Iraq Security, And John Kerry’s Disconnect

WASHINGTON (AP) –: Offering a simple, “Thank you America,” Iraqi interim prime minister Ayad Allawi declared Thursday that his country is moving successfully past the war that ousted Saddam Hussein and vowed that elections will take place next year as scheduled.

“‘Today, we are better off, you are better off, the world is better off without Saddam Hussein,’ Allawi said. He added: ‘Your decision to go into Iraq was not an easy one, but it was the right one.'”

Of course John Kerry had a different take, in the far leftist Guaradian :

“The prime minister and the president are here obviously to put their best face on the policy, but the fact is that the CIA estimates, the reporting, the ground operations and the troops all tell a different story”

Uhh…. Hey, Johnboy?  Would this be the same CIA who you now claim was so very wrong in it’s assessment of what was going on in that country? NOW, you’re willing to take their word for it, over the leader of the nation in question?

Marc Racicot said it best, I think:

“”Today, John Kerry showed he lacks the judgment and credibility to lead the United States of America to victory in the War on Terror.

“His attacks on the veracity of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s historic address to Congress reveal a stunning propensity to take political cheap shots for his own benefit by denigrating our allies in this important struggle against a global terror network. President Bush is proud to stand with Prime Minister Allawi while John Kerry attacks progress and resolve and advocates a policy of retreat and defeat in the face of terror.

“John Kerry said today, ‘And when you people judge me and the American people judge me on this, I want you to judge me on the full record.’ We’re confident the American people will.”

Way to win the friendship of those foreign leaders, there, Johnboy…

Meanwhile, Captain Ed has been watching the security situations in Iraq, and notes:

“In a coup that will act to deaden John Kerry’s latest Iraq broadsides, like calling the visiting Prime Minister of Iraq a liar, George Bush won agreement from NATO to supply training for new Iraqi security forces in Baghdad.”

Now, Kerry will undoubtedly say Mr. Bush is late to the party with this move.. but will ignore how long such agreements take to set up within NATO. ` The people however, know better, and as Racicot says, will vote accordingly.

Captain Ed also brings to the table that NATO is already over-extended in terms of actual troops, so the only use they would be is training…. which Mr. Bush is doing….and of course political squabbling here in the states.. which Mr. Kerry is doing.

RTWT.

My read?
Game, Set, Match, President Bush.

I note with a smile that The Truth Laid Bear has Bit’sBlog at 1368 overall, and lists me in the “Marauding Marsupials” class.

This puts me in with the Martini Pundit,Jessica’s Well, Intel Dump, Baldilocks,The Trotmeyer Times, Matt Hoy’s HOYSTORY.COM, Spiced Sass, Left Coast Conservative, to name a few.

Made MY day, I can tell you.

The Cinci Enquirer’s Peter Bronson today has a writeup on the backlash the CBS locals are feeling. Apparently, according to the article, the stations are getting small mountains of E-mail, all of them angry. Bronson quotes the station manager at Channel 12 in Cinci..

“We don’t have any influence over CBS”

…. and saying he’s taken to forwarding them to CBS in NY… who, one presumes is dropping them in the bit bucket.

He quotes other CBS stations having the same reaction form THEIR viewers.

But with all respect to the Channel 12 Manager, he and the rest of the stations do have greater influence than they’re willing to use… It’s called having the stones to back up the complaints with actions…. Such as, for example, backing out of the agreements with CBS… No longer putting CBS on the air in their markets until this situation is resolved to the satisfaction of the affiliates and the viewers.

And yes, I do understand very well that such actions may open up the stations to legal concerns. But first, I submit that not reacting in that fashion will also place them in legal problems with the FCC. The TV stations which are CBS affiliates are like every other station on the air, allowed to operate, by the federal government to serve the public interest… Those are the terms under which their operations are allowed. The stations are, with that operational condition in mind, being placed in a rather tight spot, if they continue to carry such CBS programming as has been clearly demonstrated over the past weeks to be NOT operating in the public interest. 

