Sarkozy’s Visit, Shhh, Keep It Quiet

Looking through the lens of popular thought on the left, which is, since about 2001 ‘the image’ ofLuncheon at Mt. Vernon w/French President Sarkozy the United States throughout the world and Europe, particularly France, has been soiled. That darn George Bush. In that context, the newly elected President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, makes his first official visit to The White House, with a special luncheon at Mt. Vernon. He also spoke before a joint session of Congress.

The NYT version said . . .

In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress — a rare honor for a head of state — Mr. Sarkozy seemed to strike all the right notes. He spoke of his love of the American dream and cultural icons of the 20th century. He expressed admiration for American values. He thanked the United States for saving France in two world wars, rebuilding Europe with the Marshall Plan and fighting Communism during the cold war.

And here is the one and only NYT quote from Sarkozy himself. He said it before the joint session of congress . . .

“Every time, whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American Army did for France,” Mr. Sarkozy said as his audience applauded. “I think of them and I am sad, as one is saddened to lose a member of one’s family.”

What’s this ‘his audience’ crap? And why do you think they didn’t use his entire statement, like the sentence immediately before what they printed? He wasn’t at convention hall, he was before a joint session of Congress. Wouldn’t you expect mention of this visit to be on the front page? Sorry, it is buried in the ‘Europe’ section.

Then there is the Christian Science Monitor’s version. About which there was nothing Christian, no science, and unfortunately, no monitor either. In this story, ‘monitor’ is all they had to do. The visit ‘symbolizes a return to a more balanced and interdependent relationship.’ That’s one way to look at it, they elaborate . . .

With the new French president visiting a weakened and chastened America post-Iraq invasion, the tour of Mount Vernon symbolizes a return to the more balanced and interdependent relationship at the root of Franco-American ties. Just as Washington needed the France of Marquis de Lafayette to help break the Colonies’ bonds to England, today France prefers an America that needs – and knows it needs – its longstanding Western friends to achieve its goals.

I’m sensing an attitude here . . .

Sarkozy is visiting at the time of a humbler America, its go-it-alone tendencies clipped.

They certainly can have an opinion, but isn’t this a report about his visit? Then the CSM elicit the opinion of two ‘experts’ that speak to this attitude. Eh, the visit is just a bunch of ‘happy talk.’ They mentioned that Sarkozy was going to speak to Congress. NOT ONE quote from Sarkozy. It wasn’t on their ‘front page’ either.

OK fine. Now see what neither of them had the courage to print, let alone tell you about, except through their lens. To quote Rush Limbaugh about the visit, ‘Sarkozy understands American exceptionalism. If only American liberals and Democrats understood what Sarkozy understands. Here is a portion of what he said.’ These are Sarkozy’s words . . .

To the millions of men and women who came from every country of the world and who — with their own hands, their intelligence, and their hearts — built the greatest nation in the world, America did not say, “Come, and everything will be given to you.” Rather, she said, “Come, and the only limits to what you will be able to achieve will be those of your own courage, your boldness, and your talent.”

Wouldn’t you think that that is worth quoting? Does it sound like our image is so horribly soiled?

The America that we love throughout the world impedes this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance, another chance, because, in America, failure is never the last word. There is always another chance. Here — in your country, on this soil — both the humblest and the most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That is what constitutes the moral value of America.

Bravo! And this quote, which the NYT parsed by omitting his entire statement. His entire statement was this:

SARKOZY (via translator): America liberated us, and this is an eternal debt we owe America. (applause) Every time, whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them — (applause) — and I am sad as one is saddened to lose a member of one’s family.

Here’s the last quote that never was told, more ‘happy talk’ I suppose.

We need France to be stronger. I am determined to carry through with the reforms that my country has put off for all too long. I will not turn back. I will implement all of them, because France has turned back for all too long. I have come to present to you today a France that comes out to meet America, to renew the covenant of friendship and alliance that Washington and Lafayette sealed in Yorktown. Together, let us be true to their memories. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I say this to you on behalf of the French people: Long live the United States of America. Long live France. Long live French-American friendship!

After reading what Sarkozy actually said, does it look like either of those articles covered his visit accurately?

H/T to Rush Limbaugh for broadcasting Sarkozy’s comments and supplying the transcript. Doing the job the MSM should be doing.

Baghdad Neighborhood ‘Returns To Life’

Here’s the good news that you didn’t see on the nightly or morning news networks.

Just six months ago, this mostly Sunni neighborhood was one of the centers of al-Qaida in Iraq operations. The district in western Baghdad was hit by more than a dozen bombings and shootings some days. Few people dared to venture onto the streets.

On Tuesday, women shopped and men drank tea in sidewalk cafes. Occasionally, U.S. soldiers walking the streets were greeted with salaams and smiles.

What is happening here reflects similar trends across Baghdad and parts of Iraq, where civilian and U.S. military casualties have dropped sharply in the past two months. But the speed of the turnaround in places such as Amariyah has taken almost everyone – including U.S. military forces in the area – by surprise.

AP link

Waterboarding Is Not Torture

Waterboarding is waterboarding.

Torture looks like this, and this .

