London plot exposes Left

Townhall.com ^ | August 14, 2006 | By Michael Barone

[garbageseeker]

Tuesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, anti-Iraq war candidate Ned Lamont beat Sen. Joseph Lieberman in Connecticut's Democratic primary. On Thursday, British authorities arrested more than 20 British Muslims who were plotting to blow up American airliners over the Atlantic Ocean.

Tuesday was a victory for the angry antiwar Left that set the tone in the Democrats' 2003-04 presidential cycle and seems likely to set the tone again in 2007-08. Thursday was a reminder that there are, as George W. Bush has finally taken to calling them, Islamic fascist terrorists who want to kill us and destroy our way of life.

Thursday's lesson was not one Tuesday's victors wanted to learn. Left-wing bloggers played an important part in Lamont's victory. Here's the reaction of one of them, John Aravosis, to the red alert ordered here in response to the British arrests: "Do I sound as if I don't believe this alert? Why, yes, that would be correct. I just don't believe it. Read the article. They say the plot had an 'Al Qaeda footprint.' Ooh, are you scared yet?"

What we are looking at here is cognitive dissonance. The mindset of the Left blogosphere is that there's no real terrorist threat out there. We wouldn't have any serious problem if we'd just do something different — raise the minimum wage or reduce the number without health insurance (the first issue Lamont mentioned on election night), withdraw from Iraq or (as some Left bloggers suggest) sell out Israel.

As for Lamont, on victory night he mentioned his policy to handle the nuclear threat posed by ......

[Torie]

Prose poetry ping.

"At least Neville Chamberlain was made of sterner stuff."

That is a rather arresting sentence, which Barone then proceeds to back up. And so it goes.

[garbageseeker]

[SaxxonWoods]

The first post was 6 hours ago, don't sweat it, gs.

---

For those who don't know, Michael Barone's wife was in the plane that hit the Pentagon.

[bethtopaz]

I did not know that. He is such a fine, optimistic guy.

[Intolerant in NJ]

Thursday's lesson was not one Tuesday's victors wanted to learn...many callers to C-Span on Thursday were so deluded and deep in denial that they were insisting that the British terrorism incident was really a plot by Bush et al to scare the public and gain advantage in the upcoming elections - "it happens every time we have an election" growled on - it's terrifying to think that such blind fools might actually help put someone as out of touch as Lamont in office one day.......

[garbageseeker]

It was Theodore Olsen's(the former U.S. Solicitor general's) wife was on the plane that hit the Pentagon.
Thanks for your support.

[308MBR]

Most fine guys act that way.

Too bad Newt's latest ex wasn't on it. It would have saved him some trouble.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[garbageseeker]

That is one of my favorites.

[Torie]

I know lawyer Olsen's was. Was Barone's on it too?

[SaxxonWoods]

A google search indicates garbageseeker is right, I stand corrected. It was Olsen's wife, the writer, not Barone's wife on the plane.

[MEG33]

I raced to read Barone's article.. He says it so well.

[Torie]

He most certainly does. The article is very well crafted. I knew the guy was talented as a political analyst, but this shows stylistic writing gifts I did not know he had. He is close on this one to being in the Steyn category.

[Torie]

It happens. I am glad both were not touched with such a horror. One is too many.

[syriacus]

But Chamberlain stayed true to his countrymen, yielding his place to Churchill and strenuously supporting him when Britain was in peril.

Can we expect as much of our Left? It seems doubtful.

Great column. Thanks for posting it.

Why do the Lefties love foreign bullies so much?

[rightazrain]

When Michael Barone speaks, I listen.

[wayoverontheright]

The left doesn't mind being exposed as anti-war, or even anti-American, what they don't want the world to find out is that their reasons for both are based in Marxist anti-capitalism.

[IronJack]

I'm with you. I have never been particularly impressed by Barone's stylistic gifts, but this piece wowed me. It takes talent to not only SEE the idiocy of the Left, but to DESCRIBE it in a way that does it the most damage.

It has been said that an artist's stock in trade is Truth. This work makes Barone an artist.