Month: July 2009

Obama has his Catholic lingo down pat. He has a huge appeal to moderate Catholics, as we have discovered. He clearly intends to stay vigilant on that front.

Olympia, Washington, 9.49 am

Some reports are coming in of a softening in tone in a speech from the Supreme Leader. The full speech is not yet translated but here's the money quote filtering out:

"It is natural that when some people's favorite candidate fails to receive enough votes they become emotional and express anger, that does NOT make them anarchists. All the candidates are within the family of the regime and this has nothing to do with the foreigners."

Waiting for confirmation, but it sounds like a retreat to me.

Karen Tumulty reminds us of the strange record of Sarah Palin – from college to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

If this is what her most loyal supporters are now saying, her diva flame-out wasn't exactly a brilliant move:

Can we all be grown up for a minute and concede something very simple? There are three explanations for the latest circus act: either Sarah Palin is so crazy she actually believes that what she just did is good for her political career; she has decided that her future is as a celebreality star and she's pursuing the lucrative Coulter-style, long legs and fascist farrago strategy; or, a scandal of monumental proportions is about to hit.

All you can know is that no MSM reporter is going to be interested in asking the necessary questions to find out. They didn't last fall and they aren't now.

A reader makes a shrewd point about how the corruption of money has helped destroy conservatism – and how this also helps explain Palin's motives for quitting:

Conservatism is two things — it's a political philosophy, and a cultural movement that's being mined for commercial purposes. Every wingnut's behavior seems crazy and unhinged if you look at it from a political context. But if you look at it from a commercial context, they're all being completely rational — they all make lots and lots of money. The problem with the movement is that the people at the top always go for the money. If Ann Coulter will bolster your ratings, you'll put her on, even if she diminishes your side's chances of winning

elections.

I don't think that demonstrating that Palin is bad, or that the whack job on Glenn Beck is bad, will fix this thing. Because if they go down, some other demagogues will take their place.

Until conservatism the political philosophy renounces conservatism the demagogic industry, they're basically screwed. And the business folks are leaving a lot of lasting damage in their wake — it's not politicians (for the most part) who rail against immigrants. It's talk radio hosts. They do it for money. Throwing chum in the water is profitable. But even if the GOP denounced these guys today, it would take a long time before a lot of people started to trust them again. Hispanics won't vote Republican for a long time. The demagogues say they're standing on principle, that they won't be silenced, that they will continue to speak the truth. But they just want the money.

So Todd and Sarah Plus Five (Or Four) is just a newer version of Jon and Kate Plus Eight. It's great box office for a cable channel; but as a philosophy for a political party? Rush Limbaugh sees the rationale here.

"Western countries face a difficult set of choices with Iran. Should they return to the negotiating arena with Iran? Wouldn't that mean simply glossing over the rigged election and accepting President Ahmadinejad as the head of its government? Yes, but it isn't clear what the alternative would be. The problem with Iran's nuclear program remains. And we're negotiating with them to see if some agreement can be reached. That program continues to grow. And refusing to negotiate will not do anything to stop it. And yet, it seems odd to act as if the extraordinary events of the past month simply didn't happen. So, here's one solution: Do nothing.

The five major powers on the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, have already given Iran a very generous offer to restart the nuclear negotiations. Iran has not responded. So, the ball is in Tehran's court. Until Iran responds, the West should simply sit tight, build support for tougher sanctions and more isolation, if necessary. It might seem like the West has bad options right now, but Iran has even fewer and worse ones. Its economy is doing very badly. The regime has faced its greatest challenge since its founding. Its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere are all faring worse than it had expected. And we now know the answer to a very big question: Are there moderates in Iran? Yes. Within Iran, there are millions of people, including very powerful members of the establishment, who favor a less confrontational approach to the world. Let the supreme leader and President Ahmadinejad stew a bit and figure out what they should do first. Time might not be on their side," – Fareed Zakaria, on the best show on cable news.

God bless Liz Trotta:

The Journal tries to rationalize Palin's move. It's the media's fault. We needed to show more deference toward someone who had no business being Mayor of Wasilla, let alone vice-president of the US.

An email from Iran tells you all you need to know:

I am sure you heard what Obama's vice president Biden told today to American TV, he said he can't do anything if Israel attacks Iran. What do you think is going to happen? Is he crazy? This is a big gift for Ahmadi nejad, his supporters are going to tell us that Israel and USA hate Ahamdi Nejad and now that they can't bring him down with a velvet revolution, then they are going to attack us … This is a betrayal of green movement and all of us who are in a war with these cheaters and killers. It is like you are in a war with no weapons and Ahamdi nejad has all the weapons in front of you and then suddenly from behind America and Israel send their jets and drop bomb on protesters,

politically I mean.

It proves the theory that Americans prefer to deal with dictators in this area than leaders elected by people. Israel would not dare attack Iran if Mousavi was president. That is why they like Ahamdi nejad and Ahamdi Nejad likes them because if they attack he will kill us all in the name of a foreign enemy and nothing will change even if they bomb all the atomic centers. Ahamdi Nejad will stay for years and people's attention will go on a war with a foreigner attack. If you interview Obama's vice president, tell him thanks for the support!

The protest will go on Thursday. God help us all. I will send you any news when I get it.