Search






Jeff's Amazon.com Wish List

Archive Calendar

November 2024
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930  

Archives

Andrew Sullivan: "That was then" of the Day [Karl]

Excitable Andy is upset with John McCain for saying that “it’s very clear who Hamas wants to be the next president of the United States,” though a top Hamas official has publicly endorsed Obama:

My response is simply that honorable campaigns do not allow foreign agents, especially terrorist organizations, to insert themselves into American presidential politics. No respectable foreign governments do such a thing; and the gambits of al Qaeda, Hamas, or any other grouping to play one candidate against another should in general be ignored, not exploited.

This is the same Andrew Sullivan who wrote that Obama’s main asset is his face:

If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.

In the same article, Sullivan praises Obama’s October 2, 2002 speech against the invasion of Iraq:

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

Sullivan called those the “right reasons” to oppose the war.  Obama has recently made similar, even expanded comments along this line, directed at McCain.

To sum up:  Sullivan cares very deeply about the talking points of terror groups… unless those talking points might hurt Obama’s presidential campaign.

(h/t Memeorandum.)

23 Replies to “Andrew Sullivan: "That was then" of the Day [Karl]”

  1. Reading this reminded me of a Churchill speech, and in particular

    …never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.

    So, just what exactly is guiding Mr. Sullivan, as he swings back and forth?

    This is kind-of apropos nothing, I know that.

  2. Karl says:

    Quite the contrary.

  3. Dear Karl,

    Thanks very much.

    Patrick

  4. happyfeet says:

    Oct 25 2004

    Here is what conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan had to say: CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE, CTD: This blog has been on the case of vanished and missing explosives and infrastructure from Iraq weapons sites for some time … the fact that large amounts of potentially deadly materials have been looted under the eyes of the American occupation is Exhibit A in the case for this administration’s incompetence… In terrorist-ridden Iraq, the possibility of serious weaponry falling into the hands of the enemy and being deployed against American troops and conceivably American citizens is unforgivable. The whole point of the invasion was to prevent this kind of transfer from taking place. Yet, thanks to this administration, it may have precipitated it. Sure, we have enough troops. Sure.”

    Oct 29 2004

    Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N.’s Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, denied political motivation in reporting that 377 tons of conventional high explosives monitored by the agency were no longer at the Al Qaqaa complex.

    Apr 26 2008

    My response is simply that honorable campaigns do not allow foreign agents, especially terrorist organizations, to insert themselves into American presidential politics. No respectable foreign governments do such a thing; and the gambits of al Qaeda, Hamas, or any other grouping to play one candidate against another should in general be ignored, not exploited.

  5. Karl says:

    hf has been bringing the linkage all day today (I’ve bookmarked a couple to steal later, btw).

  6. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – A lot of the faux Liberal Proggs are found of saying “bring it”, either overtly or implied.

    – Feets doesn’t just talk a good cupcake, hes a giver.

  7. rhodan says:

    An interesting detail is that Al QuaQua wasn’t a regular arms depot. It was a missile base; not unlike Aberdeen
    Proving grounds. not much of the conventional or even plastic explosives
    that dominated the lions’s share of IEDs.

  8. Topsecretk9 says:

    My response is simply that honorable campaigns do not allow foreign agents, especially terrorist organizations, to insert themselves into American presidential politics. No respectable foreign governments do such a thing; and the gambits of al Qaeda, Hamas, or any other grouping to play one candidate against another should in general be ignored, not exploited.

    Can someone translate or did Jimmuh Carter crudely embarrass Andy?

  9. Rick Smith says:

    Under what I believe to be normal circumstances, the proper response for a candidate for the Presidency would be to tell Hamas that that they should be careful of what they wished for as the result of their wishfulness would be much worse than they might imagine. However, these are not normal circumstances. No one, I repeat, no one could truthfully say what Obamas feelings about Hamas really are. He is a cypher about his policy towards terrorism and about his overall policy towards anything except raising taxes on the rich. A true Marxist knows the way to what ever goals he may envision begin with the redistribution of wealth. With an embittered and revengeful racist this would only be the beginning. Listen to his wife, listen to his mentors, listen to his rhetoric when he is pandering to the left. This man is a pure 100% hater. He will destroy the fabric of this country because of his inability to find his roots. Roots that were robbed from him not by those he opposes today, but by his parents who never thought about anyone but themselves.

    Rick Smith

  10. Big Bang Hunter (pumping you up) says:

    – Hmmmm. That sounds so harsh Rick. Are you sure hes all that deep, because to be honest, I’m seeing him simply as an untested, inexperienced empty suit, which of course is the very reason he causes Obamaloons to piss all over themselves when he sneezes.

