The “They Do It Too” Defense

Apparently, the press is desperate to get something in the paper to push Norman Hsu off the front page, and for the ability to say “They have crimnials too”. Via Memeorandum, The WaPo is an example:

Republican presidential candidate Fred D. Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.Thompson selected the businessman, Philip Martin, to raise seed money for his White House bid. Martin is one of four campaign co-chairmen and the head of a group called the “first day founders.” Campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin, who has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, as the head of “Thompson’s Airforce.”

Thompson’s frequent flights aboard Martin’s twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than $100,000, because until the law changed in September, campaign-finance rules allowed presidential candidates to reimburse private jet owners for just a fraction of the true cost of flights.

Martin entered a plea of guilty to the sale of 11 pounds of marijuana in 1979; the court withheld judgment pending completion of his probation. He was charged in 1983 with violating his probation and with multiple counts of felony bookmaking, cocaine trafficking and conspiracy. He pleaded no contest to the cocaine-trafficking and conspiracy charges, which stemmed from a plan to sell $30,000 worth of the drug, and was continued on probation.

 Captain Ed, in noting the same story, says, correctly:

 In any other context, the Post would run this story as a demonstration of the success of Martin’s probation. He cleaned up his act at age 25, began building small businesses on his way to a small fortune, and ended up participating in the political process. Nothing in Mosk’s article gives any indication that Martin has committed any crimes since 1983, despite his attempt to use a couple of lawsuits at the end — lawsuits which look rather routine for a man engaging in diverse, legal enterprises.

This is a page one story? I mean comon, here…. Were this a Democrat advisor, it wouldn’t even be in the paper at all, particularly with any mention of Norman Hsu in the article. Why is a 30 year old conviction, with no criminal events since, a page one story? Because Norman Hsu was a front page story and if his rather obvious plan to delay any trial until after the  election falls apart, he will be again.  Because the press needs something to attack Republcians with.

The “They do it too” defense. How Clintonesque.  What kind of contacts does Matt Mosk have inside the Clinton camp, I wonder?

Mike Soraghan, Hill, reports on Senator Tom Colburn(R-OK) getting his priorities backwards:

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said Congress’s deficit spending has become a moral issue surpassing abortion because it saddles future generations with massive debt before they’re born.

“The greatest moral issue of our time isn’t abortion, it’s robbing our next generation of opportunity,” Coburn told reporters at a breakfast meeting Thursday at the National Press Club. “You’re going to save a child from being aborted so they can be born into a debtor’s prison?”

This is not moral leadership.   It is denial.   In order to be born into debt, you first must be born.

I’m pleased to announce that Blue Crab Boulevard has joined the Swamp Stompers.

Welcome Aboard, Gaius!

IRAQI CITIZEN LEADS COALITION FORCES TO EFP FACTORY

Posted: 02 Nov 2007 03:44 PM CDT

IRAQI CITIZEN LEADS COALITION FORCES TO EFP FACTORY

U.S. NAVY STRIKE GROUPS EXERCISE CAPABILITIES IN THE REGION

Posted: 02 Nov 2007 12:29 PM CDT

U.S. NAVY STRIKE GROUPS EXERCISE CAPABILITIES IN THE REGION

TALIBAN COMMANDER POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED

Posted: 02 Nov 2007 12:25 PM CDT

TALIBAN COMMANDER POSITIVELY IDENTIFIED

Irish eyes are not smiling: 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -It took 44 years and three overtimes for Navy to beat Notre Dame again.

The Midshipmen snapped an NCAA-record 43-game losing streak to the Fighting Irish on Saturday with a 46-44 victory in triple overtime.

All things must come to an end.

I’ve got one in the quips, that runs something like this:

There is no such thing as an “illegal immigrant”. Either they are immigrants, who arrived here and live here legally, or they are criminals. The former, are entitled to everything that our society offers, provided that they are willing to become citizens, which by nature of the word, would include learning the language, and adopting the United States, culturally, as well as financially. The latter are entitled to nothing whatsoever.

And another:

There is nobody so intent on enforcing conformity to their ideas and ideals, as a person who insists on the PC version of diversity… because political correctness brings diversity in everything but… thought.

