Another good column from Friedman. Take note Democrats- he brought up legitimate criticisms and managed to do so without calling Bush the ‘worst President ever” or referring to him as ‘Shrub’ or ‘Bushitler.’
John Cole started Balloon Juice early in 2002. Those who have followed along know that this has been quite the journey.
Sound Familiar?
Tell me if this does not sound familiar:
The commentary by Doug Saunders of Toronto’s Globe and Mail began in a fashion familiar to readers and viewers of the Western news media:
“Six months before, the world had cheered as the statues of the dictator came crashing down. The Americans had seemed heroic. But now things were going very badly. The occupation was chaotic, the American soldiers were hated and they were facing threats from the surviving supporters of the dictator, whose whereabouts were uncertain.
“Washington seemed unwilling to pay the enormous bill for reconstruction, and the president didn’t appear to have any kind of workable plan to manage the transition to democracy. European allies, distrustful of the arrogant American outlook, were wary of cooperating.”
Groan- not another one of these. But wait- there is more:
Doug Saunders was writing not of Iraq in September, 2003. He was writing about Germany in November 1945. His article provided something rare in the news media today: perspective.
The more things change…
(via Instapundit)
Frank and Earnest
Some much needed perspective from Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA):
Kennedy sparked a political firestorm last week with charges made to the Herald and other news organizations that the president’s war plan was “made up in Texas” to boost the political stock of Republicans.
Republicans accused the senator of hitting below the belt. Bush branded the senator’s charges “uncivil.”
But many Democrats backed Kennedy, charging the White House was seeking to brand critics as unpatriotic.
“If it’s unpatriotic to challenge the leadership of this country, it’s a different America than I grew up in,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Somerville). “Sen. Kennedy obviously has a big microphone and I’m glad he used it.”
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Newton) said he disagreed with Kennedy’s charge that the GOP was playing politics with Iraq.
“I don’t think they started the war for political purposes,” Frank said. “I do think that they very demagogically exploited it politically.”
Frank also suggested some Democrats were being overly sensitive to Bush’s criticisms of Kennedy. “Uncivil?” said Frank. “I mean, let’s not overreact. Being called uncivil is not being persecuted. People have a right to defend themselves and argue.”
Calling someone’s remarks ‘uncivil’ is not the crushing of dissent. In this case, as Frank noted, it was merely a defense.
*** Update ***
John Hawkins has some interesting thoughts abut the Democrats attempts to characterize any rebuttal as ‘crushing of dissent.’
The Tide Is Turning
The evidence of coalition successes in Iraq is slowly tarting to come forward, and the tide is turning. Dr. Bob Arnot was just on the Imus show on MSNBC (and for the record, Arnot has been, hands down, the best reporter in theatre since day one- I imagine David Bloom would still be doing a bang up job, but that was not to be) discussing the bombing of the NBC headquarters, and he stated (and I must paraphrase):
[snark] Eight thousand reconstruction projects have been completed? Wow- maybe the Democrats are right- can you imagine what we would have done if we just had a ‘plan?’ [/snark]We can’t let these incidents distract us from what is really going on in Iraq. Al over the country, hospitals are up and running, schools are running, businesses are being built and rebuilt, and over 8000 reconstruction projects have been completed.
Arnot then continued on to note the latest Gallup poll, in which 62% of the population said they would go through everything again and 67% said that Iraq will be a much better place in five years. Some more information from the just released Gallup Poll:
The initial wave of findings that were released today show:
— Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Baghdad’s citizens think ousting Saddam Hussein was worth any hardships they have personally endured since the invasion.
— Nearly half (47%) thinks the country as a whole is currently worse off than it was before the invasion – only a third (33%) thinks it is already in better shape.
— Two-thirds (67%) believe Iraq will be in better condition five years from now than it was before the U.S. and British-led invasion; just 8% think it will be worse off.
— Most (61%) take a favorable view of the new Iraqi Governing Council, but see its policies and decisions “still mostly determined by the coalition’s own authorities” (75%).
— Fully half (50%) think that the Coalition Provisional Authority is doing a better job now than was the case two months ago, while just 14% think it is doing a worse job.
“Despite – or more likely because of – all they have been through, residents of Baghdad were exceptionally eager to speak with our interviewers. More than 97% of those we contacted in our strict, probability-based sample agreed to be interviewed in the privacy of their own homes,” said Burkholder. “The survey’s results – and the insights they give us about how both the past and the future look to the people of Iraq’s capital city – are priceless.”
That, folks, is progress, and not merely Roveian spin from the evil triumverate of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld. Add to that the observations from American Congressman, and we are starting to see a different picture emerge from the previous doom and gloom/ quagmire casserole that all the previous reporting seemed to present. Here is an excerpt from an interview with Brit Hume and Rep. Jim Marshall (D- GA):
HUME: Isn’t there a different, though, really in what you see at home? If you and I hear a story about murder and rape or outbreak of violence in some American city, we kind of know because we live here what that is. And we fit it into a certain perspective. But we don’t really have perspective or context on Iraq, do we?
MARSHALL: Well, that’s an interesting observation. What I’d say is that you if you take news media at home and you
Deja Who?
Where have I heard this before:
Expectations were low for the _________, who had skipped the previous debates. One of his own aides said before the debate that expectations were so low, that all ________ had to do was string a few verbs and nouns together, toss out a statistic here and there and the whole evening would be considered a success.
The Democratic operatives for _________, who were milling around the lobby in dark suits were comparing _______ to the lost little boy on the milk carton who had been found and finally showed up for a debate.
Yawn.
(via PrestoPundit)
Finally, Some Good News From Abroad
This is wonderful news:
A single mother facing death by stoning for adultery had her sentence overturned by an Islamic appeals court Thursday in a case that has sparked international outrage.
A five-judge panel rejected the sentence against 32-year-old Amina Lawal, saying she was not caught in the act of adultery and she was not given “ample opportunity to defend herself.”
If the sentence had been carried out, the single mother would have been the first woman stoned to death since 12 northern states first began adopting strict Islamic law, or Shariah, in 1999.
Now, get rid of the stupid law that convicted her in the first place.
The Blame Game
Tragically, the NBC Headquarters in Baghdad was the subject of a terrorist attack last night.
An explosion just before 7 a.m. local time rocked the al-Aike Hotel in Baghdad, headquarters of NBC News in Baghdad.
The bomb was placed about three feet from the outside wall of the hotel in a hut that housed the hotel