President Bush in Israel
May 16th, 2008 at 01:12am Mark Noonan
This speech has really, really ticked off the Democrats - which means, of course, that it is 100% correct:
We believe in the matchless value of every man, woman, and child. So we insist that the people of Israel have the right to a decent, normal, and peaceful life, just like the citizens of every other nation.
We believe that democracy is the only way to ensure human rights. So we consider it a source of shame that the United Nations routinely passes more human rights resolutions against the freest democracy in the Middle East than any other nation in the world.
We believe that religious liberty is fundamental to a civilized society. So we condemn anti-Semitism in all forms — whether by those who openly question Israel’s right to exist, or by others who quietly excuse them.
We believe that free people should strive and sacrifice for peace. So we applaud the courageous choices Israeli’s leaders have made. We also believe that nations have a right to defend themselves and that no nation should ever be forced to negotiate with killers pledged to its destruction.
We believe that targeting innocent lives to achieve political objectives is always and everywhere wrong. So we stand together against terror and extremism, and we will never let down our guard or lose our resolve.
The fight against terror and extremism is the defining challenge of our time. It is more than a clash of arms. It is a clash of visions, a great ideological struggle. On the one side are those who defend the ideals of justice and dignity with the power of reason and truth. On the other side are those who pursue a narrow vision of cruelty and control by committing murder, inciting fear, and spreading lies.
This struggle is waged with the technology of the 21st century, but at its core it is an ancient battle between good and evil. The killers claim the mantle of Islam, but they are not religious men. No one who prays to the God of Abraham could strap a suicide vest to an innocent child, or blow up guiltless guests at a Passover Seder, or fly planes into office buildings filled with unsuspecting workers. In truth, the men who carry out these savage acts serve no higher goal than their own desire for power. They accept no God before themselves. And they reserve a special hatred for the most ardent defenders of liberty, including Americans and Israelis.
And that is why the founding charter of Hamas calls for the “elimination” of Israel. And that is why the followers of Hezbollah chant “Death to Israel, Death to America!” That is why Osama bin Laden teaches that “the killing of Jews and Americans is one of the biggest duties.” And that is why the President of Iran dreams of returning the Middle East to the Middle Ages and calls for Israel to be wiped off the map.
There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It’s natural, but it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.
Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: “Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.” We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.
Some people suggest if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away. This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of the enemies of peace, and America utterly rejects it. Israel’s population may be just over 7 million. But when you confront terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because the United States of America stands with you.
We know who it is who “quietly excuse them” - the people of the political left, who are always quick to point the finger of blame at the United States and Israel, as if the actions of free people defending themselves are in any way comparable to the actions of tyrants shedding the blood of innocents to further their own power. We also know who offers us “the false comfort of appeasement” - those same leftists, led now by their pied piper, Barack Obama, who sings a song of talk, talk, talk to those who only know how to kill, and who’s only delight is in the death of Americans and Israelis. We know all this - and they know all this; and so they are angry at President Bush for once again has gently called them on their cowardice and folly.
It is a terrible thing these people on the left do - far worse than sinning, in my view, is to be an accessory to sin; to encourage sin, to make sin more likely. The brutes we fight against are bad men who we pray will repent of their ways - but such a repentance and such a change is made all the harder because there are those in our midst who encourage the evil doers in their wicked deeds…who see a Kennedy saying the war was hatched in Texas, a Reid saying the war is lost, an Obama promising to surrender in Iraq and say to themselves “our deeds are good, because they are bringing us victory”. President Bush has been the rock of American and global resolve in this war, but he will leave office on January 20th, 2009 - it is our duty as patriots and as citizens of the larger world to see to it that his successor is a man with no illusions, and with the plain courage to see this noble fight to an honorable conclusion. With Bush followed by McCain, all will be well, no matter how hard the task proves - with Bush followed by Obama, all the work and sacrifice of the past 7 years will be in vain.
Entry Filed under: Campaign 2008, Democrats, President Bush, Republicans
21 Comments
1. Barack Obama » Pres&hellip | May 16th, 2008 at 1:24 am
[…] Hank Stern wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt This speech has really, really ticked off the Democrats - which means, of course, that it is 100% correct: We believe in the matchless value of every man, woman, and child. So we insist that the people of Israel have the right to a decent, normal, and peaceful life, just like the citizens of every other nation. We believe that democracy is the only way to ensure human rights. So we consider it a source of shame that the United Nations routinely passes more human rights resolutions against th […]
2. Freedom1 | May 16th, 2008 at 1:39 am
President Bush rocked in Israel! Way to go, Mr. President!!!
3. John McCain » Presi&hellip | May 16th, 2008 at 2:20 am
[…] Elections USA 2008 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerpt This speech has really, really ticked off the Democrats - which means, of course, that it is 100% correct: We believe in the matchless value of every man, woman, and child. So we insist that the people of Israel have the right to a decent, normal, and peaceful life, just like the citizens of every other nation. We believe that democracy is the only way to ensure human rights. So we consider it a source of shame that the United Nations routinely passes more human rights resolutions against th […]
4. Dennis | May 16th, 2008 at 2:31 am
Deleted - slanders the men and women of the United States Armed forces.
