A Million Monkeys Typing

One of the biggest changes in politics in my lifetime is that the delusional is no longer marginal. It has come in from the fringe, to sit in the seat of power in the Oval Office and in Congress. For the first time in our history, ideology and theology hold a monopoly of power in Washington.

The two-day dialogue between Condoleezza Rice and members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at times resembled material from "Catch-22" and at other times seemed to reflect "Dr. Strangelove." Other than a few hard questions from Democrats Joe Biden and Barbara Boxer, at no time did it remotely resemble reality.

You'd have thought from the way committee members treated Rice that she'd just arrived in Washington and had no part to play in, and no real knowledge of, the foreign-policy disaster that was President Bush's first term.

Hard questions from Barbara Boxer? The Senator who protested Bush's election victory in the Senate because a 118.000+ vote margin in Ohio wasn't enough? The Senator who's basic line throughout her questions was to call Dr. Rice a liar? Apparently, the Strib has pretty low standards. See what Captain Ed has to say about Boxer's questioning. And again, the Strib uses the opportunity to mislabel Bush's foreign policy a disaster. The fact is until the outcomes in Afghanistan and Iraq are known, there is no way to judge Bush's foreign policy yet. But there's more:

And yet in a hearing on whether she has the stuff to be secretary of state, she had the temerity to lecture Boxer, asking her to "refrain from impugning my integrity." Well if not now, when?

The Star Tribune apparently hasn't noticed that Boxer showed by claiming the only reason stated by the US for going to war with Iraq was WMD that she either is a liar or doesn't read the legislation she votes on, as shown by the text of the resolution authorizing force in Iraq.

The Strib then praises Kerry and Boxer for voting agains the confirmation "on principle" - as if the folks who voted differently didn't have any. All in all, more drivel from the Star Tribune editorial board

A little defensive

If not for Roger Moe and Tim Penny splitting the votes of real Minnesotans, Tim Pawlenty might be making coffee and answering phones at the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

If "no new taxes" is a core value and part of "mainstream" Minnesota, why does the governor sound so defensive about it every time he mentions it in public?

On our National Day of Embarrassment, each of the president's three constituencies celebrated in its own way.

The Rich were much in evidence. Though they had to pay to party, they could be sure of a good return on the investment.

The Ideologues (apart from the vice president) stayed behind the scenes. With wars to plan and peoples to free, the whole globe is their inaugural ball.

The Gullible, whom the Rich and the Ideologues manipulated yet again, watched the festivities on TV -- admiring the rhetoric, coveting the gorgeous gowns and praying to God their children will not be sent to Iraq.

Note the contempt for people who voted for Bush. In the eyes of people like the letter writer one has to be evil or stupid to vote for Bush. This by the way, is the kind of letter that is more likely to appear on the letters page than the next one, which does a nice job of trashing a key part of the Stib's 1/20 editorial about Condoleezza Rice:

Beyond Boxer and WMD

I was embarrassed to watch Sen. Barbara Boxer in the hearings for Condoleezza Rice. Not only did she appear as a petulant, bloviating, spiteful partisan, but her command of the facts was extremely lacking. This was evident when she stated that the congressional vote for war was based solely on evidence of WMD.

She did this in order to portray Rice as a liar. Either Boxer doesn't understand exactly what she voted on or she is, in fact, the liar. The resolution actually cited at least seven reasons, separate and distinct from weapons of mass destruction:

• Iraq's harboring of Al-Qaida terrorists.

• Iraq's support for international terrorism.

• Iraq's "brutal repression" of its citizens.

• Iraq's failure to repatriate or give information on non-Iraqi citizens detained and captured during Gulf War I, including an American serviceman.

• Failing to properly return property wrongfully seized during the Kuwait invasion.

• The attempted assassination of former President Bush in 1993.

• America's national security interests in restoring peace and stability to the Persian Gulf.

The last was included in the interest of fairness. I don't want to create the impression that the Strib completely ignores those who write in disagreement with the Star Tribune's positions. One is just more likely to see letters like the first two.

In Seattle, more than 1,000 people participated in walk-outs at the University of Washington and Seattle Central Community College, where students marched through buildings, pounding on doors and encouraging others to leave.

The demonstrators marched from the community college to a rally downtown, calling for "no work, no school, no business as usual."

Isn't this rather self-defeating? I mean, deny yourself a day of your education to make a useless, petulant protest about the outcome of an election that your side lost, fair and square? How constructive!

Then we have this:

At a mock inauguration in Baltimore, a woman wearing a Bush mask gave a pretend speech, stumbling over her words, and a guitarist played Bob Dylan's "Gates of Eden," which opens, "Of war and peace the truth just twists." Passing cars, buses and taxis honked horns in support, and a pedestrian raised a fist.

Here we have a pair who can't come up with any thing useful to say, so they try to demonstrate that the personal is the political by making a personal attack on the President. Another fine example of those oft-stated, self-proclaimed liberal Democratic values of tolerance and fairness in action.

Three blocks from the White House, protesters tried to rush a security gate and a flag was burned. Police briefly locked down the area, trapping some 400 to 500 spectators.

Annie Katz, 52, of New York, was at the rear of a group of protesters, but she said the experience was worth it despite the bad view. Katz said she was upset by the 2000 election, but "I'm angrier this time, since I'm angry about the war."

U.S. soldiers in dress uniforms and blue coats were greeted with chants of "no more wars."

Try to start a riot, insult our soldiers. How classy...

Police said at least 10 people were arrested during the inaugural ceremonies. Sgt. Scott Fear of the U.S. Park Police said four women who were protesting the wearing of furs were arrested after they disrobed in the near-freezing temperatures.

I hope the crowd was at least entertained. Next up, we have some vandals...

Witnesses said the protesters started pulling down flags and inaugural banners from lampposts, and said police used pepper spray on some protesters.

Stuff like this is intended to change peoples minds? I wonder what these same people will say in four years if a Democrat is elected and Republicans put on a similar display of childish, whiny, sore-loserism?