to object to military spending on the principle that it's inflationary. Leaving aside that this is weird to start with, someone needs to explain to Paul that the soundest money in the world doesn't do you much good without national security.

Trust me. I live in the 11th District, and I highly doubt any Republican will dare challenge him. Every state senator, state delegate, county supervisor, and city councilman who has an "R" next to their name owes in large measure their elections to Tom Davis.

What might have happened here is Davis could foul up any sort of state-wide senatr run he might have in mind.

But I've followed Davis closely and spent a lot of time working for his campaign. While I'm disappointed, I will jump to his defense. Davis is a serious politician. I'm sure I'll get flammed for this, but Tom is as honest a guy you'll find, and he's a deliberate thinker.

I don't agree with Davis's vote, but I don't begrudge him becasue he's not trying to score points the way a guy like Walter Jones does. He's more of a Ron Paul time, who has real concerns. Davis doesn't have a history of breaking with Bush and has a relatively moderate-to-conservative voting record.

Fairfax County, the heart of his district, is SPRINTING left and if we want ANY congressman from the VA-11 to have an "R" next to his name, its gotta be Tom Davis.

I am willing to let this one go.

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"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this."
- George Mason

I'm not embarrassed about my support for the Long War. Jefferson had to deal with it. As the first President that had to stand up to Muslim beliefs, he was shocked to find that kidnapping and ransom were still practiced in the 19th century. Read news accounts from the day and compare what Jefferson had to deal with to what our current President is going through.

Roosevelt had to deal with it. Muslims ransoming Americans. Times were simpler. "I want Perdicarris alive or Rasuli dead." He then sent a cruiser. Foreign policy for dummies.

The '50's saw the twilight of what had been Western Civ's policing of Islamic extremism. Europe was failing. While American efforts at establishing democratic ideals as the cultural norm took place for Western Europe, dwindling European Imperialism took the lid off the box of Islamic extremism. It wasn’t the end of Europe’s attempt at regional hegemony. Britain and France were more than willing to intercede in the efforts at pan-Arabism by fellas like Nasser. If you recall, it was, in 1956, America that stepped forward in the United Nations to end that invasion. And it was Eisenhower’s reliance on the United Nation’s charter, and the appeal to universal rights of self-determination that rang the first toll of the end of Western influence in the East.

With the decline of European hegemony came the concomitant increase in Soviet hegemony. While Europe—French and English--invaded Egypt, Russia invaded Hungary. In 1956, America was able to stand up to "the Good Guys" but was faced down by "the Bad Guys". Under the United Nation's Charter, the Soviet proclaimed, Hungary had a "right to self-determination". The Soviet Invasion was support, for the Hungarian Communist Party, for those rights. Prime Minister Nagy was arrested, a non-communist. Ergo standing in the way of “the rights of self-determination” and then executed two years later.

The lessons of "the Rights of Self-Determination" weren't wasted on the rest of the world. Move forward to the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. As President Carter idly sat by and watched, not only did he ignore one of the most potent anti-Soviet weapons--gained through diplomacy by President Ford and used to great effect by President Reagan--in his arsenal, the Helsinki Accords, he watched dumbfounded as Iran fell to the Mullahs and Afghanistan fell to the Russians. You’ll still hear former-President Carter talk about “the rights of self-determination”. Remember this phrase: “the rights of self-determination”. It will come back to haunt you.

Up until then, what the world knew of Islamic terror had only been visited upon the Israelis, as it had in 1972 during the Munich Olympics. Terror in those days ranged from Red Brigades, the Baader Meinhof Gang, Black Panthers, and the "Patty Hearst Abduction". Ergo, the common thread to today's political mire.

To a vast majority of the political Left, the Romanticism of being in the Weather Underground, or a freedom fighter for Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, or yelling "Pig" at cops, this was Revolution, man! This kind of romantic thinking was exemplified by mainstream groups, e.g., the Presbyterian Church supporting Angela Davis.

Take a look at the famous "Class of '74". Those politicians who were elected for the first time to legislative posts either in statewide or congressional races.

So, on one hand, we have the UN Charter, proclaiming the rights of self-determination. And in 1974, the first election the Lefties would control, following the two-year debacle of the First Gate, we had an election. The Left was fully embracing the “right of self-determination”. In Viet Nam, that meant that our efforts to bring democracy to Asia was just, simply, essentially, only, quintessentially, immorally, totally, only, Imperialism. These little brown men and women should seek to find their own form of government. Imposing the values of democracy was—and is—a form of Imperialism. Unknown to the winners of the “Mandate of 1974” was that the principle of individual merit and worth would be won on the world stage the following year.

