SpaceShipOne captain Brian Binnie will be on Letterman tonight, 11:30 EST, CBS.
Archives for October 2004
Paging Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan, who used to be a Bush supporter but now is a waffling contrarian whose support is on sale for the price of gay marriage, might want to check out this interview in the NY Times:
Careful not to question the sincerity of Mr. Bush’s faith or to criticize the mobilization of conservative religious forces on his behalf, Mr. Kerry nonetheless suggested his opponent’s campaign had gone over the line with the way it frames some issues.
“I think you have to draw that line, so the answer is yes, they reached beyond that line, and in my judgment they’re trying to exploit certain issues,” he said. “The president and I have the same position, fundamentally, on gay marriage. We do. Same position. But they’re out there misleading people and exploiting it.”
Sullivan somehow thinks Bush sold him out, and pretends to fool himself that the democrats are the answer to his now sole political issue of importance- gay marriage. I used to think Andy was a bright fellow, but boy does he have the blinders on for this one.
Quite frankly, there is no real grass roots support for homosexual marriage. Perhaps 30% of the population is in favor of it, 20-30% are indifferent, and thiswould explain the polls that give Andy false hope, but Andy might want to look into a little thing called Social Desirability Bias. There is a reason that polls in California might show 50+% support for homosexual marriage, yet Proposition 22 passes by a 61%-39% margin. It ain’t vote fraud, either.
Virtually every time gay marriage is put on a ballot anywhere, it is demolished, and it is only in the courts that any ‘progress’ is made. Of course, this progress is eventually overturned by higher courts, leaving the homosexual community worse off than they were before. By trying to ram things through the courts, they end up alienating many voters who previously had been indifferent regarding the issue.
At any rate, back to Sullivan and his new-found hatred for Bush and Rove. If for one minute you think Kerry is going to lead you to the promised land, you are wrong. Not only has he no stated desire to do what you wish legislatively, the Democrats find the homosexual community to be too valuable a voting bloc for them to give you what you want. The Democratic party is much better seved by talking loudly about advancing homosexual marriage and doing nothing, all the while playing fools like Andy off the ‘bigoted’ GOP.
It is so clear and obvious it hurts to watch.
*** Update ***
Sullivan responds (not to me, of course), sort of.
Our “Allies,” The French
It has been a banner week for the French. First there was this:
The government of Charles de Gaulle held hundreds of foreigners, including at least three Britons, in an internment camp near Toulouse for up to four years after the second world war, according to secret documents.
The papers, part of a cache of 12,000 photocopied illegally by an Austrian-born Jew, reveal the extent to which French officials collaborated with their fleeing Nazi occupiers even as their country was being liberated. They also show that, when the war was over, France went to extraordinary lengths to hide as much evidence of that collaboration as possible.
Then there was this:
SADDAM HUSSEIN believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.
Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France – having been granted oil contracts – would veto any American plans for war. . . .
Saddam was convinced that the UN sanctions – which stopped him acquiring weapons – were on the brink of collapse and he bankrolled several foreign activists who were campaigning for their abolition. He personally approved every one.
To keep America at bay, he focusing on Russia, France and China – three of the five UN Security Council members with the power to veto war. Politicians, journalists and diplomats were all given lavish gifts and oil-for-food vouchers.
Finally, the Coup de Grace, to borrow a phrase:
French President Jacques Chirac is calling on the European Union to lift a long-standing arms embargo against China.
“France supports lifting the embargo,” Chirac said in an interview with China’s official news agency, Xinhua, adding it no longer reflected present day realities.
Today, European countries are divided over lifting the embargo, with Sweden and the Netherlands opposed to doing so. The United States is also against it.
Chirac noted “stong reservations” on the part of Washington, but said Paris would push for a swift lifting of the embargo. His remarks were posted on the French presidency’s Web site, and came ahead of Chirac’s trip to China on Friday.
Our allies the French. These are the people who John Kerry thinks we should work with. Instructive.
SHort-Sighted and Hate Filled
I will never understand the stupidity of those who are gleeful because an Appeals Court ruled the authorities can seize and peruse at their leisure Rush Limbaugh’s medical records without his knowledge.
