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Democrat ire
The
Washington Post reported on a blog the truth that Democrats have
received large contributions from lobbyists Jack Abramoff. The result
appears to be that the Democrats who view the Post as their own personal
propagandist machine went crazy:
In her Sunday column, ombudsman Deborah Howell wrote that Abramoff "had made
substantial campaign contributions to both major parties," prompting a wave
of nasty reader postings on post.blog.
There were so many personal attacks that the newspaper's staff could not
"keep the board clean, there was some pretty filthy stuff," and so the Post
shut down comments on the blog, or Web log, said Jim Brady, executive editor
of washingtonpost.com.
Bin Laden Democrat line
NewsMax offers a review of how Osama biLaden used Democrat leaders lines
when attacking the United States and offering a truce that would enable
binLaden to regroup before continuing his war against Western Civilization:
Osama bin Laden is nothing if not a quick study - as his audiotaped message,
replete with echoes of complaints from Iraq war critics on Capitol Hill,
amply shows.
In fact, the terror mastermind invoked one Democratic Party talking point
after another in his bid to convince America that George Bush was leading to
U.S. down the path to ultimate destruction.
Are You a Liberal?
Dennis Praeger, a radio talk show host, believes that many liberals when
confronted with their ideologies full range of beliefs might begin to have
doubts about their chosen faith. Here are his questions for liberals:
1. Standards for admissions to universities, fire departments, etc. should
be lowered for people of color.
2. Bilingual education for children of immigrants, rather than immersion in
English, is good for them and for America.
3. Murderers should never be put to death.
4. During the Cold War, America should have adopted a nuclear arms freeze.
5. Colleges should not allow ROTC programs.
6. It was wrong to wage war against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War.
7. Poor parents should not be allowed to have vouchers to send their
children to private schools.
8. It is good that trial lawyers and teachers unions are the two biggest
contributors to the Democratic Party.
9. Marriage should be redefined from male-female to any two people.
10. A married couple should not have more of a right to adopt a child than
two men or two women.
11. The Boy Scouts should not be allowed to use parks or any other public
places and should be prohibited from using churches and synagogues for their
meetings.
12. The present high tax rates are good.
13. Speech codes on college campuses are good and American values.
14. The Israelis and Palestinians are morally equivalent.
15. The United Nations is a moral force for good in the world, and therefore
America should be subservient to it and such international institutions as a
world court.
16. It is good that colleges have dropped hundreds of men's sports teams in
order to meet gender-based quotas.
17. No abortions can be labeled immoral.
18. Restaurants should be prohibited by law from allowing customers to
choose between a smoking and a non-smoking section.
19. High schools should make condoms available to students and teach them
how to use them.
20. Racial profiling for terrorists is wrong -- a white American grandmother
should as likely be searched as a Saudi young male.
21. Racism and poverty -- not a lack of fathers and a crisis of values --
are the primary causes of violent crime in the inner city.
22. It is wrong and unconstitutional for students to be told, "God bless
you" at their graduation.
23. No culture is morally superior to any other.
Those are all liberal positions. How many of them do you hold?
Hillary Clintonism
Sen. Hillary Clinton recently presented the following speech at Princeton
University:
Thank you very, very much. I'm especially pleased to be here with President
Tilghman and I want in the beginning to dispel a myth. President Tilghman
graciously hosted my daughter and I when we were on the proverbial college
tour. She was not yet president but a distinguished professor and scientist,
and showed us around this absolutely beautiful, welcoming campus.
Fast-forward and my daughter decided to go to Stanford. [Laughter] And I
heard there were those who questioned then-Professor Tilghman's ability to
give a tour. [Laughter] And I want to say right here and now, Shirley, that
if Princeton had been on the west coast as far from Washington as you could
get, there might very well have been a different outcome. But your
presidency has continued the tradition of maintaining Princeton's sterling
reputation in so many areas, here and around the world, and tonight's
occasion is but another example of that academic excellence.
