November 22, 2006 Posts
02:42 Newt's Running 10:19 Still Obfuscating 19:05 The Definition of Chutzpah
Newt's Running
This article is great news to conservatives like me who are still 'recovering' from this past election. I know it did my heart good.
The radical realist who defied conventional wisdom 12 years ago by stealing the House out from under the noses of entrenched Democrats now plans a surprise attack for the presidency. "I'm going to tell you something, and whether or not it's plausible given the world you come out of is your problem," he tells Fortune. "I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen." So he's running, only without yet formally saying so.Newt's never been bashful in laying out his vision for America. Though some say that that's his biggest flaw, that isn't a belief I share with Newt's naysayers in the GOP. Frankly, I wish more Republicans were as eloquent in laying out their vision for America as Newt is.
I remember a Strib article from Newt's book tour following the 1994 landslide election. I remember it because the liberal reporter (that's the only type of reporter they've ever had at the Strib.) said that "Whether you agree or disagree with Gingrich, you're drawn towards him because he's first and foremost a teacher." I've always thought that that's the most apt description of Newt that I've ever heard.
What makes Newt a great teacher, and movement leader, is that he's always challenging the status quo, always challenging people with a logical presentation that's long on verifiable facts and policy recommendations aimed at producing solutions to the most difficult issues of the day. He's also great at answering 'the why questions' that change votes. If he didn't have the baggage, we'd be fortunate to have someone like Newt as the GOP standard bearer. Then again, I agree with Rush when he said that all GOP candidates will have baggage and "if they don't, the Drive By Media will create some baggage for them." (The Drive By Media's slogan might as well be "Why let integrity stand in the way of keeping a conservative out of the White House"?)
While other potential competitors like Arizona Sen. John McCain, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney build staff and hire consultants, Gingrich revealed to Fortune that he plans to create a draft-Newt "wave" by building grassroots support for his health care, national security and energy independence ideas, all of which he has been peddling to corporate audiences over the past six years. "Nice people," Gingrich says of his GOP competitors. "But we're not in the same business. They're running for president. I'm running to change the country."Not building a nationwide organization tells me that Mr. Newt faces an uphill battle. That said, if anyone can pull it off, it's Mr. Newt.
The former House revolutionary has always been considered a wild card in the '08 race. He still has a huge and animated following among conservatives, and his healthcare reform work; he founded the DC-based Center for Health Transformation; has enabled him to broaden his appeal to Democrats and centrists.While James Carville invented the winning Clinton campaign slogan of "It's the economy, Stupid", I'd suggest that Newt's campaign slogan be "It's the vision, Stupid." He's a natural born leader. He's a visionary who talks in plain language. Another thing that's infectious about him is his ability to talk authoritatively on almost any subject.
The other thing that's worth noting is that much of the baggage Newt's carrying is from a decade ago, which is like a lifetime ago in politics. Young voters won't remember much of his misdeeds back then and 30-40 year olds won't likely have paid attention to him at that point.
Posted Wednesday, November 22, 2006 2:43 AM
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Still Obfuscating
This Strib article provides quotes from former Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson's duplicitous statements on the DOMA debacle that swept him from power.
At a secretly taped meeting of clergy members in New London in January: "Members of the Supreme Court, I know all of them. I have had a number of visits with them about our law. All of them, every one of them, including the lady who just stepped down, Kathleen Blatz...You know what her response was? 'Dean, we all stand for election, too, every six years.' She said, 'We are not going to touch it.' That's what she said to me. I've talked with Justice Anderson, and another Justice Anderson...'Dean, we're not going to do it.' "The only thing that's "been the same all along" about Johnson's story has been that it's been a state of constant flux. Thankfully, the people of his district voted to retire him so he can't thwart the will of Minnesota's voters. Good riddance. I just wish he'd been 'retired' the cycle before.
In a statement March 15: "I have at no time ever received any promises or commitments regarding any potential judicial cases from any member of the state Supreme Court."
In an interview with Minnesota Public Radio on March 16: "I asked one of the judges, 'What do you think about the Minnesota law regarding same-sex marriage, put in place in 1997?' The justice thought about it, said, 'I think the law is pretty good and probably something we're not going to take a look at.' And you know, kind of as a matter of fact, said, 'You know, we stand for election too.' "
In a news conference March 17: "After a discussion about the wind and weather and relatives and the Legislature, I simply said, 'Any thoughts on the '97 DOMA law?' And the person shrugged their shoulders and said, 'Yeah, we have a law.' That was it."
In a Senate floor speech March 27: "I apologize to you for the inaccurate statement which I made in a meeting with pastors in January...I regret the statement I made."
In an interview Tuesday: "My story has been the same all along."
