Congressional Quarterly has a thoroughly mystifying take on the Tester-Burns debate, headlined by the opinion of “Craig Harris”, Montana State University political science professor. (What are the odds that both the Washington Post and CQ would misidentify the same person, in the same way?)
Wilson (known in the article as Harris) suggested the debate was a draw, but this passage was hard to understand:
Harris (sic) said Tester did a “respectable job” addressing the issues, although he needed some more time getting up to speed on the national security issues that featured prominently in the debate.
Hmm. I guess the guy who thinks imaginary ‘starin’ is a chemical weapon, who flip-flopped twice on his own position on port security in the course of 10 minutes, and who fundamentally misunderstands Sudan (the more I think about it the more convinced I am that he thought Sudan was Somalia) is the one who needs to work on his understanding of national security.
Harris, Wilson…can someone explain this to me?
Clarence Thomas offered this analysis of Justice Stevens and his decision today in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case:
But this suggestion betrays the plurality’s unfamiliarity with the realities of warfare and its willful blindness to our precedents.
According to the Wikipedia, John Paul Stevens served:
in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1945 as an intelligence officer (for which service he was awarded a Bronze Star)…
What about resident expert on war, Clarence Thomas?
Well, he was born in 1948…which would have made him 20 in 1968, so I guess it’s fair to assume that his familiarity with war came during the Vietnam War. Oh, snap. He wasn’t able to serve:
During his sophomore year Thomas met Kathy Grace Ambush and began a relationship that would lead to their 1971 marriage. In 1973 their son, Jamal, was born. Thomas had registered for the draft in 1966, at age 18, but had a student deferment; when he graduated in 1971, and his number in the conscription lottery was low, he seemed a likely candidate for military service in Vietnam. However, he failed his physical examination.
It’s amazing that all these people who never served in the military are not only experts in the field, but have the temerity to criticze those who have served for their lack of real knowledge.
Arrogant, reckless, shameless hacks…how many wars would we fight if these closet heroes actually had to go into battle?
New West (what is New West, anyway…a blog? a news site?) has an interesting article up on Tester’s personality and how it might influence this election.
I have two thoughts:
- I am tired of hearing from Craig Wilson, who seems like he is the pundit of choice in Montana political writing. I was stunned by his analysis of the Tester-Burns debate that appeared in The Hill that Burns helped himself when he used the word “liberal” in the debate several times. Good….encourage more name calling in this election.
- I think there is something to be said for Tester’s personality in this debate. I have met Tester twice and although I am sure that those meetings probably didn’t stick in Tester’s mind, they left quite an impression on me. He struck me as smart, well-spoken, honest and most of all, real. I was an adult voter the last two times Burns was reelected (94 and 2000) and although I was certainly supporting his opponents, I am not nearly as excited of the prospect of new blood than I am in this election. And…that 2000 election featured the introduction of Brian Schweitzer to the political scene. There is an energy among many of my fellow Democrats that I haven’t seen in quite some time. People are rising up WITH Jon Tester, not just AGAINST Conrad Burns. Will that matter? I hope so.
Crooks and Liars has another amusing rant where Obermann goes after O’Reilly. I don’t know what numbers are right but I hope Obermann is correct that Fox is finally losing viewership…
So betwixt all the wrangling of the American political apparatus, has anyone noticed that Israel has started another war? The pretext is the kidnapping of a single young Israeli soldier by Palestinian forces. Because of this Israel has invaded the Gaza Strip, destroyed the electrical grid, and angered regional powers.
Now, the emptiness of this rhetoric cannot help but be exposed when one reads the other major story going on in Israel right now, the "arrests" of 64 Palestinian ministers and members of parliament on the pretext that because they belong to Hamas they must be terrorists. And it seems that Israel wants to arrest many more in their broad sweep, which Palestinian officials are already calling an "open war against the Palestinian government and people". Now, I don’t intend to be a Hamas apologist, the party has an acknowledged record of terror and violence, but they were legally elected by the Palestinian people and Israel’s latest move has virtually destroyed the democratically chosen government of Palestine. Israeli radio even goes so far as to say "If the [kidnapped Israeli] soldier is not returned in 24 hours, Israel will not allow the Palestinian government to survive". So, as retaliation for the kidnapping of a soldier – who as part of his duty is put in harm’s way and is generally considered fair game by the Geneva Conventions as long as he is treated well in captivity – Israel has invaded unoccupied territory and dissolved an elected government. That seems reasonable. And while on the subject, why is it that it is called "kidnapping" when done by Palestinians (despite the fact that it was a soldier) and it is called "arrests" when done 64-fold by the Israelis (to civilian elected officials)?
This isn’t exactly the first time that Israel has started wars on flimsy pretexts. Recall in 1982 when the Israeli intelligence fabricated a PLO assassination attempt on Israeli Ambassador Argov so they could start an offensive in Lebanon, or any number of other incidents in which the stark expansionist policy of Israel has been obscured by rhetoric. Perhaps it is instructive to note that the United States isn’t the only state in the world that manufactures wars at its own convenience.
UPDATE: Israel is now threatening to kill the Prime Minister of Palestine!
