Don’t make RINOs an endangered species

The New Neo Posted on by

Lately, there’s been a lot of rage going around at RINOs. (For those who aren’t familiar with the appellation, it stands for “Republicans in Name Only”–or what used to be known as “Rockefeller Republicans” in a somewhat less acronym-mad era).

Quite a few members of the dread “Gang of 14” are RINOs, assumed to have sabotaged hopes for the real conservative nominee for Supreme Court Justice that Bush could–and would–have chosen, if only the Gang of 14 and the RINOs didn’t exist.

So, get rid of ’em, who needs ’em? say many real conservatives in the Republican Party.

It wasn’t so very long ago that the Republican Party considered itself a “Big Tent,” a party in which moderates were welcome and considered an asset. The phrase was coined in 1988 by Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater (as mentioned in this Time magazine article from 1999, which features an almost cuddly Karl Rove–the times, they have a-changed, haven’t they?). Interestingly enough, the Time article cites Rove himself as having transformed Texas from a Democratic to a Republican state by following Big Tent precepts.

So, what’s happened? Perhaps certain Republicans have forgotten that they didn’t get where they are today by alienating the middle. Of course it’s also true that–as Jerry Falwell points out in this article–they didn’t get where they are today without the evangelical Christians and other cultural conservatives, either. The problem now is how to keep both under that shrinking tent.

I’m neither a Republican nor a conservative, but I do have an opinion (trust a blogger to always have an opinion). I don’t think the answer is to replace RINOs with traditionally conservative Republicans in states where the latter simply have no chance of winning. I happen to know about one of those states, from which two of the most prominent and vilified RINOs of all hail: Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Senators from Maine and RINOs extraordinaire.

Perhaps the fact that Maine has a long Republican history blinds many conservatives to the fact that it is a solidly Democratic state in many ways, and that the only Republicans who have a chance of being elected there are RINOs. Maine is not New Hampshire (another state of which I have more than a passing knowledge), which is fairly evenly divided, and whose two Congressmen and two Senators are all Republicans in more than name, as opposed to Maine’s two RINO Senators and two Democratic Congressmen.

Take a look at Maine’s results in the 2004 presidential election. A landslide for Kerry, despite the fact that the Bushes have ties to the state. Does this seem like a place where a conservative Republican could win? Don’t think so.

To drive the point home further, look at this map of counties in Maine and how they voted in 2004. You would be hard pressed to find a bluer state–and keep in mind that the south is where the people are (same is true of New Hampshire, by the way; and in Vermont there just aren’t any people). Those two lone light pink counties in Maine are very sparsely populated.

Compare it to the map of New Hampshire in 2004, a state in which the vote was very close indeed. Not only are the counties far more evenly divided, but some of the areas that voted for Bush are quite populous. This is a state where conservative Republicans have a chance, although it’s not easy.

So, please explain. I don’t get this failure to look at things pragmatically. Is it that ideological purity thing again? Would very conservatives Republicans rather a candidate be “right” than elected? Would they prefer the election of a clearly liberal Democrat to that of a person who is in fact a centrist? I don’t see how that would benefit them–but hey, it’s not my issue. Just trust me when I say that throwing Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to the wolves and replacing them with non-RINOs (love those animal metaphors!) will probably lose you two Senate seats, if that’s what you’re after.

The justice of a trial

The New Neo Posted on by

In my last post, about Saddam as press hero, I wrote about transmuting the very human desire for personal revenge into the desire for a different sort of justice, the justice of a trial.

No sooner said than done, apparently. I just came across this wonderful post by Mohammed of Iraq the Model, entitled, “Let Justice Be Served.” In it, he describes that exact process taking place as he and his friends watch the trial:

“Why do we have to listen to this bull****?” said one of my friends.
“I prefer the trial goes like this:
Q:Are you Saddam Hussein?
A:Yes.
Then take this bullet in the head.”

Everyone could find a reason to immediately execute a criminal who never let his victims say a word to defend themselves “let’s execute him and get over this” sentiments like this were said while we watched the proceedings which were rather boring and sluggish for the first half of the session.

