“One of the things that none of us have fully appreciated is that below the surface in Lebanon, there was always frustration. But obviously, something has been percolating from below. And the most profound things that we’re seeing is a loss of fear. In Syria, everything is governed by fear. And the Syrians use coercion and intimidation to get their way within Lebanon. And what we’ve seen in Lebanon looks an awful lot like what we saw in Kiev. In the end, people were not prepared to accept this kind of a process any longer. And they saw it in their numbers in a kind of collective approach. They saw strength. And the more they saw strength, the more they gained confidence. They’ve gotten confidence from others as well.” – Dennis Ross, on Brit Hume last night.
GETTING AWAY WITH IT: The Senate Republicans cover for the administration on torture.
THE OPPORTUNITY MISSED: I’m one of those people less enthusiastic about social security reform now than I was a month ago. The main reason for me is that I don’t trust this administration to achieve something fiscally neutral or even beneficial. I’m terrified of the massive borrowing private accounts will require. But this returns me to a theme I wrote about a couple of months ago. The president could have punted on social security reform and focused on a flat tax as his major second term agenda. If the result were simply flatter taxes, it would be better than no social security reform. Bruce Bartlett has a useful piece on this. My own view is that progressive taxation is immoral. The government should treat all its citizens as equally as it can. Punishing people for being successful is morally wrong and counter-productive. We should at least treat hard work neutrally, rather than punitively. (Inherited wealth is another matter, which is why I favor keeping the estate tax.) It’s really the same principle behind ending affirmative action and allowing gay marriage: government neutrality in a diverse society, where our differences cannot and should not be micro-managed, and where people can enJoy the benefits of their own responsibliity. I have a feeling that Bush’s decision to back social security reform over a flat tax will go down as a miscalculation on the scale of Clinton’s decision to do universal healthcare before welfare reform.
DERBYSHIRE AWARD NOMINEE: “He is not Peter Pan. He is a full-grown freak. And he must pay.” – Andrea Peyser, New York Post. Let’s wait for the verdict, shall we? Being a freak is not a crime.
EMAIL OF THE DAY: “Respectfully, Andrew, I beg to differ on the alleged churlishness of Democrats on progress in the Middle East.
Let me explain what’s maddening to Democrats: no matter what happens that is progressive in the Middle East, Republicans and the Bush regime not only claims credit for it, but also claim that the war in Iraq is the reason for the progress. Libya doing a deal on weapons and Lockerbie so it can back into the international oil market? Must be because Bush invaded Iraq! Lebanese reacting with revulsion to Hariri’s assassination, probably by Syrian agents, and demanding Syria’s exit from their country? Must be because Bush invaded Iraq! Progress in the Palestinian-Israeli peace effort as a result of Arafat’s death? Must be because Bush invaded Iraq! Who’s really peddling nonsequitors here?
In short, what drives Democrats batty the tendency to take partisan political credit for anything progressive, and to blame anything retrograde on political enemies (both foreign and domestic) who “just don’t get it.” Never is there any recognition that Bush’s international strategy even MIGHT be responsible for the negative radicalization we’re seeing in places like Iran, North Korea, and maybe even Venezuela — not to mention alienating essential partners in nation-building.
And what really kills Democrats is the way that Bush not only takes credit for everything that is going well, and denies any responsibility for things that are going badly (and, when we’re honest, how many people really feel that the world is, on balance, headed in the right direction?) — it’s that he then claims these false credit as the basis for “political capital” to spend on what Democrats feel are retrograde domestic policies.
The result is that the first reaction any Democrat has to good news in the Middle East (or anywhere else) is to think, “How can Bush be denied political credit for this, since you know he’s going to claim it.” And the important thing to emphasize is that it is Bush’s own political habits that have created this dynamic, and it started right after 9-11.”
The Dish 