And it often ends up like this.

beheaded american

For a look at what torture is like, just look at the torture manual used by our enemy.

Waterboarding is a method of interrogation that appeals to the most basic of animal or human instinct, survival. It works. It is the only interrogation technique that a subject can walk to and walk away from with not so much as a mark on their body. The interrogatee can go on to a good nights sleep. Unlike the pictures of what constitutes real torture.

Lawyers Being Rounded Up, In US?

Pakistani President Musharraf has his hands full to say the least. He is rounding up protestLawyer Round-Up In Pakistaners who also happen to be lawyers. Or is he rounding up lawyers because they are the protesters? No word yet whether that would be good for global warming.

It’s a tough call.
And on the domestic front, lawyers face another challenge. They are being caught breaking the law. Imagine that? Officers of the court and all. I guess it shows more than anything else that lawyers are not unlike people in other occupations.

But, not everyone thinks that way. Class action attorney, and Host of the Ring of Fire show on Air America Radio, Mike Papantonio thinks there is a conspiracy in this country to single out the BIG LAW attorneys, like himself.

Mike Papantonio, a trial attorney in Florida, believes the recent indictments are part of “a design to dismantle the plaintiffs bar.”

A little tort reform never hurt anybody. I’ll never forget a piece of advice I got from an attorney for free. And that was, don’t break the law and you won’t need me.

Voter Fraud, A Democrat Party Mandate?

It was just two days ago that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn) was reported here to have come out with a proposal to prevent States from requiring a photo ID to vote in all federal elections. That’s not all he is up to. Try this. H.R. 2457: Same-Day Voter Registration Act of 2007, also sponsored by Keith Ellison.

What? You need 400 votes to win? No problem, send four busloads of ‘votes’ to that precinct. Done deal. This doesn’t sound like democracy in action, but it is within the realm of something Democrat party operatives in the Soros wing would do.

Another likely scenario. Guessing that most of those people who have never voted have the attention span of a gnat in heat when it comes to the U.S. political process, you have a one-week ad blitz, ending on election day. You flood ALL media with ads in the native language of ‘your constituents’, like Spanish or Arabic for example, to go to the polls and vote because the Democrats said that you can. And while you’re there, remember who gave you that vote and who will also, if elected, give you citizenship, a free education, and free health care.

Not one republican signed on as a co-sponsor. Imagine that? I don’t hear any public outcry for such legislation. Do you? Do you suppose Democrats just want to facilitate fraudulent elections?

funnies?

The Empire Strikes Back, Over Mukasey

I knew the Soros wing of the Democrat party would be ticked off over the Senate Judiciary Committee taking steps Thursday to send his name out of committee and to the Senate floor for a vote, where he will most likely be confirmed as Attorney General, replacing Alberto Gonzalez. The left’s reaction is a Donor Strike.

In 2006, the voters of America elected Democratic majorities to the Senate and House in order to end the occupation of Iraq and restore the Constitution of the United States. We, the Netroots, helped elect Democratic majorities with large contributions of money, time, and passion.

Unfortunately Congressional Democrats have surrendered to George Bush and Dick Cheney on all of the issues we care about most: Iraq, Iran, warrantless wiretapping, torture, and habeas corpus.

We recognize that “Bush Democrats” are primarily to blame for Democratic failures, and we will do whatever we can to change their minds – or replace them with true Democrats in 2008. But we cannot wait until then to fix the urgent problems we face.

We will therefore begin a donor strike against the official fundraising committees for Senate Democrats (DSCC) and House Democrats (DCCC) until our core demands are met.

We will instead contribute only to individual candidates who firmly support the values of the Democratic Party and the American people, as certified by BlueAmerica and Progressive Challenge 2008.

Two things should be obvious about their reaction. That they believe, as they said themselves after the 2004 election, that they have bought and paid for the Democrat party with their campaign contributions, and that they expect the Democrats in Washington to obey. The other thing that is obvious is just how effective their money was in influencing the Democrats in Washington. Or to put it another way, just how easily Democrats in Washington can be influenced by money. Like, having no belief system of their own, they adopt the one from their donors. They echo their sentiments and believe that they had a mandate from the American people. How many times have we heard that from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? In reality, it was only a mandate from them, a well financed and well organized group of about 400,000 activists.

They are making plans to send what they call the ‘Bush Democrats’ packing. Their arrogance is off the charts.

Hillary may have had a turning point last Tuesday, but the Democrat Party itself may be having one of its own. The netroots, or nutroots, will now only be giving money to individual politicians who pass their litmus test on the issues that they care about. How these Democrats react will be their own litmus test.

links: Democratic Donor Strike Against DSCC and DCCC | Code Pink

Senate Democrats Clear Way For Bush’s AG Nominee

That’s the way the headline should read. But it would sound too much like beginning to get along with Bush and actually get things done. Hell no, can’t have any of that. So the Washington Post headline to this story is this, “Democratic Defections Clear Path For Mukasey.” Imagine that, there were ‘defections.’ Sort of like in Iraq where the former al-Qaeda supporters defected and started helping the government instead of the terrorists. The ‘defectors’ were Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Diane Feinstein (D-CA), making 11 Yes votes from the 19 member panel. We know who the insurgents are. This paves the way to send his nomination to the Senate floor making confirmation likely. But it wouldn’t have happened without them both. Gotta give credit where credit is due.