At the beginning we were displeased by the presentation of the prosecution which was more like a piece of poetry in the wrong time and place and this is what encouraged the defense to give us a worn out speech about objectivity and how the court must not go into sideways; the thing which both the prosecution and the defense were doing.

Anyhow, the prosecutor began reading the facts and figures about what happened in Dijail. The defendants went silent but Saddam objected on some details and then prosecutor said “Do you want me to show the film where you said and did that?” Saddam stopped talking and the prosecutor asked the court to allow showing the film, we don’t know if it was played there as transmission was paused for a while.

As the prosecution went deeper into details and facts, the way we viewed the trial began to change and those among us who were demanding a bullet in Saddam’s head now seemed pleased with the proceedings “I don’t think I want to see that bullet now, I want to see justice take place as it should be”. We were watching an example of justice in the new Iraq, a place where no one should be denied his rights, not even Saddam.

We smiled seeing the news anchors lower their voices and nodding down when the prosecution grew stronger and more reasonable and convincing and they also abandoned the previous poetic sentimental tone that couldn’t stand in the face of facts and figures…

We’re drawing the outlines of a change not only for Iraq but also for the entire region and I can feel that today we have presented a unique model of justice because in spite of the cruelty of the criminal tyrant and in spite of the size of the atrocities committed against the Iraqi people, we still want to build a state of law that looks nothing like the one the tyrant wanted to create.

Exactly.

A new press hero: Saddam, defendant

The New Neo Posted on by

I’ve been looking forward to the sight, and here it is: Saddam on trial.

I watched a bit of coverage, enough to assure me that Saddam was playing his outraged defiant role, as expected, and that the judges are among the bravest men on the face of the earth to let their faces be shown and their names be known.

The sight brought back memories of the joy I felt the morning I learned Saddam had been captured alive, and of the photos of the Iraqi press corps whooping it up on hearing the news. But the danger always was that a living Saddam standing in the docks would try to turn his trial into a showcase for himself, a la the interminable Milosevic trial, and in the process turn himself into that most unlikely of things: a victim.

Makes a person wonder what would have happened had Hitler not killed himself. We’ll never know, but times and attitudes were certainly different then.

As for Saddam, it seems that some media outlets are already taking up his case–the case for the defense, that is. Well, if not the defense exactly, then certainly the case of criticizing the prosecution and the court, and of a sort of sneaking admiration for Saddam’s moxie and “defiance,” a word I’m already heartily sick of.

To paraphrase Sylvia Plath (of all people), in her poem “Daddy”:

Every [left-leaning journalist] adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.

Well, it doesn’t scan well as poetry, and yes, it’s hyperbole, but it comes to mind these days when I read things like the NY Times editorial highlighted and discussed today by Captain’s Quarters.

The Times is criticizing the Iraqi court for–oh, well, for just about everything. Being American puppets, for starters; not having a big international tribune trying the case; being bloodthirsty for wanting the death penalty to be a possibility for Saddam; not having a comprehensive trial for all his crimes but taking the easiest charge first (as, by the way, good prosecutors always do: earth to NY Times), saying it looks like a show trial, and so on and so forth.

Can the Times spare a word in the editorial for any sort of satisfaction that the day of reckoning has come for one of the worst murderous tyrants of recent memory? No. On this momentous day of the trial’s beginning, it seems our Blue-Gray Lady’s editorial board can’t manage to muster up even a smidgen of happiness, only a tongue-scolding for the all-too-imperfect prosecution.

And what of the news wing of the Times? The ordinarily relatively fair John Burns and Edward Wong write the story today. It’s an interesting document, which describes Hussein and the court proceedings and then segues into a recounting of objections much like the ones outlined in the editorial–criticisms from Human Rights Watch and the like, as well as opponents of capital punishment; allegations that the US was too involved (for example, the US provided the money for the especially-secure courthouse and has aided the investigation process–horrors!). The article ends with a quote from a group purporting to be spokesmen for the pesky insurgents, condemning the trial.

