Extremism in America

A ten, how'd he know about neocons clear back then?

Rove must have used it as his tipsheet.

"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business."
--- Abraham Lincoln--- During the Civil War

Whoa, you had a drive by rater, three comments and a driveby, for 4 ratings, and I don't think he liked you.

Any politician can be defined by some or all of those points.

Well I see the Democrats are sticking to their 20 year old game plan.

It might be easier to grasp with some hard examples. Let's give that a try, shall we?

1. Character assassination
Carl Levin - "There's a real question about Bush's grasp of complex issues."


2. Name calling and labeling
George Bush is a facsist Nazi.


3. Irresponsible sweeping generalizations
Bush went to war for oil.


4. Inadequate proof for assertions
Bush lied about WMDs.


5. Advocacy of double standards
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
-Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998


6. View of opponents and critics as essentially evil
www.bushisantichrist.com


7. Posses a Manichean world view
BIN LADEN: "These attacks took off the skin of the American wolf and they have been left standing in their filthy, naked reality. Thus the whole World awoke from its sleep and the Muslims realized the importance of the belief of loving and hating for the sake of Allah; the ties of brotherhood between the Muslims have become stronger, which is a very good sign and a great step towards the unity of Muslims and establishing the Righteous Islamic Khilafah insha-Allah."


8. Advocate some degree of censorship and repression of their opponents and critics
I'm being asked this on the FOX network. ABC just had a right- wing conservative run in their little "Pathway to 9/11," falsely claiming it was based on the 9/11 Commission report, with three things asserted against me directly contradicted by the 9/11 Commission report. - Clinton on Fox News Sunday


9. Identify themselves in terms of who their enemies are
The Democrat Party - no vision except to say they don't agree wth anything Bush does.


10. Given to arguments by intimidation
During one Clinton appearance, in Chicago, when he was president, Chicago housewife Judy Mendoza yelled at him, "You suck, those boys died!" (Referring to Somalia) He had her and her husband arrested, fingerprinted, interrogated, and jailed.


11. Widely use slogans, buzzwords and thought-terminating clichés
Bush lied, people died.


12. Doomsday thinking
They lied about Iraq and Afghanistan and just about everything else. Why are we willing to accept their version of 9/11 that made it all possible?


13. Claim some kind of moral or other superiority over others
Pelosi on 60 Minutes:
"(You say) he's incompetent --"

"Well, I think he is."

"Well, that's personal."

"Well, I'm sorry, that's his problem."


14. Tend to believe that it is justified to do bad things in the service of a supposedly "good" cause
"You know, we're professionals." She repeated herself. "We're professionals. You could go through a long list of things his (Bush's) surrogates have said about me. I know they have to do what they have to do, and they know I have to do what I have to do.


15. Tend to place great value on emotional response
I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me ... I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky," Clinton said


16. May claim some kind of supernatural, mystical or divinely-inspired rationale for their beliefs and actions
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Don, do you mean for this Let's give that a try, shall we? to be condescending? It is.

I reallly like number 16 the best. The libs here must be choking on that one.

Yeah, Ron, I figured there would be a few that didn't like this article. Oh well.

Don - Yes, it should be applied to both sides! I just found it striking that all points were overwhelmingly met. As far as you points - I just don't agree. They are weak. For one I've never heard of your Clinton saga - is it a Fox News report?

And, #13 shows NO moral superiority. Perhaps, a personal insult but that's it. No MORAL issue at question. One moral issue is the gay marriage that Republicans wave like a banner. But, we see some are gay (Foley, as well as a pedophile) and what about Haggert? Holding us to a standard they can't even reach.

Sandy, yes - it was meant to be condescening. The article was clearly directed at George Bush, and since I turned the thesis on it's ear, I prefaced with condescension. I hope it meets your approval (or not as the case may be).

Robin - it's for entertainment purposes only. If I were getting paid to write it, I would have found better examples. I could write one for Bush if I really want to, but I don't, so I won't :)

Don, what is your point?

Do you wish we form some fundamentalist christian theocracy and just through out the bill of rights, the constitution, and the declaration of independence and then what?

Sheesh. You really had me going. I was wondering where you were headed.

I like our Constitution. In fact, I like it so much I wish to share it with the world. If you listened to Bush's second inauguration you would have heard him espouse similar sentiments.

What do you mean by 'share with the world'?

BTW, I did watch it. I've not missed a State of the Union since I started voting in 1996. And, actually I watched my first one in 1988. I was only ten ;)

Yes, I heard that but obviously we have construed different meanings...

What do you mean by 'share with the world'?

Spread freedom and democracy.

Don Hall,
Uh, according to the intel we picked up in Iraq after the invasion Pelosi was right, but by the time Bush got in, he was wrong. WMD programs were all shut down in the late 90s

"We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world." George Bush, Inaugural 2005

How?

