First, to EV, thank you for your complement regarding my post #1030. I will remember that. Secondly, to all of you. I am second-to-none in my ability to dish it out when I feel it necessary. However, it is my strong belief that many of the Bush Bashers are not seeing the forest for the trees when it comes to the terrain that is American Politics in the early 21st Century.
I'll get to that below, but let me say this. There is no excuse, none, for some self-proclaimed "True Conservatives" (as opposed to "False Conservatives", one would suppose) to come on here and impugn the character, honor, and commitment of this President. I have seen Bush called "Bubba2" by someone who should know better (no, not EV), and I've been in the middle of some pretty vicious intellectual firefights with fellow Freepers in the past few days. We even had one intellectual fraud come on and compare the arguments of "Republican Apologists" to those of the National Socialists.
That's the nature of what's been going on, here. I would be very disappointed if I found that the Great One had fallen into this camp. However, Mark Levin can be a rather uncompromising combatant. Next time he is on the air opposite Paul Begala, watch what happens and see if I'm not right. But let us turn to the events of the day.
Here is a man who today rolled a dadgum tenstrike, today. He took what is basically the Israeli position: he declared that Israel has a right to defend itself, and put the onus on the Palestinians and the Arab League to create a real, honest-to-God constitutional government in Palestine with an independent judiciary.
And what is the Palestinian response? The usual weasel words, of course, but not outright rejection. The Saudis have been very supportive. I suspect that they're rather happy in Amman, as well. The Israelis are attempting to contain their glee, and not doing a very good job of it, as well.
This is the mark of a President who supports the creation of a terrorist state? I think not. If Mark Levin was implying that (and I cannot claim that he was, as I have not read all his posts), then he is manifestly wrong. That is not Administration Policy. If it was, the Israelis would not be the Happy Campers that they are tonight.
Bush did a wonderful job today. Politics is the art of the Possible. So said the master of European statecraft, Otto von Bismarck. Bush was dealt a piss-poor hand, and he played it rather well. And what's more, now that he has laid it out, he can hand the thing off to Powell while Rummy gets about the business of dealing with the Thief of Baghdad.
That's what Rush never saw. And I don't think that that's what Levin sees. Bush has his objectives. He simply makes tactical adjustments to get there. This disappoints some of us on this board. But that's real politics. That's how it's done out there.
Now, back to FR.
One thing that appalls the hell out of me is that some Freepers, I know not who, criticized Jim Robinson over the weekend in rather caustic terms. There's no room for that. This is the guy who has put up with tax audits and a Clinton -sponsored lawsuit to try to shut him down. Yet he and his family persisted, and look what we have.
Free Republic is a website whose influence dwarfs that of our opposite numbers at DU, Chimpland, and Democrats.com.
We have tens of thousands of members whose influence can be felt far and wide througout this Republic.
And believe me, the liberals do fear us. And there's something else. Set aside Mark Levin for a moment. We know that we have people in the White House who are Freepers. GW is rumored to be a Freeper. God knows how many columnists are Freepers.
Folks, we matter. So don't trash Jim. We wouldn't have mattered at all if it wasn't for him.
Finally, I say to the "True Conservatives", please understand that we live in a divided electorate. Common Tator has pretty much laid it out. You can divide the electorate into thirds, with the Indies being the one's up for grabs. Winning is about seizing the political terrain necessary to reduce the choices available to our opponents. Compromise is essential to advance our agenda, to popularize our issues with the public, and to retain the Presidency and the Judicial appointments that come with it. It's what Reagan did. Indeed, like it or not, it's what Clinton did as well.
If you go to the public and insist that your way is the only way, they will reject you out of hand.
Then you will be stuck with the likes of Hillary, and all that we have achieved up to now won't matter.
Be Seeing You,
Chris