But to me what was most telling was the article’s failure to give much space to the reaction of the Iraqi people on this momentous day. The following constitutes the sum total of what this lengthy lead article has to say on that subject (keep in mind as you read it that Dujail is the town where the murders for which Saddam is currently being tried took place):

This morning, images on one Iraqi television network showed residents of Dujail calling for Mr. Hussein’s execution. Meanwhile, in Mr. Hussein’s home town of Tikrit crowds gathered to show support for their former leader, chanting slogans such as: “You are still the son of Iraq.” They appeared to be in a frenzy, waving Iraqi flags and photos of Mr. Hussein. Iraqi police, wearing blue uniforms and carrying Kalashnikovs, walked through the crowds but did not appear anxious to break up the demonstration.

So, one TV station showed some anti-Saddam demonstrations–and only from the very town where the massacre occurred. But the Times must balance that tiny little piece of news with a bulletin from Saddam’s homies demonstrating for him.

I’ll not go on too much longer about all of this; the wonder is that it still has the power to surprise me.

I haven’t gone back to read the Times coverage of the trial of these guys, but I imagine it might have been a bit different:

But back to today. As soon as one turns to the far-less-renowned but also less liberal New York Post, one notices the change in coverage. In the following excerpt, the Post doesn’t neglect to balance the happy responses of some Iraqis with the reactions from an area of Saddam sympathizers. But at least it gives due weight to the anti-Saddam feeling of what must be the majority of Iraq’s people:

Many Iraqis gathered around TV sets to watch the proceedings.

“Since the fall of the regime, we have been waiting for this trial,” said Aqeel al-Ubaidi, a Dujail resident. “The trial won’t bring back those who died, but at least it will help put out the fire and anger inside us.”

In Baghdad, Shiite construction worker Salman Zaboun Shanan sat with his family at home in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, having taken the day off from work to watch the trial.

When Saddam appeared on television, his wife Sabiha Hassan spit at the screen.

“I hope he is executed, and that anyone who suffered can take a piece of his flesh,” said Shanan, who was imprisoned during Saddam’s rule, as was Hassan and several of their sons.

But across the Tigris River in the mainly Sunni Arab district of Azamiyah, some were embittered by the trial of Saddam, whose regime was dominated by Sunni Arabs who have now lost their power.

“Saddam is the lesser of evils,” said engineer Sahab Awad Maaruf, comparing Saddam to the current Shiite-Kurdish led government. “He’s the only legitimate leader for Iraqis.”

In particular, the Shiite Muslim majority and the Kurdish minority – the two communities most oppressed by Saddam’s regime – have eagerly awaited the chance to see the man who ruled Iraq with unquestioned and total power held to justice.

“I’m very happy today. We’ve prayed for this day for years,” said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, an anti-Saddam opposition leader in exile for years and now one of the fiercest proponents of the purge of Baathists from the new government.

In closing, I’ll return to that Plath poem “Daddy.” It contains another image, one I think captures the understandable sentiment of so many Iraqis who had come to hate Saddam and all he stood for:

There’s a stake in your fat black heart
And the villagers never liked you.
They are dancing and stamping on you.
They always knew it was you.

This is the very human desire for revenge, a desire that is transmuted from its primal savagery into the desire for the accounting and punishment that comes with justice–the justice of a trial. It would be good if our MSM could find it in their hearts to applaud the fact that the Iraqis are on their way to the latter satisfaction rather than the former.

[ADDENDUM: I just came across this NY Times article on their webpage. It deals specifically with the reaction of ordinary Iraqis to the trial and its images. Those of you who are registered with the Times can read the article and see for yourself how, despite paying lip service to the fact that some Iraqis despise him, the thrust of the article is that a) many, many Iraqis still adore him; and b) even those who dislike Saddam have little faith in the trial, but many criticisms of it–almost as many as the Times itself. How very extraordinary.]