If they can do it to him, they can do it to you. And I doubt you can afford Roy Black.
For some sane commentary on the matter, go read Jeralynn’s take on the issue (and follow the links she provides to previous commentary).
I hate Michael Moore, but if this were happening to him I would be just as pissed. I am so sick and tired of people bitching and moaning about the erosion of our civil rights because of the Patriot Act and completely turning a blind eye to what has really destroyed our civil rights- the government’s illegal, immoral, and ill-conceived war on your neighbor War on Drugs.
Delusions
Last week, I think you would have to search pretty far and wide to find ANYONE who did not think that Kerry won the debate in the first Presidential match-up. Today, I don’t know how to describe the nonsense bubbling up from left-wing blogs.
I know what I saw with my own eyes. Dick Cheney manhandled John Edwards, who was reduced to lying about Halliburton, sputtering, and forgetting the rules of the debate. He was so flustered that every question, he had to spend the first minute re-stating what he had screwed up from the previous question. At one point, I was wondering if Dick Cheney was going to ground Edwards during his closing statement.
Then I read the left-wing press and the blogs.
From the NY Times:
Mr. Edwards is normally known for his wide grin and boyish appearance, but he was serious and tough last night. If his main task was to show that he could stand up to the older and more experienced vice president, he did everything he needed to do, especially during the discussion of foreign policy – the area that is supposed to be his weak suit.
What debate did they watch? Edwards was reduced to lying about having Osama cornered (thanks for the policy advice, Michael Moore) and then spent the other half of the foreign policy questions confusing the names Osama and Saddam.
From Matt Yglesias:
To call the more memorable national security section a draw, as the CW does, seems about right to me. Neither side had some kind of devastating, earth-shattering arguments. It comes down to what you think about the world. If the course we’re on right now seems like a good one, then Cheney’s arguments will seem plausible. If not, then, well, not.
So insofar as you’re scoring this like a boxing match — round one, round two, round three, etc. — you come down with a clear win for Edwards. But “draw” is also a plausible description of the dynamics, since they basically fought to a standstill at the emotional high-point of the contest.
Even pretending this was a draw is farcical. The Kerry/Edwards record of equivocation was firmly laid out, and when asked for their ‘plan,’ John Edwards offered precisely what the Bush administration is doing, albeit on an accelerated timeline, and the inclusion of a ‘real’ coalition. Except, of course, one of the main criticisms of the Bush plan is that they are rushing things, and, we should also not forget that there simply is no international will to supply the fictional troops the Kerry/Edwards planm relies on.
From Kevin Drum. Oh, never mind. Drum is as much in the fever swamps as the loons from Atrios, Pandagon, and Oliver. John Edwards could have spit up on himself during the debate and these guys would have loved it, as long as he remembered to call Bush/Cheney liars and make things up about Halliburton.
While liveblogging, one thing Kevin did mock was Cheney’s supposed sorrow over the loss of bipartisanship in Congress:
10:31
Too Smart By a Half
Sometimes the people running the Democratic campaigns remind me of a bunch of over-eager high-schoolers running for Class President.
During the debates, Cheney noted for the American public that one of the problems with Kerry and Edwards is that they have no voting record to back up their tough rhetoric. Cheney then threw in an anecdote that despite being his President of the Senate, Cheney has never met Edwards over the past four years until tonight, because Edwards has missed so much official business.
It turns out Cheney was wrong- they did meet, at a PRAYER breakfast in February 1st, 2001 (that would be 11 days after the inauguration), and immediately after the debate Edwards makes a big stink about it at a post debate rally, making sure all the talking heads and neetworks know about the Cheney ‘mistake.’
Do these clowns not realize that all this does is reinforce Cheney’s point? Here is the text from the debate:
The reason they keep trying to attack Halliburton is because they want to obscure their own record. And Senator, frankly, you have a record in the Senate that
Debates
It appears that John Edwards received all of his foreign policy experience from Fahrenheit 9/11.
Now I remember why I didn’t watch the first debate.