Daily Archives: March 5, 2005

Media Lighting the Tinderbox

Lorie Byrd at PoliPundit has been all over the false story of the Palestinian boy being shot by Isreali security forces. Powerline is now onto to it as well. This isn’t just a run-of-the-mill biased story. It may have been staged. What’s worse is that this story was a trigger point of the Palestinian intifada.

Setting off an uprising in a political tinderbox – I thought trying to influence a U.S. presidential election with forged documents was rock bottom. How low will it go?

Emboldened by Democracy not Tired of Terrorism

Via RCP is an article by The Daily Star about ordinary Iraqis increasingly speaking out against the terrorist attacks. I’m glad the media is starting to report on this, but I don’t buy this “tired of terrorism” stuff. The article included the following:

While it may be too early to say public opinion has shifted, one thing is clear: Many Iraqis have grown tired of two years of constant insecurity, and some are directing their anger at insurgents for the first time.

As if the average Iraqi is thinking “hey, I didn’t mind watching my fellow countrymen get blown to bits on a daily basis, but this is getting a little tiresome.” As for “public opinion”, well we don’t have to rely on that elusive concept in Iraq any more. Iraqis actually voted and did so in spite of terrorists’ calls to stay away. Every Iraqi now knows he or she doesn’t stand alone against the tyranny. In a democracy people are allowed to speak their minds, and so they are.

Who Would Believe the Chicken Little Democrats

The Democrats are predicting economic devastation as a result of Bush’s budget. How surprising. My question is this: aside from core Democrats who’ll drink any flavor of Kool Aid offered up by the liberal leadership, who’s actually going to take this attack seriously.

Leading up to the elections we heard the Dems compare the economy to the Great Depression. I’m no economist but a 5.4% unemployment rate and a growth rate over three percent is kind of the opposite of a depression. In Afghanistan the Dems warned that we would suffer the same fate as the Russian forces, but instead we got successful elections. Iraq and the greater Middle East…well, need I say more?

It also wasn’t as if the Dems were merely offering skepticism, reservation or another perspective that is a healthy part of democratic debate. No, it was blindingly rank, partisan bitterness that drove the Dems further and further away from reality.

Now we’re facing Bush’s budget. There’s no doubt that the deficit is a concern to any economist worth his salt. Instead of a healthy debate towards a reasoned solution, again the Dems will claim the sky is falling. Oh yes, except Social Security, that part of the sky is rock solid up there.

mm-5