[ADDENDUM II: Michelle Malkin has a roundup of coverage and commentary. Michelle highlights the following quote from an article in the Boston Globe, which I thought particularly relevant in light of my final words on the Plath poem and the understandable human desire to take personal revenge:

“We want to eat [Saddam] alive,” said Salimah Majeed Al-Haidari, 60, who spent more than four years in detention, then waited 17 more to learn that her husband and two sons, hauled off by security officers, had been executed. “We wish they would cut him to pieces and hand them out to us and families like us.”]

Vietnamization vs. Iraqization

The New Neo Posted on by

Even though Vietnam and Iraq are far from the same, there are certainly similarities–although they’re not necessarily the ones the “quagmire” crowd would cite. We are now engaged in a very intense part of the “Iraqization” phase of the current war, very roughly similar to the “Vietnamization” phase of the Vietnam War (I’ve written about the latter here).

Seekerblog has an edifying post on the trajectory of the process of Iraqization, and why there’s every reason to believe it’s building geometrically, and will continue to do so.

Coincidentally, in the newly-released issue of Foreign Affairs, none other than Melvin Laird, Nixon’s Secretary of Defense, discusses the topic of Vietnamization, and compares it to the current situation in Iraq. Of course Laird, as the architect of Vietnamization, is defending his own record when he writes that Vietnamization (contrary to MSM spin) was actually going rather well until Congress pulled the funding plug in 1975. But I’ve read other pieces on much the same theme, (such as this one), and I find their arguments quite persuasive.

Laird notes an important ideological and tactical difference between Vietnamization and Iraqization, and thus has saved me the trouble of writing my own post on the subject, because–astonished though I may be to find myself agreeing with Nixon’s Secretary of Defense at this late date–it’s a distinction I’d been thinking of pointing out myself:

Those who call the new Iraqi government Washington’s “puppet” don’t know what a real puppet government is. The Iraqis are as eager to be on their own as we are to have them succeed. In Vietnam, an American, Ambassador Philip Habib, wrote the constitution in 1967. Elections were choreographed by the United States to empower corrupt, selfish men who were no more than dictators in the garb of statesmen.

Little wonder that the passionate nationalists in the North came off as the group with something to offer. I do not personally believe the Saigon government was fated to fall apart someday through lack of integrity, and apparently the Soviet Union didn’t think so either or it would not have pursued the war. But it is true that the U.S. administrations at the time severely underestimated the need for a legitimate government in South Vietnam and instead assumed that a shadow government and military force could win the day. In Iraq, a legitimate government, not window-dressing, must be the primary goal. The factious process of writing the Iraqi constitution has been painful to watch, and the varying factions must be kept on track. But the process is healthy and, more important, homegrown.

Funny how the old man has gotten so much smarter over the years. I suggest you read the whole thing.

I said no more Miers, but I just couldn’t resist this

The New Neo Posted on by

Here’s a song to brighten your day. Pretty clever, I think.

(And here’s the original for comparison).

And, since the author has solicited new stanzas, here are my offerings (the last one is based on the final stanza of the original):

Pundits, oh! they think I’m dumb,
They wish they could carry me home,
Next I’ll nominate my mum,
Coming for to carry me home.

The brightest day that I can say,
In front of the Capitol dome,
’09 Inauguration Day,
Then I’m gonna carry me home.

Reuters gets dizzy over the Iraqi vote

The New Neo Posted on by

Reuters is spinning so much here, I’m surprised it doesn’t get vertigo.

This is the entire text of the article, which originally caught my eye because of its positive headline, “Iraq voters seen approving constitution”:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraqi voters have probably approved a new U.S.-backed constitution, overcoming fierce Sunni Arab opposition in a vote Washington hopes will boost its beleaguered strategy in Iraq, results showed on Sunday. Early counts from Saturday’s referendum indicated the vote split as expected along largely communal lines, reflecting the bitter ethnic and religious tensions that have cost thousands of Iraqi lives since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

These two sentences show an economy of expression that is truly impressive, a remarkable ability to compress a large number of negative thoughts into a relatively small number of words. Check it out:

“U.S.-backed constitution”–Nothing about how hard the Iraqis worked to hammer out a compromise, or how this vote was widely seen even by Sunnis as a way for Iraqis to participate in the formation of their own government. No; just “U.S.-backed,” as in “U.S. tools and puppets.”

