Category: The Dish

You can listen here to an actual interview about conservatism, Christianity and the future of the right. Maybe Hugh Hewitt could take some pointers from a fundamentalist Christian broadcaster who’s actually interested in argument, rather than cross-examination.

Breaks my heart.

Yes, I confirmed that Jerry Falwell refused to debate me on CNN. They’re scared. Hannity especially.

We now have his name confirmed: Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie. On the orders of Moqtada al-Sadr, U.S. forces withdrew from the neighborhood where al-Taayie was taken. We are now told there is "political activity" on the soldier’s behalf. Pray for him.

But know this as well: under this commander-in-chief, the U.S. military has both practised torture and abandoned a missing soldier in action. The commander-in-chief has ultimate responsibility for both decisions. he is directly responsible for betraying the honor of the armed services he is duty-bound to lead. So is Rumsfeld. So is Cheney.

Why is this not the lead item on the news? If this were a Democratic president abandoning a U.S. soldier to a Shiite militia, do you think the Republicans would not be protesting this from the rooftops? Where is McCain? Or is this another example of what has happened to him?

(AP photo: the sister of Israa Abdul-Satar, Asmaa, holds a photograph of her and her husband, a missing US soldier, Ahmed Qusai al-Taei, while her father Abdul-Satar Sultan looks on in Baghdad on Monday.)

… finds common ground:

I’ve been reading you long enough to know you are certainly not a liberal and there are many things over which you and I disagree. I look forward to the day when you and "liberals", as you’ve named them, can argue vigorously over some of the matters you’ve identified and others that will undoubtedly come to the fore.

Though these differences in opinion are serious, they are minor realtive to the current subjects that separate you, and many of the liberals who have discovered you, from today’s Republican party in power (privacy, torture, religion in school/christianism, responsible gov’t, fiscal accountability, and last but not least, competency in gov’t affairs whether foreign or domestic based upon empirical analysis and accompanying policy adjustments).

But before we return to such disagreements and policy debates we must first save our country from the people who are hell-bent on ruining it.

Until that day …

Deal.

… can’t vote for this crew any more:

I am an upper middle class, stay at home wife and mother of 2. My husband is self employed and we are very aware of the great tax burden we are to carry.  All my life, I have believed in working hard, paying our own way and voting Republican … but I just don’t see how I can at this point in time.

Watching you on CNN was a great relief, because I finally saw someone saying what I have been feeling about President Bush (I voted for him). I get sick every time I hear the President or some other rabid Republican telling me what we must do in the name of security … why we must win, whatever that means! I feel sick that I have no choice any more…this president and the leaders of the party now are on a track to nowhere and I am not aligned with the Democrats.  I feel lost as I listen to leaders hoping to hear someone speaking honestly and not finding it.

And one man who did once speak honestly, John McCain has knuckled under.

"I felt it was my responsibility to my fellow brothers and sisters, that I had to take a stand, and I cannot sit back anymore and hear (what) to me is an anti-gay message," – Mike Jones, 49, of Denver, alleging that he was a paid sexual escort for the leader of the National Association of Evangelicals. The leader, Ted Haggard, denies the accusation.

Then there’s this:

Jones, who told a bankruptcy judge last year that he is a self-employed fitness consultant, told Boyles that he was paid money by Haggard, who he says made frequent trips to Denver for sexual liaisons, that he has recorded voicemails and a letter from Haggard, and that he had also witnessed Haggard use methamphetamine.

Jones offered to take a polygraph examination, and Boyles said that will occur Friday during his morning radio show.

Some community leaders in the Colorado Springs had scheduled a rally this afternoon in support of Haggard but canceled the gathering at the request of the church.

The leader of the National Association of Evangelicals has stepped down to seek spiritual counseling. Ted Haggard was also founder and leader of the Colorado Springs-based New Life Church. I don’t know the facts of the matter – but here is the story in the Denver Post.

Today is the second anniversary of the Islamist murder of Dutch film-maker, Theo van Gogh, in the streets of Amsterdam. In his honor, here is the short film that sealed his fate. It’s a meditation on the struggle many women have in Islamist societies where freedom is denied them. It’s called "Submission." It’s a reminder that we are still at war with a terribly dangerous bunch of religious terrorists – a war this administration has fatally bungled.

A Godless reader writes:

You don’t think that Ms. Coulter will start whining about "due process" and other fancy liberal notions, do you? Is she going to hire a defense lawyer – some goo-goo Democrat liberal, elitist, fancypants who went to Berkeley Law School who’s going to argue that she shouldn’t go to prison – or, Heaven forbid – that some technicality requires that she not be charged with anything?

No, of course not. Technicalities, defense attorneys: they are what guilty people use with the assistance of liberals to avoid responsibility for their conduct.