4. Turkish Delight? I have real reservations of the method of Obama’s outreach to Turkey. Of course, all outreach is good in some sense. But the Turkish government is whipping up Islamic fundamentalism, has a long record of questionable behavior vis a vis the Kurds, poses real problems with membership to the European Union, and uses NATO for blackmail as much as participation (now they want an apology from the new NATO chief for not censoring a cartoon). Cyprus and Aegean overflights are not signs of multipolar world citizenship. And when we collate our histories–Ottoman/Turkish (e.g., long imperial enemy of the West, German imperial ally in World War I, rather tough on the Armenians, Nazi-friendly in World War II, quite murderous in Cyprus) versus American–I don’t see any reason to kow-tow.
5. Casting the First Stone. I wrote this on NRO’s Corner on the really bothersome habit of “America bad, but me magnanimous in apologies for it”, which in its essence is a form of narcissism that focuses applause on self, at the expense of the reputation of one’s country.
In this great age of atonement, in a mere two or three days the world has been reminded that (1) the U.S. has been arrogant; (2) dismissive and derisive to Europe; (3) was a slave-owning society; (4) practiced genocide against native Americans; (5) did not let blacks vote; (6) was the only nation to have used nuclear weapons; (7) embraced torture; (8) alienated the world under Bush, and on and on. The subtext has been that those of a different race, of a different era, or under a different president have done terrible things, which I, from my own moral Olympus, must now apologize for.
A modest suggestion: from now on, every president who wishes to go abroad and review all his lesser citizens’ collective past and present sins, with accompanying apologies — to applause from foreigners — must first, in the spirit of New Testament atonement, review his own regrettable transgressions. It would go something like this:
“Today we witness a global financial meltdown — a result of a dangerous nexus between lax politicians and unethical high finance. I know this well, and wish to apologize for taking thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the now-bankrupt AIG financial firm, which sought to escape proper regulation by offering campaign contributions to politicians like myself, who unilaterally renounced the three-decade tradition of public campaign finance.”
“Smoking is a great plague on the world, killing millions each year and giving great profits to modern merchants of death. I, President Obama, as a long smoker, know that temptation well and the global health problems entailed with tobacco addiction. We all also most avoid the perils of drug usage, a plague on all our nations. I can attest that as a youth I used cocaine, not only endangering my health, but doing my small part to send profits back to drug cartels abroad that cause so much death and destruction.”
“Racism is an insidious pathology that reaches even into the pulpit; it is a human sin that no one race has a monopoly on. I am well aware of the havoc it causes the innocent — after failing to say “No! Stop!” to my own Rev. Wright as he caricatured in my church whites, Jews, Italians, and almost anyone else who does not look like himself and our congregation. Likewise, class prejudice and stereotyping are often at the heart of much of the world’s problems; I too have engaged in such hurtful condemnations when just recently I labeled, in blanket fashion, the working class of rural Pennsylvania as xenophobes, fundamentalists, and nativists.”
“We need to adopt a new attitude toward the mentally and physically challenged; too often we flippantly make fun of the disabled, as I did, when I unthinkingly made a joke in front of a national television audience at the expense of those who participate in the Special Olympics.”
“Now turning to my country’s own regrettable past, let me begin with an apology for its . . .”
________________________________
Footnote. The once insightful Fox News is rapidly devolving into a sort of entertainment circus. That is a tragedy, since the network for years has done wonders in offering an antithesis to the supposedly non-biased biased network news. Each news show now interviews hosts from the other Fox news hours (To save money? Free publicity?). Hawking books (written in short, breezy style, without much analysis) is done on the air rather than as commercials. Anchors show old clips of themselves and invite in analysts to praise their on-air interviews (are they going to be invited back if critical?).
The hosts now constantly blare out their own ratings. Murder and rapine often headline the news in the manner of the local 6PM affiliates. Quiz shows are part of the news; female analysts are almost always either young or blond or usually both, rather than simply insightful. The sober and judicious Brit Hume’s presence is missed. Take away a few top-notch correspondents, and Charles Krauthammer’s sagacity and depth of thinking, and there is increasingly not a lot there. (but I like Neil Cavuto’s business hour and Dennis Miller’s op-eds) All in all, an unfortunate development, since there is no disinterested counterpart to a 60 Minutes or NBC News, and for years Fox offered an invaluable alternative in airing real news deliberately ignored by the mainstream networks.
VDH:
#4 — I don’t see any reason either to kowtow to the Turks. That said, I disagree with the gist of this paragraph. I don’t think the history of the Ottoman Empire is pertinent to a discussion of our present relations with the Turkish Republic. They are different entities entirely. And whatever the demerits of Turkish democracy, that country is an invaluable asset to us re our efforts to check Russia’s Eurasian policy (They are less valuable as a Muslim partner in the ME, IMO). Turkey is not perfect by any means. The Kurds, Cyprus etc are the baggage they come with. However, they are at the proverbial tipping point regarding their future orientation as a nation. The present Islamist government is a consequence of not integrating Turkey firmly into the European fold. The Europeans made the same mistake with the Turks that they did with their own Muslim populations, and with the same result. We shouldn’t follow their example and bash the Turks into becoming the next Iran.
regretfully I agree with you about Fox News and its decline. I find myself looking forward to Neil Cavuto, FBC and Bret Hume’s old show. The daytime stuff is so common, only occasionally do they run really interesting stories. I see no reason for running anything by Rivera, please stop having Huckabee come on.
Dr. Hanson:
Have you ever heard that old saying, “The truest test of a man’s intelligence is the extent to which he agrees with you”? Dr. Hanson, you could not be more correct about the recent and lamentable decline of Fox News, which is showing ever-more ‘infotainment’ and less hard news and analysis all the time. Bill O’Reilly seems especially vapid lately, as his guest commentators grown younger and less-worldly by the day. I’ll admit to being something of a curmudgeon-in-waiting as a man in his 40s, but it is very hard to take seriously these neophyte ‘experts’ who haven’t lived long enough to know whereof they speak. What ever happened to the idea that wisdom is a product of age and experience? Nowadays, in order to appear on “The O’Reilly Factor,” one must be young, female, preferably blond and physically attractive. In other words, you’ve got to be in Bill’s “Blonde Brigade”! Oh, it helps to be a minority also. Regretably, age discrimination is alive and well at FNC, because recently I haven’t seen many over-40 guests on their shows recently, let alone anyone over 60.
Ironically, one of the witiest FNC shows is Greg Gutfeld’s “Red Eye,” which targets the edgy, hip, youth market. Gutfeld himself is very informed and incisive, but manages to keep it light without being angry. Not an easy feat, but he does it. I am most dismayed about Bill O’Reilly’s slide to the left now that Obama is in the White House. O’Reilly goes on and on about being “independent and non-partisan” but lately ends up short-shrifting conservative viewpoints altogether ion his haste to appear inclusive of leftist viewpoints. Doesn’t he realize that we can get all the leftist news and comment we want elsewhere? I tune in to FNC BECAUSE it is conservative, not in spite of that fact. If they lose Krauthammer, Cavuto and Miller, I’ll be right behind them. Although I often disagree with him, I also admire Juan Williams, who is classy and well-spoken.
If anyone at FNC is reading this, please hire the following as soon as possible: 1. Michelle Malkin 2. Laura Ingraham 3. Dennis Prager, and make VDH your historical correspondant. Then, we’d be getting somewhere!
If we choose to blame the press for not vetting Obama, then we ought to ask ourselves why “we the people” didn’t demand more. Either one of two answers is possible, and neither offers much hope for the future.
We either knew who and what Obama was and represents, or we simply didn’t care. We either looked deep into his past and saw a socialist/pacifist/delusional narcissist, who had no scruples and standards whatsoever and said “he’s the one”, or he simply made us feel good with the narcotic of “hope and change” and we just wanted a temporary high to relieve us the pains of our current existence.
It is impossible that any thinking person can honestly believe that borrowing/printing and spending upwards of 10 – 15 trillion dollars is anything but a major catastrophe in the making. Yet the public, save a relatively small cadre of tea party attendees, is inattentive, perhaps by choice.
That there was not national outrage over the bow to the Saudi king probably says more than anything else. There has never been, at least as far as I can recall, such a disgraceful, disgusting, and dishonorable act by a US president. By former presidents, yeah, Carter certainly has done his share, but not by a sitting president.
Footnote:
Fox News
Glenn Beck is actually offering insightful and penetrating news with humor. He is what O’Reilly used to be.
Couldn’t agree me, especially #5. And I’m with you about Fox News (I think you’re referring to O’Reilly).. his show has become entirely lame. Although I must say I don’t mind the female anchors.
Yes, Mr. Hanson, FOX was better then, it seems they decide that since the “0″ne completely ignores them they needed to bring out the sexual eye candy to keep its viewers, very sad.. I was hoping they would turn it around on the greatest man on earth (sarcasm) and be the pit bull that would shreds his gloriousness at every opportunity and hound the facts out of everything they said.
