Month: January 2007

Islamist-Christianist Alliance Watch

Virginia Postrel notices an alliance between Lou Sheldon and Dinesh D’Souza. Can’t say I’m surprised. When some have used the word "ayatollah" to describe figures on the Christianist right, they’ve been criticized for hyperbole. In fact, they were just too ahead of their time. Soon, the Christianists will be recruiting ayatollahs to give them back-up in their war on Western freedom.

Evil and Politics

A reader writes:

So torturing prisoners makes us evil. Fair enough. How much do you want to bet this guy also believes it was wrong to call Iran, Saddam’s Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil"?

The people I know who are so eager to accuse us of being evil will castigate anyone who uses the word to describe Saddam, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Ahmedinejad, Assad, Sadr or any of the other thugs and fascists we are in conflict with.

Somehow, among the left, calling us evil is a mark of moral sensitivity while calling Hezbollah evil is a mark of insensitivity and simplemindedness. Self-criticism is fine, but I have seen far too much sanctimonious posturing and moral blindness to take it very seriously.

On this blog, the word evil does apply to al Qaeda, Saddam, Hezbollah and North Korea. It also applies to torture. Whoever does it.

“Trash”?

Some sleazily sourced stories are trying to convey the impression that Barack Obama attended a Muslim madrassa as a boy. It seems to be without factual foundation and the motives of those spreading the rumor are suspect, to put it mildly. Fox News’ resident bigot, John Gibson, does not disappoint. But Obama’s staff really need to do a better job of responding. Here’s a not-for-prime-time soundbite:

"The allegations are completely false," says Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs. "To publish this sort of trash without any documentation is surprising, but for Fox to repeat something so false, not once, but many times is appallingly irresponsible. This is exactly the type of slash-and-burn politics the American people are sick and tired of."

It’s "trash" to say that someone was raised a Muslim? Gibbs didn’t mean that, did he?