Inexplicably upbeat
posted at 10:08 am on October 16, 2006 by Bryan
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The White House is reportedly “almost inexplicably upbeat” about the mid-terms. Why?
Is it because Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice just compared the Palestinians to America’s founding fathers? And then compared the Palestian war centered on attacking innocent men, women and children to the US civil rights movement?
Rice compared the vision of Palestinian statehood to that of American independence and the civil rights battles in one of the strongest endorsements from the Bush administration to the idea of an independent Palestinian state.
“I should never have grown up in segregated Birmingham, Alabama to become the secretary of state of the United States of America,” Rice said, adding that eventually, once these visions do come true, “we wonder why did anyone ever doubt that it was possible.”
Rice emphasized US support to the Palestinian people, by increasing the American foreign aid to the Palestinians to $468 million, and by putting in place an international mechanism which will allow transfer of financial assistance to the Palestinians without going through the Hamas government.
She said that now, after several months of having Hamas in power, the Palestinian people are holding Hamas accountable for the situation in the territories.
Riiiiight. Yassir Arafat = Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, eh? Bomb belts = “I have a dream.”
The Palestinian people are “holding Hamas accountable.” I guess that’s why even the supposedly moderate PA won’t demand that Palestinian terror groups have to recognize Israel’s right to exist. It’s all about holding those child-killing suicide bombing Patrick Henrys accountable. Maybe the White House is so upbeat because it’s just upped the aid it pays to these peace-loving folks who show how much they deserve a better life, as the SecState insists that they do, by voting against actually having a better life every single time they’re given the chance. More money to a people that danced in joy on 9-11 and cheered for Hezbollah last summer. That’ll sure fire up the small government, national security-minded base here at home.
Or maybe Bush and Rove are so upbeat because, on the one hand, China and South Korea have no intention of enforcing sanctions against North Korea, and on the other hand, the US itself is preparing to bust sanctions against Iran.
Or maybe, in the final analysis, the White House is so upbeat because it is self-deluded into thinking that it doesn’t need support from any of its base in order to win.
Update: Fox is reporting that China has decided that it actually will enforce the sanctions against North Korea. But it’s not unreasonable to be skeptical–China has played games with sanctions on North Korea before, and probably will find a way to continue to do so.
Update: I’ve been accused of either taking Condi out of context or of going along with the press doing the same. Here’s her speech–judge for yourselves. She delivered it before a Palestinian-American business group. And I think it’s an awful speech. At its core is voicing of support for “moderate” elements in Palestinian society, and in that vein upping financial support for the Palestinians but in a way that goes around the PA’s Hamas-run government. It’s a mistake to keep on giving millions of dollars to people who vote for the likes of Hamas as their representatives in government. How will they learn the lesson that their votes matter if we don’t make those votes matter? By propping them up economically, even in an end-run around Hamas as we’re doing, we’re signalling to the Palestinians that they can vote in whatever monsters they want and we may say that we don’t like it–but we’ll keep paying them anyway. Our words are meaningless in the face of the flow of the almighty dollar. Imho, this is an idiotic move and one that’s counterproductive to the administration’s stated strategic goal of bringing democracy to the Middle East in order to reform it. And it’s a policy that Rice supports and endorses.
How will we foster any kind of reform of the kind we want if we’re paying off people who openly support terrorists running their government?
As for the lines about her own background and segregation in the US, why put them in a speech about the “plight” of the Palestinians if it’s not relevant (in her mind) to that plight?
Update: Chris R. reminds me how we got here–Israel objected to Hamas running in the PA elections, but the Bush administration intervened to give Hamas the go-ahead.
I’m not saying in this post that Rice seems happy that Hamas won the election or that she’s satisfied with the way things are in the PA. She’s obviously neither. In speeches since Hamas won that election, the entire administration has been trying to put lipstick on that Palestinian pig. But that doesn’t make it any less a pig. And paying the Palestinians in aid money, even circumventing Hamas, seems very counterproductive to me. For starters, any money that flows in the PA has the potential to flow to terrorist groups–the whole PA government is corrupt and even its “moderate” elements support terrorism against Israel. And beyond that, as I said above we’re telling the Palestinians that we care more about the act of elections than who they actually elect. If they elect genuinely peaceful candidates, we’re fine with that. And when they elect terrorists, we’ll say we’re not fine with that but we’ll go on paying aid money anyway. It just doesn’t seem very wise not to calibrate our response to their actions.