I also want to thank Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter for inviting me way back last
year and giving me the chance to come and speak with you on this occasion. I
am a great fan of the Woodrow Wilson School and all that the school does to
challenge, train and inspire a new generation of leaders and public
servants. And I think you personally for lifting your own voice again and
again in support of human rights and the rule of law. I'm here this evening
because I am fortunate to know as friends two extraordinary men whom the
Princeton community will soon know as well. And it is a great honor that I
was asked by Danny Abraham to be part of the formal announcement of the S.
Dan Abraham Chair in Middle East Policy Studies.
Danny Abraham has been an extraordinarily successful businessman, an
entrepreneur in the great American tradition. But he was never satisfied
with just the accomplishments that business success could bring to him and
his family. Instead, he devoted himself over many years to the cause of
peace in the Middle East. He likes to say that since 1998, he has traveled
more than a million miles for peace, and I am sure it's true. I have
traveled some of those miles with him. It's also remarkable the distance
that other people have traveled because of Danny's mission the minds that
have opened, the new ideas exchanged, the hope for peace renewed. He is
publishing a book, which I think may actually be available starting today,
called Peace is Possible, outlining in very personal terms, the
extraordinary efforts that one man devoted to Israel, devoted to the
pursuit of peace has made over so many years of trying.
And there could not be a more appropriate choice to fill this chair than
Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer. He has had a stellar career serving our country.
Ambassador, of course, as we've heard, to Israel and Egypt, but also three
decades in the Foreign Service, in addition to a brief but distinguished
tenure in academia. I hope those of you at the Woodrow Wilson School and
here in the broader Princeton community will come to know Dan Kurtzer and
his wife Sheila. Dan is a consummate diplomat, a charming host, but a razor
sharp intellect someone who has given a great portion of his adult life to
living out the best of America's values and vision for a partnership in the
Middle East.
When Daniel Kurtzer joined the Foreign Service, few people believed that
Israel and any Arab state could ever make peace. Fewer still could have
imagined that an orthodox Jew could be a central part of that peacemaking,
much less a well-liked and respected ambassador to Egypt. When I visited
Egypt during the Clinton Administration, Dan was the host there and he
remarked one day what a difficult time he sometimes had compiling a minyan
in Cairo, but it's a tribute to his skills that I don't think he ever missed
getting it done. For more than 30 years, he has exploded expectations and
pursued his passion for peace, and kept the faith that it was possible, and
that is the title of Danny Abraham's book: Peace Is Possible.
As we gather this evening we should count our good fortune in having two
such dedicated leaders but it is within the tradition of the Woodrow Wilson
School, which as you know is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Think for a
moment what a feat of imagination it was to establish a new academic program
dedicated to public service and internationalism in 1930. Our nation was
sliding into the Great Depression. The world order of the 1920s, the first
great era of globalization, was giving way to isolationism and aggression
that led inexorably to World War II. But the school's founders looked beyond
the crises of the moment to the principles that they believed should guide
America in the future. And they were right to do so. We cannot be fixated on
the immediate without doing damage to the future. How best do we plan for
that future, make the investments for the future that's what the founders
of the Woodrow Wilson School were concerned about. We need that kind of
vision and leadership with respect to world affairs today.
This, of course, is not 1930. This is a time of tremendous global dynamism:
economic, as technology transforms the way we do business everywhere;
political, as more and more people choose their own government; social, as
societies come to terms with very rapid and sometimes threatening change. We
need today what the Woodrow Wilson School's founders had 75 years ago: the
ability to hold fast to our core principles and to rise with new solutions
to the challenges of our time. We need the founders' understanding that a
stronger America comes from strengthened bonds with other nations and we
need something else the Wilson School has always had: a commitment to
competence and common sense over ideology and partisanship. We need this new
vision and leadership for America's leadership. We cannot lead the rest of
the world if we do not have a vision of where we are headed. And if we do
not summon our leadership, not just based on our military strength, but on
the strength our values and our ideals as well. We need new vision and
leadership in the global fight against terrorism.