Even without the Commission as a concern, I doubt CBS’s reaction to a viewer/affiliate revolt would go quite so far as to initiate legal action…. How would it look, CBS going after stations over this matter? It would only serve to heighten the image that CBS is out of touch and forcing their will on stations and viewers.

The only way this is going to change is serious financial pressure on Viacom.
It’s time, gang, to force that issue.

By the way… you can help:

[email protected]

You know what to do with this one, right?

Says Mona Charen today:

“Singing of Werner Van Braun in the 1960s, satirist Tom Lehrer dubbed him “a man whose allegiance is ruled by expedience.” Those words come wafting through time now because they fit the Democratic nominee for president so perfectly.

This has been evident about John Kerry throughout his career, but never more than in relation to the Iraq war. “

She’s right, of course but extra points to Mona for quoting Tom Lehrer…. (grin)

Captain Ed at the Captain’s Quarters:

“For those of us who remember the Jimmy Carter presidency, this story will come as no shock; it merely reminds us where we’ve heard the (latest) John Kerry war policies before. Speaking at a town-hall meeting on Tuesday and reinforcing his remarks on Wednesday, Carter called for an early withdrawal of American troops in Iraq in order to reduce the insurgency”

Of course this will work to lower the numbers of insurgents, but only because with us and our alies gone Iraq will stand no chance at the moment, to survive as the Democracy most iraqis want.  The Insurgants numbers will be lower because it will take less to take over the country and turn it back into Taliban Central.

As Ed points out:

“Once again, we have Jimmy Carter advocating American withdrawal in the face of the enemy. During his administration, that happened in both our Cold War standoff with the former Soviet Union and in Iran, the birthplace of Islamofascism. Having failed miserably at least twice during his own presidency and once in North Korea during the Clinton Administration, Carter now appears to be Kerry’s leading light on Iraq. “

Tell me, Gang… under Carter… were we more respected in the world, or less?
We were a laughing stock on a global scale after three years of Carter.

Were we safer at home or less?
Less, by far.  And, the world was less safe as a whole, thereby.

What condition was the economy in under Carter?  Can you say “21% inflation?” Can you say “family incomes falling by 9% in the first three years?” I knew you could.

The Carter presidency was a falure of monumental proportions, in every measurable sense, and for those of you who didn’t live through it, a quick and dirty measure of this would be the size of the Reagan Victory after one Carter term. The people didn’t want anything more to do with him.

That Kerry is taking the man seriously should be a warning signal large enough to make even staunch Democrats run away screaming in terror.

The Neophyte Pundit notes that the Toast is burning:

“NBC News/Wall Street Journal (9/17-9/19): Bush 50, Kerry 46, Nader 1

ARG Nationally Weighted Results (9/7-9/21): Bush 47, Kerry 46, Nader 1

ARG: OH: Bush +2 | FL: Kerry +1 | MO: Bush +6 | PA: Kerry +1 | MI: Kerry +8

NH: Bush +2 | NM: Kerry +5 | WV: TIE | NJ: Kerry +8 | LA: Bush +8

The Pueblo Chieftain/Ciruli Associates: CO: Bush 50, Kerry 38, Nader 3

Political/Media Research Inc: Florida I-4 Corridor: Bush 51, Kerry 38, Nader 2”

Interesting.
Perhaps these numbers are why, as NP points out, Kerry has pulled his ads out of four states.

He who does not need the links says, today

“IS THE BLOGOSPHERE ELEVATING THE POLITICAL DEBATE?  I just had an interesting conversation with a journalist who’s writing on that question, and who pretty clearly seems to feel that the answer is “no.”

