Quotes of the day

posted at 10:30 pm on January 5, 2010 by Allahpundit

“It simply makes no sense to treat an al Qaeda-trained operative willing to die in the course of massacring hundreds of people as a common criminal. Reports indicate that Abdulmutallab stated there were many more like him in Yemen but that he stopped talking once he was read his Miranda rights. President Obama’s advisers lamely claim Abdulmutallab might be willing to agree to a plea bargain – pretty doubtful you can cut a deal with a suicide bomber. John Brennan, the President’s top counterterrorism adviser, bizarrely claimed ‘there are no downsides or upsides’ to treating terrorists as enemy combatants. That is absurd. There is a very serious downside to treating them as criminals: terrorists invoke their ‘right’ to remain silent and stop talking. Terrorists don’t tell us where they were trained, what they were trained in, who they were trained by, and who they were trained with. Giving foreign-born, foreign-trained terrorists the right to remain silent does nothing to keep Americans safe from terrorist threats. It only gives our enemies access to courtrooms where they can publicly grandstand, and to defense attorneys who can manipulate the legal process to gain access to classified information.

“President Obama was right to change his policy and decide to send no more detainees to Yemen where they can be free to rejoin their war on America. Now he must back off his reckless plan to close Guantanamo, begin treating terrorists as wartime enemies not suspects alleged to have committed crimes, and recognize that the real nature of the terrorist threat requires a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor.”

***
“There’s a gruesome anomaly here, to be sure: the United States government will blow you to smithereens and consider it a good day’s work if you’re a Qaeda member dreaming of jihadist glory while residing somewhere outside the United States, but will pay for your lawyer if you get caught in the act within our borders. But this anomaly didn’t arise with the Obama administration. It is built into our dual role as a liberal democracy and as a legitimately aggrieved superpower…

“Members of Al Qaeda are not the only ones affected by this double standard. The most repulsive and obviously guilty child molester — or drug kingpin who may also have information that the government could use — gets American justice, while an innocent child killed accidentally in our pursuit of terrorists gets no justice at all. (This second part of the equation doesn’t seem to bother the Cheneys and the Gingriches.) Any place you draw the line, it will be possible to come up with what lawyers call ‘a parade of horribles.’ Any line you draw can be made to seem absurd, because it is absurd. But the line must be drawn somewhere…

“American justice is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card. Obviously guilty murderers rarely escape punishment here. We have nothing to be ashamed of, little to fear and much to be proud of in choosing to err on the side of treating captured foreign terrorists as we would treat any upstanding American who tried to blow up an airplane full of people.”

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Trackbacks/Pings

Trackback URL

Comments

Comment pages: 1 2 3 4

his ordained Democrat replacement won’t have his taint unless the Republicans play real hard ball with the issue of democrat Corruption.

Holger on January 6, 2010 at 1:08 AM

I disagree, Dodd’s “hand” picked off spring has the stench of Dodd. same same. I tuned out two years of “it’s Bush’s third term” when the reality is it’s like Carter part II.
Turn about is fair play. It’s Dodd’s twentieth term.

Blacksmith8 on January 6, 2010 at 9:09 AM

This is what I mean when I stated you don’t understand…it stops interrogations without an attorney present….you didn’t know that?
You know, the right to have an attorney present…

What makes me angry (not you, most of what you post you can’t believe either) is that Obama knows the information retained from Gitmo, he knows the value of it…he knows how detailed it is…my nephew spent 2 years interrogating, he never said specifics, but he said the info was stunning, just from casual conversations without any one but him and the prisoner…he stated “I absolutely guarantee that what info we gleamed from just the lowest detainee, saved thousand of American lives”…Obama knows this, he knows the added value of using the military court system, but he refuses….the question liberals have to ask is Why? For what purpose? What real purpose, not the talking points you are fed (and obviously cut and paste), but in a soul searching way, what real purpose is served by giving terrorists access to attorneys that can keep information from us? And (since you are still in school this does not pertain to you) are you willing to risk your family for this “gift”?

And the list of security problems and mass recruiting successes from previous prosecutions includes…?