“fierce Sunni Arab opposition”–it will be interesting to see what the actual statistics are. Opposition has indeed been fierce by many Sunnis, to be sure, but when last I checked, the majority Sunni party was backing the constitutional compromise and telling its followers to vote “yes.”

“Washington hopes will boost its beleaguered strategy in Iraq”–need I even bother to tackle this one?

“bitter ethnic and religious tensions that have cost thousands of Iraqi lives since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.”–All the Iraqi postwar deaths are chalked up to ethnic and religious differences rather than terrorist attempts to sabotage the Iraqi people’s efforts at democracy. Yes, there’s ethnic strife, to be sure. But Reuters hasn’t a clue how much of the mayhem in Iraq is due to that factor, and how much to terrorists hoping to thwart the US and the Iraqi people as a whole. And of course, Saddam and the deaths he caused (and the ones he would have continued to cause which have now been prevented by that “U.S.-led invasion”) are nowhere to be seen. As far as Reuters is concerned, the U.S.seems to have invaded Michael Moore’s happy kite-flying land, and caused all the subsequent strife and destruction.

One would think that this referendum news would be cause for celebration. I, for one, plan to savor and enjoy it if the constitution is indeed passed. Would that Reuters could spare a moment to do the same. Or are they suffering from the same sort of depression as the NY Times?

Pulchritude on the right–and left (PC alert: non-PC discussion ensues)

The New Neo Posted on by

Blogger Pamela of Atlas Shrugs has been profiled at Pajamas Media, to an unusual amount of–err–highly cerebral commentary (well, commentary, anyway).

Some of the comments have featured an observation I’ve heard before, to wit:

Pamela is one hot gal. Nice to confirm that politicallly conservative women are better looking and smarter then liberal hags!

Much heated discussion of this weighty issue ensues.

I’d like to proffer, in defense of liberal women everywhere (after all, I used to be one!–liberal that is–and no wisecracks, please, about the function of the strategically-placed apple), the observation that there are most definitely some very attractive liberal women–quite a few, in fact.

Take, for example, 99.9% of Hollywood. Are they not attractive? And are they not liberal?

Also, as much as I cannot abide her columns, no one can say that MoDo is not an attractive woman (well, someone can say it–but it would be wrong!). Exhibit A:

And, despite her abominable views, Ms. Fonda, especially in her youth (my extreme youth, that is), was no slouch in that department, either. Exhibit B:

It’s true, of course, that the protean Jane had many faces–perhaps not a thousand, but close, as you’ll see from the photos of her that come up if you Google her name in “Images.” But in nearly all of those images she is attractive, including this (somewhat Photoshopped, I believe) one from her Hanoi Jane phase:

And now, I have a question for those who agree with the original assertion: do you think that becoming more conservative is the equivalent of getting some free plastic surgery? If so, the neocon movement might gain quite a few adherants.

Voting day in Iraq: so far, so good

The New Neo Posted on by

Fortunately, things have been peaceful. Whether the high turnout in Sunni areas will bode poorly for the fledgling constitution remains to be seen.

Iraq the Model has an interesting reminiscence on elections past:

I am so excited but a flashback from Saddam’s referendum three years ago still hurts; he wanted a 100% as the 99.96% of the previous one shocked the dictator. I was depressed that way and I decided not to go to the voting office and so did the rest of the family but my father was afraid that not going could be dangerous. He said that maybe one member of the family could go alone and cast votes for the rest of us. We looked at each other thinking who’s going to volunteer to do this ugly job to protect the family. At that moment my father said “it was my generation that caused the misery we’re living in so I’m the one who should do this”.

I couldn’t stop him and I couldn’t utter a word but I felt sad for him; his sacrifice was big and I had teary eyes when I watched him taking our papers and heading out.