I believe that freedom is a very basic human right. And, that everone is entitled to it. But, what I haven't figured is how to give it. Because, usually that involves military might. I'm sure Kim Jung Il wouldn't like us giving it to his people! But, going in there with tanks and guns in order to 'deliver' is stupid.

I think in today's political culture all we have to choose from is a very left or a very right set of ideals. There is no middle ground. Which is why this makes this election so wrong. And, why America is so divided.

Ron - to say they never found WMDs is actually a lie:
http://www.chronwatch.com/featured/contentDisplay.asp?aid=4498

That said, I can find many quotes from liberals in regards to WMDs in Iraq.

We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical
weapons throughout his country."
- Al Gore, Sept.. 23, 2002

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to
deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in
power."
- Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam H ussein is seeking and developing
weapons of mass destruction."
- Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

Don - the point is the UN did it's job. Yes, there has been corruption. But, basically the UN works - much to the dismay of conservatives.

Why haven't we got an apology? All we got was a lame joke at that presidental gala a few years ago. Lame.

Don - the reason you have those quotes is because they were LIED to. They were presented with information the administration knew was faulty. Or, had reason to believe was faulty.

How??

20th century transitions to liberal democracy have come in successive "waves of democracy", variously resulting from wars, revolutions, decolonization and economic circumstances.

Bottom line, it's never pretty. And it seems to me that the liberals choose to live with tyranny rather than fight it.

Robin - you're being naive if you think that these dem leaders were duped by Bush. Come on - you don't think they had access to current intelligence with or without Bush? And how did Gore get his info? He wasn't even an elected official when he made those qoutes, so you can't say he got it from Bush. Please.

The U.N. works? Where? In Rwanda, or the Baltic's, or the Sudan, or in Somalia, or in Nepal, in the Middle East? Exactly where is the U.N. working?

Gore WAS guessing, but he was supposed to be since he wasn't voting. In any event they were duped as Bush gave personal assurances he would only invade as a last resort, and assurance was most definitely broken.

Don Hall,
The only WMDs they ever found were from the iran iraq war, leaking and dangerous,buried in the sand, mostly, and more dangerous to any one that handled them than anyone they were shot at.

Ron - the "last resort" was not meeting UN Res. 1441, Everyone, including you, knew that then and knows it now.

AND if they were anything at all it would have been on the front page of every newspaper in america. If bush ain't wolfing about them, you know that's as lame a claim as it actually is.

Lay out res 1441 for me, what did it say? Was this the one where we demanded he turn over the WMDs he didn't have, and the inspectors were telling us he didn't have?

That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

How hard would it be to hide WMDs? How hard would it be to move them out of the country quickly?

Why did Saddam prevent the weapons inspectors from doing their job?

There are many questions that will never have a good answer. We have to deal with here and now.

Come on, it started looking like they might refute his claims and he got in such a hurry, he started bombing before all the inspectors even got out.

Ron - Colin Powell states it best:

"The bottom line is this. The president made the right decision. He made the right decision based on the history of this regime, the intention that this terrible leader, terrible despotic leader had the capabilities on a variety of levels. The delivery systems there were there, and nobody's debating that, the infrastructure that was there, the technical know-how that was there. The only thing we are debating are the stockpiles."

No matter what you claim about intelligence, the downing street memos give the truth to his lies. They were deliberately slanting the evidence, we have statements from ex administration officials that say they started planning that invasion from day one of his presidency, and 9/11 was just a convenient excuse.

We know he dismantled his WMD programs in the late 90s, he was a thug, a bad guy and an idiot, but this war was unnecessary, and took us totally off track of the war we could have waged on terrorism.

Prepare yourself for the New World Order, Ron.

Yes, and I would argue we are in a lot more trouble than we would have been had we taken up the offers pre invasion to help us find and eradicate the terrorists world wide, because we've totally alienated the whole Muslim world now. We have turned themfrom possible allies into foes, and I will never forgive GWB for that stupidity.

Ron - don't get all emotional on me now. We need you to be strong big fella.

So who have we alienated exactly? Iraq and Syria?

I just hammered your boy Sammy:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976831909

rated 10, worthy of discussion.
whereas the bush administration fits many in that list, people are pointing to "the left" and saying that all liberals are responsible for what some are saying.

1) liberals are not in power
2) bush and his administration are.

so you think it's ok that an executive branch behaves like this?

Good Article. Some of the comments are funny though. Smiling

I think you better think again, Sammy appears to have come back at you fairly well. Well, we aren't even doing so well with Pakistan these days, are we? Most of the world expressed their outrage at 9/11, and many, even muslim countries made offers of help in tracking down terrorists, and Bush squandered that. I can't give you a nation by nation, I only remember being thoroughly surprised when some of them appeared in the papers at the time. I believe though, that Syria was one of them.

interesting list robin....and one that is surprisingly very relevant today! frightening!

Thanks Connie and Susan. Not material I usually publish, but was surprised when I saw the list.

All this election drama is enough to make me hybernate for the next month!

TJ, what do you think about the other 99% of the media?