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And that Brian is called optimism
EricPWJohnson on October 16, 2006 at 10:17 AM
Saddam’s verdict is being handed down on NOVEMBER 5. Along with gay marriage being legalized on October 25th in New Jersey.
Thats a double-punch that will get conservatives to the polls in waves.
Grebrook on October 16, 2006 at 10:23 AM
Maybe it’s how they see the halls of Congress after the election:
Almost half full of Republicans as opposed to barely over half full of defeatocrats after the election?
I’m just guessing.
SouthernGent on October 16, 2006 at 10:24 AM
Maybe it’s just their refusal to see things for how they truly are.
GregH on October 16, 2006 at 10:34 AM
Delusionally delusional.
Valiant on October 16, 2006 at 10:36 AM
They must know something the rest of us don’t. I’m not upbeat… but I am going to vote.
E L Frederick on October 16, 2006 at 10:38 AM
Israel should just push Palestine into the sea and get it over with.
Savage on October 16, 2006 at 10:39 AM
Well, maybe they look at lt as if we are no longer their base,they are banking of illegals and Islamofascists to keep them in power. I really don’t get it, and this caca about the Palis just makes me ill. I don’t seem to
bbz123 on October 16, 2006 at 10:47 AM
I hate the West’s total dependency on foreign oil which creates all this baloney
except it did not create:
the Bush White House policy on removing all borders.
Bush threw that one in for free. I have one question. Has anyone seen a picture of Bush’s Mexican nanny? Does she look anything like Condi?
I think I have a handle on the motivations of the left:
need to deconstruct western Civilization, need to erase obstructive religious loyalties, need to install socialism, need to re-engineer all social behaviour to the Woodstck model, need to replace tobacco which makes minds more alert but shortens lives with marijuana which makes minds more confused but shortens lives. Goal: the lowest common denominator for all but the chosen elites.
I do not have a handle on the Bushies who seem to have nothing in common with the left, except the final goal: the lowest common denominator for all but the chosen elites, which I deduce by extrapolating the open borders situation.
Except for this one chicken bone stuck in my throat I would trust the White House gaming.
entagor on October 16, 2006 at 10:51 AM
Guys, Saddam’s trial is set for NOVEMBER 5! It’s going to be like the Saddam endorsement of Kerry in 2004. It’s going to cost them the election!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,221101,00.html
Grebrook on October 16, 2006 at 10:55 AM
Err, I mean “Osama’s” endorsement, not Saddam.
Grebrook on October 16, 2006 at 10:55 AM
On one hand, Bush remains optimistic on Iraq. So one man’s optimism is another man’s denial. On the other hand, Rove has an incredible track record, 3 weeks is a long time in politics, and the Rs have much more moolah (serving power is lucrative!!)
I predict Dems take the House, not the Senate. We’ll see.
honora on October 16, 2006 at 11:16 AM
“I predict Dems take the House, not the Senate. We’ll see.”
Great, last time I checked the House was the only thing that kept Bush from giving away America. Seems like both parties are in a race to the bottom except WE THE PEOPLE are the losers. I wish I could muster some enthusiasm or hope but even if we win we lose. And if we lose WE LOSE.
America1st on October 16, 2006 at 11:24 AM
Read my lips: they know that Republicans are keeping both, House and Senate
Ropera on October 16, 2006 at 12:10 PM
I think Rove is way overrated: He lost the popular vote in 2000 against a mentally unstable candidate, Al Gore; he just eeked out a victory against Lurch; and he refuses to run a politically incorrect campaign in this election. Republicans seem to prefer losing than offending Democrats.
Republicans have to have more money. It is not about “power.” The liberals have that by having a virtual monopoly on the press that most people access (ABC, NBC, CBS, AP, and Reuters). Without money for ads, Republicans cannot get their message out without the mainstream media’s liberal filter and censorship.
januarius on October 16, 2006 at 12:13 PM
And I thought that GregH, the polite, intelligent and objective representative of the Left on Hot AiR, would credit the ‘nuance’ thing on ‘independence fighters’…alas, wasn’t to be…nuance applies only to Clinton or Kerry.
