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GOOD SENSE ON HARDBALL (SpitterMatthews slap down)
NRO corner ^ | Lowry

Posted on 01/28/2005 5:55:37 PM PST by hipaatwo

An LATimes reporter named Tony Perry was on “Hardball” last night, and made a lot of sense. Check out this exchange when Chris Matthews was asking a somewhat appalling question:

MATTHEWS: Suppose the minority Sunnis, who ran the government with Saddam Hussein when he was in power, supposed they decide as a community, 90 percent of them decide not to vote. Can we continue to call them insurgents or are they not secessionists, people who say we`re not part of this new government and therefore you have to ask the moral authority question. Can American service people fire on them if they simply say we`re not part of this new government? Do we have the right to tell them that they can`t do that...

Let me start with you, Tony, in country. What happens if the Sunnis say, we`re not playing ball, we`re not joining in this election? Could they become then a secessionist movement? What would happen?

PERRY: No, I don`t think so.

I think you have to realize that the Marines -- I`m with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment -- they`re not firing on people because of some philosophic difference. They`re firing on people they have to fire on to protect their own lives, people who have been using roadside bombs and suicide cars and snipers.

And I think -- I spoke to a Marine, a young Marine captain. He made a very good point. He said, this is not Vietnam. The insurgency here has no philosophy to speak of. This isn`t a philosophy like the Viet Cong that had communism, that had a national leader, Ho Chi Minh, that they adored. The insurgents basically have no philosophy, except no government, no control, no self-determination.

So it`s hard to think of them as some sort of legitimate party in that regard. They`re essentially -- in Ramadi, certainly, you could liken them to the Mafioso, who would really like to control, if not the whole city, certain neighborhoods and continue doing so.

Remember, this is a city that not even Saddam Hussein could control. They took over the government center from the Saddam Hussein government while he was in power. This is a very, very tough city as part of a tough province, the Al Anbar Province. There`s no philosophy here. There`s violence.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iraq; lowry; matthews
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To: GeneralStorm

Nope..Carson..even more so it's astonishing..


21 posted on 01/28/2005 6:44:22 PM PST by ken5050
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To: msnimje

You guys have been easy on me. Zell lambasted Crissy after the republican convention, not after the election. You let me get away with one. Sorry folks!


22 posted on 01/28/2005 6:47:40 PM PST by Alaska007
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To: msnimje

You guys have been easy on me. Zell lambasted Crissy after the republican convention, not after the election. You let me get away with one. Sorry folks!


23 posted on 01/28/2005 6:47:49 PM PST by Alaska007
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To: NorCalRepub
He is pandering to look good but it is so transparent that he comes off as an ignorant idiot,

Just like he is!

24 posted on 01/28/2005 6:56:13 PM PST by Shortstop7
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To: hipaatwo
In America, the greatest democracy on the face of the earth, only 60% of the electorate bother to vote in many national off year elections. does that mean that these people are, de facto, seceding from the union. Are elections in this country declared invalid when not all people choose to vote?
If people in Iraq decide not to vote, they are simply exercising their right to let other citizens make decisions for them. Iraqi's will learn,for themselves, the importance of the vote. In the end we all get the government we deserve.
25 posted on 01/28/2005 6:59:59 PM PST by photodawg
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To: Txsleuth
saw that show and I have been surprised that I haven't heard much about it---

Chris' latest tic is spitting out "the Sunnis...the Sunnis...the Sunnis" every two minutes.

What a disgrace after he just visited Camp Pendleton and was waxing on about the greatness of the Marines. Of course he would explain his "question" as predicated on the theory that they would be acting on orders.

I have been more or less boycotting him and rightly so, I see (I happened to surf and see the end of the Pendleton piece and MSNBC showed clips a few times of his appearance on the Tonight Show waxing about it).

26 posted on 01/28/2005 7:00:15 PM PST by cyncooper
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To: Darkwolf377
Yet we're all so concerned with the Sunnis, who should feel lucky they're not all strung up by vengeance-minded countrymen.

The Sunnis are the tool the media and their democrat masters are going to use to delegitimize Sunday's election. The left has basically told the Sunnis, "Sit it out, boycott it, refuse to have anything to do with it, and refuse to recognize the winners as the legitimate Iraqi government. We'll do our part to ensure that the rest of the world sees the election as a sham."