Posted Wednesday, November 22, 2006 10:19 AM
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The Definition of Chutzpah
The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation's Mahdi Bray has weighed in on the Imam fiasco with this quote:
"The detention of these religious leaders, and the refusal of the airline to allow them travel, is a gross example of blatant Islamophobia and the violation of the civil rights of Muslim passengers", said Imam Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation.Imam Bray has some nerve talking about bigotry and religious freedom considering some of his past actions, like this:
"These religious men had already gone through the airport security screening, like all other passengers on the aircraft. The fact that some of them chose to openly pray did not warrant, by any means, their removal from the plane. We call on all decent Americans to speak out against this bigotry and attacks on religious freedoms."
"Last time I checked, public prayer was still protected by the U.S. constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion and speech. It's a shame that as an African-American and a Muslim I have the double whammy, I have to worry about driving while black and flying while Muslim. We charge the airline with not only discrimination, but with an action that is insulting and demeaning to these Muslim religious leaders, and to all people of faith."
In American Jihad, Emerson notes that when Abdurahman Alamoudi of the American Muslim Council, who is now serving a 23-year prison sentence for a terrorism financing conviction, encouraged the Muslim crowd at an October 2000 rally cosponsored by MPAC to declare their support of the jihad terror groups Hamas and Hizballah, "MPAC's Political Advisor, Mahdi Bray, stood directly behind Alamoudi and was seen jubilantly exclaiming his support for these two deadly terrorist organizations." This was just three weeks after Bray "coordinated and led a rally where approximately 2,000 people congregated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C." Emerson reports that "at one point during the rally, Mahdi Bray played the tambourine as one of the speakers sang, while the crowd repeated: 'Al-Aqsa [Mosque] is calling us, let's all go into jihad, and throw stones at the face of the Jews [sic].'"It strikes me as extremely hypocritical that Mahdi Bray would call concerned airlines passengers bigots after praising Hamas and Hizbollah at a 2000 rally. The last I looked, Hamas and Hizbollah were committed to the genocide of an entire religious group, which strikes me as the vilest form of bigotry.
Yesterday, I pointed out that there's more to this episode than Mahdi Bray and CAIR are talking about:
Pat Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airports Commission, said that witnesses to Monday's events told police that before the flight that besides praying, the imams were spouting anti-American rhetoric, talking about the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein. One of the imams was heard saying that he would do whatever is necessary to fulfill his commitment to the Qur'an, witnesses told police , Hogan said. Other witnesses said some of the imams were repeating "Allah, Allah," he said. And a couple of the imams asked for seat-belt extensions, even though it did not appear they needed them, Hogan said. All of this made passengers, the attendants and the pilot uncomfortable, Hogan said. As a result, the pilot called police to have the imams escorted from plane.I didn't know that spewing "anti-American rhetoric" was part of a Muslim's daily prayers. Let's remember that CAIR and Imam Shahin said the imams were simply praying at the airport. That's obviously not the case if you believe what witnesses told police. Don't you find it difficult to believe that there's that many 'Islamophobes' at an airport who would willingly lie to police? It's understatement to say that their actions were suspicious in a post-9/11 world.
It's worth telling you about Abdurrahman Alamoudi because he's hardly an innocent. Steve Emerson said that Mr. Alamoudi is serving a 25 year prison sentence, which is accurate. That's only part of what's known about Mr. Alamoudi:
ABDURAHMAN ALAMOUDIHe was the executive assistant to the president of the SAAR Foundation:
- Founder and executive director of the American Muslim Council
- Islamic affairs advisor for the Clinton administration
- "We are all supporters of Hamas...I am also a supporter of Hezbollah."
- Arrested in 2003 for terrorist fundraising
SAAR is the acronym for Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Rajhi, the Saudi sheik who set up the SAAR Foundation in the 1970s ostensibly to allow scholars and scientists from the Middle East and Asia to create charitable programs that would supply food, education, and technology to Islamic countries. The U.S. branch of SAAR was dissolved in December 2000 after raising $1.7 billion in the United States. SAAR was part of the SAFA Trust Group, a group of shell companies headquartered at 555 Grove Street in Herndon, Virginia, where the FBI and the U.S. Customs agency believe SAAR was set up to raise funds and launder money for international terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and al Qaeda.Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Rajhi was "said to be close to the Saudi ruling family and is on the Golden Chain, a list of early al-Qaeda supporters" according to this article at Cooperative Research.net. In other words, there's anti-semitic bigotry running throughout the entire 'network', which makes the imams' claims of being the targets of bigotry laughable to any thoughtful person.
Posted Wednesday, November 22, 2006 7:05 PM
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