If “elevating the debate” means a sort of good-government, League-of-Women-Voters focus on where candidates stand on health care, etc., that’s mostly true, I suppose.  But I think it misconceives what blogs are about.  There certainly are bloggers posting on healthcare and other issues — see, for example, Jeff Jarvis’s Issues 2004 posts and this post by Ann Althouse on medical malpractice — but the political blogosphere is to a large degree about media criticism.  If the Big Media were talking more about issues, and less — to pick Ra^therGate as the example which I think inspired this conversation — about Bush’s National Guard service, probably bloggers would be talking about issues more, too.

Well, due to a lack of a comments section over there, I’ll respond here, as calmly and as directly as I can.

Glenn:
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
WRONG!
BAD DOG!
BAD DOG!
(Swat!)

(Ahem)
This argument is really starting to get lame, and I suppose it’s time I addressed it. 

It’s an offshoot of the oh-so-popular meme that “the voter is an idiot and wouldn’t know a real issue or a real leader if he/she/it tripped over him”, in that the people writing blogs are the best picture of the voters we have available to us today. They ARE the voter…. They ARE the people. 

This argument about the voter’s smarts is really popular among the Democrats right now as a way of explaining why their boy’s polling numbers are in John Crapper’s elegant device. Thing is, the whole basis of this argument can be found there, too.

The fact remains that the voter always was, is, and always will be, concerned with the integrity and honor of the people asking for their vote, FIRST before any other consideration comes into play.

The reason’s simple enough… If integrity isn’t there, nothing else they say or do will matter… They cannot be trusted to follow through on what they say.  The issue of integrity is why the Vietnam thing crippled John Kerry’s chances for the White House. Indeed, the Democrats of the last 6 decades or so fall right into this.  Therefore, the subjects being blogged are more important to the people at the moment, else the people wouldn’t be blogging them.

As for the ‘league of Women Voters” crack… Well, Frankly, Glenn..The kind of crap ‘issues’ the Democrats keep coming up with invariably ends up being more feel-goodism, connected with larger social spending, which most folks aren’t too keen on anyway… And when pitched by people they can’t trust, the voter likes it even less. Hillary’s Healthcare stands as a prime example of this.

Look, let’s pave the road, here.

John Kerry’s biggest problem isn’t that the voter’s an idiot who doesn’t know what the real issues are….

Kerry’s biggest problem is that the voter is far smarter than John Kerry gives them credit for…. They know better than Kerry what the issues are, and also know that John Kerry:

Here in Rochester, as well as other NorthEastern cities, the residents are often told (by the govenrment and by the teacher’s unions) that Government schools are the best choice. Question is, do the teachers in those schools think so? WaTi has the answer… a goodly chunk do not.

Slate’s Jack Shafer wails…..

“Rather appears to have been guided by the belief that he was doing his institution a great favor by holding out instead of retracting the story. Why any institution should believe that shirking the truth in the short run is a path to strength in the long run is beyond me.”

Trouble is…. What Shafer and others like him do not understand is that he, too, is running away from the truth of the matter…. That being that Rather operates from the bias that everyone outside the world of the Fifth Estate have always known was there. Rather thinks, in his heart of hearts that the purpose of the press isn’t truth telling, but IS about being a force for Leftists.  Rather, in particular still is operating under the idea that the fake documents are telling the truth…. Because he’s always seen their story as the truth. What drives that vision? A hatred… A blistering, scathing hate of anything to the right of Fidel Castro.

Only when you accept this basic premise, does the answer to Shafer’s question become available. Under no other conditions does it mesh with what we know of Rather’s history and motivations.

When I pointed out such biases at the New York Times during the Blair Bitch Project of just over a year ago, I suggested that the elimination of Blair wasn’t the answer, nor was the elimination of his editors, though both were done in a clear effort to restore credibility to the Times. I pointed at the owner of the Times, and said the reason that people such as Blair and his editors had their jobs, despite their bias, was because the owner of the Times, Arthur Sulzberger, shared that biased worldview.