Bleeds Blue on January 6, 2010 at 8:23 AM

I have no idea what you are stating…nor do you, that is cut a pasted from some liberal site, and then you just included it in your post. I think you meant to paste that in some other post…that’s okay, it is confusing to you, I understand.

right2bright on January 6, 2010 at 8:53 AM

miranda means that you can’t use information obtained in an interrogation in court. It doesn’t mean that the military or whomever can’t lock him in a room for three weeks and see what he’ll cough up about Yemen. His testimony is not going to be needed in court.

Regarding the second section, I’m saying that, for all the handwringing about classifies information and days in court, there’s no evidence that previous terror trials have either compromised our security or provided terrorists a platfor from which to recruit.

Bleeds Blue on January 6, 2010 at 9:14 AM

No, she had me at “death panels”.

Fishoutofwater on January 6, 2010 at 4:48 AM

I liked her August 29th, but when she spoke that Wednesday, all I could hear was Ronnie. I am resolved.
 
I’ll stick with Sarah.
 
FREEDOM!

Blacksmith8 on January 6, 2010 at 9:23 AM

I love this woman.
Our country needs this woman.
Palin 2012.

lonestar1 on January 6, 2010 at 9:31 AM

I agree, we had Dodd beat by double digits in some polls. Now we have to start all over again. Rob Simmons was a guaranteed winner against Dodd in every single poll that I saw.

And I suspect that Blumenthal will announce this week he is running for Dodd’s seat. I think he wants that more than the governorship.

Johnnyreb on January 6, 2010 at 6:42 AM

Simmons has an advantage of name recognition at this point. He has already defeated incumbent Chris Dodd at this point, making him appear strong on issues and trustworthy in the minds of voters, but with the same advantage of Blumenthal, as having no congressional voting record, outsider status.

It will be a tougher race, but the Democrats have really harmed their brand image. They are seen as corrupt, weak on national security and ineffective. None of this helps them.

chunderroad on January 6, 2010 at 9:33 AM

I have no idea what you are stating…nor do you, that is cut a pasted from some liberal site, and then you just included it in your post. I think you meant to paste that in some other post…that’s okay, it is confusing to you, I understand.

right2bright on January 6, 2010 at 8:53 AM

LOL That smackdown was delivered with such charming manners! Very well done.

chunderroad on January 6, 2010 at 9:36 AM

miranda means that you can’t use information obtained in an interrogation in court….

Regarding the second section, I’m saying that, for all the handwringing about classifies information and days in court, there’s no evidence that previous terror trials have either compromised our security or provided terrorists a platfor from which to recruit.

Bleeds Blue on January 6, 2010 at 9:14 AM

Oh my, you really don’t understand do you? It is not just the “miranda rights” that you receive moving it from Military to civilian…but it won’t matter to you, you don’t want to understand, and if you did (and you may) you would just ignore it.
As for your second part…”There is no evidence” is once again a talking point, not a valid argument. No one has ever done a Gallup poll of this in AQ or the Taliban….sheesh. If you think these trials go unnoticed, as they drag on for weeks and months, allowing for their slanted reporting…well I just don’t know how to answer something that is so apparent, so obvious. That is your problem, not mine to explain the obvious.
But being on a world stage, advocating your position, if you don’t think that helps, okay, you are not very sophisticated…when you get out of school you will begin to understand these simplest of concepts.
As usual, nothing accomplished, you are embedded in your talking points, you consider this a liberal vs. conservative position, like many on the left…I consider this a national security, military problem.
Someday you will learn that some things are not defined by liberal or conservative political views…many thoughts and actions transcend that simple thought process…this is one of them.
Political leaders, like Obama, can’t afford to step back and see the “cross over”, he has to maintain his voting base. You are doing a good job for him…

right2bright on January 6, 2010 at 9:41 AM

LOL That smackdown was delivered with such charming manners! Very well done.

chunderroad on January 6, 2010 at 9:36 AM

I didn’t mean it as a smackdown, I actually thought that he posted the wrong item in the wrong thread…it didn’t match up, or he wasn’t clear…he later cleared it up, but it was the fact that he took a simple talking point and tried to make it his own…it didn’t work, so he went back to the “no evidence” tripe…he is a kid in school, winding his way through an adult world, he will learn…

right2bright on January 6, 2010 at 9:44 AM

Regarding the second section, I’m saying that, for all the handwringing about classifies information and days in court, there’s no evidence that previous terror trials have either compromised our security or provided terrorists a platform from which to recruit.