Instead, we are still drawing lines on homeland security department
organization charts. We need, instead, to build lines of defense and
alliances against terrorist groups overseas. We need new vision and
leadership in the struggle to keep deadly weapons out of the hands of rogue
states and terrorists. Instead, we have outsourced over the last five years
our policies with respect to North Korea and Iran, and we have missed
opportunity after opportunity to buy or dismantle nuclear materials that the
Russians and other still have. We need new vision and leadership in the
domestic and global economy. Instead of piling up historic levels of debt
and ceding fiscal sovereignty to foreign capitals and foreign bankers. We
need to restore fiscal responsibility, regain that fiscal sovereignty which
gives us leverage with the rest of the world.
We need to reverse the decline in funding for scientific research and
promote science, math, engineering, and technology education. If we want to
keep America powerful, we have to keep the strength of American production
and American intellectual property. We need new leadership on energy policy
instead of an energy policy that provides more and more tax subsides to oil
companies whose profits have soared exponentially. We need, once again, to
be a country committed to a great and grand goal a Manhattan or Apollo
project that helps us pioneer the cleaner and cheaper forms of energy and
conservation, and recognizes our responsibility to help stem global warming.
We need new vision and leadership in dealing with so many parts of the
world. In Latin America, poverty and inequalities are putting democracy's
promise in doubt. In Africa, where the administration put forward a big new
aide program and never really funded it, we need to redouble our commitment.
In Asia, we have to face squarely the competition that we will have with
China hopefully in a peaceful way that will maximize their development and
create centers of stability in the world. And we have to have greater
cooperation, creating new international alliances, treaties and conventions
to deal with the challenges and dangers that confront the entire world,
whether it be a potential pandemic such as bird flu, the continuing spread
of diseases like HIV-AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, or so many of the
others that we read about on a daily basis.
Perhaps nowhere is the need for that leadership and vision great than in the
Middle East. Princeton scholars will be writing for years on the
implications of the events of the last weeks and the weeks to come. I will
not try to pre-empt that historical analysis tonight. Instead, I want to
talk about the values that should govern America's engagement in the Middle
East and then how we can succeed or fail at putting those values into
action.
The values are straightforward, shared by most Americans whether they have
spent a lifetime studying the region or, like most of us, learning about it
through the headlines or in some personal experience. They include our
enduring friendship with Israel, our firm commitment to the security and
well-being of our own people, our friends and our allies, and a belief that
dreams of democracy and human rights are ones that America can and must help
make real.
The security and freedom of Israel must be decisive and remain at the core
of any American approach to the Middle East. This has been a hallmark of
American foreign policy for more than 50 years and we must not dare not
waver from this commitment. As President Truman first recognized, this
commitment was forged by the horrors of the Holocaust, but it has endured
because of the strength of the unique relationship between the American and
Israeli peoples. A relationship based on shared values that predate either
of our nations, values that are rooted in the Judeo-Christian ethic, values
that respect the dignity and rights of human beings.
Like many, I've thought about this a great deal recently. I know that many
of us have sent our prayers to Prime Minister Sharon and his family as he
fights to recover from a stroke, a devastating stroke. But how many
democracies could carry on so steadily with such an important election
campaign at such a time? And how many of any nondemocratic regimes could
continue? When the history of this period is written, I believe Prime
Minister Sharon will be remembered for his life-long commitment to Israel's
security and his own remarkable journey that led him to the conclusion that
Israel would be best served by creating the unilateral disengagement from
Gaza and the separation of the Israelis from the Palestinians. But we will
also remember and admire the strength and stability of the state of Israel
and its people at such a challenging time.
More broadly, human freedom and the quest for individuals to achieve their
god-given potentials must be at the heart of American approaches across the
region. The dream of democracy and human rights is one that should belong to
all people in the Middle East and across the world. Everyone who suffers
under an oppressive regime, everyone whose future is stunted by ideology or
religious fanaticism every single man, woman and child deserves our
support in the conviction that they too can have a future of freedom and
prosperity.