    – Apparently his brain-fucked flock love him precisely because he hasn’t been tainted by the beltway disease. They don’t understand he’ll transform into a regular Washington ghoul within three months after he arrives. They think he can remain virgin for his 4 years should he win.

    – Anyone who believes that people don’t change, and fast, have never seen a Vampire flic, or gotten a look at Jeff after one of his all night binges on pyote.

    – I jest. Jeff does not do hard drugs…. Anymore….. He only does over the counter meds. Lots and lots and lots and lots of over the counter meds.

  11. thor says:

    No one, I repeat, no one could truthfully say what Obamas feelings about Hamas really are. He is a cypher about his policy towards terrorism and about his overall policy towards anything except raising taxes on the rich.

    You’re sure the political wonk, ain’t’cha. It just seems like this week Obama was answering questions as to exactly what his policy would be with respect to Hamas.

    Go, just go.

  12. SGT Ted says:

    So, just what exactly is guiding Mr. Sullivan, as he swings back and forth?

    His penis?

  13. lee says:

    Got a link for that thor?

  14. thor says:

    Google it. Your mouse is that powerful.

  15. The irony is that in 2002/03 Sullivan was agitating in favor of an invasion. Now he praises 2002 speeches that agitated against invading. He was once one of the strongest voices for taking down all terrorist/jihadist regimes. Now he supports a guy who’d be a second Jimmy Carter.

    As for Sullivan’s view that Obama’s face would prove “them wrong about what America is in ways no words can”, well, that’s just silly. The reasons they hate us are long and complicated, but have nothing to do with anything Sullivan’s talking about.

  16. McGehee says:

    Google it. Your mouse is that powerful.

    Thor is Rosie O’Donnell!!!???

  17. lee says:

    Thor @ #14-

    Yeah, didn’t think so…

  18. the terrorists says:

    His face is so … black. That’s a black feller! Well shut my mouth. Let’s be friends.

  19. thor says:

    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/04/17/2008-04-17_obama_carter_is_wrong_to_meet_with_leade.html

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4fPPUCILEk

    Here you go, Lee, Mr. Didn’t Thinker So. Unless you’re disabled, don’t ask me to Google the news for you.

  20. Karl says:

    The O Team is so clear:

    Obama would engage with Iran’s President Ahmadinejad. He would sit down with North Korea and Syria. Is there anyone he wouldn’t talk to? “Not among elected heads of state. He won’t talk to Hamas, but he would talk to Abbas.”

    This seems inconsistent with America’s talk of spreading democracy – after all, Hamas is a democratically elected government, and Mahmoud Abbas’s party, Fatah, lost the last popular vote. “Well, Abbas is the head of state, so he’s going to talk to heads of state.” Don’t you have to trust to the democratic process? Not necessarily, seems to be the answer, as Power cites US dealings with Algeria, where Washington remained silent when the army stepped in after an Islamic party won the 1991 elections, and Egypt, where full democracy remains as elusive as the Sphinx. “You know, there is a long tradition in the US of, um, promoting elections up to the point that you get an outcome you don’t like. Look at Latin America in the Cold War.” Take Salvador Allende, the Marxist elected as president of Chile in 1970 and overthrown in a CIA-backed coup three years later. “We were trying to figure out if we could promote that election, but we certainly didn’t love the outcome. We played a role in assassinating an elected leader.”

    The odd fib

    Power’s demeanour is so different by this point that I don’t believe she’s convinced by what she’s saying. Dissembling does not come at all easily to her, and if she is to be part of an Obama White House she will have to learn to deliver the odd fib more persuasively. I think she agrees with her friend Sergio (they didn’t know each other well, but she has a biographer’s affection for him) that you should talk to anyone, literally anyone, so that you leave open the possibility of improving relations; and if that ultimately fails, at least you have the measure of your enemy. “Obama has talked a lot about the importance of moving away from electocracy,” she says, trying to move on to more comfortable territory, and suggesting that the way people actually live is more important than the “reification of elections”.

    “In terms of how radical the shift will be, I think it’s very hard.

    Power is gone; the improvised “policy” of the moment remains.

  21. lee says:

    See what Karl did there thor, that’s what you should have done to start with. If you are going to reference something to make a point, providing a link is just the right thing to do.

  22. thor says:

    See how I back-handed you and your request for a link? That’s my pimp hand at work.

  23. click here says:

    Your site has made me smile :-)

Comments are closed.