Time once again for Molly Ivins. I had a little trouble with her this week, because, I guess, she was dealing with a subject that she, as a liberal, is not really too good with: Moral Clarity. But why don't you go read the column yourself. It's right here. Take your time. I had to read it a few times myself to make any sense of it. I'll be here when you get back. Ready? Let's take a trip into her fantasy land.
When in the course
of human events? What is this? The Declaration of Independence?
of the usual reasoned civil debate on public affairs - conducted with courtesy and good cheer
Excuse me Molly, what planet are you living on? Carville? Begala? Dasshole (little mister trial balloon)? Gephardt? a shreaking Eleanor Clift? Courtesy and good cheer? I'd hate to see the attack dogs.
one finds one's self snarling
So much for courtesy and good cheer
Oh, shut up!' one has, I fear been reading too much
Molly Ivins? No, Molly says,
George Will.
What, has he been writing about baseball again? That's usually what gets me going about George Will.
Being instructed what to think by the peerlessly, pompous Will
Or the equally pompous Hillary Clinton, or, by Molly, herself.
perched upon his
her
superiority
Hillary, The Smartest Woman in the World.
and apparently in a permanent state of dudgeon over everyone else's stupidity
Those ingrates didn't realize how great HillaryCare was.
is reminiscent of being bullied by a snotty teacher
Or of being lectured to by Bill Clinton, Sleazy Bubba, wagging his finger in our faces. Hey Bill, if you do that again, I've got a finger I'm gonna wag in your face
One is tempted to respond with the classic, frozen-faced Texas reply, 'No bull?"
Actually, I think it's 'No shit?' or 'No bullshit?' But you cannot say that in the print media. Long live the internet and its creator, Al Gore!
Will is often worth reading
unlike Molly, unless I need sumpin' to fisk.
if only you can figure out why you disagree with him.
I don't have that problem with Molly. I always disagree with her. She goes on to say that
he has been leading an entire phalanx of right-wing commentators in full cry over President Bush's loss of 'moral clarity' in the Middle East. The sheer implausibility of finding moral clarity in the Middle East does not deter them.
It doesn't deter me either. Arafat is a terrorist. He has led the Palestinians into disaster. They are evil. Any society that advocates strapping bombs on children and sending them off to murder civilians is bad. Golda Meir said that there would not be peace until the Palestinians loved their children more than they hated the Jews. No problem finding moral clarity here. The Jews have offered land for peace since 1967. There was a Palestinian state in 1947. It was called Jordan and included the West Bank. Arafat does not want a state as much as he wants to kill all the Jews. Clear enough?
Better minds tha Bush's are defeated by that challenge,
Hmmm, could she mean Sleazy Bubba and Jimmy Carter?
but the moral-certainty crowd admits no shade of gray.
There is none. Arafat and the Palestinians are terrorists. We are in a war against terrorism. Seems pretty clear to me. But I'm not a liberal so I have logical thought processes.
Will ...dismisses 'the intellectual confusion and moral miasma...that now permeate U.S. policy and media coverage
I have to disagree with George here. U.S. policy and media coverage are two different things, unless you get your info from the net or Fox News.
concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.'
There is much speculation that the apparent confusion in American policy is actually rope-a-dope to buy us time to replenish our supply of weapons. Then, it's goodbye Saddam. If we control Iraq, we control Iragi oil. Then our 'friends', the Saudis, better watch their asses. See opinions from various warbloggers in the blogosphere.
Personally, I think Sharon is a continuing, shattering disaster for Israel
As opposed to Ehud Barak, who gave Arafat the best offer he will ever get. Arafat walked away and started the current intifada, which, incidently led to Sharon's election. Got any better ideas Molly? I know, Let's have the Israelis throw down their arms and give peace a chance.
If it is not clear to all
it's not
by now that his policies - leaving aside their morality -
Morality? Morality? He's fighting a fucking war for Christ's sake. Listen you liberal twit. The first war Israel loses is the last war Israel fights. Jesus. I'm getting so pissed off I'm beginning to sound like Michael Savage!
don't work.
How many Israelis have been killed by suicide bombers since the offensive started? Not as many as before. What do you want Sharon to do? How many times do I have to say this? ARAFAT DOES NOT WANT PEACE!!! HE WANTS THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL!!
How much more evidence is needed?
See above. But now Molly careens off into South America and the coup in Venezuela. Enron didn't work so let's try to tie the Bushies to the coup in Venezuela. Let's see, since we didn't denounce the coup, we obviously must have had a hand in it.
'senior members of the Bush adminstration met several times in recent months with leaders of the coalition that ousted...Chavez, and agreed with them and said he should be removed from office', according to the New York Times
That notoriously pro Bush newspaper. Calling Cynthia McKinney. Let's have an investigation. Did we send in the Marines? Did we recognize the new government? No. We stayed out of their affairs. Isn't that what you liberals want? Anyway, Molly continues
Our own assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, Otto Reich, was on the phone with the head plutocrat advising him.
Advising him to do what? Molly doesn't say. Now let's smear Reich.
He was a recess appointment byPresident Bush for the simple reason that he could not get confirmed by the Senate.
But that was OK when Sleazy Bubba used the same ploy to appoint Bill Lee to the Justice Department.
While heading a State Department office in the 1980's, Reich ran a covert propaganda effort against the Sandinistas.
And this is bad because...? Oh, I forgot. To liberals socialism is good. In their minds, the only reasons socialism has never worked is because the right people haven't been in charge. Ya know, like Hillary Clinton. Or that enough money has not been used to fund it.
He is also believed to have helped get Orlando Bosch a known terrorist, asylum in the United States.
Believed...Kind of like alleged.
Bosch was pardoned by Big George Bush - I suppose indicating some lack of moral clarity there,too.
As opposed to all the moral clarity of Sleazy Bubba with all the terrorists he pardoned to either get his wife elected (Puerto Rican) or the massive going out of business pardon sale when he left the White House. I'm not even gonna put the quote in by 'one administration official' as that provides her lead in to her Carthago Delenda Est. OK Just in case anyone does not know what that means. During the 2nd Punic War, Cato, the Elder, a Roman Senator, ended every speech he made in the Senate with Carthago Delenda Est...Carthage must be destroyed. It seems liberals keep bringing up the neverending election. Her she goes.
Sometines a mojority of the voters lose out to a five-to-four vote on the Supreme Court.
OK. Let's try this one more time. Gore lost in district court when the manual recount could not be completed past the date, BY FL0RIDA LAW, that the Secretary of State had to certify the results. The Florida Supreme Court, all Democrats, legislated from the bench. The U. S. Supreme court slapped them down, they did it again, the Supreme Court slapped them down again. The results were certified. Bush won. Gore lost. Neener neener neener. Also, it turns out that with all the recounts, BUSH STILL WON! Now let's contrast that to what happened in Missouri where they elected a dead man!!! Ashcroft had every right to contest that election, but he showed graciousness and class, something sadly lacking in the Democratic Party.
Are we all morally clear now?
It all depends on what your meaning of 'morally clear' is.
Posted by denny at April 24, 2002 10:35 AM Category: Molly Ivins Fisks