There is no racial, religious, cultural or other barrier that prevents
people from dreaming of and even craving individual freedom. This is
something that Americans across the political spectrum agree on. That we
must stand on the side of democracy wherever we can help it take hold, not
just with speeches but with support that helps real people take charge of
their own lives. Now that is not always easy to do. And we have not always
lived up to our own values. But we have a history of continuing and trying
to do so.
One of the keys to help people in the Middle East move in the direction of
greater freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights
involves the very simple but profound recognition of the humanity and
dignity and the capacity of girls and women, or as we used to say way back
in the 20th century, "Women's rights are human rights." I remember speaking
out against the mistreatment of women by the Taliban in Afghanistan in the
1990s. It wasn't an issue that demanded a lot of attention in our country
because it seemed so far away and even disconnected from the everyday
concerns of Americans. But that particular country, serving as a haven,
which it did, for al Qaeda and the Taliban, struck at us with fury and
hatred. And part of the ideology behind that fury and hatred was a belief in
the inferiority of women.
So it gives me great personal satisfaction to see how far women have come,
including a woman being the top vote-getter in the recent Afghanistan
election a remarkable feat and yet I have no illusions about how
difficult the road ahead lies for the people of Afghanistan and I hope and
pray that America does not walk away from this commitment prematurely.
Elsewhere, women have gained the right to vote in Kuwait, in Bahrain.
Morocco has given women equal rights in family law, and women of every faith
and ethnicity have braved frightening conditions in Iraq to be leaders,
activists, candidates, teachers.
Even in Saudi Arabia there have been the stirrings of change. More than a
year ago, my husband spoke to a business conference in Saudi Arabia and at
his insistence he wouldn't come if women weren't invited. And they were, for
the first time, but they were segregated by barriers from the men. And when
Bill spoke candidly about the importance of giving women more rights in
Saudi Arabia, he was greeted with a burst of applause from the women's side
of the room. There were a few brave souls joining in on the men's side. But
then a year later, there were elections chamber of commerce elections but
nevertheless elections where women for the very first time ran as
candidates.
These are values that we as Americans must continue to support and advocate
for. But as we turn to the region's immediate and pressing challenges, we
have to be conscious of the humility that is necessary in the exercise of
power. We can agree on our values democracy, freedom, women's rights we
can agree on our goals, that America has a role to play in furthering that
vision, but we have to approach that enterprise with humility and we have to
be willing to analyze and hold accountable the policies that we pursue. It
will not further our common goals or our American ideals if we veer from
evidence-based decision-making, substituting instead ideology and arrogance.
Any discussion of the Middle East, or really any part of the world, requires
that Americans educate ourselves and understand the cultures with which we
are dealing in order to be successful in advocating for these common goals
and values.
Nowhere is that more important than in the greater Middle East, and
particularly with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian situation. When I was
last in Israel in November, I met with the prime minister and I expressed
strong support for the leadership that he and his government showed in the
very difficult disengagement from Gaza. After my visit in November, Prime
Minister Sharon took another courageous step by creating a new centrist
political party, Kadima. Just this morning I met with Shimon Peres, another
of Israel's founding leaders, and one of the issues I discussed with him was
not only the upcoming Palestinian and Israeli elections, but also the need
to provide economic opportunity for the Palestinians, to help raise their
standard of living, to give them some belief in the future so they do not
fall prey to the blandishments of the extremists.
In the aftermath of the Gaza withdrawal, there was hope that further
progress could be made in the future in the negotiations between Israel and
the Palestinians. But of course the Israeli withdrawal is only one part of
the equation. I also met with the Israeli defense minister and the Israeli
Defense Forces chief of staff. They both expressed great concern over
whether the Palestinian leadership would be willing and able to crack down
on terror. Unless and until the Palestinians assume responsibility for
policing Gaza, for ending terror and providing meaningful governance, a
peaceful solution will be difficult if not impossible. [Inaudible] ...
academics and business leaders, professionals of all kind. And the
Palestinian people deserve a better future to recognize how damaging the
terror has been for them and to accept responsibility for ending it must be
a first step, to show that they are capable of removing the power of the
terrorism in their midst and cracking down on the suicide bombers and
engaging in a meaningful dialogue with Israel.