With that in mind, Ladies and Gents, I give you Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Viacom Inc, Sumner M. Redtsone. (Viacom owns CBS) Here’s a quick look at his list of Political contributions, from the FEC courtesy of The American Thinker:

REDSTONE, SUMNER
NEWTON, MA 02459
VIACOM KENNEDY, EDWARD MOORE SENATOR (D)
Senate – DC
KENNEDY FOR SENATE 2006 $1000 05/13/04

Redstone, Sumner
Dedham, MA 02026 KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC. $1000 02/03/04

Redstone, Sumner M
Dedham, MA 02027
National Amusements Inc. & Vaaem I/ KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC. $1000 12/05/03

REDSTONE, SUMNER
NEW YORK, NY 10036
VIACOM INC DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate – SD
A LOT OF PEOPLE SUPPORTING TOM DASCHLE INC $1000 09/26/03

REDSTONE, SUMNER
NEW YORK, NY 10036
VIACOM INTERNATIONAL
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $5000 04/10/03

REDSTONE, SUMNER M
NEW YORK, NY 10036
VIACOM LEAHY, PATRICK (D)
Senate – VT
LEAHY FOR U.S. SENATOR COMMITTEE $1000 03/28/03

REDSTONE, SUMNER
NEW YORK, NY 10036
VIACOM TORRICELLI, ROBERT G (D)
Senate – NJ
TORRICELLI FOR U S SENATE INC $1000 09/21/02

REDSTONE, SUMNER
NEW YORK, NY 10036

VIACOM INC DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate – SD
A LOT OF PEOPLE SUPPORTING TOM DASCHLE INC $1000 06/03/02

Redstone, Sumner M.
Newton, MA 02459
National Amusements Inc./Media Exec DINGELL, JOHN D. (D)
House (DC 15)
JOHN D. DINGELL FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE $1000 04/25/02

REDSTONE, SUMNER M
NEW YORK, NY 10036
VIACOM LEAHY, PATRICK (D)
Senate – VT
LEAHY FOR U.S. SENATOR COMMITTEE $1000 11/24/01

Redstone, Sumner M
Dedham, MA 02026
Viacom International Inc./Chairman MARKEY, EDWARD JOHN (D)
House (MA 7)
MARKEY FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE $1000 07/24/01

REDSTONE, SUMNER M
NEW YORK, NY 10036
VIACOM INC SCHUMER, CHARLES E (D)
Senate – NY
FRIENDS OF SCHUMER $1000 12/13/00

REDSTONE, SUMNER M
NEWTON, MA 02459
VIACOM KERRY, JOHN F (D)
Senate – MA
KERRY COMMITTEE $1000 11/30/00

Here’s a more complete list, done in HTML tables.
The trend here is undeniable, and yet, we hear nothing of this.
It should also be pointed out that Redstone has within the last few days, since Rathergate broke (September 14th, I think) has dumped something like $12 million worth of Viacom stock…. a move which will doubtless cause some serious legal questions particularly with the FEC and the SEC, since as Thinker puts it:

“Without even needing a criminal conviction of the parent company, the FCC has raised a high standard of corporate good behavior.

Given that concerns have been raised about the applicability of forgery laws (…with the Rather Documents–Bithead), and reports that CBS knowingly disregarded warnings from document authentication experts in going ahead with a report potentially able to change the results of a presidential election, Viacom needs to exercise careful supervision in this sensitive area, since it has billions dollars of broadcasting assets potentially at risk, should the FCC examine its behavior critically. The value of those broadcasting licenses is material to Viacom.”

Read the Thinker’s whole article, to get a better picture of that portion of the background.

The trends, though, with regards to press bias, are clear. The left, particularly the far left has for years been screaming that the ownership of the press is vastly right-wing. And yet, where does the problem lie? In the two most recent press scandals, The Times and CBS, both press orgs long known as being far leftist in leanings are involved Both have owners that are similarly disposed, politically.

I submit that in both cases the ownership needs to be called to account.

Hewitt ran a letter from a Marine Corp Major yesterday.