Both of them would seem to lean toward what I find on Blue Crab Blvd today:

Scratch A Politically Correct Government………Find a deeply xenophobic one. I have long suspected that the most vociferous advocates of “diversity” and political correctness are overcompensating for what they , in fact, see in themselves. They routinely project those internal biases onto others and pretend that they are tolerant. In fact, it only takes a small push for the supposedly tolerant to show their true feelings.

…

I make a very clear distinction here at Blue Crab Boulevard on where I stand. I am very much pro-immigrant, regardless of where they are from or any physical characteristics they may possess. So long as they come here legally and want to become Americans. I am utterly opposed to illegal immigrants, regardless of where they are from or any physical characteristics they may possess. Because they should not be here taking the place of people who follow the rules. Anyone who tries to brand that as racism should examine their own soul.

A high fence, a wide gate and a hearty welcome for those who follow the rules. That simple, that powerful.

Well done, Gaius. Well done, indeed. Gonna have to invite that one into the Swamp Stompers, personally.

Lucy Laing, Daily Mail(UK) has the good news of the “boy who refused to die.”

Commentary by Karen, Doses of Reality:

This story has stirred up some conflicting emotions in me. On the one hand you have a heart-warming story of a baby boy who refused to give up and who has defied his mother’s doctors’ predictions. On the other hand you have a mother who fully participated in trying to kill him because it would be the “kinder” thing to do and the “best” thing for him.

Kate Michelman says:

We’ve come a long way baby.

I say, not nearly as far as Gabriel Jones has .

Addendum: (Bit) Michelle has more 

Today’s story, is not about ONE individual showing unusual  courage, but two.

Find the whole story at Q & O.

Project Hero, is a worthy attempt on McQ’s part to remind us that we have heroes among us. Further, that these need to be honored as such. We at BitsBlog are proud to lend our voice to such a project.

Rich Lowry has an interesting article on Real Clear Politics by way of Memeorandum:

Would someone be fit to be attorney general of the United States if he had once said, “I think there are probably very few people in this room or in America who would say that torture should never, ever be used, particularly if thousands of lives are stake”?

By the standard Democrats are using to oppose the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general, the answer would be “no.” In fact, whoever endorsed torture so explicitly would be relegated to the moral outer darkness. Lucky for him, Sen. Chuck Schumer, who made the above comment during a June 2004 Senate hearing on terrorism, is a member in good standing of the Senate Democratic leadership.

And that, in a nutshell, exposes the Democrat party’s stated objection to Mukasey for the fraud it is.

And for that matter, their (Now) stated objection to “torture’.

This is, in reality moral pygmies trying to get into a position where they can verbally ‘look down’ on their opponents’ morality.  Trouble is, their own history shows us that even THEY know the position they’re now taking, simply is not realistic.

While working on a theme touch up, I had a computer failure… right in the middle of a transfer. The new theme is just to keep things working until I get the original back up.

-Bit

Update: (Bit )

OK, the only thing still messed up is the sidebar.

Apparently, the file controlling the sidebar was the one being transferred when things went bleep, and it was preventing the rest of the style sheets and so on from doing their thing.

I’m working on it, yet, but we seem to be out of crisis mode, for now.

Update final: (Bit) OK, we’re back in business.

Darned power hiccups, anyway….

We’re about Draining Mrs Pelosi’s swamp.

Send me some feedback, and we’ll get you started.

The more I read Joe Klein the more I’m convinced the guy is working at being stupid. Nobody could come by his level of stupid, naturally. When he opens with this, you know it’s going to be brainless:

I’m puzzled by all the neoconservative bloviating and war-whooping about Iran and the near deathly silence about the deteriorating situation in Pakistan. I mean, we have actual terrorist training camps in Waziristan that are just sitting there, ripe targets for the sort of quick special forces strikes that the Turks are laying on the PKK in Northern Kurdistan (with our not-so-tacit approval). But I haven’t read much in the Weekly Standard about the need to act against Al-Qaeda-Not-in-Iraq. Bill K, N-Pod, you remember Osama, right? What gives?