I can’t help but notice the similarities between Obama and Michael Moore when they travel abroad. Both trash America for their own advantage, and both seem ignorant of real-life everyday Europe. I’d say that there is only about a hundred pounds (literally) of difference between them.
It appears that you are correct and in the Obamaworld, everything revolves around him and exists to make him shine. He is the core, the gravitational that brings the world together. The difference in class between his actions and former President Bush’s is stark. Frankly, this does not wear well – which ultimately is a good thing, except that it invites bad things to happen while he remains in office.
I suspect that if we are attacked, the over reaction will be significant as it will become a personal attack on “the one” and a sin that transcends all others.
I only watch Special Report and Cavuto so, while I miss Brit Hume, I have not noticed a marked deterioration on Fox. I started off disliking most of the rest of their programming and so simply did/do not watch.
And all of this was just the past week.
The country may never recover by the end of his first term.
Is Canada taking new apps for residents ?
The hopes, dreams and prayers of an entire race of people depended entirely on the actions and personal conduct of one man.
Every time Obama bad mouths America, former President Bush, our citizens and/or our policies he also insults, trashes and spits into the face of the entire black race.
That he drove a stake through the heart and earnest yearning of these, his own people will be Obama’s enduring legacy. They had earned and they richly deserved much better.
As the nuclear wagons of other world powers circle around the “big, bad, mean USA”…0bama can apologize for our sins as the mushroom clouds and human carnage erupt around him and the country he so loves to hate implodes under all of the taxes and debt he is imposing.
[I agree about Fox News devolving into a 'where it bleeds it leads' show and I won't deny the 'Fox Girls' do have a heavy investment in lip gloss and eye-shadow but they are gorgeous]. lol
Another winner sir. The only thing more mind-numbing than watching the Obama photo-ops is getting them analyzed by a former model working in news.
Thanks Doc for another great article. You keep getting better while Fox sinks into a decline.
It’s a very mixed up world…at least for me. Despite the past few months, Obama’s approval rating is 66% (CBS – Wash. Post poll) and 59% Rasmussen poll. If Bush had been making all of these gaffs and policy blunders I doubt his approval rating would be more than 10%. There really must be a lot of Kool Aid drinkers out there.
Yet, how much longer can this charade continue? Surely, the natural forces of the universe will collapse this house of cards. There are headlines about the need for huge amounts of additional bail out money, our foreign adversaries have been encouraged and both the president and the Congress seem completely inept. Will the economy cave in first or will we be surprised by an audacious enemy attack from which we’ll never recover?
As one PJ contributor observed we are living in a generation where people expect and demand free stuff; music downloads, video downloads, software, cell phone minutes, etc. I don’t have much confidence in an irate public rising up and taking back our country before it’s too late. Unfortunately, the Eloi have won and we Morlocks are confined to an underworld, never to see the light of day again.
“They like me, they really like me” . . . The europeans (and many of our past present and future adversaries) finally have what they have dreamed of since Eisenhauer, a weak American President (dare I say, even weaker than Carter?). A man who’s chief concern is his own popularity (hence the perpetual campaigning) followed by his country’s and finally followed by ideology (and damn the consequences!). He is like salted popcorn, fills your stomach with zero food value. Perhaps for the criminal socialists (like ACORN) he is a blessing, perhaps for Vertical Partisans (who’s free thinking stops at party lines) he’s an opportunity. For the rest of us? We have to succeed in spite of him. The danger (as I see it) is when this suit convinces a people that their only hope is in him/government. His line after Wagners firing ” I’ve always supported the unions and their families . . .but I might not be able to do much about . . .” sounds like the typical line from racial hucksters like Jackson, Sharpton and dictators like Chavez and Khaddafi. We must convince our own that they have the right, the duty, the obligation to aspire to great things and the willingness to work and sacrifice to live up to those aspirations.
#5″The subtext has been that those of a different race, of a different era, or under a different president have done terrible things, which I, from my own moral Olympus, must now apologize for.”
How much pride this man has.
“Pride cometh before the fall”
OBAMA’S EUROPEAN OUTREACH
Twice in the 20th century The United States saves Europe from annihilating itself and spends in excess of 12 billion dollars (in 2009 dollars 115 billion) on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe and billions more defending Europe from itself.
Europe refuses to help fight al Qaeda and other Islamic terrorists in Iraq and derisively criticizes the United States for liberating 28 million Iraqis from a terrorist supporting genocidal stalinist.
And Europe largely refuses to supply combat troops for the just war in Afghanistan.
A know-nothing arrogant POTUS attempts to assuage European guilt by apologizing for American arrogance and derisiveness.
I don’t thing it’s Fox News who has changed. America has made a 180° left turn.
It first became frustrating for me to watch the news once Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid became the new stars in American politics in 2006. Now the whole Democrat party is in power. Meaning more Dems on your TV screen.
Remember Fox was bashed right and left before it got to this point. People are making the same argument they were making 4 years ago. Too much. Not enough. Times are crazy. But Fox has never stopped giving voice to all points of view. It was always direct, entertaining and informative. Even sexy. Most importantly, real, smart and warm. I live in Europe. Americans should be proud to have such a News channel representing the country. Otherwise you were stuck forever with CNN. Syrupy; old fashion. Not exactly the image I would envision when I thought about America, my Beloved. I’m not American.
“fair and balanced” and
“We report, you decide”
It can’t be more clear.
At the moment, since I watch much less Fox myself, I’m addicted to the “The Strategy Room”. (Foxnews.com). If you didn’t know already.
Lastly if you get high while watching her news, you will always be in good hands. God’s arms. In a dangerous world, it’s a miracle having access to Fox (i.e. the forever benevolent America watching over you) in your living room, wherever you live, whenever you wish. Despite the Dems being in power at the moment. At least the energy and the love coming from its numerous anchors give me power and confidence in the future in this otherwise very fucked up world where lies, ignorance and hysteria seem to always win the jackpot.
GBeck is entertaining and enlightening too but frankly I can’t watch him every night. It’s too much to bear for me. That’s why you need a little dose of Kumbaya Geraldo to cool down a bit. After all, that’s how our own fear and hysteria can be controlled. And our personal opinion forged. Wisely. Happily. Lightly.
Professor,
I blogged about this a few weeks ago, and have still been wondering: Is there any precedent in history for a president trashing his predecessor in this way? I thought there was supposed to be an unwritten law about civility and dignity that prevented this from ever happening. The much maligned predecessor Bush never even hinted that Clinton failed to deal with terrorism. I was really young then, but I don’t remember Reagan constantly whining about Carter. He just got to work. More than anything, this is what really turns people off to Obama. One of my activists students yesterday even admitted this. It was the one place where we did agree: Obama spends more time playing the childish, “He did it, not me” card than he does leading.
I thought it was a mistake for MSNBC and CNN to become left-wing “news” services – I no longer watch any of their non-business programming. I also think it was unfortunate that Fox decided to become the right-wing channel. So much for fair and balanced.
Gretchen Carlsen – In 1989, before starting her television career, she was the first classical violinist to be crowned Miss America. In 1990, Carlson graduated with honors from Stanford University and also studied at Oxford University in England.
Megyn Kelly happens to be a knockout and a lawyer and sharp-minded and opinionated. A truly rare combination.
Harris Faulkner has received six Emmy Awards including the 2004 Emmy for Best Newscaster and Best News Special. As a graduate from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in mass communications.
Besides which, she’s a concert-quality pianist.
All these ladies are more conservative in their stated views, than all the other news readers on the other channels combined; plus they’re gorgeous! What’s not to like?
And, all the female Fox reporters, despite their good looks, rarely slant the news.
I agree that the material/topics chosen by the FOXNews’ producers has moved Left, becoming somewhat less controversial and less focused on some of the more critical issues. But, the audience has moved Left, so they must compete, or be relegated to PBS status.
On balance, Fox provides truer news coverage, by an order of magnitude, than all the other networks combined. If Fox were to present the actual picture, anymore than they do, they’d be a CSPAN-like doom and gloom show 24/7. Who’d watch that?
I’d suggest our critiques not be directed at “shooting the messengers” because they are the best looking and talented group available (maybe ever assembled), as Fox is the only TV outlet that serves the US cause.
I miss Brit’s daily input too, But most of all, I really miss TONY SNOW.
An excellent article. Many thanks for your continued thoughtful and insightful writing.
As for FNC, I have to agree with much of your criticism. I find the shrillness of Hannity more irritating than helpful and the overall quality (although not the ratings) O’Reilly seems to have diminished, as well. I do enjoy Rove, Morris, and Newt when the host of the show they’re appearing actually allows them to complete a full thought. I haven’t had a chance to watch Beck so I can’t comment; Greta and Rivera are spotty.
I miss Hume, I enjoy Cavuto, Krauthammer, Miller and I look forward to serious and thoughtful discussion and debate.
It’d be a real shame to lose this outlet.
Correct on Obama. Correct on FOX which has become a revolving door of Huckabee, Geraldo, Beck, and O’Reilly doing a daylong couch hop from show to show. BORING! Yes, Hume’s maturity and insight are sorely missed.