My take on the Nov. 2006 elctions:
- Conservatives don’t be overly sure and don’t take anything for granted.
- Liberals, don’t measure the curtains just yet, in either branch.
Entelechy on October 16, 2006 at 12:16 PM
@$%! So most here believe that Kerry, and the democrats had won in 04, as was predicted by the MSM! I swear that I’m going to have to take away your liberal papers, and smack ya’s with those.
The economy is up, oil prices are down, the liberals remain without a vision to offer America, Al-Qaeda is reduced by 2/3, and Saddam is getting ready to hear the verdict against him. Yeah, let’s all wallow in the believe that republicans will lose in November, the Defeatocrats will win big [for a change], and while we are at it we can start believing the liberal MSM, Cigarman’s lies, and that Hitlary will be elected President.
In the meantime, the liberals in la la land are reportedly in no hurry to celebrate their upcomming victory [according to the NYTraitors], and for good reason.
I personally believe that republicans will maintain control of Congress, and I hope the closeness of their races wakes them, and Bush up. I was nervous, but after the slew of liberal articles about how they were about to win both houses of Congress they have suddenly started hedging their bets. Maybe they have polling results that they haven’t reported yet, or maybe they are tired of eating crow. Either way, the liberal media isn’t in such a hurry to believe their own stories anymore, and that alone causes me to remain upbeat.
DannoJyd on October 16, 2006 at 12:26 PM
Rush is attacking blogs that promote GOP premortems. Perhaps if he held the GOP leadership to core conservative principles over the last 6 years, we wouldn’t be sitting in this position 28 days before the election.
Valiant on October 16, 2006 at 12:36 PM
Er.. it is only 22 days until the election.
Valiant on October 16, 2006 at 12:40 PM
This is the 3rd or 4th article in the last 2 weeks which proves the NYT to be wiser and more cautious than I thought it to be…
Entelechy on October 16, 2006 at 12:43 PM
Whatever the Bush2 Rovian strategery has been, it’s certainly being tested in November, which perhaps has been the point all along. I am as mystified as anyone in the “base” about much of what’s coming out of the White House, but I try to keep in mind that the grand, long term goal Mr. Rove has is not just the defeat of individual Democrats, but the destruction of the entire Democratic Party (and no worthier goal there is!). I’m not counting them out yet. The brainpower in and around the Oval Office has seldom been matched in American history. We’ll see – much will be proven, or proven wrong, in the coming months. Strange but interesting times.
Halley on October 16, 2006 at 2:14 PM
Will Mr. Reid get away with simply amending his filing with the Senate? You bet – with our ‘objective’ media, you bet!
Entelechy on October 16, 2006 at 2:19 PM
“I should never have grown up in segregated Birmingham, Alabama to become the secretary of state of the United States of America,”
I’m begining to believe that myself, Condi…
But for different reasons.
And to think that I was one of the first on the -Rice 2008- bandwagon. Whew; glad I wised up.
LegendHasIt on October 16, 2006 at 2:32 PM
Whenever I think the Democrats are too disorganized, too wishy washy, God sends me a reminder of the alternative.
honora on October 16, 2006 at 2:35 PM
Back off, Bryan. I know that bashing Republicans for their failure to be as conservative as thou is de rigueur here, but give me a break. You sound like one of MSNBC’s writers.
Now that it’s time to fish or cut bait, maybe it would be a little more constructive to remember that there are two political parties, and the other one is unacceptable in any form. Or maybe you don’t believe that.
For all of the whining that we do about the GOP — and, believe me, I do my share of whining about the GOP — the logic is fairly simple. If you think the GOP is not conservative enough for your ideals, then anything that you do to undermine them in favor of the DemoCommies is a form of national suicide.
I firmly believe that the election will be better for us than the media is projecting, as long as the media outlets that carry our message don’t f*** it all up by declaring mass suicide three weeks in advance. Capiche?
Jaibones on October 16, 2006 at 2:42 PM
GregH wrote: “Maybe it’s just their refusal to see things for how they truly are.”
Don’t be coy GregH. Tell it like it really is.