The elections to be held by the Palestinians will, in the best case, lead to
the emergence of a responsible, capable leadership that can rise to these
security challenges. That is really what is on the ballot: whether or not
the Palestinians are capable of creating an effective government and moving
away from explicit and implicit support for terrorism and forward toward
peace and stability. What is not on a ballot, and cannot be put into
question, is Israel's right to exist and exist in safety.
These two elections in Israel and among the Palestinian are turning points.
No more excuses for the Palestinians. They have to demonstrated clearly and
unequivocally their commitment to a peaceful future and they have to also
demonstrate their ability to deliver services to their people. Now the rest
of the world stands ready to help. There is capital waiting to invest in
Gaza. There are economic opportunities coming from Europe, the Middle East,
United States, and Asia. But no one will invest in a place where kidnappings
are becoming more common, where tribal feuds have taken over daily commerce,
and if we can send one clear message to the current Palestinian leadership,
it must be that it is in their interest not in Israel's interest, not in
America's interest, but in the Palestinian's interest to begin to govern
and take responsibility as any government must.
It's especially important because this has been and remains a dangerous
neighborhood. Stability in Lebanon. Problems in Syria. Terrorist attacks in
Jordan. Dissent in Egypt. And, of course, Iran and Iraq.
The new president of Iran has made a series of incendiary, outrageous
comments, questioning the Holocaust, calling for Israel to be wiped off the
map, even hoping for the death of Ariel Sharon. Now he is moving to create
his own new nuclear reality in line with his despicable rewriting of
history. He has walked away from international negotiations with Europe. He
has announced Iran's intentions to defy the United Nations and broken the
seals on nuclear facilities to resume the enrichment of uranium that could
be used for nuclear weapons.
I believe that we lost critical time in dealing with Iran because the White
House chose to downplay the threats and to outsource the negotiations. I
don't believe you face threats like Iran or North Korea by outsourcing it to
others and standing on the sidelines. But let's be clear about the threat we
face now: A nuclear Iran is a danger to Israel, to its neighbors and beyond.
The regime's pro-terrorist, anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric only
underscores the urgency of the threat it poses. U.S. policy must be clear
and unequivocal. We cannot and should not must not permit Iran to build
or acquire nuclear weapons. In order to prevent that from occurring, we must
have more support vigorously and publicly expressed by China and Russia, and
we must move as quickly as feasible for sanctions in the United Nations. And
we cannot take any option off the table in sending a clear message to the
current leadership of Iran that they will not be permitted to acquire
nuclear weapons.
Part of the problem that we confront with Iran today is, of course, its
involvement in and influence over Iraq. We continue to lose brave young men
and women nearly every day in Iraq. It was my honor to visit our troops in
Afghanistan and Iraq. I have met with them and their families all over New
York, at Fort Drum, in New York City, at Walter Reed Army Hospital, and I
know how brave and committed they are to their mission while they are
fighting in extremely difficult circumstances. As I have said before, there
are no quick, no easy solutions to the situation we find ourselves in today.
The long and drawn-out conflict this administration triggered consumes a
billion dollars a week, involves a 150,000 American troops, has cost
thousands of American lives and many seriously injured returning American
service members.
I do not believe that we should allow this to be an open-ended commitment
without limits or end, nor do I believe that we can or should pull out of
Iraq immediately. If last December's elections lead to a successful Iraqi
government, that should allow us to start drawing down our troops during
this year while leaving behind a smaller contingent in safe areas with
greater intelligence and quick-strike capabilities. This will help us
stabilize that new Iraqi government. It will send a message to Iran that
they do not have a free hand in Iraq despite their considerable influence
and personal and religious connections there. It will also send a message to
Israel and our other allies, like Jordan, that we will continue to do what
we can to provide the stability necessary to prevent the terrorists from
getting any further foothold than they currently have.