O’Reilly, though admittedly very successful is in some ways the worst. Ad-nauseum bragging about his ratings, a body language analyst reviewing his segments, and now with an after the show critique of himself, O’Reilly is just silly. His show is less about “justice for the folks” as he says and more about what gets ratings and builds his ego. In an effort to gain a wider viewing audience, he bends over backwards to play devil’s advocate in defending some of the most egregious Obama outrages.
O’Reilly’s one high spot this year however was the slap down of the execrable Barney Frank whom the the left wing media has given a complete pass for his contribution to the financial meltdown and corruption in Washington.
One improvement is the newly revamped Hannity show. Alan Colmes never really contributed much other than left-wing snarkiness. Other more effective liberals could have done a better job parrying against the energetic Hannity. The format of the new show and the three person rotating panel is much better.
Rome burns, or prepares itself to burn, while the media frantics return unto their own vomit.
The ultimate cost of lies is death, which produces more death.
The ultimate cost of truth is self-sacrifice, which produces life.
President Obama declined to visit the American Cemetery in Normandy, where nearly 10,000 American war dead are buried.
His disdain of his own country is alarming.
http://trackacrat.com/2009/04/07/offensively-inoffensive/
Qui s’Excuse, s’Accuse
He who excuses himself, accuses himself.
VDH, this is a generational, leftist…defining characteristic. I have a rather homespun theory about how this arose which has never been formally tested anywhere, it just comes from my personal anecdotal experiences.
Back in the 60′s and early 70′s…the left side of the political spectrum led the charge on two major fronts. Viet Nam and civil rights.
For those folks who embraced equality of opportunity, for fundamental fairness and human decency on the racial front, the ethical and moral choice was much easier to make than to live for many non-leftist whites. Let’s be honest about where the “push” came from and where resistance…or “appalling silence” came from.
No person of conscience today, by today’s standards, could be judged a serious intellect or of even modest ethical or moral soundness, if one approached the issue with the same passive acquiescence seen in those days.
The left side of the spectrum today constantly points back at those days…as a weapon and a shield. “Didn’t we side on the ONLY correct, decent, moral…side of the issue?” By doing so, they condemn all non-leftists with a single blow. And exalt themselves as keepers of the morality for the country, in perpetuity.
Viet Nam is a stickier issue. When the government did not push back against the media (Cronkite being foremost among them) and the coverage of the conflict began to take on the premeditated propagandist tone at time orchestrated by handlers in the former Soviet Union, we served up Pandora’s Box with a frilly bow on it to have the Fourth Estate dictate how we obtained our information….which is how we get it today.
Leftist propaganda posing as news. Distortion posing as facts. Half-truths posing as truth. “False but accurate”…truthiness.
When the government then capitulated to the mass reaction, orchestrated by leftists…many of them with “handlers” in the former Soviet Union…marches, demonstrations, …and we abandoned a people to a mass slaughter over there…to buy the trinkets of forgiveness for our past “sins”, we armed the propagandists and traitors with more slings and arrows to hurl at us for …well, four decades.
Now…EVERY conflict…is compared to Viet Nam by the leftists. EVERY defense of this nation is sullied with “bad intent”.
Now, EVERY moral issue is not “debated” in the serious manner of give and take, it is reduced to a condemnation of those who “inherit” the original sin on the one hand and the exaltation of the absolution on the other…for people who LOOK LIKE those on each side, in the days of Martin Luther King’s march for equality.
This false attribution and attachment…coupled with the propagandist’s control of our information stream…makes serious debate on moral and ethical issues of the day, a virtual impossibility.
And to further enhance this phony divide, it is not only narcissism, but tactical intent that foists these “apologies” upon the rest of the world. It is the continual seeding of this same sophistry to the world, that promotes the notion that only ONE side of any issue is the “morally correct” one…and always has been.
Howard Cosell would bellow “Telling it like it is”…and you have created the recipe for post-modern leftism. It shouts down principled dissent, it propagandizes sophistry, it distorts the truth…and it apologizes for the stance of its dissenters.
Neat trick. Somebody needs to call BS on it. Soon.
The BOW!! How can the WH spin office think we are all so gullible as to buy their canard that POTUS was simply bending to make it easier for the shorter King of Saudia Arabia to shake hands! When BO met the Queen he did not give the protocol prescribed nod from the neck. The Queen is MUCH shorter than the King of Saudia Arabia. The arrogance displayed toward the Queen and the subservience to the King of Saudia Arabia shows that America’s Foreign Policy is in the hands of a dangerous oaf.
Obama’s popular? I guarantee that with the great bulk of whites he is unpopular, extremely so. Blacks, hispanics and single white women: all clients of the state, form his support. Even with the support of those three groups he would lose in a landslide if the election were to be held today.
One agrees admiringly with almost all. However, in all candor, with a view to objectivity, and in all fairness one must note the true patriotism of the President. With his pseudo-secret habit of tobacco consumption, he pays through the nose (I take responsibility, but please do forgive the double entendre) in cigarette taxes. Thus he helps pay for the continuing mad bloating of an already turged government. He is doing his bit, as the Brits used to say back when they admired such things as doing one’s share uncomplainingly.
As always, your observation about Obama is precise. He acts like a teenager. I don’t see any seriousness in Obama taking his job seriously.
I agree with you about Fox News, too. I think that O’Reilly says nice things about Obama for the sake of “fair and balance,” not his honest opinion. Have you notice that he always says that Iraq war was a mistake? I wrote him several years ago and suggested to have you on the show if he wanted to discuss about Iraq war seriously. It really bothers me when I hear him saying that. How can he say that he supports the troops but their mission was a mistake? Is this his honest opinion or is he trying to be “fair and balance”? I still watch his show for Ann Coulter, Dennis Miller, Bernie Goldberg, and Carl Rove, but when he discusses foreign policy or the administration without those people, I switch the channel.
FOX news, as bad as it has become, is still the only source of anything resembling a conservative viewpoint. The network (ABC, NBC, CBS) news is totally unwatchable these days. As much as I like O’Reilly, I do object to his overdoing of things like the Octo-Mom and the Chimp issue, but all in all, he is still my favorite. I record him and skip through his silly news coverage. If his show was a half hour, he could eliminate the garbage and focus on the issues.
FOX is #1 in many ratings and is crushing the alternatives. FOX should understand why they are getting these good ratings and build on it. By focusing on a more consevative message than their competition, they have a winning format. I would suggest that moving more towards that message would only increase there viewer numbers.
I agree that Prager would be positve move, even if were only for frequent guest spots.
And VDH?…ever done any TV?
cfbleachers:
You give credit to the canard that leftists led the fight for civil rights in the 60′s. That is a bunch of nonsense. The fight for civil rights began in the 50s and with the help of a few northern liberal Democrats the fight was really led by Republicans both in and out of government. In any case it wasn’t the 60′s generation in the lead as they were too young. It was those boring 40′s and 50′s adults who led the way.
“also think it was unfortunate that Fox decided to become the right-wing channel. So much for fair and balanced.”
They are right wing, but I find they certainly provide more balance than the other news channels. I’m a Democrat and started watching Fox for the first time last year, and haven’t stopped. I do wonder about all the blonds, though. It’s like they even use the same hair color. What’s up with that?
And, I’m a huge Glen Beck fan. I used to watch him before he went to Fox. He’s way over the top sometimes, but he was dead on about the economy and what was going to happen; and now we’re hearing more about the drug violence spilling over from Mexico, something that Beck was talking about year ago.
As for Obama, the bow to the Saudi king ended any benefit of the doubt I was willing to give him. That bow was no accident. And, the fact that the White House is now saying it wasn’t a bow means they realize how damaging this could be, if the mainstream media were to pick up on it.
Thoroughly Post Modern Milly! Since all good post modernists are leftists by definition, they excuse communism and apologize for anything that isn’t. Moreover, since “true communism hasn’t ever really been tried”, they can wear a Che t-shirt in “relative” security but wearing a Himmler tee would be a no no.
I agree with everything you said about the Prez and his trip overseas. However, I want to comment on your evaluation of FOX NEWS. Right on, sir! For the most part, they’ve become boring and downright ridiculous. The women tend to dress like chippies which completely destroys their credibility. It’s a testimony to how awful the MSM news has become when Fox’s ratings are so good out of sheer desperation on our part for news that isn’t entirely left of center.
Professor Hanson,
You are so right in regards to Fox News. I can no longer watch O’Reilly and hear him go on non-stop about factor gear and his book. He is continually defending Obama but he is clever in doing so as he will blame other people in Obama’s administration or other countries for all the stuff that is going on today. He will never directly criticize Obama. My guess is that he O’Reilly is a classic narcissist and just loves looking at himself and hearing himself talk on Letterman and the View. He did however lambaste Barney Frank and Paul Krugman. I also remember him being absolutely rude to David Horowitz as well. My sneaking suspicion is that O’Reilly is an anti-semite as well. I just wish that good people such as Ingram, Malkin and Dennis Miller would stop appearing on his show. Also, how many times does that Body language guru need to appear on his show?
Oh, but it’s not all bad.
