I read somewhere there is a law that would prevent us from attacking San Fancisco.
Posted on 07/30/2004 2:29:07 PM PDT by ambrose
Firehouse Rot John Kerry's cheapest shot.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Friday, July 30, 2004, at 10:15 AM PT
Allowance made for choreography, stagecraft, and all the rest of it, there need be no doubt that the Democrats in Boston sincerely wish to "project" the idea of compassion for the underdog, inclusiveness in general, and perhaps above all a degree of care and measure in foreign policy. The AIDS victim in South Africa, or the Bangladeshi woman hoping for a new well: These are sufferers and strugglers who would get genuine applause whether it was Barack Obama mentioning them or not. Of course we understand that our future is bound up with theirs.
But in the last few weeks I have been registering one of the sourest and nastiest and cheapest notes to have been struck for some time. In a recent article about anti-Bush volunteers going door-to-door in Pennsylvania, often made up of campaigners from the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU—one of the country's largest labor unions—the New York Times cited a leaflet they were distributing, which said that the president was spending money in Iraq that could be better used at home. The mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, recently made the same point, proclaiming repeatedly that the Bay Area was being starved of funds that were being showered on Iraqis. (He obviously doesn't remember the line of his city's most famous columnist, the late Herb Caen, who referred to San Francisco as "Baghdad by the Bay.") These are only two public instances of what's become quite a general whispering campaign. And then on Thursday night, Sen. Kerry quite needlessly proposed a contradiction between "opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them in the United States of America." Talk about a false alternative. To borrow the current sappy language of "making us safer": Who would feel more secure if they knew that we weren't spending any tax dollars on Iraqi firehouses?
There is something absolutely charmless and self-regarding about this pitch, and I wish I could hear a senior Democrat disowning it. It is no better, in point of its domestic tone and appeal, than the rumor of the welfare mother stopping her Cadillac to get vodka on food stamps. In point of its international implications, it also suggests the most vulgar form of isolationism, not to say insularity.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I've been reading that the Administration hasn't been spending tax dollars on Iraq. Most of the money allocated by Congress for rebuilding remains unspent. Instead, the Administration has been using Iraqi oil revenue, much of which it refuses to account for.
But the Japanese economy was destroyed. Many of the Japanese had their homes burned down. And people were starving. There was the possibility of a hopeless but extremely bloody revolt against the American occupation. In that situation, Congress has balking at sending serious money to Japan to deal with the crises.
MacArthur sent the following telegram:
"Send me food, or send me bullets."
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "The Wussification of America: Fallout from Arnold, John and Sandy"
If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.
My understanding is that the money designated for projects hasn't been spent because the projects have been completed yet. At least that was the administration's response to those allegations.
Can you back that up? I thought not.
There are alot of people who can't see the forest for the trees....and they need some 'splainin'!! I found this to be especially useful when the D-Day celebrations were going on this year, along with the opening of the WWII memorial.
To all those who opposed the Iraqi war and took every opportunity to deride our President for his handling of it, I asked them how could many Americans and Europeans be so selective about their celebration of liberation?? Most looked at me like "huh"?? I told them that the Europeans, especially, who rejoiced in the American aid they received to rid their part of the world from the advance of Naziism, had alot of nerve to NOW turn and whack the U.S. for helping to liberate the Afghan and Iraqi people from brutal regimes...how dare they, I asked, think that it was OK for them to enjoy the fruits of liberation and it wasn't OK for the U.S. to provide the same assistance on the people of the Middle East.........it really shut them up!!!
This line about spending money on Iraq that should be spent here in the US has been a long long time staple of the rants against the president on C-SPIN.
It should be pointed out to these uninformed people that, before he voted against it, John Kerry voted for the $87 billion...
I was being a contrarian, pointing out that both Hitchens and the Democrats may be wrong in a way they didn't foresee.:)
Not that Republicans will be happy either. :)
Hello ?? Anybody there ?
Sure, it's been all over the news.
Krugman, in particular, comes to mind. He wrote a very succinct article covering these points about a month ago. Knowing your mentality you'll immediately reject it based on the source and go running to Luskin, who'll tell you that Krugman's a liar because it can be proved that the Administration spent 50 cents on rebuilding and accounted for it.
I thought...
A more modest appraisal of your talents is in order here.
Yes, certainly. What do you want?
The UN audited those funds 2 weeks ago and announced that all was in perfect order.
I was wondering when a major pundit would mention this general theme that seemed to have run through the rat convention.
I hope that's true in all its interpretations. But I'm sure you're willing to share a smile with me at the possible ironies.
Since when does the Federal gov't finance firehouses?
I guess you didn't read Billybob's post #3? Or perhaps you have an interpretation of the Marshall plan that noone's ever thought of?
I read somewhere there is a law that would prevent us from attacking San Fancisco.
Do you have a link to the Krugman article? What were his sources?
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