Bleeds Blue on January 6, 2010 at 9:14 AM

How many of these former Gitmo detainees went back to Yemen and rejoined AQ and began actively recruiting? A perceived weakness in our justice system and clear guidelines about what we will and will not do is an extraordinary incentive to attack us.

You should read Andy McCarthy’s piece on NRO about the Moussaoui conviction upheld by the Fourth Circuit US Court of Appeals.This part in particular:

The appellate court notes that Moussaoui claims it was error for the trial judge to interfere with his unqualified right to represent himself; “to have personal, pretrial access to classified, exculpatory evidence”; and to be able to summon witnesses like co-conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed for trial testimony. The Fourth Circuit acknowledges that all these claims have merit, but the court finds that Moussaoui, by pleading guilty, waived any claim of prejudice. Opinion at pp. 24–28. Even more alarming, the Fourth Circuit concedes that its waiver rationale is inconsistent with a decision by the Ninth Circuit on which Moussaoui relies — i.e., if the Fourth Circuit had followed the Ninth Circuit, there’s a good chance it would have had to agree that, regardless of the guilty plea, Moussaoui’s convictions should be reversed.

chunderroad on January 6, 2010 at 9:49 AM

No matter how much the socialists clobber Palin and her family she keeps on swinging, and I love a fighter.

Sickest thing in her book was finding out that she received a letter from a New Jersey commie threatening to “shoot Bristol’s pregnant body from a helicopter.”

What this woman and her family has been through is absolutely unbelievable. And unforgiveable.

But she keeps on throwing out her Facebook ninja throwing stars and hitting Hussein right where a real man’s gonads would be.

I. Love. This Woman.

BlueStateBilly on January 6, 2010 at 9:59 AM

As a Palinista, I do like the FB post. I could list the things I thought were outstanding in it, but most of it has already been commented upon.

The NYT piece, though, that’s the product of a weak mind.

All a terrorist has to do is make it to U.S. soil, and he gets all the rights of an “upstanding” U.S. citizen?

I don’t think that’s how the founders felt during the Revolution, fighting against the British….

cs89 on January 6, 2010 at 10:06 AM

gary4205 on January 6, 2010 at 4:28 AM

Thanks for the link!

lovingmyUSA on January 6, 2010 at 10:13 AM

Regarding the second section, I’m saying that, for all the handwringing about classifies information and days in court, there’s no evidence that previous terror trials have either compromised our security or provided terrorists a platfor from which to recruit.

Bleeds Blue on January 6, 2010 at 9:14 AM

You might want to try googling “the Blind Shiek” and see what you find…
Here is just a few tidbits:
Four Charged With Helping Blind Sheik Spread Terror…
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=20020410&id=JT0VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uggEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6532,4168613

Breaking: Terror-abetting attorney ordered to prison immediately
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/11/17/terror-abetting-attorney-ordered-to-prison-immediately/

lovingmyUSA on January 6, 2010 at 10:28 AM

But she keeps on throwing out her Facebook ninja throwing stars and hitting Hussein right where a real man’s gonads would be.

I. Love. This Woman.

BlueStateBilly on January 6, 2010 at 9:59 AM

Now I;m seeing Ninja Stars whenever I think of Palin!!! Whereas I was picturing a knife throw right between the legs–not hard to do since Obami has no b@lls!

lovingmyUSA on January 6, 2010 at 10:32 AM

Woe to Connecticut, for we are about to swap a rattlesnake for a death adder. To paraphrase the Good Book, “nothing good can come from Connecticut…”

Beg to disagree here. The “Connecticut Compromise” during the Constitutional Convention led to the U.S. Senate, with equal representation for each STATE, not each voter. Without the Senate, where would we be now with Obama and Pelosi running EVERYTHING?