Look for an avalanche of stories detailing problems with voting, allegations of fraud, Sunnis tearfully saying they tried to vote but were prevented from doing so by American troops and Shi'a gunmen, etc. The media and the democrats will pull out all stops to undermine the confidence of the Iraqis (and us) in the process. The way they see it, that's the only way they can take down George Bush over the Iraq war now.

27 posted on 01/28/2005 7:00:58 PM PST by CFC__VRWC
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To: hipaatwo

28 posted on 01/28/2005 7:40:04 PM PST by Critical Bill
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To: hipaatwo

I know that many Freepers in this post are bad mouthing Chris Matthews. IMHO, Matthews and his wife are traitors and guilty of treason to the USA!!! But, that is just one man's opinion. The larger issue here is not his ravings and hate for GW Bush and the Iraq war, but MSNBC tolerating his terrible ratings. In fact, the whole MSNBC program lineup is just one failure and incompetent Democrat, liberal bias blather after another, with none of the shows drawing more than 500,000 viewers. 500,000 viewers is a drop in the bucket and a terrible statistic. And, when you combine both CNBC and MSNBC, the viewing numbers get even worse. Something is drastically wrong with the brass calling the shots. Actually, the whole program schedule shoud be scrapped and rebuilt with a "moderate" approach to both the conservative and liberal positions. Of course, nothing will happen, and Fox News will continue to gain viewers, run away from MSNBC and just destroy CNN!!! CNN I can forgive, they are totally brain dead, and don't have a clue as to how the "real" world is moving along, so they can be forgiven for being bigoted idiots. But, MSNBC has potential that is not being pursued.


29 posted on 01/28/2005 7:46:41 PM PST by JLAGRAYFOX
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To: cyncooper
"Chris' latest tic is spitting out "the Sunnis...the Sunnis...the Sunnis" every two minutes."

Simple equation there - the Sunni insurgents are the enemy of the US. Therefore, they are the friends of the libs.

30 posted on 01/28/2005 7:53:18 PM PST by Fido969
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To: CFC__VRWC
Look for an avalanche of stories detailing problems with voting, allegations of fraud,

Cripes, that's sickening. If he could get away with it, we'd probably see Jesse Jackson saying that George Bush "stole the election" from the Sunnis.

The MSM pipsqueaks have never sounded so hollow and transparent as they are sounding now with the hysterical voice raising. It seems to me that NPR spent more time today talking about what "could be" going on with Iran then they did talking about the miracle of democracy we are bringing to Iraq.

You know, I am so proud to be an American today. I really am. And, yes, I know that it's not my blood being split over there, but just the thought of what those men and women, American and Iraqi, are accomplishing right now makes my eyes fill with tears and pride.

31 posted on 01/28/2005 9:27:01 PM PST by Fido969
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To: Fido969
The MSM pipsqueaks have never sounded so hollow and transparent as they are sounding now with the hysterical voice raising.

They're not even trying to hide the fact they're rooting for the terrorists now. I thought once the election was over, they'd rein in some of the more egregious anti-Bush hysteria and try to make people forget just how openly they went into the tank for Kerry, but instead they've redoubled the shrillness and the insanity of their attacks.

The only good thing about all of this is that the media has completely destroyed any credibility they ever had. No one but the converted listens to them any more, and even some of the Kool-Aid OD'd faithful are starting to question some of the things the media's telling them.

32 posted on 01/28/2005 9:40:40 PM PST by CFC__VRWC
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To: Alaska007

I slapped him at the inauguration, too!

I saw him before they let people in the security, and asked him if he was going to apologize to Michelle Malkin!

I told him he liked to beat up little women.


33 posted on 01/29/2005 6:02:09 AM PST by RaceBannon (((awaiting new tag line)))
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To: An Old Marine

" Kinda like terrorists without balls." You just defined the Dem's perfectly!


34 posted on 01/29/2005 6:06:07 AM PST by RetroWarrior ('I will guard my post from flank to flank and take no 'crap' from any rank')
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To: Alaska007

Hell, for all I know maybe it did happen and I missed it.


35 posted on 01/29/2005 2:45:23 PM PST by perfect stranger (Godel, Escher and Bach. The Eternal Golden Braid)
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