Here’s how things truly are:
Democrats have spent the last 3 years sabotaging the war for political gain. In my book, sabotage is treason. And treason for partisan purposes is the worst form of treason I know of.
Democrats, with the overt assistance of the media, have spent the last 6 years working ceaselessly to destroy the Bush presidency. They have leaked national security secrets to the press; they have fabricated “scandals” where none exist; they have used the press to slander individuals working in government for pure partisan political purposes. Yet scandals, even outright criminal activities of Democrats, are spiked by the media — as with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic House member William J. Jefferson.
Democrats have worked to ENABLE even more illegal immigration, and openly support outright amnesty for illegal aliens already here.
Democrats support giving enemy combatants, captured on the battle field while fighting America, Miranda rights, ACLU lawyers, and criminal trials, with release to continue their jihad against us if “acquited”.
Democrats have placed getting back into power ABOVE national security.
That’s how things are, Greggy! So don’t be shy, boyo. Be “proud” of all the Democrat’s accomplishments. YOU and your fellows have done everything possible to regain the power you lost in November 1994.
How things will be if your band takes over?
Democrats have already announced that once in power, they will raise taxes. We can look forward to the Death Tax being reinstated in all its former glory.
Democrats have already announced that the war on terrorism will cease to be a priority for America when they take over.
Democrats have already announced that existing programs to track terrorists will be terminated once they are in charge, specifically tracking their money transactions and intercepting their email and calls to their sleeper cells in the USA.
Democrats, once in power, intend to disassemble the ballistic missile defense now online in Alaska, despite North Korea’s blatant attempt to build ICBMs capable of reaching 2/3′rds of the continental United States. Nancy Pelosi has already made this her priority and is supported by John Kerry and Ted Kennedy in the Senate.
Democrats have already announced that once in power, they will DEFUND the Iraq war, and prohibit any military assistance to Iraq and Afghanistan JUST LIKE THEY WAY DID IN VIETNAM, throwing Iraq to the Islamofascist wolves, giving Osama bin Laden the victory he desire; the exact same way an earlier generation of Democrats did to South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.
Oh, and let’s not forget that Sens Kennedy, Durbin, and Kerry think that the military are runing gulags, Nazi death camps, and embrace the tactics of Pol Pot. So, a DECREASE in size of the military will be the 2nd order business once they get back in charge.
The first order of business, Democrats have already announced, once back in power is to not hesitate to impeach George W. Bush. They will succeed in a straight party line vote in the House, if they control the House, but will fail to remove him in office because they will NOT have the necessary supermajority in the Senate. It’s the principle, you know — and it’s what the nutroots want, after all. And as we all know, Democrats are a party of principle — just ask Bill Clinton.
Democrats will announce that they will cancel the drilling leases for newly found oil in the Gulf of Mexico, killing any attempt to increase domestic supplies of oil. Why? Becasue Democrats like high oil prices — it advances their environmentalist agenda.
That is some of what America will face if GregH and Honora’s buddies get back into power.
But it does NOT have to come to be. The pollsters always over-select Democrats to poll, and it is even likely that the polls may have been fixed outright in another media attempt to “manufacture consent” for a Democratic Party victory, ala 2002. They and their allies in the media clearly hope to flumox Republicans and conservatives into staying home on election day, and no tactic to achieve that goal of off the table.
I think that Rove and Bush are finding that despite the conspiracy between the Democrats and the media to overthrow the Republican majority in Congress, the Republicans will end up holding both Houses after the election, though with diminished majorites.
If they succeed in retaining control of Congress, the Republicans will have accomplished something that, historically, has been nearly impossible — reversing the historical trend –AGAIN– that conceeds control of Congress to the opposition party in off-Presidential elections, especially for the last two years in office.
And Rove will be, once again, an “evil genius” as far as Democrats are concerned.
THAT is why Rove and Bush are not weeping and wearing sack-cloth and ashes. They know that the Democrats won’t pull it off.
I certainly hope that they are correct!
georgej on October 16, 2006 at 2:47 PM
Oh, I capiche. But the administration’s actions on a number of fronts undermines its own case that it’s actually better than the Democrats. They need to be held to account for this, and I won’t apologize for doing so.
