YES, YOU HAVE BOXED YOURSELF INTO A CORNER

Arthur Chrenkoff nails the left-wing and the true box they have created for themselves in the lead-up to the elections of 2006 (which Karl Rove is now using to shape the battlefield):

The new headmaster of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Karl Rove, is having a strange - some would say magical - effect on liberals. This from Kos:

Democrats must ride that wave [of growing anti-war sentiment] into 2006, and can do so in ways where they don't sound like hippy retreads.

Would that be the hippy retreads who want to prepare indictments or the hippy retreads who want to offer therapy and understanding? Either way, the new and improved Kos offers the new patriotically-enhanced Democrats "two ways to talk about the war that don't betray weakness" (God forbid - weakness is fine, betrayal is not)

What’s their way ahead? (1) To keep promoting a rapid withdrawal based on a kinda-sorta “mission accomplished” mantra which completely flies in the face of their three-year long insistence upon seeing QUAGMIRE under every pebble in Iraq, or . . . (2) To hammer, hammer, hammer away on “accountability” which, for them, will mean anything in Iraq derived from American funding or from Iraqi oil fields and falls short of stringent business accounting practices will be morphed into a scandal(!), scandal(!), scandal! Chrenkoff is not impressed:

Either argument sounds nifty, but I'll be eagerly waiting for the new Roved-up Dems to use both: The reality on the ground mocks the assertions that Iraq is on its way to peace and prosperity, but we have accomplished our mission of bringing freedom to Iraq, and now Iraqis they must take care of themselves. Or: We must have accountability to win this war, and we're going to win it by withdrawing from Iraq. Those responsible for so many catastrophic mistakes must be replaced by more competent, more effective, people. After all, we don't want to botch the cut and run.

Who said that politics is a cynical game?

So many of these guys have turned into nothing more than a bunch of sorry sap-suckers.

 

THE STEALTHY TRANSFORMATION OF THE LEFT WING

Bruce Thornton, in a review of Brian Anderson’s book “South Park Conservatives,” outlines quite nicely how “liberalism” in America became co-opted and diminished on the left:

We ignored the confusion of license and liberty, ignored the destructive consequences of liberating the appetites from social restraints, and most of all, ignored the simple fact that the hippy “if it feels good, do it” creed had been appropriated by a totalitarian ideology that has been history’s greatest enemy of freedom and the individual. By the early seventies it was clear that the New Left’s hijacking of the hippy movement had resulted in a new conformity, one more sinister and destructive than what we thought was so oppressive in the fifties.

As time passed an odd transformation occurred: the Puritans were now all on the left. Dour, humorless, self-righteous, eager to use the coercive power of the state to impose ideological orthodoxy, so-called “liberals” and “progressives” had become enemies of freedom. These days the humorless, repressed enforcers of rigid standards of behavior are the politically correct professors and media pundits, the dour feminists (“That’s not funny!”), the race-tribunes, and the identity-politics hacks that monitor the media and popular culture for any deviations from the party line of liberal dogma, multiculturalism, and victim-politics.

The champions of freedom, in contrast, today are more likely to be found on the right, where one can find diversity of thought, freewheeling discussion, impatience with orthodoxy, a commitment to individual freedom, and anarchic humor. And, as Brian Anderson documents in his fast-paced, entertaining analysis of how conservatism has flourished in recent years, the result has been the weakening of the liberal dominance over the media and popular culture.

Roger that.

 

FAITH

Wretchard the Cat has a great post up on faith, genuine faith, a faith in America and her place in the world. He uses a Michael Ignatieff piece in the New York Times Sunday Magazine to show how the left wing blinks when it comes to faith, genuine faith, a faith in America and her place in the world. Ignatieff critiqued the Democratic Party’s abandonment of the historical American idea of championing of universal liberty and tried to compare and contrast in various ways Reagan and Bush as opposed to JFK, Bill Clinton and John Kerry. Wretchard shows how Ignatieff’s bias leads him to confuse the realist (Dubya) for the gambler (Kerry):

It was one thing to coldly deduce that China could be reached by sailing westward from Europe, but it took Columbus to stake one's fate on it. Ignatieff sees this, but cannot bring himself to admit it. Missionary endeavors require a kind of faith. A kind of action in advance of the result. The Canadians and Europeans would not come on those terms and so we should not be surprised that they have not come at all.