We can relax in peace today, knowing that America is much more respected due to Precedent Soetero’s powers.
That is, if you consider the Turkish TV blackface mocking of the Precedent a good thing….and good luck to those 20 American citizens on the ship just hijacked by the Somali pirates. I imagine they have some Islamic background, and due to their newfound respect for America’s Precedent will deal kindly with the Americans onboard.
Ya think?
Fox has always been one half sober minded Luce publication (that’s the Hume and Krauthammer)one half Hearstian populism (O’Reilly, Huckabee, Beck)It generally has the right sentiments, although sometimes in the wrong register, Unlike CNN which strives for a more professional feel, it’s really imported anti Americanism, and MSNBC all you can say; is “the horror, the horror”
AS to the rampant historical, political and some would say, moral illiteracy, exhibited on the trip to Europe, you’re right on point.
Denouncing the litany of hard choices we’ve made on the European continent, serves no purpose, except confirming the resentment that they hold against us. One recalls this
was akin to that resentment the other members of the Delian league had for Athens, which ultimately ended in the Pelopennessian War. Our Catiline does the same on the home front, raising resentments at a fever pitch, against those, who curiously ended up
financing his campaign. One might compare him to one of the Gracchi, put they were Veterans and a good deal more sober minded, albeit naive as to the obstacles they faced.
Alcibiades might be another figure to which he bears resemblance, except he would be unlikely to really raise an expeditionary force against an ally
Mostly fair article on the Narcissism of BO but why does VDH whine about Fox News?
Is he jealous or want some lovin’ from the TV media? I agree with RICPIC that Obama’s popularity is a media manufactured mirage, tettering on a cliff as the disaster will be forthcoming and he will become unelectable thereafter.
I thought this piece was excellent and the first paragraph could have stood on it’s own, though I was glad to continue reading since the rest of the article was just as good.
As far as FOX news, my greatest concern was learning that Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bought a stake in News Corp owner of FOX News Network, and I fear a Islamic slant to world events. He is the same Prince who offered money to New York City after the 9-ll attacks, then blamed the United State’s support for Israel as the cause of the attack, resulting in Giuliani handing the money back.
There has been assurances that he would have no influence on the network, yet I can’t help but wonder, because of seeing the slant CNN and other major networks have for years been leaning toward (far left in my opinion), to the point where the news event has to be covered live for an observer (me) to feel assured there is no spin.
I am finding and thinking that as the days go by, the new President and his administration have decided after careful? consideration, to throw out the baby and keep the bath water.
Bill O’Reilly’s The O’Reiily Factor is a victim of his own success; as a result, at least in the last few years, he has become sloppy in his research. For instance, many of his guests will correct him on FACTS when O’Reilly should already know the subject matter beforehand.
Glenn Beck needs to take over The O’Reilly Factor time slot while O’Reilly’s show is canceled or moved to the 10:00 PM show first run.
I still think Fox News is going through some growing pains at this time due to its success.
I believe O’Reilly voted for Obama; this is the only reason why he is so soft of dear leader. Watching O’Reilly kiss butt is nauseating after he claims to not do such things. He kissed Hillary’s butt when he finally got the interview & should have had her for the full hour asking all about the Clinton White House years besides her Presidential run.
Bill is all bark & no bite.
#28 ricpic
“Even with the support of those three groups he would lose in a landslide if the election were to be held today.”
I respectfully disagree. Most of the liberals still are still drinking the kool aid and would vote for The One again.
“Thanks Doc for another great article. You keep getting better while Fox sinks into a decline.
It’s a very mixed up world…at least for me. Despite the past few months, Obama’s approval rating is 66% (CBS – Wash. Post poll) and 59% Rasmussen poll. If Bush had been making all of these gaffs and policy blunders I doubt his approval rating would be more than 10%. There really must be a lot of Kool Aid drinkers out there.
Yet, how much longer can this charade continue? Surely, the natural forces of the universe will collapse this house of cards. There are headlines about the need for huge amounts of additional bail out money, our foreign adversaries have been encouraged and both the president and the Congress seem completely inept. Will the economy cave in first or will we be surprised by an audacious enemy attack from which we’ll never recover?
As one PJ contributor observed we are living in a generation where people expect and demand free stuff; music downloads, video downloads, software, cell phone minutes, etc. I don’t have much confidence in an irate public rising up and taking back our country before it’s too late. Unfortunately, the Eloi have won and we Morlocks are confined to an underworld, never to see the light of day again.”
RFE. Very well stated, Pops.
This was in my email from a Canadian.
Now here’s a thought . . . .
If you are ready for the adventure of a lifetime, try this:
a.. Go to Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq illegally. Never mind immigration quotas, visas, international law, or any of that nonsense. Just show up.
b.. Once there, demand that the local government provide free medical care for you and your entire family.
c.. Demand bilingual nurses and doctors…
d. Demand free bilingual local government forms, bulletins, etc.
e.. Procreate abundantly.
f.. Deflect any criticism of this allegedly irresponsible reproductive behaviour with, ‘It is a cultural thing; you wouldn’t understand.’
g.. Keep your original identity strong. Fly your national flag from your rooftop, or proudly display it in your front window, or on your car bumper.
h.. Speak only English at home and in public, and make sure that your children do likewise.
i.. Demand classes on English culture in the Muslim school system.
j.. Demand a local country driver license or national insurance number equivalent
k.. This will afford other legal rights and will go far to legitimise your unauthorised, illegal, presence in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq
l.. Drive around with no MOT, tax or insurance and ignore local traffic laws.
m.. Insist that local country law enforcement teaches English to all its officers..
n.. Organise protest marches against your host country, inciting violence against non-white, non-Christians, and the government that let you in.
Good luck! You’ll soon be dead.
It would never happen in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq (or any other country in the world for that matter) except in the UK, US, Canada, or Australia because we are run by soft, politically correct politicians that are too scared to ‘offend’ anyone.
If you agree, pass it on.
If you don’t, go ahead and try the above in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Iraq
That’s funny about the extremely high incidence of blond females, especially news readers, on Fox News. So true. I’d cut them a little slack on that one: now that many of our warships and field-deployed ground units can subscribe to satellite TV, it’s a morale booster for the troops to have Fox News available. Those mean old officers require the TV in 24-hour watch spaces to be tuned to the news, and Fox’s is, of course, the channel of choice. The Armed Forces Network rotates among the news channels, but if you have a commercial satellite subscription (and many deployed units do), you can stay on the channel you prefer. There’s, shall we say, more than one reason why that’s generally Fox.
TLM’s point at #1 about Turkey was interesting. I didn’t think VDH’s point was off-target so much as incomplete. By far the biggest geostrategic “issue” involving Turkey right now is Russia’s menacing moves on the Black Sea, and NATO’s response to them — which has so far been weak. That weakness, and complete lack of vision about Turkey’s role in anchoring NATO security, is the context in which Turkey launched her own Black Sea security initiative last fall, after the very temporizing and attenuated NATO reaction to Russia’s invasion of Georgia. The initiative was launched without prior coordination with the Atlantic Defense Council or the US — and that ought to concern us greatly.
Here are some links if anyone is interested in further reading:
http://www.sundayszaman.com/sunday/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=152381
http://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/turkey-for-dinner/
The interview at the first link with the Turkish parliamentary deputy is particularly interesting, for the implied independence of Turkey from NATO or US security arrangements. Signs of a major shift are underway, and the main thing I didn’t like about Obama’s address in Turkey was how rearward-looking it was. It hit a laundry list of longstanding, bromide-laden points. But the void at its center was the most informative thing of all for Turkey, I think: the US is not committed enough to NATO’s current security regime in southeastern Europe and the Eastern Med to even talk about it. Ankara should solidify her position with Russia while she can.
How exactly does one say that I am very, very sorry for all of the bad things and supposed bad things that my country has done in “Austrian”? It has been quite a while since I have seen anything on the TV worth watching, station/channel notwithstanding. Planet Earth HD wasnt too bad as long as you muted alien bait Ms. Weaver.
Obama is the first post-patriotic president of the US,and hopefully,the last.He is an appeasing ,America hating, intellectual lightweight:”How do I say it in Austrian?”who bravely responded to Kim Jong Il’s psycho missile launch,by cutting our budget for antimissile defense.He’s the princess Diana of presidents;nearly void,but with a dash of Jane Fonda and Angela Davis thrown in to round out his media -fabricated glamor.
Is the trashing of your predecessor an Obama phenomenon?
I view it as a sign of Obama’s near congenital personal weakness and insecurity. His references to “someone like me” on the Apology Tour, in the same vein.
I think he suffers from COPS, community organizer personality syndrome (soon to be included in the DSM’s every expanding litany of personality afflictions)
“America bad, but me magnanimous in apologies for it”, which in its essence is a form of narcissism that focuses applause on self, at the expense of the reputation of one’s country.
Similar point about Self made in this Telegraph piece
Barack Obama really does go on a bit
What does this tell us? If one can think for ones self it’s easy to see our president is on our enemy’s side. SCARY RIGHT?
