Posted on 01/30/2004 8:31:33 PM PST by Recovering_Democrat
I just watched the repeat of a Dennis Miller show from earlier this week. DM interviewed Rudy Giuliani and did his usual commentary. Giuliani made the point about the Patriot Act being a worthwhile tool for a country at war.
But what has really motivated me to post, before I go to bed was the "Varsity" chat time Dennis had with three guests. The guests were former San Fran mayor Willie Brown, Al Gore fashion consultant Naomi Wolf (called a 'social critic'), and conservative author David Horowitz.
After a discussion of the New Hampshire primary, the discussion turned to the Patriot Act. I don't recall how they got into the subject, but the absolute blindness to reality exhibited by Naomi Wolf was stunning. She posited that the Patriot Act is a manipulation of fear by the Bush administration to maintain power over America. She said people were "shut up by fear" to speak out against the war after the Patriot Act became law. She boasted about living 10 blocks from Ground Zero, but still didn't care: the Patriot Act was a clear and present danger to Americans.
Her solution? She wanted us to look at how ISRAEL conducts national security issues: and her assertion (she reminds us she lived in Israel for some time) is that the Israeli government doesn't have a Patriot Act.
Now, this is so damn wrong on so many levels I don't know how to start. But I'll try, even though my eyes and mind are tired at this late hour.
First of all, and most prominently, Naomi Wolf ignores the reality of September 11; she forgets we are at war, like the President has said so many times. She also ignores the reality that several Al Qaeda suspects have already been found within the borders of this country. She doesn't care, apparently, that there have been no instances of the government "spying" on ordinary citizens' library records...instead, when confronted with this fact by Dennis Miller, she says in a spooky voice "We don't know that, do we??"
Naomi also foolishly asserts the President is using the law to manipulate and put fear into America. How easy to assert something, but hard to back up. There is no proof of some sinister "fear plot" in the administration. The Congress overwhelmingly approved the Patriot Act, and will have to approve any extensions. The fantasy that this law is some special edict from the Executive Branch is laughable.
Naomi firmly said people were silenced about their opposition to the war after the Patriot Act was passed. Oh really? The act was passed in October of 2001...does she really think the street demonstrations and lunatics calling G.W. Bush a "terrorist" were shut down by the Patriot Act?? The liberal activists were as loud as ever in protesting the war...you couldn't swing a dead cat in a major city without hitting a Mike Farrell or Janeane Garofalo wannabe.
The attempt to make us sympathetic to her having an apartment 10 blocks from Ground Zero only makes her position that much more sad. She points to ISRAEL as a great example of a democracy that protects the citizens' civil rights. Good God. Israel, as David Horowitz pointed out, has machine guns on 'every corner'. I would've pointed out to the "social critic" Ms. Wolf that Israel also has had dozens of attacks over the past few years--in percentage terms, as Bibi Netanyahu has pointed out, more people than we lost here in America on September 11, 2001.
I was appalled at her apparent total lack of grasp on the reality that she and every other American is a target for a band of lunatic murderers. These terrorists attacked our homeland 3 years ago and would have done so again if they had the capability. She seems to be stuck in dreamland that 9/11 was an isolated event--never to be repeated again. What a foolish thought.
There can be room for dissent and disagreement about how to conduct the war on terror. But the leftists in this country, I believe, have no clue about the threat itself...let alone on how to fight.
But Wolf is nuts if she thinks the American people would tolerate a bombing every few weeks just to protect Abdul's right not to be wiretapped if he's suspected of terror activity.
Most prominently indeed. We have to remember that the Libs' worldview is essentially childish (which is why everything's "for the children"). Their utterly idealistic, unrealistic view is threatened by "hard" issues like war, so they simply choose to ignore it. That's why they are so dangerous. They have a real, ingrained need to further their fanciful, happy-happy, can't-we-all-just-get-along fantasy life, and they have willing comrades in the media to help them further the illusion that all is well and we should really be concentrating on things like prescription drugs and gay marriage and bennifer instead of big, bad, war. That so many people have this childish and ultimately ignorant attitude leaves us wide open to disaster. Thank God there is adult backbone in the White House. And here at Free Republic.
And we saw how that worked for Al. He isn't even on the radar screen anymore.
What does this say about liberals?
What adults?
I remember hearing a report of an interview with the the head of El-Al security a year or so ago. He was asked what he thought of the United States airline and airport security systems in view of the changes made since 9/11.
His reply was telling: "You don;t have a security system, you have a system to piss off travelers".
That being said, I was wondering some of the same things you posted, and you stated them better than I could.
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