Monthly Archives: August 2012

Democrats Do Axelrod

Posted on by
Reply

As Fox News reported last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid—again—went onto the Senate floor and accused Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney of not having paid any taxes for a decade.

The word’s out that he hasn’t paid any taxes for 10 years.  Let him prove that he has paid taxes, because he hasn’t.

Never mind that the “word is out” because it’s Reid putting it out.  And that Reid refuses to identify his “source.”  But I have to wonder: is Reid’s source President Obama?

And then there’s this:

House Democrats’ campaign arm is retracting claims it made that Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, a prominent Republican donor, was financially tied to prostitution—claims it now says “were untrue and unfair.”

The retraction comes after Adelson’s lawyer sent a letter last month to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee asking it to “retract and apologize for” what it called defamatory and libelous claims that Adelson, who heads Las Vegas Sands Corp, encouraged and profited from prostitution in Macau and donated “Chinese prostitution money” to Republican leaders.

Of course, it’s an easy retraction to make, now that they’ve done the smear and caused the damage.  It’s of a piece, too, with the smears the Democrats do, generally, on those who support people and causes of which they disapprove.

But it’s all part of the tactic President Obama’s campaign mouthpiece David Axelrod so dishonestly first put into play in the 2010 election campaign, when he asked why the US Chamber of Commerce was using foreign funding for campaign matters—which would have been a felony, if true—and then refused to cite any evidence.  He just asks questions, he said; it’s on his targets to prove their innocence.

Evidently, this is the level of integrity to which we can look forward from the Democrats this campaign season.

Culture and Badminton

Posted on by
1

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that four(!) doubles teams of badminton players were thrown out of the Olympics for deliberately attempting to throw their first-round round robin matches in order to gain a better seeding in the next, elimination round.

Cheating in the Olympics—or in any sport or any sport’s tournament—isn’t new, and it’s no less reprehensible for that.  But what are the players saying about this?  Many—most?—favor the disqualifications.  But the People’s Republic of China’s Lin Dan, one of their top male badminton players, said he didn’t think the players were at fault, saying the sporting body

should have thought ahead and seen that this kind of situation might happen and thought what they could have done to avoid this situation.

What kind of culture teaches its people that it’s OK to cheat unless some external authority tells them not to?  What kind of culture teaches that if an individual fails of his honor, it’s not his fault—it’s some external authority’s fault?  What kind of culture takes away individual responsibility, individual honor, and usurps them to some external authority to see to?

Some Thoughts on Culture

Posted on by
Reply

I had some words on the subject of culture the other day.    Another man weighed in on the subject last Tuesday; maybe you’ve heard of him: ex-Governor and Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney.  He offered these thoughts on culture and its role in a society’s freedom and prosperity.

[W]hat exactly accounts for prosperity if not culture?  In the case of the United States, it is a particular kind of culture that has made us the greatest economic power in the history of the earth.  Many significant features come to mind: our work ethic, our appreciation for education, our willingness to take risks, our commitment to honor and oath, our family orientation, our devotion to a purpose greater than ourselves, our patriotism.  But one feature of our culture that propels the American economy stands out above all others: freedom.  The American economy is fueled by freedom.  Free people and their free enterprises are what drive our economic vitality.

The linkage between freedom and economic development has a universal applicability. One only has to look at the contrast between East and West Germany, and between North and South Korea for the starkest demonstrations of the meaning of freedom and the absence of freedom.

Israel is also a telling example. Like the United States, the state of Israel has a culture that is based upon individual freedom and the rule of law. It is a democracy that has embraced liberty, both political and economic. This embrace has created conditions that have enabled innovators and entrepreneurs to make the desert bloom. In the face of improbable odds, Israel today is a world leader in fields ranging from medicine to information technology.

I visited three lands—Israel, Poland, and Great Britain—which are defined by their respective struggles for freedom….  I am only strengthened in my conviction that the pursuit of happiness is not an American right alone.  Israelis, Palestinians, Poles, Russians, Iranians, Americans, all human beings deserve to enjoy the blessings of a culture of freedom and opportunity.

What he said.