5. Freedom1 | May 16th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Israel…
1) Ahmadinejad: Israel is a ‘Filthy Bacteria’ - Jerusalem Post (Feb 20, 2008)
2) “Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihiliation,” Ahmadinejad said. “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm,” he said. - Jerusalem Post (Apr 14, 2006)
3) Ahmadinejad, “The Zionists are the true manifestation of Satan.” - Haaretz.com (Mar 1, 2007)
4) Ahmadinejad, “Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out.” - Reuters (Dec 12, 2006)
5) Ahmadinejad, “The real cure for the conflict is elimination of the Zionist regime…” - AFP (Aug 3, 2006)
*******************
Barack HUSSEIN Obama calls Israel a “constant sore” that “infects all of our foreign policy” - Atlantic.com (May 12, 2008)
********************************
If Barack HUSSEIN Obama wins the presidential election in November, then President Bush had better partner with Israel and militarily eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities before January 20, 2009.
Never again!
6. Freedom1 | May 16th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Ahmadinejad: Israel is a ‘stinking corpse’ that is “doomed to disappear” - Haaretz.com (May 9, 2008)
Ahmadinejad denies the first Holocaust while planning a second nuclear holocaust against the Jews of Israel. Iran’s nuclear capabilities must be militarily wiped out.
7. Danish Artist | May 16th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Biden set the standard of Iran’s “pr0gress” under “George Bush’s watch”. So if, God forbid, Obama becomes President then anything that involves Iran will be Bush’s fault, using liberal logic.
Amazing, that libs did not have the same opinion of Al Qaeda under Bill Clinton’s watch.
Politics - liberals love playing politics with the safety and security of this nation.
Truly pathetic.
8. Greg-O | May 16th, 2008 at 7:24 am
The President, in pointing out the folly of appeasement of evil, didn’t have to name any names; several Democrats, most notably Barack Obama, did that for him. My 83-year-old grandfather reminded me of an old saying, “If you throw a stick into a pack of dogs, the one that yelps is the one that got hit.” Quite so. I am also reminded of another saying, “If the shoe fits…”
9. Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J. | May 16th, 2008 at 7:44 am
8. Greg-O | May 16th, 2008 at 7:24 am
Where you fail in your logic is that negotiating from strength and appeasement are two different things. The Political Right takes full advantage of the lack of knowledge of the history of terra held by its own people. To appease a party in strength has to grant a weaker party a tangble concession as Neville Chamberlain did in 1938 at Munich to show a classic 20th Century example.
If negotiation were appeasement then Ronald Reagan meeting with Gorbachev in a stunningly brilliant display of diplomatic realpolitik would have been the ultimate measure by the Bush standard of appeasing terrorists. Going even farther back in modern times Nixon’s opening of China too would have been seen as appeasement when you consider this took place at the height of the Cold War and with the US engaged in a proxy fight with global communism in Vietnam.
Speaker Pelosi was accurate in her assessment that the words of george Bush were beneath the dignity of the office he holds. It was nothing more than a political hit job, poorly executed, to incite the donaters to AIPAC to dig a little deeper into their wallets.
10. SEW | May 16th, 2008 at 7:47 am
Barry doesn’t go by his given name Hussein but responds to “Some”. Barick Some Obama has a nice ring to it, goes well with the handsome smile he had early in the brawl with Hillary. Barry Some. Barick Some Obama. Nice. Hussein didn’t work well for him.
11. SEW | May 16th, 2008 at 7:53 am
Greg, Did you notice the only responders to “some” were guilt riden Democrats and the only ones condemning it are the liberal press as a “political hit job.” A hit job on some? Is some an Independent, Democrat or Republican?
Or the dogs that come running out of the pack yelping?
12. Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J. | May 16th, 2008 at 8:07 am
10. SEW | May 16th, 2008 at 7:47 am
I would refer you to the WSJ article written by Karl Rove a few days ago. You side actually needs ideas instead of using religion and fear to divide and name calling will not work in an economy where consumers no longer have their senses dulled by the joys of shopping. The GOP, conservatives have to offer something other than a perfect afterlife to people now living in imperfect economic times. The age of the screaming wingnut is at an end the days of watching political termites runing and screaming BWAHAHAHAHA every time Democrats tried to do something for America is over. If you cannot produce results rhetoric will enrage the moderates and independents more and more as the summer gets hotter and hotter. Your party’s future is in your hands you can concede that your tactics have failed or you can march ahead stubborn and arrogant toward farther marginalization and the eventual fracturing of the GOP and the creation of permanent majority of Democrats united by Jews, Blacks, Latinos members of the GLBTQ community and libertarian progressives.
And as and aside . . . If you are so admant would you leave the US after an Obama victory in November or would you like most right wing partisans stay and grumble and enjoy the ripe fruits of the wealthiest nation on Terra?