Seems germane to an understanding of the mind workings of the current US President & his agenda, Camille Paglia’s observations on “liberalism” today.
Liberalism, like second-wave feminism, seems to have become a new religion for those who profess contempt for religion. It has been reduced to an elitist set of rhetorical formulas, which posit the working class as passive, mindless victims in desperate need of salvation by the state. Individual rights and free expression, which used to be liberal values, are being gradually subsumed to worship of government power.
…For the past 25 years, liberalism has gradually sunk into a soft, soggy, white upper-middle-class style that I often find preposterous and repellent.
Bow-ow-ow: Obama’s painful missteps
(she also mentions the limitations of that crowd of “advisors” with which O has protectively surrounded himself)
Sami writes:
“..O’Reilly, though admittedly very successful is in some ways the worst. Ad-nauseum bragging about his ratings, a body language analyst reviewing his segments, and now with an after the show critique of himself, O’Reilly is just silly. His show is less about “justice for the folks” as he says and more about what gets ratings and builds his ego.”
My sincere thanks to you, Sami, and to the others who panned the terminally self-referential Bill O’Reilly. I mean, I was dying here thinking he was beloved of the consevate viewer. This guy has become an endless buffet of empty-calorie sugars and sweets. He is almost as unbearable as the Narcissistic One, our beloved TOTUS. My guess that “BO” in all manifestations is something to really avoid.
Also, Hannity does get tiresome, doesn’t he? Good, sound commentary and analysis is certainly hard to come by since Britt retired.
It is sad to see Fox become a conservative tabloid when there’s such an opportunity to make hay with this bumbling administration and government.
#46 J.E.Dyer
The first part of you comment made me laugh and reminded me that when my son was in boot camp (army) the soldiers were not allowed to watch television in the cafeteria while eating (on the run) even though it was turned on. My son said the drill sergeants would be watching a show and start laughing or make loud comments trying to trick a soldier into looking at the T.V., and then they would ream the hell out of them.
I guess I should turn them in for torture, or suggest they turn the television to FOX, and they might catch some more soldiers, if the blonde females are on. LOL
#49 tanstaafl
Good link.
This excellent column makes me think that we can perhaps propose to the attention of the scientists the new (and actually, revolutionary)
OBAMA EQUATION
ALL x(xIA)= O(not-x)
For any and all X (fact, decision, proposal, plan, etc.) that is in the Interest of America, Obama does the contrary of X.
Sorry for the lack of proper symbols.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Significant perhasps that Obama want Turkey, a Muslim country moving steadily towards theocracy, to become the largest
(population-wise) nation in Europe. Turkey is not European. If we let them in how long before they are pressing for Syria or even Iraq to be admitted, all these countries have land borders with each other.
One of the guys at the G20 let the real agenda slip when he said “Our task is not just to create a global economy but a global culture.”
Obama seems to believe that criticism is a form of inspirational rhetoric, but I think it is evidence of another character flaw. VDH alludes, but does not state explictly, that one cannot atone for another’s sins. Obama’s failure to reconcile his public rhetoric with private fundamental Christian concepts puts him at odds with religion. As he praises tolerance for faiths that are more orthodox than his own, he does not recognize a need to apply the principles of his own (self-proclaimed) religion. Obama is giving us hints that his spiritual dimensions are limited.
We are surrounded by lttle people who think they are demi-gods. May (the real) God help us!
Speaking of Obama, that reminds me: my neighbor, being the total dipsh@t that he is, has this teeny tiny yard, while I have a monstrously large one. So, we had a “summit” meeting over a beer and I told him that his property line actually extends three-quarters around my house and all the way to my front door! Now he mows my yard for free. Man, I love my neighbor. (of course, I do have to put up with his lawn darts, but what the heck, he’s a swell guy!)
Absolutely brilliant.
The Turks are really dependable. That is why they refused to let one of our divisions cross their border into Iraq and they had to be reloaded and transported all the way around the Arabian pennusula to reach the battlefield.
This could have been called the Patsy Cline Tour; remember the lyrics? “I’m sorry, so sorry, please let me apologize…” But with all his apologizing, Obama missed a few things:
We apologize for our factories polluting the atmosphere while we supplied the weapons and material for WWII;
For our damage to aquatic life from hundreds of suken merchant ships and their cargos, human and otherwise, rusting away on the bottom of the Atlantic;
For spoiling the beaches of Normandy with sunken landing craft, burned out tanks, and bullet torn steel helmets;
For littering the landscape with broken airplanes and the bodies of 50,000 airmen;
For souring Europes soil with the blood of American soldiers;
For taking up all that potential farmland for our cemeteries;
Wasting all the money that could have been used to produce our own wealth on the Marshal Plan;
Wasting more money to keep a standing army in Europe for over 50 years to protect those who would not protect themselves;
And finally, we apologize for agreeing to be a part of the United Nations.
Yeah, what a jerk:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090408/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_muslims_obama;_ylt=AvFxiTAE2N2tIe_TP3JoIeBvaA8F
Damn him for improving our standing globally. I wish we had elected a VP who believes the Earth was created 3,000 years ago and was fine forcing a shotgun wedding on her out-of-wedlock child having daughter and her idiot boyfriend…
DAMNNIT, I have such buyer’s remorse.
i>1. Do They all Do This? A good argument could be made that Jacques Chirac was deeply unpopular (along with his foreign minister Dominque de Villepin) in the US and the UK. Even more so was Gerhard Schröder, and to a lesser extent his postmodern foreign minister Joschka Fischer, veteran of the 1960s Days of Rage.
No need to comment on the controversial career of Vladimir Putin. But one rarely sees Mr. Sarkozy trash Chirac, or Merkel dump on Schröder, or Medvedev reject Putin.
ummm, you don’t read our papers !
Sarkozy is not quit warm with Chirac and his partisans, he put De Villepin on a court trial. But these things remain our inner “affairs”, like in mafia, quarrels are discretly solved by the family.
as for Schroeder, but he has the avantage to be hold to have made the right reforms of the german social retreats.
BUILDING DEBT THAT CANNOT BE PAID BACK
The Dems are destroying America’s market place and the Europeans know it.
http://greensrealworld.blogspot.com/2009/04/impossible-unsustainable-debt.html
What is it about the Dems? Obama, Clinton, Gore, Carter et al trash the US when overseas.
When are we going to examine just what PATRIOTISM means. Deep abiding love of country, not just “I’ll wear the flag pin when it serves my political interest” patriotism. If the definition of “love of county” is “doing what is best for its citizens” then Obama et al surely do not really care about America except when they can use their relationship with her to advance their own agendas and egos. I know this may sound harsh or irrational, but a close examination of Obama’s background and the current agenda he is trying to foist on the American people gives my thoughts some credence.
To start with Obama’s early years one learns that he spent his first school years in Indonesia. These are the years where American school children start to learn in school about America and what it means to be an American. The Pledge of Allegience, the National Anthem, the placing the hand over the heart during the Anthem and celebrating national holidays are some of the symbols we use to express our love of county and let us know we are one of many who feel the same way. Obama did not get this early education. Did his parents steep him in American traditions even before he started school, as many American do with their kids, liking going to the 4th of July parades every year? His father nor his step father was an American and his mother was more a person of the world than of any one country.
I think Obama really have convinced himself he is a faith healer; Barack’s teleprompter seems to beam energy using Obama as a magnifier for what he thinks is the Wisdom of Obama. It’s really a load of crap.
When America is attacked again, Obama will use it in an attempt to transform us in a Communist country. By that point, I think most people would hopefully have enough of this teleprompter turkey.
Another excellent essay.
#4 Rob Mandel. That was extremely well-expressed.
#46 TONYA:
Good one. Will pass it on. Thanks
Face it, Obama is a c*cksucker playin’ the “generous benefactor” angle like Anna Nicole Smith was his Statue of Liberty.
A whore is a whore.Too bad America is so “Christian” about it.
We will see Obama over reach in International Politics,he will never gain the acceptance of the old European Countries. They hate everything the U.S.A. stand for, and our Constitution. The European Union will never agree with the USA and NATO is a dead organization. Germany is the only European country with any industrial strength. Russia will never keep any agreement with the USA, and forget Iran as a member of the civilized world. As long as the Muslim Mullahs are in control, only hate a slavery will come out of Iran.
That said, It will take the American Voter to cause the United States to stand up to the enemy states and the evil in the world. The Political Class is only interested in protecting their reelection and Pensions.
As for FOX, O’Rielly is a Harvard guy, why would you watch him, Hannity is not watchable, Love Brit Hume and his program, Glen Beck is entertaining and right on a lot of subjects. Love Cavito.
That said, even with the FOX problems, they are superior to CNN and MSNBC, I only watch CNBC for the 08:30 report from the Chicago Board of Trade and Merc. These guys are using their own money, and are real capitalist. And, usually right on their opinion of the Stock market. The Internet provides the best news and most accurate.
Hitting Golf Balls is better for the mind and soul, in this kind of market and political scene. Either go the range or play every day during the season.
