President Bush addressed the Israeli Knesset today as part of his Middle East tour that included Israel’s 60th birthday. In his address, Bush recounts Israel’s history and WWII. Pointing out how, in history, there were (as there always are) some people who thought Hitler could be talked to and negotiated with. With history behind him, Bush points out how that kind of thinking was just as wrong then as it is in dealing with the Islamofascists of today, otherwise called the ‘war on terror.’
From the transcript, in speaking about the war on terror, here is what Bush said. Look for a reference to Democrats or Obama.
This struggle is waged with the technology of the 21st century, but at its core it is an ancient battle between good and evil. The killers claim the mantle of Islam, but they are not religious men. No one who prays to the God of Abraham could strap a suicide vest to an innocent child, or blow up guiltless guests at a Passover Seder, or fly planes into office buildings filled with unsuspecting workers. In truth, the men who carry out these savage acts serve no higher goal than their own desire for power. They accept no God before themselves. And they reserve a special hatred for the most ardent defenders of liberty, including Americans and Israelis.
And that is why the founding charter of Hamas calls for the “elimination” of Israel. And that is why the followers of Hezbollah chant “Death to Israel, Death to America!” That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that “the killing of Jews and Americans is one of the biggest duties.” And that is why the President of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map.
There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It’s natural, but it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.
Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history. (Applause.)
OK fine. So what does the left do with that statement? They are making an issue out of whole cloth with this, accusing Bush of attacking Obama. Aside from the fact that Bush was talking about Israel and all its enemies, Democrats are circling the wagons around Barack Obama as though protecting him from an ‘unprecedented attack.’ These democrats and the Obama campaign are jumping up and down screaming, YES, the shoe fits just fine, yet they don’t like it.
What is most interesting is that Obama is showing his thin-skin, his amateur and naive approach to world war and peace, and his downright arrogance that anyone who articulates what amounts to his policy beliefs is attacking him. As opposed to suggesting that McCain is ‘loosing his bearings’ I guess. That’s different. What it is, is an attempt to condition you to believe that articulating a policy position is an attack, irregardless of the fact that no names were, or even have to be, given.
related links: Bush Speech Criticized as Attack on Obama | Obama says Bush falsely accuses him of appeasement | President Bush Addresses Members of the Knesset | A Whole Wide World Beyond Obama
afterthought: The last para is the one that is giving Obama and Co. the heartburn, but the preceding para sets up the last one. Does this mean they will demand an apology for being referred to as ‘good and decent’ people?