[Here, Wretchard quotes from the Ignatieff article]

John Kerry's presidential campaign could not overcome liberal America's fatal incapacity to connect to the common faith of the American electorate in the Jeffersonian ideal. Instead he ran as the prudent, risk-avoiding realist in 2004 -- despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that he had fought in Vietnam. Kerry's caution was bred in the Mekong. The danger and death he encountered gave him some good reasons to prefer realism to idealism, and risk avoidance to hubris. Faced with a rival who proclaimed that freedom was not just America's gift to mankind but God's gift to the world, it was understandable that Kerry would seek to emphasize how complex reality was, how resistant to American purposes it might be and how high the price of American dreams could prove. As it turned out, the American electorate seemed to know only too well how high the price was in Iraq, and it still chose the gambler over the realist. In 2004, the Jefferson dream won decisively over American prudence.

Ignatieff's oddest choice of words is to characterize Kerry as a realist and George Bush as a gambler, as if there were any certainty to be derived from sitting back passively, as he accuses the Liberals of doing; as if there were any recklessness to warring on enemies who had warred on you. "The real truth about Iraq is that we just don't know -- yet -- whether the dream will do its work this time. This is the somber question that hangs unanswered as Americans approach this Fourth of July." But that's what freedom is: the ability to ask a question and not be afraid of the answer. 

That might be a completely unique definition of faith – the ability to ask a question and not be afraid of the answer.

Faith, genuine faith, a faith in America and her place in the world.

 

THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE ON THE WAR IN IRAQ

McQ at the Q and O Blog has it and it’s a great post, very detailed. All of it should be read (there are comments from Secretary Rumsfeld and historical information on the life cycles of insurgencies) but here’s McQ’s conclusion:

Abazaid then talked about something which has come to concern him very much:

Abizaid addressed polls showing American support for Operation Iraqi Freedom is dropping. He said public support for the troops is important. "Soldiers don't want to be looking over their shoulders wondering what folks back home are thinking," he said. "They want to know that people understand what we're fighting for, why we're fighting and how we can win this thing.

 

"It's a challenge to talk about this most complicated region and this most complicated war and put it in the common sense necessary for folks back home to talk about it," he continued. "The vast majority of troops in the field know that we are winning and know it is better to fight abroad than to fight at home."

 

Abizaid stressed the difficulty of the battle in Iraq. He said an insurgency is the most difficult campaign, and one that needs to include all aspects of governance. That is happening, he emphasized. "The problem is our patience level is low," he said. "We seem to think we're in a sprint. This is not a sprint, this is a marathon."

 

The general said the effort is in the 21st mile of that marathon, and the U.S. population must not "hit the wall," but rather should finish the race.

I talk about this here and here.

Bottom line: It's critical we have a proper historical perspective on what we're faced with, and armed with that perspective, it's as equally critical we finish the last 5 miles of the race.

It just isn’t that complicated (the self-evident need for us to stay the course). And it never has been.

 

INTERESTING PROFILE OF KEN MEHLMAN IN THE BALTIMORE SUN

That basically white, Christian party, as described by Howard Dean (he meant it as a diss but you do wonder if he has figured out, yet, that the Democratic Party and the nation as-a-whole are subject to the same description – physician, know thyself!), has a winner in Ken Mehlman. The Pikesville, Maryland native and head of the RNC has a positive profile in the Baltimore Sun that is well worth reading.

Clever sound bites didn’t earn Ken Mehlman his job as head of the Republican National Committee. He ground his way to the top less glamorously - by mastering the nuts and bolts of campaign mechanics and staying rock-solid loyal to President Bush.

Still, Mehlman had a snappy retort ready after Democratic Chairman Howard Dean recently characterized the Republicans as “pretty much a white, Christian party.” Mehlman responded by telling the Fox News Channel: “A lot of the folks who attended my bar mitzvah would be surprised to learn that.”

After five months in the chairman’s post, it’s become increasingly clear that Mehlman is the anti-Dean - to the delight of Republicans and the discomfort of more than a few Democrats.

Mehlman, a 38-year-old Pikesville native, is as unknown as Dean is famous. He has no difficulty making his way through a busy airport terminal without turning a single head.

More significantly, he is intensely disciplined. Mehlman has yet to commit a serious gaffe, in sharp contrast to Dean’s penchant for the ill-chosen remark.

The Anti-Dean. High praise, wouldn’t you say? Here’s the GOP.com info page on Mehlman.

 

THE FUNDAMENTAL SPLIT IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Michael Barone addresses the liberal response to the Karl Rove speech by highlighting the fundamental split in the Democratic Party – juxtaposing the more or less “regular” Democrats and the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party

One reason that the Democrats are squawking so much about Rove’s attack on “liberals” is that he has put the focus on a fundamental split in the Democratic Party -- a split among its politicians and its voters.

On the one hand, there are those who believe that this is a fundamentally good country and want to see success in Iraq. On the other hand, there are those who believe this is a fundamentally bad country and want more than anything else to see George W. Bush fail.