One cannot look at the Middle East today and not believe that there has been
progress against great odds. Former sworn enemies of Israel are recognizing
its existence, are even talking about ways of increasing trade, commerce and
diplomatic relations. The unilateral disengagement from Gaza changed the map
and created a new presumption about who was responsible for the future
well-being of the people of Gaza. The current leadership of the Palestinians
has been rhetorically quite supportive of the relationship with Israel and
the hope that there could be a renewed peace process. But words alone are
insufficient. And it is tragic that with all of the talent and the ability
of the Palestinian people, it was so stunted for so long, that creating the
leadership necessary to lead this future has been very hard to find.
The United States plays the central role as the guarantor of Israel's
security, but also of the guarantor of a better future for the Palestinians,
if they will join in creating a stable, peaceful situation. In Danny
Abraham's book, Peace Is Possible, he goes into great detail about his
personal contacts with generations of Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He
comes out of that as an optimist. He comes out of all the disappointment and
the heartbreak, the rejection, the stupidity, that so often marks the
actions that are taken, the evil, the hatred; he comes out of all of that
with optimism. He does so because he has an overwhelming belief in the
importance of peace: for the state of Israel that he loves and has devoted
so much of his life serving, but also for the Palestinians, who he has also
grown to love.
Optimism, some believe, is a peculiarly American virtue. That we [inaudible]
believe in the face of nearly any calamity find some reason to be
optimistic. I used to think, when I was first lady, that complaint about
Americans having no sense of their history may have been misplaced. Yes of
course we're doomed to create it but it also gives grounds for optimism if
you have no idea what happened before. [Laughter] I remember so many times
having the obligatory first lady tea with the spouse of leaders from so many
countries and talking about matters of mutual interest but on several
occasions, when I would say just to make conversation, "Well, how are things
in fill-in-the-blank," the country of the woman I was with, and how are
things, I sometimes got a conversation that began in the 10th century. "Ever
since the Crusades it's never been the same." [Laughter]
History can be like a yoke around a people's neck. History can blind, blind
you to the possibilities that lie ahead if you're just able to break free
and take that step. History has weighed heavily on the Middle East. What we
have tried to do over the last 30 years, starting with President Carter,
moving through other presidents, including my husband, now this president,
is to send a uniquely American message: It can get better, just get over it.
Make a decision for hope, make a decision for peace. Create a new reality.
We are criticized for that attitude because to many it seems naοve,
dangerously so. That's why we have to combine that optimism, that idealism,
with a strong strain of realism. It is not idealism or realism as some of
the foreign policy commentators would have you believe: "You cannot be one
and the other, you must choose." That's not the world we live in. That is
not how America has been successful. We have a duty to combine both. The
idealistic aspirations that we hold out for all people, with realistic
assessment of how best we can contribute to the journey they must make on
their own to realize that for themselves.
The question for the United States, and the question for the people of
goodwill in the Middle East as well, is whether at this moment of great
challenge and peril, we are able to look at those core values and move
forward with hope and optimism. Sometimes it is easier, or at least it seems
easier, to grab hold of our fears and stay right where we are, dug in,
immovable. But the history of the Woodrow Wilson School, founded on the best
of what was right for America at a moment when so much seemed to be going
wrong for America, reminds us there is a better way. President Woodrow
Wilson, one of the best reasons to be a Princeton fan, once said that
"America lives in every heart of every man, everywhere, who wishes to find a
region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses." Daniel
Kurtzer and Danny Abraham know exactly what President Wilson meant. For 75
years now, the Wilson School has been training men and women to help keep
that America alive and strong at home, and strengthen that flame of freedom
wherever it burns, or could burn, around the world.
I believe that the Abraham chair will do much to build a new generation of
scholars, leaders and peacemakers, who share those strong values and combine
them with smart, pragmatic, realistic leadership skills. The Middle East and
the United States have never needed both more. I look forward to seeing the
fruits of your labors here at this school with this new chair.
I thank you for coming out tonight in the midst of finals. I don't mind at
all being an excuse for procrastination, [Laughter] but I can't keep going
too much longer without fear of being blamed for whatever may befall you if
you do not go back and study. [Laughter]
So let me thank you again for the great honor of being with you tonight.
Thank you all very much.
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