Schumer said . . .

I deeply esteem those who believe the issue of torture is so paramount that Judge Mukasey’s views on it should be the sole determinant of our vote,” Schumer said. “But I must respectfully disagree.

Good for Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) for sticking by Mukasey. After all, it was Schumer who recommended Mukasey for the position. No doubt the Soros wing of their party, the new base, will be ticked big time. Schumer is safe as far as a democratic challenger that they might put up to oust him. He would do what Leiberman did. Beat the guy hands down.

I’m guessing she said more, but this is all the WaPo quoted Feinstein as saying about Mukasey . . .

He is not Alberto Gonzales. Rather, he has forged an independent life path as a practitioner of the law and a federal judge.

At any rate, its more than a victory for Bush. Its a victory for the country. To bad the libs won’t see it that way.Who Whould Kennedy Save

Update 11/07/07: Ted Kennedy did his best to defeat Mukasey’s nomination.  After the Senate Judiciary Meeting that advanced Mukasey’s nomination to the Senate floor, Ted (the swimmer) Kennedy spoke about what its like to drown.  He is very determined to protect scum like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Facilitating Voter Fraud Becomes A Priority?

Am I the only one that sees a vast voter fraud conspiracy going on here? The New York State proposal to give legal drivers licenses to illegal aliens is one example. New York State has the ‘motor-voter’ law, in which a voter registration form accompanies all drivers licenses. With no documentation to support a driver’s legal status. Now Keith Ellison (D-Minn), introduced a bill, co-sponsored by John Conyers (D-MI), to ban photo ID’s as a requirement for federal elections. Wazzsupwidat?

What’s up with that is desperation beginning to set in on the part of the majority party. Give illegals a vote, and they’ll vote for welfare programs and open borders all day long. And people like Hillary Clinton can drive the USS United States to the bottom of the sea. You will see conservatives behind bars and on exhibition. This is what a Conservative looks like. They wanted you to have to obey the law.

Another Keith Ellison voter fraud enhancement: H.R.2457 , called the Same-Day Voter Registration Act of 2007, it would amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require States to permit individuals to register to vote in an election for Federal office on the date of the election. Couldn’t get one republican as a co-sponsor. Imagine that? I don’t hear any public outcry for such legislation. Do you suppose it is to facilitate fraud?

link: Examiner.com, Ellison wants to ban photo ID as requirement for voting.

Hillary Needs Cash, What?

The Clinton Campaign lost its footing just a bit with Hillary’s performance at Tuesday’s debate. She fell off her script when Tim Russert asked her whether she supports NY Governor Elliot Spitzer’s plan to issue drivers licenses to people in this country illegally. There are about a million of them in New York State according to Hillary. Hillary’s handlers all feel that Tim Russert was out to get her for some reason. One of them suggesting that he should be shot. I’m assuming that was hyperbole, but it shows how much they hate to be pressed for an answer that might give a clue as to what she really believes. Her campaign came out the next day to further explain her response to that Yes/No question.

Classic Clinton. They want to shoot the messenger. In this case, Tim Russert. That’s what they do. The fact that her campaign has their thongs all twisted up over being asked a most relevant question for a New York Senator about a New York governor is just hilarious.

“Clinton was unfairly targeted” and “The other candidates were asked questions like, ‘Is there life in outer space?’ ”

And, unfortunately for Hillary, none of the other presidential wannabes’ constituencies are in the State of New York, which explains why Russert asked her first and not the others. It’s a perfectly valid question to ask her and he would have been negligent if he or Williams had not asked it.

Pressing her on that question didn’t make Russert a bully. How else can the American People learn what she believes? As she has found out, dodging a question during a debate made her look pretty inadequate.

Now that her Chinese connection has apparently dried up, and in the course of 24 hours, they feel they need a lot of money, fast.

Mark Penn, Clinton’s senior strategist and pollster, and Jonathan Mantz, the campaign’s finance director, told the supporters on the call, which The Hill listened to in its entirety, that they expect attacks from Clinton’s rivals to continue, and she will need the financial resources to deflect their attacks.

Hardly anyone saw it. It was on MSNBC. While the Clinton Campaign and the far-left blogosphere whine over Tim Russert as being too tough on her, they should be thanking their lucky stars that it wasn’t worse.

Tim Russert’s play last night was not only nakedly sexist, but showed his immaturity and lack of respect for any woman standing up to be commander-in-chief.

Sexist? Hillary? No way.

A person wanting to be Commander in Chief should be able to answer any question from anyone. Even Brit Hume and Chris Wallace.

Both Tim Russert and Brian Williams deserve the “Chris Matthews Award” for avoiding to ask any of the presidential wannabes about Iran supplying 107 mm rockets and super-penetrating IED’s to the terrorists in Iraq that are killing Iraqis and our soldiers. I know the Clinton Campaign would disagree but the moderators didn’t go far enough. I think they did the best they could to make it more like “Softball.”