Like them or not, Fox News prime time ratings far outdistance the competition… I wonder why? Frankly, I believe that their liberal to conservative guest ratio is much greater than any other cable news channel! I, along with millions of others, look forward to listening to political opinions that match my own, and who refuse to bow down and kiss Obama’s butt like Fox’s competitors so liberally do. Fox News hasn’t really changed, just… adjusted! And, no matter you’re political persuasion, it’s all about the ratings, folks!
Instead of Europe our new President ought to have made his first major overseas trip to a country that likes us and even liked President Bush.
A country whose future is much brighter than all of Europe … India.
If Europeans learned that we don’t give a rodent’s rearend what they think they’d be very unhappy … and that would be a good thing.
58. donttreadonme . . . Congratulations, Retard (sorry . . . Retread). Looks like you took my advice and Googled “jokes.” And boy howdy, is it ever paying off! That’s swell.
LOL . . . LMAO . . . LMFAO . . . there must be some more letters I can use . . . Delia, where are you when you could really be useful?
TV news is so ’90s.
Why even bother with television news programs? They all act like gatekeepers of information.
I like breitbart.com – it’s a great aggregate, and I can watch what I want. The only slant I get is from the original story.
Somewhere in the not too distant future I hear a GOP candidate vowing “I will not apologize for being an American.” She will have my vote.
What I will remember about the recent Obama trip was when he was in Iraq, the soldier who shouted out, “I love you” sums up the feelings of many Americans.
The Lord has blessed America with Obama as the leader.
70. D Foster:
<iWe will see Obama over reach in International Politics,he will never gain the acceptance of the old European Countries. They hate everything the U.S.A. stand for, and our Constitution. The European Union will never agree with the USA and NATO is a dead organization. Germany is the only European country with any industrial strength. Russia will never keep any agreement with the USA,
that doesn’t depend of us, the “Atlantic alliance” has been forecasted quit a few decades ago and it will fully work in 2015.
Obama is just the convenient screen image that blurs the rest of the enterprise. We have been caught in the same trap with the EU, now the same people that wanted the EU, are extending the model to America, and slowly to the muslim world.
it seems that the money crisis is part of the scenario, global government !
72. James
I agree with you 100%. I have traveled extensively in India, and written an article related to the Hindu Holocaust and the negative results of the partition of India. The leading authority on this issue is French/Indian Citizen Francois Gauthier, who lives in Auroville city near Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu. Negationism is a tool used by the left and Marxist academia in India to negate the horror what occurred during the Muslim occupation, similar to what Turkey does with the massacre of the Armenians.
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/5142/negislamindia.html
India and the US has the same common enemy: radical Islam. The US, I am afraid, had neglected friendship with India in the past, we should have helped them more on the Kashmir issue. Pakistan is a fictitious country, and will never be our friend, as it is plagued with the Islamic garbage.
The partition of India has brought very bad consequences for the whole world, for, as Osama Bin Laden once said, Pakistan is one of the pillars of Islam and the only Islamic country with nuclear weapons, so far.
75JohnR…another vote winning line would be the specific declaration by any candidate, anywhere, “I WILL support and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
Shoot, any office holder who would do that right now in a common press release would probably have my vote (unless I knew them to be a liar, which of course does reduce the group immediately).
76 Edward–one man’s precious memory is another nausea producing horror. God may have allowed his election (since we know that He has been known to judge nations at various times in a variety of ways), but there is NO way this piece of work could be considered a “blessing” by Americans.
J.E.Dyer:
Good article at your site re Turkey. I don’t understand at all our (the U.S.’s) policy regarding that country or the surrounding region — the Black Sea, the Caucasus and the Caspian Basin. Russian policy towards this area seems straight forward, energized (pun intended) and extremely concerning.
How about the EU on this issue? Your statement: “The nations of Western Europe, increasingly, seem not even to recognize the shifting interplay of factors in their security, or the stubborn persistence of geographic reality…” sums it up nicely. Maybe we’re following their lead on this one. I mean, what could go wrong? Right?
My statement that Turkey could become the next Iran was hyperbole. That’s not likely. But her future does lie in a partnership with either the EU or with Russia. If it’s the latter, we’ll bemoan the outcome, blame everyone except ourselves, and rant “who lost Turkey” the way we did with China in ’49.
Did Obama take ballet? Is he a Prima Ballerina and a President? I thought he was going to break out in his own rendition of Swan Lake when he bowed to the Saudi King.
I share the aggravation with the ZHiself – self-congratulatory, rude-interruption style of O’Reilly, and the shallow, entertainment- focussed nature of his programming. Others, like Mark Levin, have ripped him up and own on his easy treatment of Obama.
What we must acknowledge is that he serves the Right well in providing a spot where those who are having misgivings about where Obama is leading our Republic can turn, an alternative to CNN that presents an effort at balance that they can accept, whereas they will not make the jump to Hannity or Limbauch or Levin. The fact that his audience continues to steadily increase is evidence of the value of the “bridge” he is providing. A few months of O’Reilly and they’ll be willing to listen to Hannity, or maybe even to VDH.
76 Edward A . . . God bless you.
75 JohnR . . . Who apologized for being an American? Obama? What’s the quote?
Excellent paragraph on FOX NEWS’ recent turn into delirium. I’ve always thought you were an astute media critic (your thoughts on “300,” Westerns, and Michael Mann’s “HEAT,” for instance) and hopefully, FNC will pull itself back from the brink of vulgarity…
I’m fine with the on-air beauty, I just wish their hair-and-make-up people would lighten up on the “stripper” vibe.
I agree with commenter “Pete” that RED EYE is Fox’s most promising show. It doesn’t take itself seriously, it’s vulgar (on purpose), while being smart and funny. “Check it out, check it outers” as host Gutfeld says.
I was wondering why my Fox viewing has diminished. As for commentary, boy do I miss Eric Sevareid. As for the rest, this is the calm before the storm. Mr. Obama will be tested soon.
“…is a form of narcissism”
I am now convinced that Barack Obama is a narcissist in the full clinical sense. It is indeed all about him. This makes our current president a very dangerous man. We are living in a very dangerous era. Can America even survive the next 45 months left in the Obama administration?
Be proud America. St00pid ‘won’. Yippee!
“The Lord has blessed America with Obama as the leader.”
I don’t know what we did to make God so mad at us that he would “bless” us in such a fashion, but whatever it was, I’m genuinely contrite.
Only Hussein can get away with trashing his country while overseas, the way he daily trashes Bush. You’d never see Merkel, Gordon Brown or even Putin be undignified like that about the nation they are leading or their predecessors.
And Hussein did bow or kiss the hand of the Saudi king — no matter what BS excuse comes out of the White House. He couldn’t or wouldn’t bow to Queen Elizabeth as he was supposed to, but he bows to his Muslim leader.
And they said all those terrible things about Bush not being worldly or knowing anything about other countries and cultures. But let loose the elitist, arrogant Hussein in Europe, and witness all the humiliating gaffes in less than a week. The guy didn’t even know proper etiquette or protocol — shaking the hand of France’s First Lady, rather than properly giving her the cheek-n-cheek kiss as customary and appropriate in Europe. What an idiot! And then there’s his IPod gift to the Queen and the DVDs to the England’s Prime Minister…UNBELIEVABLE!
By the way, who’s Michelle’s stylist? Whoever she is, she should be fired quickly. I mean, what was up with those ugly dresses (argyle anyone? which she wore twice during her Europe trip — have you ever seen any American First Lady do that??) and sweaters so tight, buttons were popping out left and right? And, can’t Michelle fix her bull-leggedness? Easily, she is no Jackie Kennedy!! Not even close.
They’re trying so hard to be America’s royalty, but they’re too nouveau riche, phoney, hypocritical and elitist to be taken seriously.
Dr. H,
Great article as usual. Wish I could comment on FOX News, but I have never had or desired cable TV. In fact I have gone many years without a TV, and always laugh at the brain dead as they ask “You do not have a TV, what do you do?” , they are mystified when I say “I have a life”.
jerryofva, I would love to hear more of your defense of Republicans on this issue. I was a mere child in the 50′s and witnessed anecdotal evidence in the 60′s and early 70′s.
Some facts on how it arose with Republicans at the helm would be of great value, if you would be kind enough to share.
My seminal point remains, however. The mantle of “moral superiority” is held by the left side of the spectrum and used as a sword and a shield. Viet Nam is not merely a conflict in our past. It is held as a weapon against ANY act of defense of this nation.
And the the civil rights movement supercharges righteousness into EVERY leftist position, regardless of its underpinnings today.
Those two items are the foundational bricks and brickbats that fortify every leftist debate position. They build the fortress in which to hide behind, they fill the armory of weapons to hurl.
From my seat in the cfbleachers, if you do not take the leftist position…you WILL be immediately painted as a racist and a warmonger. (homophobe is thrown in, after the fact…but this one is sticky for leftists because neither African-American culture, nor Hispanic/Latino culture embraces the leftist position…which puts gay rights onto an orbit of its own)
The “original sin” of racism stems back to the days in which leftists lay CLAIM to advancing the only correct stance on this issue. One cannot take any other position except to fully embrace the civil rights movement, in my opinion. (if Republicans led the charge, then THAT fact needs a full airing, out in the open and in the sunshine immediately)
Viet Nam is not as easy an issue to dissect. Leftists who have been uncovered as having Soviet handlers…were leading the charge here, infusing the debate with propaganda and infiltrating our media, academia and Hollywood.