Connecticut also gave us Joe Lieberman. While I don’t agree with everything he does, he has been a major thorn in Obama’s side, which is a good thing for America.

Steve Z on January 6, 2010 at 11:45 AM

I wish they made Sarah Palin pajamas to go with my Sarah Palin coffee mug and Sarah Palin toothbrush.

royzer on January 6, 2010 at 11:47 AM

Kingsley vs Palin. I choose Palin. Dang she sounds strong. Our President, not so much. Don’t hurt yourself surfing Prez!

Sultry Beauty on January 6, 2010 at 11:52 AM

***
I’ve almost finished reading Sarah Palin’s GOING ROGUE book. Her strength, honesty, good judgement, and solid American and Christian values stand out in stark contrast to President Obama (PBUH) and his congressional and government minion’s lack of these values.
***
Apparently cold Alaska air provides better thinking than the Beltway atmosphere does. SARAH PALIN for POTUS, JOHN BOLTON for VP in 2012–the AMERICA FIRST ticket. Teaparty these CorruptocRATS and RINO’s at all opportunities. Vote them out in 2010 and 2012–while we still have some of America remaining–before the transformation into the United Socialist States of Amerika is completed.
***
John Bibb
***

rocketman on January 6, 2010 at 12:50 PM

This is addressed to those conservative Republicans who do not support Sarah Palin becomes of her supposed lack of foreign affairs knowledge or general credentials. Let me ask you 10 questions:

1)Would Sarah Palin sell America down the river and not defend American interests?
NO!
2)Would Sarah Palin every apologize for America?
NO!
3)Would Sarah Palin advocate reading terrorists their rights?
NO!
4)If POTUS would Sarah Palin refrain from surrounding herself with the best military minds available to give her advice?
NO!
5)Would Sarah Palin engage in a war not to win?
NO!
6)In 18 months (beginning of primary debates) would you consider it inconceivable that Palin would have a better grasp on foreign affairs?
NO!
7)Could you deny that Palin is a Reagan conservative?
NO!
8)Is there any other conservative that has a NATIONAL FOLLOWING now and has a reasonable chance to gain the 2012 GOP nomination?
NO!
9)Is there any other Republican could unite the Tea Party Movement with the GOP?
NO!
10)Does any other Republican/conservative come even close to being Obama’s #1 nemesis?
NO!

So if you are a conservative Republican and do not support or would never vote for Palin I will call you out: either you are a misogynist or you are delusional to believe that another conservative Republican will emerge over the next 18 months that could gain major traction and forge ahead of Huckabee, Romney and Palin at the end. As to the latter scenario if this person exists where is he or she?

Here is my two cents regarding the next primary cycle. This will not be a race where “newcomers” (dark horses) will gain any traction. The battle lines have been drawn between Romney, Palin and Huckabee. It is what it is. If you don’t like this choice, lament all you want if you are a conservative Republican, but you cannot with intellectual honesty claim you did not vote because there was no conservative on the ballot. Palin is a conservative; come clean and admit it that you don’t want to see a woman as POTUS and that you are a misogynist.

technopeasant on January 6, 2010 at 7:54 AM

Just too damned good not to re-post!

I’m going further than that though.

Anyone, and I mean absolutely EVERYONE that doesn’t think that Sarah Palin will be taking the Oath of Office on January 20, 2013, after a near Reagan 1984 sized victory, is bordering on irreversible stupidity.

Of COURSE she will be the next President! She is absolutely the toughest, roughest, meanest fighter we have.

What makes Sarah Palin the democrat/communists’ absolute worst bete noire is the the way she thinks. This is a woman who said “Politically, if I die, I die, but I won’t sit down, and I won’t shut up!”

In other words, defeating evil, destroying these people, Obama and his thugs, is more important to her than attaining higher office!

Sarah has dropped this quote on quite a few occasions:

“There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit” ___Ronald Reagan

This is how Sarah thinks, how Sarah works. This is how ALL truly great leaders think, and work.

Sarah doesn’t lust after power, she lusts after RESULTS!

You simply cannot defeat someone like Sarah Palin, not long term. Oh, you might win a battle or two, but you will never, ever win the war!

