You Don’t Have To Win To Win
If you were to describe in one word the Democrats fantasizing they can beat Bush in November, you would say Dean is a hothead, Clark an egomaniac, Sharpton a hustler, Edwards an ambulance-chaser, Kucinch a kook, Lieberman a moderate, and Kerry…?The word that Democrats want to apply to Kerry is “electable.” What does this mean? Exactly nothing, for that’s all he is -- that somehow he possesses some magical capacity to defeat GW.
ISLAM’S ANTI-OSAMA
It is often claimed, especially by those who maintain that the war between Civilization and Moslem Terrorism is at root a “War of Ideas,” that we -- America, the West, Civilization as a whole -- are not at war with Islam, but the Jihadist interpretation of Islam; that our enemies are not any and all Moslems, but those “radical” or “fundamentalist” Moslems who have bought the Wahhabi-Jihadist version of Islam. Such claims frequently come with the plea for an “Islamic Martin Luther” to lead an “Islamic Reformation” that would rescue Islam from medieval Jihadists. Yet there is no such Anti-Osama savior, and the pleas dissolve into hopeless and forlorn fantasy. But then -- maybe not. Maybe we don’t have to hope in vain for a leader of the Islamic Reformation to emerge someday in the distant future. Maybe the Anti-Osama is already here -- and he lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Ayatollah Fidel
The clerical dictatorship in Iran wants the defeat of President Bush because his commitment to political democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his endorsement of freedom for the people of Iran, threatens a regime that knows it is deeply unpopular.Fidel Castro also wants to see Bush defeated because his determination to help democratic allies could threaten the emerging pro-Castro axis in Latin America. Both dictatorships have plans that could result in visible and sharp foreign policy setbacks that might cost President Bush the 2004 election.
“Jack, what about South America?
I’ve received a number of TTPer inquiries asking, in effect, “Jack, what about South America? There are 350 million people down there! How come you never talk about them?”
THE SOVIET SAUDI UNION
The critical insight about the Soviet Union that led to its downfall was -- as I explained in countless Reagan Doctrine briefings during the 1980s -- that the Soviet Union didnt simply possess an imperialist empire of colonies beyond its borders: it was itself a colonial empire within its borders.
It’s Not About Immigration and It’s Not About Jobs
Well, if Bush’s immigration reform proposal isn’t about either, then what is it about? Special interest politics, of course. Please pardon the redundancy — for all politics in the US today is about special interests.
Our Challenge In Georgia
Georgians enthusiastically elected Mikheil Saakashvili president of Georgia on Sunday, Jan. 4. He is a the youthful, center-right leader of the Georgian opposition who overthrew President Eduard Shevardnadze in the "Rose Revolution" last November. Mr. Saakashvili has received more than 80 percent of the vote in elections that were the most peaceful and transparent since Georgian independence.
Black Sea-American Lake
The Greeks called it the Euxine Sea. Jason and the Argonauts sailed across it to steal the Golden Fleece from the King of Colchis. The great city of Byzantium was built at its entrance, which became Constantinople, which became Istanbul.The 20th Century didn’t hear much about the Black Sea because, except for its southern Turkish shore, it was a Soviet lake. Early in the 21st Century, however, to the chagrin of the Russians and the joy of non-Russians who populate its shores, George Bush is transforming the Black Sea into an American Lake.
When Taxes Are Not Seen For What They Are
In mainstream discussions taxation amounts to little more than the unpleasant burden that comes from government spending, no different from having to earn money so as to buy stuff in any normal household. Politicians make spending decisions, which become public policy and commit government to fund what was promised and the funding comes from taxes. No other source of revenue is even considered.
A recent meeting of top government economists and policy makers at the Washington-based Brookings Institute was addressed by several mainstream thinkers and their message was that unless taxes are increased, or at least the Bush tax cuts
Democrats, Poverty, and Rich-Bashing
Witnessing the scramble among Democratic presidential hopefuls to appeal to voters in the various states about to have primaries is not a pleasant experience. What has come to be the main theme of these candidates is the refrain that whoever isn’t rich, whoever has had a brush with poverty at anytime in his or her life, must want and is fully entitled to have governments engage in massive, relentless wealth redistribution. This is a pitiful and quite disgusting message to put out in America, the country to which the poor of the world used to — and often still — flock precisely to escape their poverty through hard work, entrepreneurship, and ingenuity.