Tuesday Mashup (10/6/09)

Not content with pundit wankery for the moment, Bret Stephens of the Murdoch Street Journal decided to “look into the future” and imagine more scenarios of failure for President Obama, to wit (from here, in which a U.N. resolution is passed forcing Israel to give up its atomic weapons, and the U.S. under Obama of course abstains)…

At the time, the U.S. opposed a resolution focused on Israel but abstained from a more general motion calling for regional disarmament. "We are very pleased with the agreed approach reflected here today," said then-U.S. Ambassador to the IAEA Glyn Davies.

Since then, however, relations between the Obama administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, never warm to begin with, have cooled dramatically. The administration accused Tel Aviv of using "disproportionate force" following a Nov. 13 Israeli aerial attack on an apparent munitions depot in Gaza City, in which more than a dozen young children were killed.

Mr. Netanyahu also provoked the administration's ire after he was inadvertently caught on an open microphone calling Mr. Obama "worse than Chamberlain."

Gee, “Bibi,” isn’t that a little harsh?

I mean, I’m sure Obama doesn’t have the same power moves to the basket as this guy…

…but hey, he’s still got “game,” don’t you think?

(Yes, I know who Stephens is talking about – I’m giving him all the seriousness he deserves.)

Not to be outdone, former Bushco mouthpiece Dana Perino, currently taking up space with Fix Noise, opined as follows (from here)…

If the administration really thinks America needs another stimulus to end the recession, they're going to have to be straightforward about why the February stimulus hasn't worked. America is going to want answers to questions including, “Where are all the shovel ready projects you talked about? Why is the unemployment rate rising when you said it would go down if we supported the package? And where are all the new green jobs?”

Well, I’m sorry to trouble her “beautiful mind” with some reality here, but Think Progress informed us of the following (here, when Perino was busy telling lies about our prior ruling cabal – it takes a particular kind of gall for this woman to criticize the current administration over the official unemployment rate, considering that she once said that the best way to fix unemployment is for people to “get back to work”)…

It is both insulting and naive to suggest that people aren’t working because jobless benefits are somehow too generous and they’re too lazy to look for work again. People aren’t working because Bushonomics have hemorrhaged jobs and slashed the safety nets for laid off workers:

…

The Bush administration’s refusal to extend a helping hand to those punished by the economy it created is nothing new: Last month, the White House threatened to veto a second stimulus package over opposition to an expansion of food stamps benefits.

And of course, Bush had vetoed an extension of unemployment benefits before the incident noted by Think Progress took place.

By the way, here is a little compilation of Number 43 in action (or “inaction,” more precisely) on the economy; I know of no other president in my memory who oversaw not one, but two recessions (of course, Dana, being a little dim on history such as this event, wouldn’t know that, I realize).

Update: Sorry Jed's video is hosed - oh well.

Finally, I have a question – are you as sick of looking at this insufferable, sanctimonious mug as I am?

It belongs to widely syndicated pundit Cal Thomas, spewer extraordinaire against all things Democratic/liberal/progressive/whatever. And I honestly try to avoid this guy partly because, unlike many of his ilk, he actually did serve our country. However, he concocted a particularly odious mess last week, and I was fortunate to find someone who gave Thomas the comeuppance he deserved.

Here is Thomas…

Has anyone noticed the apparent uptick in terrorist activity? …(The) Justice Department has brought charges in three "unrelated" bomb plots. In the most serious case, Najibullah Zazi, an airport shuttle driver from Denver, was indicted in New York on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States. Authorities last week also arrested a 19-year-old Jordanian citizen, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, and accused him of trying to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper. And an Illinois man, Michael C. Finton (aka Talib Islam) was ordered held last week on charges he tried to blow up a federal building in the state's capital.

Are we being infiltrated and surrounded by people who want us dead and our country destroyed? Try a little experiment, Google "Islam near" and then type in the name of any city or town. When I tried the small town of Bryn Mawr, Pa., 10 Islamic-related sites came up.

Oh goody, this sounds like fun! Can I play too? Here is what I was able to locate also.

Meanwhile, in the world of adults, here is some commentary from Jay Bookman…

So the presence of Islamic related sites is evidence of a terror conspiracy? What Thomas seeks is the marginalization and rejection of Muslim Americans, the very process that in European countries has made their Muslim communities more prone to radicalization. He seeks to create the very thing he claims to despise.

It’s useful to recall that after the fall of communism, this very same Thomas called for a “cultural war crimes tribunal” in which many of his fellow Americans would be forced to answer for their opinions. At those trials, he wrote, “people from academia, the media, government and the clergy who were wrong in their assessment of communism would be forced to confront their mistakes.”

Sounds just like democracy, doesn’t it?

In 2003, this stalwart defender of democracy again called for a domestic war crimes tribunal, this time to bring to account “scores of false media prophets who predicted disaster should the U.S. military confront and seek to oust the murderous regime of Saddam Hussein.” This was in those short heady “Mission Accomplished” days right after the invasion of Iraq, before most Americans truly understood that we were not being greeted with roses and chocolate.

“The purpose of a cultural war crimes tribunal would be to remind the public of journalism’s many mistakes, as well as the errors of certain politicians and retired generals, and allow it to properly judge their words the next time they feel the urge to prophesy…,” Thomas wrote. “All of the printed and voiced prophecies should be saved in an archive. When these false prophets again appear, they can be reminded of the error of their previous ways and at least be offered an opportunity to recant and repent.”

The mindset of people such as Cal Thomas is far more undemocratic and dangerous than that of most of the Muslim Americans whom he seeks to smear.

And it’s not as if Thomas has ever drawn the line at former presidents either, as noted here.