At this point, we need to focus on 2010 and if we speak of Sarah and 2012, think of who we would like to see in her administration. That is all that is left to be decided!

gary4205 on January 6, 2010 at 1:28 PM

Thanks for the link!

lovingmyUSA on January 6, 2010 at 10:13 AM

You’re welcome!

gary4205 on January 6, 2010 at 1:34 PM

Take your cheap accusations and go f*ck yourself.

ddrintn on January 6, 2010 at 12:57 AM

Meh…

This is going to fun.

Seven Percent Solution on January 6, 2010 at 1:51 AM

Meh…

Yeah, people screeching “racist” are always entertaining.

ddrintn on January 6, 2010 at 4:35 PM

Sorry I couldn’t get back until now, my computer went on the blink not too long after I posted last night. So, I know I’m playing catch-up and don’t want to hijack the thread; just to quickly recap the point and call for emails from those who love the Lord.

Many thanks to my fellow HotAirHeads who have supported the idea that we shouldn’t have to read posts that use the initials OMG with the F bomb attached. Please write same to writemalkin@gmail.com.

Every time I see those initals used by a poster, which thankfully is not too often, I am taken by suprise and forced to have a blasphemy shotgunned into my brain. If the word w**kie (the Star Wars character) can’t be used in any HA post, but is instead filtered out, then something much worse surely needs the same treatment. God bless all.

tigerlily on January 6, 2010 at 4:38 PM

gary4205 on January 6, 2010 at 1:28 PM

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++infinity!

tigerlily on January 6, 2010 at 4:41 PM

Ah the irony of it all: Chairman Maobowma will literally spend millions of taxpayer dollars to give enemy combatant terrorists access to our overburdened courts systems, free legal representation, a worldwide stage in which to demean and degrade our country, while foregoing opportunities to protect US citizens.

But, when money was spent on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe, all hell broke loose, fueled by an out of control, state-run media.

Alice, can you please lead out of this f’ing wonderland we’re in? We seem to have taken a wrong left turn…

November 2, 2010

Sweet_Thang on January 6, 2010 at 4:43 PM

Ah the irony of it all: Chairman Maobowma will literally spend millions of taxpayer dollars to give enemy combatant terrorists access to our overburdened courts systems, free legal representation, a worldwide stage in which to demean and degrade our country, while foregoing opportunities to protect US citizens.
But, when money was spent on Sarah Palin’s wardrobe, all hell broke loose, fueled by an out of control, state-run media.

Sweet_Thang on January 6, 2010 at 4:43 PM

And let’s not forget the incredible danger our intelligence community will face as KSM’s lawyers demand discovery; obama literally putting American agent’s lives on the line to aid and abet the enemy.

Now, we conservatives will have to start pushing hard for his resignation/impeachment because of the very reason you stated so succintly. We need to face it, and not be afraid of being labeled “impeacher” or “hysterical-er”

The fact is our CinC is providing aid and comfort to the enemy in a time of war. We should be raising the roof. With the latest terror attack fresh on our minds, and with the danger it will be swept away and forgotten like Major Hasan has (how weird is that?!), we need to strike while the iron is hot: resignation/impeachment, for the reasons above and a multitude of other high crimes and misdemeanors that berri has commited since inauguration 2009.

We know the odds of resignation/impeachment are long, but the journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step. We need to stop asking why he does what he does, and start demanding he go because of what he has done.

And if by a miracle of God, we take the House and Senate, then impeachment becomes a real possibility and it is a necessity to save the nation, even with a Republican Congress, because of all the damge berri can do with his executive powers and appointments which Congress is shut out of.

tigerlily on January 6, 2010 at 6:04 PM

tigerlily on January 6, 2010 at 6:04 PM

Got your Six on last nites posts…
Consider the source…small minds need to use the shock factor…

jerrytbg on January 6, 2010 at 7:32 PM

Got your Six on last nites posts…
Consider the source…small minds need to use the shock factor…

jerrytbg on January 6, 2010 at 7:32 PM

Thanks jerry. It’s nice to know there are so many good folks on this site.

tigerlily on January 6, 2010 at 10:13 PM

Comment pages: 1 2 3 4