It is these leaders, who now hold seats of leadership in state houses and in the Congress who are leading the debate against the Long War today. And they are best represented by the man, elected at their political nadir, President of the United States, James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr.

The “Human Rights” clause of the Helsinki Accords was a fundamental shift away from the accepted practice of “self-determination” under the UN Charter. In the first paragraph of Section Seven, you read, “The participating States will respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief, for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”

This was new, international law. And it was important. According to Natan Sharansky, the Helsinki Accords signaled the end of Soviet oppression.

So, we have an historical turning point. For Lefties? It’s still marching to the “International”. Anti-war, Bobby Seale, Winter Soldier, and Nixon is a whatever.

On the other hand, you have guys like Washington’s “Scoop” Jackson, Warren Magnuson, Barry Goldwater, Abe Ribicoff, Herman Talmadge, Bob Dole, Jacob Javits, Charles Percy, Mark Hatfield, Howard Baker, John Tower, Sam Nunn, James O. Eastland, William Roth, Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington, Mike Mansfield…Republicans and Democrats who knew what America stood for and in turn, stood for America.

And now, interposed among these American leaders is the Class of ’74. Standing with the anti-war, anti-democracy, “right to self-determination” model of the Soviet, the terrorists of the Baader Meinhoff, the Leftists of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

So what is the thread of Foreign Policy coming from these Lefties? Do they acknowledge Helsinki?

Let’s jump forward.

In the past decade we’ve been attacked by Iran, Iraq, Libya, and their proxies. An argument could be made that we’ve been attacked by the Saudis as well, but the discussion of Saudi policy versus governance would be lengthy, so I’ll just posit that the “official” Saudi position has been to support the United States as an ally. (Go ahead and rant off at this point. But what else are stipulations for, but to side-step the grease and go for the guts?)

During this period, the US has attempted peace-keeping. Negotiation. Bribery. Covert and direct aid. We’ve spilled American blood in Germany, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Somalia, Israel, Egypt, Crete, Turkey, Indonesia, Yemen…all lost as a result of Islamic Terror. And the list isn’t complete. You’re forgetting the thousands killed on September 11, 2001.

But at that critical moment, a moment where America stood upon the world stage and made one of the greatest political and diplomatic victories of a century…just at that time in 1975 a coup de grace occurred on the world stage. And a coup occurred in America.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Just as it abhorred the political vacuum during the Carter years, government hates the political vacuum we’re dealing with in Congress right now.

And the coup occurred when the men and women at the ramparts of democracy failed to believe in the dream of democracy. Today, to too many people, democracy is a failed policy. The dream of all the world’s people living with the rights to human dignity described by the Helsinki Accords is just another Imperialist, Rethuglican, War-mongering, neo-Nazi plot to subjugate and conquer. Far be it for this writer to point out that sixteen years after the signing of the Helsinki Accords the Baltics would be free of the former Soviet Union, and that Communism would fall. In Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia…freedom and democracy are lived and practiced. Carter ignored the power of democracy. Carter lost.

And we lived through it. And we’ll live through this. More people will die as we fail to face up to the realities of the world we’re living in. Innocent people. People who didn’t choose to fight. That’s the cost of not living up to your responsibilities. People, real women, college kids, farmers, children get killed. And they will when the Lefties in Congress get their way.

Not that Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children want to fight. But when tasked with the mission, they choose to fight. They go into the battle with full knowledge of the cost of failure. Unlike the men and women of the Twin Towers. Or, the Achille Lauro. Or the men, women and children of Iraq, Kurd, Shia and Sunni. If we don’t choose the mission, the mission will choose us. I just hope few Iraqis will die because America chose not to stand with them.

Oh, and its funny the confluence of events. The “Class of ‘74” and the US Marines? John Murtha—corrupt but not convicted—was first elected to Congress in 1974. See why we study history?

It does not matter if this is actually a vote with Bush or not since this is a non-binding resolution. Anyone can express their dismay, but it does not change the status quo.

I am opposed to the surge not because I do not think our troops cannot do the job, but I doubt the Iraqis will hold up their end of the bargain. They need to end this sectarian nonsense and tolerate their neighbors of different faiths. If they cannot do this basic reality, no matter how many troops you send to Iraq, the situation will not improve.

The President has not proven to me that the surge will end this sectarian hatred that has existed for many centuries. 20,000 more troops for 4 to 6 months will not solve that problem at all. They might provide some short term relief, but the Iraqis are not going to give up their sectarian passions so easily.

Surging more troops into Iraq without the Iraqis wanting to end their petty sectarian hatred just makes more targets.

I am shocked to see so many people on this blog blindly following the President on this one.

http://michigandersforromney.com/