LBJ essentially ducked and ran for cover when Cronkite joined the propaganda front and began telling essentially half-truths and distortions (i.e. Tet Offensive). Nixon completed the cycle. The manner in which our TROOPS were treated during that period, is a national disgrace.
But here is the rub, Jerry….EVERY debate of EVERY issue in post-modern America suffers an unlevel playing field…because leftists begin with a rigged advantage. Anyone who dares to disagree or engage in principled dissent is painted with the mark of Cain. And, that mark is branded upon their foreheads with the immediate RWH (racist, warmonger, homophobe)…thus, isolating/demonizing/marginalizing them, without a chance at allowing fair and reasoned arguments to gain oxygen or momentum.
The silent FOURTH mark upon them…is religiousity. This is more sub rosa and attaches really only to Christians, and especially to Evangelicals. Most other religions get a pass, for the most part. Most people of color also get a pass, for the most part.
If you are religious, or your life is faith-based…and you are white…you are AUTOMATICALLY deemed to not have “nuance” or seriousness to your positions on most issues. You have been marginalized/demonized/isolated in the entrenched media, academia and Hollywood. EVERY position you hold, AUTOMATICALLY starts from a rigged and unlevel playing field.
What is ironic, I suppose…is that I am not very faith-based in my own life (lazy, twice a year attendee), I am not very adamant nor fervent about most social issues related to faith-based positions (on abortion, stem cell research for instance), I am pro gay rights, including marriage for reasons which are too involved to get into here.
But, I see rampant, unfettered ,unchallenged, reckless leftism and the gang rape of our information stream as the single most important issues of our present day lives.
And, I see them getting their “base power” from the combination of the civil rights movement (which they claim as theirs) from which they plug into a socket of moral superiority to keep their “moral batteries” constantly charged. One cannot, on ANY level assert that the POSITION taken wholly in favor of the righteousness of the civil rights movement…wasn’t…isn’t…the ONLY correct, decent, honorable one. Opposing it is a death sentence to your seriousness…and deservedly so.
But being PINNED to the mat in the first second, because you oppose a leftist…is unfair and despicable sophistry. They OWN “civil rights”…and if you oppose THEM…on ANY issue…you then must oppose civil rights…is the way everyone is “gamed”.
On the issue of any defense of this country (even any act of patriotism) is given the same “gamed” treatment…only this time…Viet Nam is the weapon. The leftists have lead the charge on that front for 40 years. The constant drumming into the consciousness of this country of how “bad” we were because of that conflict has never ceased. (throwing feces upon our TROOPS, literally and figuratively, has fallen out of favor over the years …but if you scratch the surface of most leftists, it won’t be hard to recapture the stench)
So, if you wear a flag pin or you wave a flag or you support any military action against a sworn enemy…you are painted with the W…warmonger mark of Cain…and marginalized, isolated, demonized.
Can you imagine that? A country…where patriotism is derided, debased, denigrated?
Where a faith in God is derided, debased, denigrated? (unless you get a pass, because you are in a group that will never be attacked)
Where holding an opinion that does NOT apologize for our very existence…means you are not “nuanced”?
That…is America today. And THOSE are the reasons, Jerry. At least as I see it from my cfbleachers.
President Obama appears such an ignoramus, or an opportunistic agent provacateur in the emasculating of American influence. Why? Only to elevate himself as Savior. What a megalomaniac. (enumerated points below are Victor Davis Hanson’s; **[my comments]).
(1) the U.S. has been arrogant; **[name a country that has not, that had any power!]
(2) dismissive and derisive to Europe; **[as the USSR has done; as were the Germans; as are the Arabs, esp. Islamo-Fascists]
(3) was a slave-owning society; **[so ARE the Arabs; so ARE several African societies; so are some Asian societies...but we transcended that, and instead of being proud of that, and promoting the valor of American's triumph over racism, he merely fans flames of seething grudges]
(4) practiced genocide against native Americans; **[so did the Germans Nazis, and we fought a war for it; so were the Japanese WRT Chinese, Filipino, etc. and we fought that tyranny, too.; not to mention that the Crusades were Anglo-Saxons battle to beat back the hedgemony of the genocidal Persians]
(5) did not let blacks vote; **[as all previous European and Arabian feudal societies refused to let some oppressed group vote...let the world show that it was America that institutionalized government BY the people]
(6) was the only nation to have used nuclear weapons; **[and you can bet that Germany or Japan would have used it if they could have; it was only the fact that we were first to get it---an organizational, logistical, and technological accomplishment of massive proportions---that allowed us to use them to SAVE MORE LIVES!]
(7) embraced torture; [and what nation has not? I believe that it is still fair game in many parts of the word, but without the free debate here in the U.S.]
(8) alienated the world under Bush, and on and on. **[and what of the alienation that the Islamo-fascists have been doing for 15 years now? And why in hell are we seeking to appease---and BOW DOWN---before a people who promote Sharia law?]
VDH: The subtext has been that those of a different race, of a different era, or under a different president have done terrible things, which I, from my own moral Olympus, must now apologize for. **[White, 18th-to-20th century America + Bush era = bad; Me (Obama) = Perfect.
The world is upside down, and we are ****ed.
one of my own,
Are you cyber-stalking me? I bet you laughed at my “parable” above. My virtually spontaneous cleverness to yours is like a medium-rare filet mignon wrapped in bacon and topped with blue cheese vs. an over-cooked porkchop.
I find myself more interested in surfing the internet for my news and analysis, along with entertainment than watching television. There is too much sugar content on television news, way too much emotional commenting, and far too much sexual energy moments.
In other words, they are seeking addiction for all viewers.
Then again, getting outside and smelling the spring air makes sense to me.
That’s a very complete, very bracing list of hazards that you have composed, Mr. Hanson. Each is verifiable. Considered together on the same page they’re sobering.
One suggestion: I’d add a footnote stating that it is nearly 2010, and America still does not have a reality-based energy plan. Furthermore, this note would reference the fact that every one of the hazards you addressed either influences, or is influenced by, what amounts to Federal administrative dereliction.
Keep up the good work. I’d like to see keen dissection of the political obstructionism and media disinformation-campaigns that encouraged this dereliction, including, of course, their international ramifications, getting a lot more press. I think that, along with unrelenting satire, the hard intellectual work that you do will be the best antidote to Barney Frank’s poisonous pretend-populism.
doom n gloom,
Listen, comrade, you could kowtow to me; fight my battles; spend your money helping me, et al. And you know what? My opinion of you would be greatly improved. BUT, smart-ass me liking you better doesn’t change the fact that you are a milk-toast doctrinaire Obamabot who waved bye-bye to rational logic and free will a long time ago. Get it?
Edward A,
This is the Lord speaking:
Get thee to the tallest edifice in your city.
Sayeth to the skies above,”I sacrifice my carbon-based life form to you, o’ Great Obama the Redeemer.”
Then, jump ye and become one with the earth once again.
So speaketh the Lord.
Essential vdh
Americans are going to have to ask themselves Who they are? Who and what Americans are. How did America come about? What has America meant to the world? Does “America” still exist anywhere in the world?
What does it mean to be an American under the current BHO regime and in opposition what does it mean to be an American under the Constitution of the the Democratic Republic of the United States.
What does separation of Powers mean. How is it supposed to work. What does a Democratic Republic mean and what is different about a pure Democracy.
After asking those questions and applying all the knowledge that American Citizens should have learned before they passed the 8th grade they should by now recognize that the Democratic Republic of America has been taken over without a fight.
Taken over by a Regime that is in the process of destroying the Constitution along with individual constitutional rights all in the name of what? To be able to apologize to the parasitic world for past actions?
To be able to apologize to “victim Americans” who are not victims but simply parasites gaming the system. Who have been taught how to live in America without any required contribution to America but yet expects a handout. Who are not really normal humans due to the systematic destruction of families.
Apologize to countries for American actions that left millions of dead Americans on the soil of countries saved by American action and human resources.
What for? To be able to ascend into the population and individual destroying play ground of “World Leaders”. To join Hugo Chavez and Castro in their anti American rants.
Leaders in the UN who are closer to being pimps than pimps on the streets of Washington DC. The UN is a whore house. It should not be supported by American Taxpayers.
To date the only actions that has happened and executed by this regime is the largest transfer of wealth in the history of the world has occurred.
This stolen wealth is going from millions of hardworking individual taxpaying Americans, rich and not so rich and working on being rich to a few Large manufacturing and Financial institutions that are simply sitting on the money. Paying high salaries, paying past debts, even buying up smaller businesses and all with no accountability.
That transfer of wealth has destroyed the value of the equity markets. While the Companies and Individuals with high salaries that are being protected, by affirmative action, old boy anti American Ivy league networks, still will not survive nor should they.