Those who do not think this split is real should consult the responses to pollster Scott Rasmussen’s question last year. About two-thirds of Americans agreed that the United States is a fair and decent country. Virtually all Bush voters agreed. Kerry voters were split down the middle.

This is a fundamental split. University and media elites, as Thomas Sowell writes in his forthcoming “Black Rednecks and White Liberals,” promote a version of history in which all evils are perpetrated by the United States and the West and in which Third World tyrants are assumed to be the voice of virtuous victims. These elites fail to notice that slavery was a universal institution until opposed only by altruists in the West, in late 18th century Britain and 19th century America.

The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party constitute the punk ass surrender monkeys of that party. That’s not to say there aren’t splits among Republicans that highlight the political opportunism of certain folk that render them no better than punk ass surrender monkeys within the context of the Iraq war. The Wall Street Journal nails it in an editorial out today:

So why the Washington panic? A large part of it is political. As Democrats see support for the war falling in the polls, the most cynical smell an opening for election gains in 2006. The Republican Hagels, who voted for the war only reluctantly, see another opening to assail the “neo-cons” and get Donald Rumsfeld fired. Still others are merely looking for political cover. Rather than fret (for the TV cameras) about “the “public going south” on the war, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham could do more for the cause by trying to educate Americans and rally their support.

It isn’t as if the critics are offering any better strategy for victory. At last week’s Senate hearing, Carl Levin’s (D., Mich.) brainstorm was that the U.S. set a withdrawal schedule if Iraqis miss their deadline in writing a constitution. But U.S. officials have all stressed to Iraqis how important that deadline is. Mr. Biden delivered a lecture last week that boiled down to letting France train 1,500 Iraqi “gendarmes” and pressing for 5,000 NATO troops to patrol the Syrian border. Both are fine with us, assuming Mr. Biden gets to negotiate with the French, but neither is going to turn the tide of war.

The proposal to fix a date certain for U.S. withdrawal is especially destructive, inviting the terrorists to wait us out and Iraqi ethnic groups to start arming themselves.

Correct-a-mundo, my friend. Political opportunism – absolutely, positively the inherent weakness of democracy. Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, among others, are banking on this inherent weakness to win the day for them. That has always been a part of their grand strategy.

Karl Rove scored a direct hit with his speech and his brilliant run continues.

 

THE HOLLOWED-OUT FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

They (although it would be exceedingly difficulty for them to admit this) are an incredibly incestuous group drawing from an increasingly small pool. “They” are the select group of better-than-thou folks running the Florida Democratic Party.

Read it and weep; it’s a sad fall for a group that quite rightly had much to brag about in days gone by. Lucy Morgan lays down the facts:

Can Florida's Democrats dig themselves in any deeper?

Hard to say. Just when you thought things were as bad as they could be, the Internal Revenue Service comes calling with tax liens because the party failed to pay employee withholding taxes while it was losing more seats in the Legislature and a U.S. Senate seat.

The bizarre thing is there are 368,757 more registered Democrats than Republicans in Florida, but the Democrats continue to lose ground. In the past decade they have lost the Legislature, the Governor's Mansion, the Cabinet and one of two U.S. Senate seats they once held.

Some would blame the losses on Republican redistricting, but they should remember that the Republican takeover began while Democrats had control of the process.

They are ghettoized, completely ghettoized, and uniquely disrespectful of things American because of their fringe left-wing.

 

HERE’S THE THING ABOUT THAT KARL ROVE SPEECH

Jeff Harrell from The Shape of Days blog has the text from what is sure to be recorded as a famous Karl Rove speech. Read it for yourself. Here, however, is confirmation on why I am now a proud Republican. As a preface to the text Harrell, in part, wrote:

It’s a moving speech. It’s not a speech about Republicans and Democrats; it’s a speech about liberalism and conservatism. It’s a speech about what it means to be a conservative today, about how after 9/11 the conservative movement embraced many ideals that were once the exclusive purview of liberals, up-ending the political spectrum in ways that are just now beginning to sort themselves out. And it’s also a cautionary tale about how a political movement can grow stagnant and cease to lead if it fails to respond to an evolving world.

So true, so true, so true. Thanks to Lorie Byrd at PoliPundit blog for the link.

 

IS NIGERIA LEADING THE WAY IN AFRICAN REFORM?