The Bust Lies Busted

Posted on by
Reply

Recall President Obama, through his Communications Director, Dan Pfeiffer, vehemently denying that he had returned the bust of Winston Churchill that had been in his (nee President Bush the Younger’s) Oval Office setup.  ObamaPfeiffer responded to a Charles Krauthammer column last week that mentioned the return in passing by accusing Krauthammer of lying and doing so with a lie of his own.

[N]ormally we wouldn’t address a rumor that’s so patently false, but just this morning the Washington Post’s Charles Krauthammer repeated this ridiculous claim in his column.  He said President Obama “started his Presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.”

This is 100% false.  The bust still in the White House.  In the Residence.  Outside the Treaty Room.

When the facts came out, and…Pfeiffer’s…lie was exposed, he attempted to backtrack and emailed Krauthammer this:

Charles,

I take your criticism seriously and you are correct that you are owed an apology.  There was clearly an internal confusion about the two busts and there was no intention to deceive.  I clearly overshot the runway in my post.  The point I was trying to make – under the belief that the Bust in the residence was the one previously in the Oval Office– was that this oft repeated talking point about the bust being a symbol of President Obama’s failure to appreciate the special relationship is false.   The bust that was returned was returned as a matter of course with all the other artwork that had been loaned to President Bush for display in his Oval Office and not something that President Obama or his Administration chose to do.  I still think this is an important point and one I wish I had communicated better.

A better understanding of the facts on my part and a couple of deep breaths at the outset would have prevented this situation.  Having said all that, barring a miracle comeback from the Phillies I would like to see the Nats win a world series even if it comes after my apology

Thanks,

Dan Pfeiffer

He got one thing right: Krauthammer is “owed an apology.”  My question is this: when will one be made?  This email plainly isn’t it.  The White House called Krauthammer a liar and backed up that scurrility with a lie of its own.

This email acknowledges an apology being due.  It makes an unsubstantiated claim of intent.  But the rest of this is just a string of “clarifications” and changes of subject.  There’s not a single word of apology.  Not even an expression of regret for his error.

Separately, I do sympathize with the Nationals, who apparently are destined never to win a World Series.

Finally, I should point out that Krauthammer has accepted the apology.

Well, I must say it was a gracious apology.  I was stunned.  I didn’t expect it to happen.  I actually wrote in my column that I thought the Nationals would win the World Series before I’d see an apology.  So, now I suppose the Nationals are going to win the World Series.  But it was a gracious apology.  They are still clinging to a tiny point on this but the argument is over.  I appreciate that the correction and retraction.

If the victim is happy, then the argument is concluded.  Except for the Nationals’ future.

Some More Thoughts on the Campaign

Posted on by
1

This time in the area of moral equivalence.  Governor Mitt Romney, Republican Candidate for President, said this in Israel the other day:

As you come here and you see the GDP per capita, for instance, in Israel which is about $21,000 dollars, and compare that with the GDP per capita just across the areas managed by the Palestinian Authority, which is more like $10,000 per capita, you notice such a dramatically stark difference in economic vitality….  And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognize the power of at least culture….

The Palestinians, of course, objected.  Saeb Erekat, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said

It is a racist statement and this man doesn’t realize that the Palestinian economy cannot reach its potential because there is an Israeli occupation.

Of course, he carefully elides some salient facts, for instance, the cheers of the Palestinians after 9/11 and the support expressed for suicide bombings thereafter.  Nor did he mention the reason for the occupation: Palestinian terrorism in the form of random rocket fire into Israel for the sole purpose of killing women and children.  At that, villages like Bethlehem and cities like Jerusalem are targets of terrorist attacks, and that random rocket fire still comes from unoccupied Gaza.

And there’s the American Left, that purports to see no difference between a Jewish culture that is a central part of our own heritage and a vibrant, freedom loving, and tolerant culture on the one hand and a Palestinian culture that thinks terrorism, the butchery of innocents, and the subjugation of women—to the point of condoning (mild) beatings of them by their husbands under Sharia law—on the other.

No, the two cultures are morally equivalent, so it’s wrong, you see—just wrong—to criticize one and praise the other.