In that regard, I thought Barack Obama’s utter sanity with regard to Iran in the NY Times today was pretty striking. He may well be disputed by Hillary Clinton on this again over preconditions and who meets whom first. He probably should be saying, “I’ll have my Secretary of State initiate talks and if things look promising, I may jump in myself…” But talk we must, and lower the temperature.

Is it possible that the reason why the neos are so obsessed with Iran and relatively silent on Pakistan (which, you may recall, actually has nukes) is that–ok, I’ll go ahead and say it–Israel is obsessed over Iran?

What Klein misses, of course is the fact that Iran is dedicated to using nukes against the West, ( Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, IS, and has publicly stated so on several occasions.)… whereas Pakistan, at least insofar as Musharraf or Bhuto are concerned… is not. Now, I grant that the Islamic radicals there pose a problem, and one that Musharraf seems to be addressing, this morning.

That said, I find Klein’s studied non-understanding of this point to be disingenuous at least.  Iran IS the bigger fish to be fried, here, barring an islamic radical take-over of the Pakistan government. That Klien misses this tells me that what he’s about is telling the hate-Bush crowd what they want to hear… and that the truth is not the most important thing to him. He’s far too worried about that nutball crowd infesting his comments section, in my view, to be of any use to anyone by the far left.

Captain Ed notes:

Pervez Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan, apparently not content to wait for the Supreme Court decision on his presidential election victory last month. So far, he has given no reason for the declaration, although the military activity in Swat and Waziristan is presumably the basis:

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday, state TV said, ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn his recent election win.The report gave no reason for the emergency but it follows weeks of speculation that the president — who is also chief of the army — could take the step, amid rising political turmoil and Islamic militant violence.

“The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order,” a newscaster on Pakistan TV said.

Musharraf had awaited a decision from the Supreme Court on his eligibility to run for president, one that had been scheduled for over a week ago. The court announced that it would delay its decision for a month, leading to speculation that Musharraf would lose the decision and be disqualified from elective office. Even if he won the decision, the delay has proven somewhat destabilizing as the country holds its breath to discover who’s in charge.

I’m not convinced that this is a bad move, since it appears to be directed at the Radicals.  As Ed notes:

(The West) had pressed Musharraf to cut a deal with Benazir Bhutto to transition back to democratic processes, hoping that the deal would give them both a stronger political position and marginalize the Islamists. The radicals have their own agenda, however, and have worked to destabilize the political situation before the alliance between Bhutto and Musharraf could have any effect.

I’m not convinced Musharraf was left with much of a choice. Looking forward, his hand would be far stronger was he to cut a deal now, with Bhutto. Without her his position, and that of the country is weaker than it was a week ago.

Meanwhile, along the border of Afghanistan….

More: Memeorandum

Mega-Idiot, Matt Stoller:

I like Tom Perriollo, though I find this diatribe on the common good very annoying.

Censorship may not be a viable or appropriate solution, but do any of us honestly believe that the ready availability of internet porn is not destroying something sacred within us?

There’s lots of stuff that undermines women’s rights, sexual health and ‘the common good’, from legal economic penalties to cultural norms to the sick gender bias in politics and the corporate world to creeps in the media like this guy.

I can’t quite figure out what annoys me so much about his piece.  Perhaps one has to run in a rural district by scolding anonymous straw men who don’t think porn is a big deal as Godless.  And I hope he wins, since his opponent is Virgile Goode.

That’s an easy one Matt, though I can certainly understand why you’d not admit to understanding this. It doesn’t hurt him in your eyes that there’s something else you share:

You’re both bankrupt, both morally, and in the smarts department.  Yes, I said morally, for both of you. The reason you’re both morally bankrupt is the reason same reason you like the guy …he likes government to make his cultural changes for him. As do you. He’s willing to apply the terrible power of government to do that, as are you. You’re not smart enough to understand the negative repercussions of that use.

What annoys YOU is, he’s going the opposite direction from you culturally, with that power.

Tell me again, how there’s not a fundamental split in the Democrat party today.

Great news, this morning;

Art Smith over at The Conservative Reader Blog has joined the Swamp Stomper Blog Ring.

A fine addition. Welcome, Art!