It is different this time father, no more 100% and a ”˜no’ would make me happy just like a ’yes’ would do and no one ever will force us to do something against our will anymore…

God bless you my people and all the freedom lovers who keep sacrificing to make this world a better place.

Well, so, why can’t they?

The New Neo Posted on by

This little teaser at the NY Times tempted me for a moment to become a subscriber to TimesSelect, their pay-for-view columnist service:

Why Righties Can’t Teach
By JOHN TIERNEY
Published: October 15, 2005

Liberals on campus have become so used to hearing their opinions reinforced that they have a hard time imagining there are intelligent people with different views.

Sounds intriguing, especially for the NY Times. But I managed to resist.

Then again, it’s a sentence that actually does quite well standing alone, a succinct explanation for a common phenomenon.

Next year I suppose he’ll get the Peace Prize: Pinter wins Nobel for literature

The New Neo Posted on by

First off, I must confess that I like his early plays–or at least I did when I saw them, many moons ago. “The Birthday Party” was especially fine, as I recall, and I enjoyed the original Broadway production of “The Homecoming” as a teenager.

So, even though Pinter has turned into a raving leftist political hater of formidable intensity and moonbattery, his Nobel prize for literature doesn’t seem beyond the pale, although I suspect he wouldn’t have gotten it if his politics hadn’t dovetailed so very nicely with the Nobel committee’s mission of sticking it to Bush, Blair, and Company.

I’m not the only one who suspects that this is the case; Pinter, to his credit, admits as much:

In an interview with Reuters Television yesterday, Pinter wondered whether his increased visibility on the political front may have played a part in the choice: ”I’ve been writing plays for about 50 years. But I am also very politically engaged and I am not at all sure to what extent that factor had anything to do with this award.”

I encountered his politics about a year ago through one of those ubiquitous forwards a relative had approvingly sent. The content was hateful and mindless; I have no interest in reproducing it here or linking to it, but Pinter has a website that’s easy enough to locate, if you care to browse there.

Pinter says he’s now given up writing plays (quit while you’re ahead?):

”I think the world has had enough of my plays.” He plans, instead, to concentrate on poetry.

Curious, I took a look at his poetry and found that it is mindbogglingly and stupendously bad; only a moment of reading it and I’d had more than enough of his poetry. Since his unique poetry cannot be adequately described and can only be experienced, I’ve changed my mind and this time I will provide a link, just to let you see what this Literature Nobel prizewinner and winner of the Wilfred Owen prize for poetry (a sad reflection of the current state of poetry in the world) is up to these days.

But back, mercifully, to his plays. If Pinter can be said to have had a mastery, it certainly was not of plot, but of language and dialogue of a peculiar and haunting kind, with its own strange and mysterious humor. Pinter elevated the pause to a fine art:

I think we all learned the power of the pause from Harold,” said Tina Packer, artistic director of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox. ”They’re almost more important than the words because they focus your attention that you’re in a theatrical space.”

In ”The Life and Work of Harold Pinter,” drama critic Michael Billington relates a story in which he asked Pinter when he first became aware of the power of the pause. ”He told me, with a slight twinkle, that it was from seeing Jack Benny . . . at the London Palladium in 1952.”

Ah, Jack Benny! I wish I’d known that when I was attending Pinter’s plays all those years ago; I don’t think they’ll ever seem the same again.

The one bright spot on the Nobel horizon, for me, is contained in the following Nobelian homage to geographic literary diversity. Can you locate it?

Nine of the last dozen winners of the literature prize have been from Europe, and a writer from the Arab or Asian world was expected to win this year. Along with Pamuk and Oz, writers rumored to be under consideration were the Syrian poet Adonis, Algerian writer Assia Djebar, and South Korean poet Ko Un. Albanian novelist Ismail Kadare, Swedish poet Tomhas Transtromer, American novelists Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, and Don DeLillo, Czech novelist Milan Kundera, and Belgian writer Hugh Claus have also been mentioned as possible Nobelists.

Milan Kundera. Now, there would be a Nobelist worthy of the honor. Well, a neocon can dream, can’t she?