“The US media is abuzz today with the news of an intelligence report that is very negative about the prospects for Iraq’s future. CNN’s website says, “[The] National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was ‘tenuous stability’ and the worst case was civil war.” That report, along with the car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad in the past couple days are being portrayed in the media as more proof of absolute chaos and the intransigence of the insurgency.

From where I sit, at the Operational Headquarters in Baghdad, that just isn’t the case”

RTWT…. it’s very much worth it. The press isn’t telling you what the Major is… and the Major, being there, knows what’s going on… and the press…. wellllll…  does the name Dan Rather mean anything to you?

Hewitt ran a letter from a Marine Corp Major yesterday.

“The US media is abuzz today with the news of an intelligence report that is very negative about the prospects for Iraq’s future. CNN’s website says, “[The] National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was ‘tenuous stability’ and the worst case was civil war.” That report, along with the car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad in the past couple days are being portrayed in the media as more proof of absolute chaos and the intransigence of the insurgency.

From where I sit, at the Operational Headquarters in Baghdad, that just isn’t the case”

RTWT…. it’s very much worth it. The press isn’t telling you what the Major is… and the Major, being there, knows what’s going on… and the press…. wellllll…  does the name Dan Rather mean anything to you?

Hewitt ran a letter from a Marine Corp Major yesterday.

“The US media is abuzz today with the news of an intelligence report that is very negative about the prospects for Iraq’s future. CNN’s website says, “[The] National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was ‘tenuous stability’ and the worst case was civil war.” That report, along with the car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad in the past couple days are being portrayed in the media as more proof of absolute chaos and the intransigence of the insurgency.

From where I sit, at the Operational Headquarters in Baghdad, that just isn’t the case”

RTWT…. it’s very much worth it. The press isn’t telling you what the Major is… and the Major, being there, knows what’s going on… and the press…. wellllll…  does the name Dan Rather mean anything to you?

Hewitt ran a letter from a Marine Corp Major yesterday.

“The US media is abuzz today with the news of an intelligence report that is very negative about the prospects for Iraq’s future. CNN’s website says, “[The] National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was ‘tenuous stability’ and the worst case was civil war.” That report, along with the car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad in the past couple days are being portrayed in the media as more proof of absolute chaos and the intransigence of the insurgency.

From where I sit, at the Operational Headquarters in Baghdad, that just isn’t the case”

RTWT…. it’s very much worth it. The press isn’t telling you what the Major is… and the Major, being there, knows what’s going on… and the press…. wellllll…  does the name Dan Rather mean anything to you?

Hewitt ran a letter from a Marine Corp Major yesterday.

“The US media is abuzz today with the news of an intelligence report that is very negative about the prospects for Iraq’s future. CNN’s website says, “[The] National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was ‘tenuous stability’ and the worst case was civil war.” That report, along with the car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad in the past couple days are being portrayed in the media as more proof of absolute chaos and the intransigence of the insurgency.

From where I sit, at the Operational Headquarters in Baghdad, that just isn’t the case”

RTWT…. it’s very much worth it. The press isn’t telling you what the Major is… and the Major, being there, knows what’s going on… and the press…. wellllll…  does the name Dan Rather mean anything to you?

Hewitt ran a letter from a Marine Corp Major yesterday.

“The US media is abuzz today with the news of an intelligence report that is very negative about the prospects for Iraq’s future. CNN’s website says, “[The] National Intelligence Estimate was sent to the White House in July with a classified warning predicting the best case for Iraq was ‘tenuous stability’ and the worst case was civil war.” That report, along with the car bombings and kidnappings in Baghdad in the past couple days are being portrayed in the media as more proof of absolute chaos and the intransigence of the insurgency.

From where I sit, at the Operational Headquarters in Baghdad, that just isn’t the case”

RTWT…. it’s very much worth it. The press isn’t telling you what the Major is… and the Major, being there, knows what’s going on… and the press…. wellllll…  does the name Dan Rather mean anything to you?