The London Telegraph seems to think so. After detailing the simply phenomenal amount of money likely stolen by Nigerian officials between 1960 and 1997 (approximately $401 billion), the newspaper remains hopeful and explains why:

The scale of such theft would seem to make a mockery of the Africa Commission's proposals for 100 per cent debt reduction and $25 billion of new aid over the next three years. And the timing of the commission's revelations will be seen as embarrassing for Tony Blair as he prepares to host the G8 summit in Scotland, where Africa, along with climate change, is at the top of the agenda. Yet the fact that the continent's biggest looter has made public its past crimes gives ground for hope.

President Olusegun Obasanjo served as military ruler of Nigeria during the period surveyed by the EFCC, but as a civilian head of state he has taken four important steps to tackle corruption. He has set up the commission, under Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and given it teeth. He has appointed the extremely able Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as finance minister. He has sacked two members of his Cabinet and the national police chief, all of whom have been charged with malfeasance. And he has set up an excess crude earnings account, into which goes all the revenue earned from oil above the $25 a barrel on which Nigeria bases its budget. With the price over twice that sum, the account holds £4.6 billion. Previously, that excess would have disappeared without trace, the main reason for the country's egregious level of embezzlement; now it is open to public scrutiny.

Well, that’s certainly a start . . . maybe. Here’s a link for the Commission for Africa. Additionally, here’s the link for the BBC's Africa 2005 initiative.

 

WHY IS THIS SO DAMN HARD FOR DEMOCRATS TO FIGURE OUT?

Patrick Ruffini, after detailing a factual recounting of statements and actions from members of the Democratic Party in the aftermath of 9-11, makes a great point:

For most liberals, the cathartic thinking that followed September 11th did not very last long. After a moment or two of rage, these fairweather friends reverted to their old habits. Their tunnel vision did not enable them to see the problem beyond one terror group in one country. And not only that: they entered into a vicious reactionary cycle in which reflexive hostility to American military action matters more today than it did on September 10th.

Liberals are now casting about for a message, a "frame" that will define them as the true defenders of the Republic. What a fatuous exercise in deep, profound not-getting-it-ness! The messenger is the message, stupid. What you do is the message. Your veins popping when someone speaks ill of American troops is the message. Your voice quivering when you vow to defend the American people is the message. And liberals haven't quite mastered that yet, which is why Rove's comments don't elicit casual dismissals but the indignance that only arises when someone has spoken an uncomfortable truth. "What do you mean my little Joey flunked basic algebra? That's not my kid you're talking about!"

Here's a radical idea: In order to be perceived as strong, maybe you actually need to be strong.

The uncomfortable fact of the matter is that there exists an all-together too large a number of punk ass surrender monkeys in the Democratic Party.

Enough with the words, actions count.

 

FLORIDIANA: TALLAHASSEE AND LEON COUNTY

I can be quite anal about Florida things and geography. For instance, I live in Tallahassee and this isn’t North Florida to me although it is to the people who live here. For me, this is Northwest Florida – the Panhandle. More precisely, the Eastern Panhandle. The “capitol” of the Western Panhandle of Florida is Pensacola, the Central Panhandle is anchored by Panama City and the Eastern Panhandle is the Tallahassee area, and it’s still strange for me to know and acknowledge that this is now my hometown.

But I do. And I know this because I will occasionally come across a snotty comment on a Gator sports site, for example, about what a hellhole Florida’s capital city is.

And I immediately think – hold the hell up. That simply is not so.

This is a genuinely beautiful part of the state. Now, to illustrate my point, a few pictures from my new very basic digital camera:

1. Capitol View, from the east, on Apalachee Parkway. Our capitol is oriented toward Jacksonville and the Atlantic coast. I likes dat.

 

2. We’re now in the rainy season in Florida. Tallahassee’s neighborhoods quite often are a forest of trees whether you are rich or poor or somewhere in between and, as you might expect, that makes for some interesting opportunities to take a picture. Here’s a scene outside my house that does a decent job of capturing the point I’m trying to make:

 

3. This particular Floridian has a psychic connection with palmettos and the one in my backyard needs a little doctoring but it’s hanging in there:

 

4. The outlying areas around Tallahassee can be particularly beautiful. For instance, Miccosukee. Here’s a marker giving the history of the place:

 

5. Heading into Miccosukee from a southerly direction, you begin to see why this place just a few miles from the Capitol building is revered. The pond:

 

6. Most folks in rural America, especially in and around the South, will recognize this scene. The intersection:

 

7. This picture, for me, is quintessential Miccosukee. A family home:

 

8. Finally, there are many private estates in and around Miccosukee as you might expect. Here’s the entrance to one:

 

As you can see, the area in and around Tallahassee and Leon County is unquestionably beautiful. If you’re a Floridian, you owe yourself a trip. All others should check the place out, too.

