Cranking up the smear machine Tags: - Pundits <http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/Pundits>, - Holocaust Memorial Museum<http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/HolocaustMemorialMuseum> , - Shooting <http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/Shooting>, - Bloggers <http://topics.politico.com/index.cfm/topic/Bloggers>
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Powered by Odiogo.com] Listen<javascript:showOdiogoReadNowFrame%20('101651,101652,101653,101654,101655',%20'cranking%20up%20the%20smear%20machine',%20'0',%20530,%2080);> - Print<http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E0B64961-18FE-70B2-A8C3703275A2A856> - Comment<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23726.html#commentsform> - Email<http://dyn.politico.com/emailfriend.cfm?uuid=E0B64961-18FE-70B2-A8C3703275A2A856&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epolitico%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0609%2F23726%2Ehtml> - Recommend<http://dyn.politico.com/recommend.cfm?uuid=E0B64961-18FE-70B2-A8C3703275A2A856&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Epolitico%2Ecom%2Fnews%2Fstories%2F0609%2F23726%2Ehtml> - <http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php> - Subscribe <http://www.politico.com/rss/ideas.xml> By JEREMY LOTT | 6/15/09 4:22 AM EDT Text Size - - - + - reset [image: An FBI investigator works at the doors of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.]An FBI investigator works at the doors of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, a day after the shooting. Photo: AP I believe the Iraq war was unjust, George W. Bush was a disaster, abortion is wrong and the Federal Reserve must go. Should I be watched? That question was raised last week after 88-year-old James von Brunn shot up the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and killed a guard. Von Brunn, we have learned, served time in prison for trying to take members of the Federal Reserve Board hostage in 1981. He was a Holocaust denier, a “birther” (a conspiracy theorist who questions whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States) and a hater of Christians and Jews, especially “neocons.” In fact, POLITICO reported that one of his possible targets was the offices of the hawkish conservative magazine The Weekly Standard. I was implicated in this violence — unfairly, I think — and so were millions of peaceful Americans when many pundits and bloggers decided to launch two-minute hate against people whose opinions are at all out of step with progressive thinking. They dealt by sleight of hand with the fact that von Brunn hated an awful lot of things that many conservatives like. The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait pompously wrote that von Brunn represented “a certain strand of conservative thought” and is “pretty clearly a violent and more extreme adherent of [Pat] Buchanan’s worldview.” The shooting was roped together with Scott Roeder’s alleged murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller. Armchair prosecutors called this the second act of right-wing terrorism in two weeks and thus part of a worrying trend, even though the usual rule with such things is, you need three. They also blistered conservatives and libertarians for criticizing the now-withdrawn Department of Homeland Security memo that warned law enforcement to be on the lookout for acts of homegrown terror. Salon editor Joan Walsh warned of the “climate of extreme right-wing rhetoric today,” complained that the “right-wing echo-chamber’s bullying” had “smack[ed] down the release” of the DHS memo and closed by asking, rhetorically, “Who will apologize to the family of Stephen Tyrone Johns, the brave security man at the Holocaust museum shot by von Brunn[?]” I’m awful sorry that Johns was killed, but I refuse to be bullied like this, and so should all other people of goodwill and right-wing opinions. Critics of the DHS report were right to say that it was so overbroad as to constitute a tool of thought control. As Reason Managing Editor Jesse Walker — no conservative — put it, the memo “treated ‘extremism’ itself as a potential threat, while offering a definition of extremist so broad” that it included any right-of-center critics of government along with soldiers returning from Iraq. This could be especially bad for veterans, who are having real difficulty securing employment in an awful economy. If the memo hadn’t been shot down, it would have elevated a smear (conservative = dangerous) to the level of official U.S. government policy. That’s abominable. If the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution means anything, it means that the government should not be in the business of regulating our opinions. Those critics who are using this tragedy to opportunistically call for the memo to be reissued should be ashamed of themselves. *Jeremy Lott is author of “The Warm Bucket Brigade: The Story of the American Vice Presidency.”* Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23726.html#ixzz0J7stUb1C&C On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 10:53 AM, Travis <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > From: *Travis* > Date: Thu, Jun 18, 2009 > Subject: Obamaworld > > > > > > > > > http://www.patriotpost.us/opinion/victor-davis-hanson/2009/06/18/obamaworld.html > > Obamaworld By Victor Davis Hanson > > - Thursday, 18 June 2009 > > Are you confused by all that has changed since President Barack Obama took > office in January? If so, you're not alone. Perhaps, though, this handy > guide to Age of Obama "logic" might be of some assistance. > > 1. The Budget. Wanting to cut $17 billion from the budget, as President > Obama has promised, is proof of financial responsibility. Borrowing $1.84 > trillion this year for new programs is "stimulus." The old phrase > "out-of-control spending" is inoperative. > > 2. Unemployment. The number of jobs theoretically saved, or created, by new > government policies -- not the actual percentage of Americans out of work, > or the total number of jobs lost -- is now the far better indicator of > unemployment. > > 3. The Private Sector. Nationalizing much of the auto and financial > industries, while regulating executive compensation, is an indication of our > new government's repeatedly stated reluctance to interfere in the private > sector. > > 4. Race and Gender. Not what is said but who says it and about whom reveals > racism and sexism. For example, an Hispanic female judge isn't being > offensive if she states that Latinas are inherently better judges than white > males. > > 5. Random violence. Some assassinations represent larger American > pathologies, but others do not. When a crazed lone gunman murders someone > outside the Holocaust Museum or shoots an abortion doctor, we should worry > about growing right-wing and Christian extremism. But when an > African-American Muslim convert brags about his murder of a military > recruitment officer or an Islamic group plots to kill Jews and blow up a > military jet, these are largely isolated incidents without larger relevance. > > 6. Terrorism. Acts of terror disappeared about six months ago. Thankfully, > we live now in an age where there will be -- in the new vocabulary of the > Obama administration -- only occasional "overseas contingency operations" in > which we may be forced to hold a few "detainees." At the same time, ongoing > military tribunals, renditions, wiretaps, phone intercepts and > predator-drone assassinations are no longer threats to the Constitution. And > just saying you're going to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay is > proof that it is almost closed. > > 7. Iraq. The once-despised Iraq war thankfully ended around Jan. 20, 2009, > and has now transformed into a noble experiment that is fanning winds of > change throughout the Middle East. There will be no need for any more > Hollywood cinema exposés of American wartime crimes in Iraq with titles like > "Rendition," "Redacted," "Lions for Lambs" and "Stop-Loss." > > 8. The West. Western values and history aren't apparently that special or > unique. As President Obama told the world during his recent speech in Cairo, > the Renaissance and Enlightenment were, in fact, fueled by a brilliant > Islamic culture, responsible for landmark discoveries in mathematics, > science and medicine. Slavery in America ended without violence. > Mistreatment of women and religious intolerance in the Middle East have > comparable parallels in America. > > 9. Media. The media are disinterested and professional observers of the > present administration. When television anchormen and senior magazine > editors bow to the president, proclaim him a god or feel tingling in the > legs when he speaks, it is quite normal. > > 10. George W. Bush. Former President Bush did all sorts of bad things to > the United States that only now we are learning will take at least eight > years to sort out. "Bush did it" for the next decade will continue to > explain the growing unemployment rate, the most recent deficit, the new > round of tensions with Iran and North Korea, and the growing global unrest > from the Middle East to South America. > > Once we remember and accept the logic of the above, then almost everything > about this Age of Obama begins to make perfect sense. > > __,_._,___ > > > > -- > *~@):~{> > > > > -- > *~@):~{> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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