George W. Bush

Posted on George W. Bush, Iraq

something i just have to say

i was watching the situation last night and i have to say that the opening comments by tucker carlson and monica crowley totally mirrored my feelings on iraq at this point. it’s easy to be frustrated and confused about iraq when good news is not readily available. i believe the american people understand the importance of supporting our military men and women and their families. i think that we also want to support our commander-in-chief as well. many of us voted for him. after 9/11, we appreciated his strong message toward the terrorists, leaving no doubt that he was willing and able to hunt them down and destroy them.

progress has been made in iraq and in the war on terror. the president needs to show us this. this is not something karl rove can do. this is not a job for conservative talk radio, the mainstream media, or even conservative blogs. it’s the president’s job to give us a good reason to keep trusting him. i hope he can…because public support is necessary to win any war.

success in iraq in my view doesn’t mean making their government and laws exactly like ours. if we say that the iraqis should decide their own future (and we actually mean it), then unfortunately we have little control over what they do with that future. there are countries with a large muslim population, like the UK for example, that don’t allow Islam to dictate their foreign policy. we could argue, i suppose, about the internal effects of radical islam to the UK, but that’s a debate for another day.

the new iraq should value the rights of everybody, including women. that would be the best scenario, but i don’t know how much the US can insist on while still allowing for the autonomy of the iraqi leadership. should the US push for those rights? YES, and the UN could make itself useful for once and facilitate the negotiation process between the opposing parties on the iraqi constitution. if we don’t want the iraqi government to be considered a puppet of the united states, then we should allow them to make their own choices. after all, that is what makes them an independent, self-determining country.

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Posted on George W. Bush, Iraq

the UN and freddie mitchell

the president needs to sell his iraq policy — not to the anti-war crowd, because they can’t be convinced (no matter how much new evidence is brought into the mix). he needs to sell his policy to his supporters who are finding that the “loony lefties” are starting to make more and more sense. that’s scary. if mr. bush has a vision, and concrete plans to back up that vision, it’s not unreasonable to share part of that plan with the american people who supported him and voted for him. this article in the american spectator makes a similar argument.

do i know for sure that iraq will end up stablized, pro-democracy, and a peaceful neighbor to other countries? no, i don’t. i’ll tell you what i do know. i trust our military. i trust president bush and his military advisors. i don’t trust the UN, who has totally screwed up the handling of saddam hussein’s iraq from the very beginning. in the immortal words from IMAO’s UN slogans: “if this is an emergency, please hang up and dial america”. the UN has dropped the ball on international affairs so often that they should no longer be carrying it. if this was pro football, the UN would be the equivalent of freddie mitchell — all hype and limited production.

cindy sheehan has a voice. air america has a voice (at least for now). the president needs to find his voice. it’s his responsibility to sell his iraq policy to us. i hope he can.

on a lighter note, here’s a great dilbert cartoon which is unfortunately very accurate, and one interesting way to fight high gas prices. for the record, i do not agree with everything on the IMAO site, but it’s all quite funny.

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Posted on George W. Bush

abortion and the U.S. supreme court

once again a president of the united states has the historic opportunity to appoint a justice to the u.s. supreme court. this is an important choice because the supreme court can make rulings affecting all of us. we shall see which partisans are right with their views on bush’s pick.

the main issue on each group’s mind is abortion, specificially roe v. wade, which legalized abortion in the first place. the potential to change this decision motivates each group. i would like to see roe v. wade overturned. life has value and abortion cheapens that value. unfortunately, i don’t believe it will be overturned, regardless of how many supreme court justices bush appoints. there are too many obstacles to overcome to completely outlaw abortion.

what we can do is take small steps, such as parental notification, to help teens think twice about making this decision. we need to encourage parents to get involved in their kids’ lives. having a parent around to give advice on situations their daughters/sons face is key to heading off future problems. yes, even in the best of circumstances, kids screw up. but having an involved parent could short-circuit disaster in many cases.

it’s wrong to kill babies. it’s also wrong to bomb clinics or take the law into your hands to kill abortionists. bombing clinics and killing abortionists in cold blood is not acceptable in a civilized society. civilized societies have laws. the way to affect change is to make the case for a change in those laws.

here’s the question though — if abortion becomes illegal, how will that be enforced? punish the clinics without a doubt. but how about the young women who get these abortions? what would you do with them? it doesn’t seem like throwing them in jail would be the right thing to do. we need to think through the implications of overturning roe v. wade before trying to do it.

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