Bryan on October 16, 2006 at 2:51 PM
And a BIG tax on blow hards. That alone should get back the budget surplus.
honora on October 16, 2006 at 2:52 PM
I fervently hope the Dems take both houses, expect them to take the lower house. If Dems were truly cagey, they would try to lose both–and losing is something we know how to do. The strategy being to give the country 2 more years of unimpeded R rule and make the 08 election a real “had enough” campaign.
honora on October 16, 2006 at 2:54 PM
GUFFAW!
I love you too, Honora!
But notice, ladies and gentlemen, the COMMITTMENT TO FREE SPEECH that Democrats don’t have….
You see, I cut out my comments about the Democratic Party’s announced intent to reinstate the “Fairness Doctrine” in order to shut down Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, and rightwing blogs like mm.com, including this blog, Hot Air.
Thanks. Honora, for reminding us all how dangerous you Democrats are to freedom of speech.
georgej on October 16, 2006 at 3:07 PM
My pleasure love. That’s what I’m here for.
honora on October 16, 2006 at 3:23 PM
Come on, Bryan; you can’t be taken serious on this. Protest language and anger notwithstanding, everything you are saying is just more fuel on the fire for needing to keep the Dems out of power. On every single issue that is important to me*, the Republicans are a disappointment, but the Democrats are a disaster worthy of angry revolt.
(*illegal immigration,
spending,
national defense – the war on terror – Iraq,
the lower Federal courts and the Supreme Court,
election reform,
abortion,
the UN,
need I go on/you must be kidding/surely you’re kidding/ok, I get it, you’re kidding, right?)
Jaibones on October 16, 2006 at 4:56 PM
Actually, on spending, I think that’s the only issue it might be good to have Democrats in power for. Because Bush will veto their socialist agenda and the government will endure skeleton-thin budgets until 2008.
Grebrook on October 16, 2006 at 5:10 PM
I just ran across this at Newsmax …
Maybe it isn’t so inexplicable after all.
DannoJyd on October 16, 2006 at 5:37 PM
Whenever I think the Republicans are too cocky, too arrogant and self-serving, God sends me a reminder of the alternative.
Entelechy on October 16, 2006 at 5:57 PM
C’mon Bryan,
What have we been doing since the elections? Gaza and the West Bank are on the verge of wholesale collapse and Hamas and Fatah are lurching towards a civil war that the leadership cannot stop, but is doing what it can to slow. You seriously think that circumstances on the ground have not changed enough to warrent some changes in the kind of pressures we’re applying? Or at the very least on the specific joints and muscles in the Palestinian body politic that pressure is being applied to. The point of sanctions and pressure is not to break them. It’s to bend them. If we wanted to break them we could just shoot everyone there and save ourselves a lot of trouble.
“Hot Air” is right.
The Apologist on October 16, 2006 at 7:32 PM
I think that’s exactly what we were saying, and it bit us squarely, forgive, in the ass.
Axe on October 16, 2006 at 9:29 PM
Very close, AP. I believe the truth is worse than this delusion.
I believe the truth is, the White House trusts that its base will stick with it no matter how many times they have betrayed us, because we fear handing power to the Democrats.
They believe that they can presume upon our support because we wouldn’t dare do otherwise. And with that belief they know they needn’t spend any effort at all holding onto a base that is too terrified to hold them accountable by actually looking for someone with more constitutional integrity to vote for.
So, the true conservative is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Stuck between the patrician country-club Republicans, and the social humanist Democrats. There is no question which is the lesser of two evils, the question is when is enough enough?
Freelancer on October 17, 2006 at 5:06 AM
Entelechy, thank you for the ladies point of view …
That is not how I see them. Instead, I see them acting timidly, and believe they try too hard to get along with the LOSERS of the 04 elections. The truth may be that they are somewhere in the middle of those extremes, and that is indeed better than what the truly extremist socialist liberals offer America.
Axe, I cannot get upset over the idea of giving the power to vote for their government to any people. I am a believer that the masses will eventually make the choice right for them. That does take time though, and Man is known to be quite capable of frelling up a free meal.
DannoJyd on October 17, 2006 at 8:05 AM
Perhaps George has a pretty good idea that Kimberly NorKo will go for another nuke test and we’ll be back to who’s better at keeping us safe.
Speakup on October 17, 2006 at 10:23 AM
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