It’s now between the two of them – which is much to Edwards’ benefit. Kerry should have tried to destroy Edwards in South Carolina. The 15 point loss is big news – and means Edwards can get some traction. So does Edwards’ win over Kerry in Oklahoma. That’s especially true because it brings up the deeper question of whether Kerry can mount a truly national campaign (not that he has to). The candidate I most agree with on the issues – Joe Lieberman – is outta here. Nice guy, right instincts, not presidential timber. Dean will fight on – and I hope he does, if only to keep this thing interesting and alive. Obviously, Kerry is now the overwhelming favorite. But I’m not willing to say it’s over when the vast majority of delegates have still to be picked and when the front-runner is so obviously flawed.
SPINNING THE HAJJ: Glenn Reynolds thinks that the constant mass deaths that accompany the annual Muslim Hajj is more to do with bad organization than with a “death-cult.” He has a point. I don’t believe all those victims chose to die and others glorified it. But there’s something weird going on here. If, say, 244 people had been killed at the Vatican in Holy Week, do you think that we would have moved on from the story by now? People would have been held accountable; journalists would have gone over the catastrophe in excruciating detail; relatives of the dead would be interviewed; and on and on. But in Saudi Arabia? It’s just God’s will. May happen next year as well. Next subject. And my email in-tray is full of outrage that I should worry about this. Here’s a column backing me up a little. Money quote:
I fear Madani’s excuse will be greeted by the pious with a complacency bordering on indifference, the same complacency that has allowed all the previous catastrophies at the Haj to pass with minimal comment.
The main reason for this, I suspect, is that the west is in no way responsible for these deaths – which in the past 25 years of the Haj run into the thousands. Thus, unlike, say, the victims of the war in Iraq, they are without political significance and therefore moral weight. At the same time, no one else is interested in bringing attention to this recurring carnage because western governments – some of whose citizens are part of the pilgrimage – are afraid of offending the Saudis. And most westerners probably dismiss the whole thing as the strange workings of religious fanaticism… God’s intentions are not an explanation for incidents such as … the stampede on Sunday. They are an excuse. Similarly, to hold the Saudis to account for these deaths is not an act of a racism. But it is a form of racism to ignore them.
Amen. It seems to me that this kind of indifference to human life is part of the problem we are dealing with in fanatical Islam – and Saudi Arabia is a central part of that “cult of death.” The Saudis handed over the Haj to the nutjobs decades ago, the same nutjobs who train generations to kill Jews and Westerners. Until and unless we challenge these people, nothing will change over there. And if we don’t challenge them when their victims are Muslims, we will have much less credibility when the victims are us.
The Dish 