13. steveGA | May 16th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Deleted - insults, paranoid conspiracy theories, various slanders; commenter to be banned.
14. SEW | May 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am
“instead of using religion and fear to divide and name calling will not work in an economy where consumers no longer have their senses dulled by the joys of shopping.”
“Some” takes on new meaning. Not only arethe guilt riden dogs yelping, ’some’ means name calling, religion and fear! And that is also connected to the economy! Awesome post “Esquire.”
15. Mark Noonan | May 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Cavalor,
Gotta admire you for having the guts to show up on this thread - but you’re also trying to change the subject.
The plain fact of the matter is that Iran’s government is responsible for the killing of Americans and Iraqis…we don’t need to find out what their views are, they are given to us in the form of IEDs in Iraq. Now is not the time to negotiate - once Iraq is completely won and our military is entirely free to turn to new issues, that will be the time to go to Iran and ask them just what they thought they were up to in Iraq…and just how long do they think they can delay us from bombing their suspected nuke sites.
16. Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J. | May 16th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
15. Mark Noonan | May 16th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I hardly feel it takes “guts” Mark just common sense. Bush made the remarks about appeasement to offer solace not to a Knesset that is likely when Olmert departs to negotiate with Hamas if Bibi Netanyahu becomes Prime Minister but to members of AIPAC back in the United States that depend on “the struggle” continuing to raise funds. Part and parcel of this is to paint any Democrat as anti-Israel and the easiest way to do this without actually calling them Nazis is to call them appeasers.
I would point out that most often when boxed by a Bush faux pas his supporters dive into the semantics of an issue. I could go down a long list of conservative pundits who have said that heck yes Bush meant Obama and not merely the word “some” as a gossamer imaginary civil servant who might do x or y.
I would also reiterate as I have said here and in my own space that what happens in Iraq is in Iran’s sphere of interest and they have a right to be involved in Iraq to serve those interests. Now I can have this view because I am not tied to some patriotic support of America at any cost but in a linear argument saying that Iran should butt out of Iraq now is to ignore the same advice Putin gave Bush on Iraq in 2002.
17. Timothy Horrigan | May 16th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Aside from the other problems with Bush’s statement… his history is inaccurate. The United States did not enter the war against Hitler until December 1941… 2 and a half years after those tanks went rolling across those borders. And in fact, the USA only declared war on Germany AFTER Germany declared war first, and THAT only happened because Japan bombed Hawaii and invaded the Philipines.
Once the war started, the chief villain for the Americans was NOT Hitler… the Japanese Emperor Hirohito was actually considered the embodiment of evil (even though he stayed in office after the war and was revealed to in fact be a figurehead.)
Between 1939 and 1941 there was a lively debate over whether or not the USA should intervene in Europe… but it was the LEFT who wanted to go to war against Hitler. The anti-war movement (even though there were pacifists on the left then as now) was mostly driven by rightwing isolationists. The infamous quote Bush cited was made in fact by a rightwing Republican, Sen. William Borah of Idaho.
I might also mention that Hawaii is not located near San Diego (as shown on most maps of the US). It is in fact an archipelago located halfway out in the North Pacific Ocean. It was not a state at the time… it was not admitted till 1959, 18 years after Pearl Harbour. Only 50 years earlier, in the memory of many living Hawaiians at the time, it had been an independent country in its own right. The Philipines, like Hawaii, was a US colony at the time… and the fighting in the Philipines was one of the bloodiest campaigns in American history, even though it has been reduced in the textbooks to a soundbite of General MacArthur saying “I Shall Return.”
18. Brett Michaels | May 16th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
While those on the left and the right can debate the substance of his speech, his actions are not debatable:
Attacking your poltical rivals during a speech to a foreign government body makes our country look divided and weak.
19. SEW | May 16th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
“Some” are political rivals? It’s nice that those guilty recognize their name, and claim foul!
Some dictionary.com
Being an unspecified number or quantity: Some people came into the room. Would you like some sugar?
Being a portion or an unspecified number or quantity of a whole or group: He likes some modern sculpture but not all.
Being a considerable number or quantity: She has been directing films for some years now.
Unknown or unspecified by name: Some man called.
Logic Being part and perhaps all of a class.
Informal Remarkable
Nothing about Barry or Nancy in the definition of some!
20. FmrMarine | May 17th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
BM
>>>While those on the left and the right can debate the substance of his speech, his actions are not debatable:
Attacking your poltical rivals during a speech to a foreign government body makes our country look divided and weak.<<<
YEAH RIGHT……
remind that to the entire RAT backstabbing party.
Including the following traitors,carter,kerry,kennedy,murtha,biden,piglowsay,
21. phnx | May 17th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
None of you leftists seem to see the irony you the leftist attack on the President while HE IS ON FOREIGN SOIL.
Prior to the Bush Presidency there was a time honored tradition: “If you can’t respect the man, at least respect the office”. You leftists have set a new standard; “respect neither the man nor the office.”