The stealing of taxpayer dollars without proper authorization. None of the “genius” elected representatives were able to even read what they were voting on.
It was in fact a surrender document of the United States of America.
The business geniuses who were given this stolen money will not yet even be able to survive with the existing regulatory conditions including Union Contracts–Big Surprise. Not!
The BHO regime has “bought” these businesses and now business “plans” as dictated by the BHO regime are not workable other than further increasing the business’s dependence on the BHO Regime.
All American assets are now subject to confiscation by the BHO regime. See what stocks existed in your 401k’s if you think not.
All of this is unconstitutional and in the past could have occurred only after America had fought and lost a bloody war, with millions of lives lost, along with the loss of America. That has occurred by default. By idiots signing an unread surrender document.
What is left of “America” is now led by power hungry idiots like BHO, Barney Franks, Nancy Pelosi and various other “cheats” who are anti American or who are so ignorant they do not even know what they have done or are doing. This includes republicans, including GWB.
Barney Franks, as just one example of this pack of Anti American, treasonous thieves, is an idiot who could not find his way out of an outhouse and who can say his only business experience is running a whore House from his basement. The details being handled by his male pimp lover. Why is that as funny as the MSM seems to think?
All of the above shows that the MSM are perverted idiots and as now happening deserve to disappear from the scene. No one should have stock in any left wing MSM paper.
Millions should be marching on Washington DC with handcuffs to throw the bastards in jail and try them for treason.
Americans in order to stop this take over from being complete will need to step up.
The best alternatives to a citizens arrest is to make sure the bastards are voted out and the pieces of America and American constitutional law put back in place. Maybe it will not be to late.
Maybe it will be to late because finally the American population has been so seeded with parasite American look alikes the American host, along with the Democratic Republic which resides in America will still die.
Amen, VDH, Amen.
96 Retread . . . I don’t get it. Could you perhaps clarify?
Retread . . . “virtually spontaneous”. . . There’s no such thing. Then again most things you claim don’t exist, so you get points for consistency.
Things fall apart…
VDH said:
“Each news show now interviews hosts from the other Fox news hours (To save money? Free publicity?). Hawking books (written in short, breezy style, without much analysis) is done on the air rather than as commercials.”
As opposed to the sober, unbiased views from ABC, NBC and CBS? [ROFLMAO] Sorry, Prof. Have you gone fully to the dark side now? Fox is the only source of anything but the party line from the politburo. Get real.
Having been educated by vigorous readings of Sowell, et al.. I feel that it is my duty to inform the Congressional Black Caucus that there were more slaves in Cuba than in the entire United States.
I await the CBC to call for the Caribbean Workers’ Paradise to pay the brunt of the reparations which the CBC is implicitly demanding.
My statement that Turkey could become the next Iran was hyperbole. That’s not likely. But her future does lie in a partnership with either the EU or with Russia. If it’s the latter, we’ll bemoan the outcome, blame everyone except ourselves, and rant “who lost Turkey” the way we did with China in ‘49.
Turkey aims to recover her glorious past part, and is clever enough to press on the different alliances she can get from whatever sides they come.
as for the actual endorsement of Obama for her becoming an EU country, it is in’t gratuitous, the US need Turkey for the transit of their troops in Irak and Afghanistan, so did Bush in 2004, and both passed the armenian genocide under the bus.
TLM — glad you found the piece useful. Marie Claude is right that Turkey aims to recover her glorious past, but in a de facto regional partnership of Russia and Turkey, it will not be Russia that is being pressured and exploited.
We should also remember that Turkey’s glorious past as the seat of the Ottoman Empire involved overthrowing the eastern remains of the (Orthodox Christian) Roman Empire in the 15th century — AFTER the Crusades — and appointing itself the ruling power of the Islamic Caliphate. (I think TLM kind of alluded to that.) The Ottoman Sultan used to style himself “Allah’s Shadow on Earth.” Key elements of the character of the Ottoman Empire were political Islam, and a fundamental posture of anti-Westernism.
Turkish territory has gone back and forth over the centuries between East and West. Turkey, as herself and as the Ottoman Empire, has fought both Europe and Russia. She has no ingrained, cultural affinity for either. But the Russians are a lot more tolerant of civic illiberality and the rewriting of the past. They are also armed and on the move, as opposed to Europe, which is simply inert. They further have a vision of Turkey’s importance to their geographic aspirations, unlike the Europeans, who do not seem to have looked at a map for at least 20 years.
We have cause to be concerned about all this, particularly because, as our president goes about releasing the mental thethers of alliances and alliance security, it will be increasingly possible for Russia and Turkey to become a de facto bloc without any obvious watershed or revolutionary goings-on. It will all just be “evolution” in the post-polar world, or whatever.
J.E.Dyer:
As you have well noted, Turkey occupies critical geography, bordering Europe, Asia and the ME, as well as having ports on the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. We would be fools to not try and influence how they “evolve” in the post-polar world. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case. Obama will continue our policy of paying lip service to their concerns while doing nothing to address them. The Turks have other options, and with the NATO displaying agonal conniptions they may exercise them. Their refusal to not allow transit of our European based troops during the invasion of Iraq should not be taken as an insult, but as a wake-up call.
“The once insightful Fox News is rapidly devolving into a sort of entertainment circus. That is a tragedy, since the network for years has done wonders in offering an antithesis to the supposedly non-biased biased network news.”
I disagree with Dr. Hanson’s assessment of Fox News. I think Brett Baer has done a wonderful job filling Brit Hume’s role. Neil Cavuto is top notch as is Bill O’Reilly. Holding down the #1 position for 100 months is a credit to his show & news commentary. Shepard Smith is a good straight news man and outside of Jake Tapper of ABC News, there is no one better covering President Obama than Major Garrett. If there is a headline story that has a legal angle then Greta is the go-to place to get the facts.
Plus I think Fox News has to be entertaining because it’s competing against more than just network and cable news shows. On many levels, the channel has to take on all of the cultural left in the MSM from morning to night.
Liberals get to frame conservatives and political issues starting bright and early with the Today Show, GMA, the mid-afternoon women chat shows like Oprah, Tyra & The View, the evening news of Couric, Williams & NPR, the late night talkers Leno, Letterman and every left wing comedian in between like Stewart, Maher & SNL. Of course, CNN & MSNBC too.
This one broadcaster has to take on a lot of comers and I think they are holding up pretty well.
My one criticism with Fox is their weekend programming (except for Chris Wallace’s Sunday morning show). There is way too much Geraldo and Huckabee scheduled. I would like to see Fox run documentaries produced by conservatives on the weekend. Also they should produce a Sunday evening show in the format similar to 60 minutes or Frontline.
“For the past 16 years, successive Israeli governments have wrongly believed that politics trump strategic interests.”
Caroline Glick writing in the Jerusalem Post about the new reality of the post-polar world, a world that in Obama’s mind is apparently now post strategic-thinking as well. The statement refers to Israel but the article deals with all of America’s non-Western European partners (India, Japan, the Eastern European democracies, Georgia etc) who are about to be left in the lurch by Chief Political Commissar Obama. After his virtual abandonment of America’s vital role in strategic calculations for these countries during his recent campaign tour in Europe, they’ll be re-thinking the math in hopes of passing the tests to come. For Obama, politics trumps strategy. We’ll see if it trumps reality.
The standoff with the Somali pirates is a perfect test case for Der Commissar’s new approach. Somalis only play politics with guns in hand. The Stone Age mentality of the people who scratch their living from that godforsaken land accords little merit to cheap talk not backed up by action. And they recognize weakness when they smell it.
Confronted by US Navy warships Somali pirates holding an American ship’s captain hostage called for reinforcements and declared they are not afraid of the US.
The Obama Administration calls the whole affair a distraction.
“Somali piracy is… a glimpse of the world the day after tomorrow.” (Mark Steyn)
You have to laugh at the cultural ignorance of Team Obama. Historically, the Somalis have always been a people given to banditry and piracy (c.f. the writings of the English explorer Sir Richard Burton). Taking what they need from others is not an act of desperation. It is business as usual for them. Their National Motto is: When two Somalis meet in the desert, only one walks away. Nor are Somalis easily cowed. I’ve been in that country twice (’85 and ’93) and they are the most obstinate, brazen, devil-may-care people I’ve ever seen, inured to hardship and absolutely fearless. They are, therefore, natural born pirates. And, they made $30 million in ransom payouts last year. That might be the sum total of the country’s GDP. I don’t think they will stop their depredations unless we make them. Unfortunately, with the way the Obama Administration has responded thus far, Steyn’s glimpse of the future seems to obtain in the here and now.
I’m coming late to the party….
cfbleachers, I’m in academia – I teach HS English, and you couldn’t be more correct. You nailed every single point – well said.
Hey Jack Marcotte I believe you might want to revise one part of your rant.
“… American actions that left millions of dead Americans on the soil of countries saved by American action…”
If you are referring to our war dead, millions of dead Americans on foreign soil is at best stretching the truth a bit.
Maybe you are counting all those fast food eating American tourists who died trying to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower.