Month: February 2007

Double Standards of Political Correctness

Posted on by John Riewe

Funny how the response to what is said is determined by who says it. Let’s be honest-if a Republican commented that Barack Obama, the fresh young Senator from Illinois, is “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” well, the media, the DNC, the intelligentsia-heck, just about everyone-would waste no time in demanding an apology, and the more extreme factions within each of the aforementioned groups would be haughtily muttering accusations of racism just above their collective breaths. It obviously insinuates that prior to Mr. He’s-so-hot-right-now Obama’s rise to prominence, there existed no clean-cut and competent African American statesmen. That’s a pretty unequivocable slap in the face of the African-American community and beyond.

And yet, it was not a Republican congressman who remarked such. It was 2008 Presidential hopeful Joe Biden, a Democratic congressman from Deleware (CNN).  Now two weeks later, the incident seems to be all but forgotten. But it was not the only recent racially-insensitive remark by a congressman this month, and indeed another Democrat. South Carolina’s Robert Ford proclaimed earlier in the month that “Obama winning the primary would drag down the rest of the party…Every Democratic candidate running on that ticket would lose because he’s black and he’s at the top of the ticket” (Associated Press). Ford summed it up rather nicely: “I love Obama, but I’m not going to kill myself.”

Even if these remarks are made by Democrats in the context of Obama’s impact on the party, they still should provide a grand display of the mass hypocrisy of the party that claims to be the party of the minorities, the poor, the middle class, and of tolerance. If a Republican were to stand up and say Obama could not win the Presidency because he is Black, they would be burned in effigy. Somehow, these utterances from Democratic lips are easily forgiven and forgotten.

For reference, consider two historical cases. Republican Trent Lott made a racially-insensitive remark in 2003 and was forced to resign his post as majority leader in the Senate. Conversely, Robert Byrd, a documented Ku Klux Klan leader until at least the late 1940s, became in 2006 the longest serving Senator in US history (Wikipedia). Yes, he was a Democrat.

As long as Democrats can get away with publicly-voiced disrespect for African-Americans, no progress will be made toward a time where when we mention the Senator from Illinois, the parenthetical notation of his race is no longer obligatory. That, my fellow Americans, should be the real story here.

www.barackobama.com

Enough!

Posted on by John Riewe

americanrevolution is completely and utterly fed up with the news story that is gripping the nation. Not by the conclusions being drawn, nor a liberal slant that permeates the coverage. No. Something else makes the story utterly odious. That is, that it receives coverage at all. The story? The Great Tragic Saga of Anna Nicole. americanrevolution is of the opinion that the news–and correspondingly the attention of the populace–should focus on things that actually affect life, liberty and pursuit of American happiness. The outcome of the Anna Nicole debacle, quite simply, matters not one iota. A visiting foreigner would probably think otherwise if they picked up the current issue of Newsweek, which sports a banner advertising its Anna Nicole special inside, or flipped on Fox News last night to see Greta Van Susteren’s hourlong special on the Anna Nicole trials.

This ridiculous fixation speaks to two things. First, it underlines the fact that the media is not in it to inform, rather, the media is in it for the money; and dirty laundry sells. Second, it strongly suggests where Americans’ priorities lie. This story is best left to the entertainment media. I don’t want it headlining my news. Pardon the crusty demeanor, but this one just annoys the heck out of me.

Your opinions are welcome.

A Little More Talk, A Lot Less Action

Posted on by John Riewe

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David Welna’s piece for NPR (click here) captures the mood of the Senate as it debates the vote on the non-binding resolution condemning the President’s proposed “surge” of troops in Iraq. Obfuscation reigns as political posturing dictates the path to a vote (or not) on a resolution that effects nothing but to say that the majority of the Senate opposes the “surge.” This, folks, is Washington, D.C. at its best. Kansas’ Pat Roberts put it best:  “We appear like lemmings, splashing in the sea of public concern, frustration,  and anger over the war in Iraq.”

Wafa Sultan

Posted on by John Riewe

americanrevolution is convinced that Islamic Fundamentalism may be our long-awaited replacement for communism as a long-term ideological foe in another battle where the primacy of democratic government is at stake. One of the loud voices in the verbal arena has been Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American doctor who has come upon notoriety by way of her particularly harsh tirades against Islam. A New York Times piece from last March explains that “even as she settled into a comfortable middle-class American life, Dr. Sultan’s anger burned within. She took to writing, first for herself, then for an Islamic reform Web site called Annaqed (The Critic), run by a Syrian expatriate in Phoenix. An angry essay on that site by Dr. Sultan about the Muslim Brotherhood caught the attention of Al Jazeera, which invited her to debate an Algerian cleric on the air last July.” The interview earned Dr. Sultan numerous death threats. She evidently is still making the rounds in circles where her message is pertinent and maintains a website.

While this video has been around awhile, it is certainly worth watching if you haven’t seen it.

Disunity on Display

Posted on by John Riewe

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 Joe Lieberman said earlier this week that “For the Senate to take up a symbolic vote of no confidence on the eve of a decisive battle is unprecedented. But it is not inconsequential. It is an act which, I fear, will discourage our troops, hearten our enemies, and showcase our disunity.” A word to the Congress-ever heard of keeping your problems in-house? In this age of instant proliferation of information, this may be too much to ask. But Lieberman has a point. The carping about the war that permeates the media and now the Congress is ineffectual except to showcase for the world our disunity and haplessness in a time of near-crisis. Capitol Hill is very much the epicenter of the political world, and as such, the messages it sends to the world on behalf of the American people carry much weight. The Congress would do well to remember this.

It is undeniable that the Iraq venture is a mess, and presents almost the perfect Catch-22 scenario. The first response to such a situation is finger-pointing. This catharsis is soon followed by a move to develop a solution-ideally, that is. But in our case, the finger-pointing stage, inaugurated over two years ago, persists. The Iraqi Study Group was a useless exercise–a brief pause in the action. The anti-war faction has, in this past few years, developed no feasible alternatives to the President’s [perhaps deservedly] much-maligned “Stay the Course” approach.

Today, America finds itself in a situation where the winning strategy is elusive, but essential. In the meantime, through the valiant yet largely unsung  efforts of tens of thousands of American soldiers, the nation is at least treading water in Iraq. They face a the worst sort of enemy- a guerilla bound to destroy America or die trying. In the face of this, the clear message America is sending from it shores is that the majority disapprove of its President, and a great many would prefer to pull out of Iraq and declare defeat. This is a clear message of weakness. It is also a clear message to American troops that most Americans and their elected officials are ready to say the 3,000 troops that have died and many thousands more who suffered severe injury did so in vain.

 America should demand of its elected officials that after years of anti-war rhetoric it is high time they do their part to end the grand display of national disunity and shut up until they can provide some useful alternatives.