 

SUMMER COLD

I see that Solomon Mason has picked up a summer cold and so have I. The kid has to travel to Tampa and Orlando in the next couple of days. I’m a guy who loves to drive ANYWHERE but this may be a bit of a downer if this thing hangs around.

 

RANGE ROVER-driving RASTA REVOLUTIONARIES A.K.A. THE RRRR’S

I’m going to use this post to introduce another blogger of note: Martin Kimani of the African Bullets and Honey blog. In the linked post, titled “The Matrix Redux: The African Version Scene IV (click to read the earlier versions I, II, and III), he delivers quite a riff on a certain subset of the African diaspora:

I really dug the movie. Especially the party scene in Zion which was a real kick and reminded me of the overly conscious cool of Brooklyn, New York.

I lived in Brooklyn for a few years and loved the Fort Green neighbourhood before it was taken over by mousy types from the backwaters of Iowa. In the good old days, it was filled with the kind of deliciously pretentious and yet cool kind of black person that I have come to refer to as an RRRR: Range Rover (driving) Rasta Revolutionary. This is a very particular type of young black person who has often done quite well professionally and yet is profoundly uncomfortable with his/her privileges and as a result tries to project a kind of progressive, left, revolutionary, mystical - you get the meaning - identity.

By day he works in an investment bank and by night soulfully spouts Sufi poetry. He can often be heard in coffee shops and funky lounges holding forth in angry tones on the subject of the 'Man' and the 'System'. As the rare beers from Fiji - bottled in fair trade wooden bottles - flow, he is often to be heard making a never-to-be-achieved plan to become the next Malcolm X.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate such contradictions and loved my neighbourhood all the more for them. RRRRs, for those who do not know, are also known as The Senegalese. They are not actually people from Senegal though they are likely to speak of Goree Island with a painful catch in their voice; will have gone to FESPACO in Burkina (if you don't know what that is, you are not Senegalese) and have a CD collection full of Youssou N'dour even though they do not understand a lick of what he is singing. Dreadlocks are preferable, yoga sessions compulsory, deep I-am-trying-to-find-me vibes seep out of every pore, while a trip to Salvador da Bahia in Brazil is always on the cards.

Damn.

I truly recognize those folk and, in some ways, I recognize my earlier desire TO BE ONE OF THOSE FOLK.

That’s one post that is certainly going to require some thinking. Thanks to James Panero of Armavirumque for the heads up.

 

THE EXIT STRATEGY IN IRAQ

Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee on our exit strategy in Iraq, may be paraphrased as follows on the American exit strategy in Iraq:

A peaceful and prosperous Iraq, with a representative government.

In fact, that may be direct quote. Whatever the case, it certainly deserves an amen.

Along with a “charge hard, Don Rumsfeld, charge hard!”

 

INTERESTING THOUGHT ON THE MOVIE “BATMAN BEGINS”

The Founder of the Conservative Brotherhood, Cobb, has a thought-provoking post up on his pleasant surprise upon viewing Batman Begins:

The last thing I expected from a night of escapism was a dose of wisdom, but this episode of Batman has eclipsed all other superhero narratives and applies well to our society.

'Batman Begins' has reverse-engineered the legend of Batman into something serious enough to be transcendent of the genre. It's a critique on society that actually works. Unlike the facile comparisons I've heard about the latest installment of Star Wars, I believe that Batman discussions might yield something hidden.

I completely agree. Cobb uses his post to flip the script (so to speak) from the jammed down our throats obsessions of the post-modern world and simply asks: what are OUR obligations to the wealthy?

That is not a question often asked these days. Neither is the question of what are our obligations as citizens (unless it’s some cartoonish mantra about challenging authority, etc.). And speak of the devil:

Anyone who could cheer Michael Moore is certainly one who feels nothing of the responsibility Alfred bears. The key to this understanding is the one that strikes at my own heart. The merciless instructor understood that what Bruce Wayne feared was his own power. Ahh.

To fear your own power is to know that you can create or destroy.

In other words, to have a sense of personal responsibility.

When we realize that given a million bucks we would do something entirely different than what we are doing now, we admit that we don't really care about the integrity of the process we are working under today. We're just getting paid. What difference does it make who we work for? That, my friends is what makes us corruptible. Since there's always a bigger fish, there's always corruption we can't stop. Unless.

Unless we are to adopt the propriety of Alfred and work to insure that the good and powerful remain engaged in the well-being of society, there is nothing to stop corruption. That means we cannot afford to become merciless and cynical, that puts us on the side of destruction and chaos.

Quite a moral from Batman.

Merciless. And Cynical. Regardless of your intentions, that combination leads inexorably down the road to chaos and destruction.

Do you or do you not have faith in the people?