Omakase

Amazon Search
«  
  »

Ouch

By lex, on September 19th, 2008

Ol’ Newt hasn’t lost a step.

(H/T to the Prof)

Share
September 19th, 2008 | Tags: , | Category: Politics and Culture

18 comments to Ouch

  • Buck
    September 19, 2008 at 4:10 pm

    Ol’ Newt hasn’t lost a step.

    Yup. I dearly love the man, too. He’s right (ahem) a whole helluva lot more than he’s wrong. Consistently. That’s not considering his personal life, but why would I even wanna go there? ;)

  • Byron Audler
    September 19, 2008 at 5:03 pm

    Only a fool argues with an historian…he knows where all the bodies are buried, AND how they got there! Newt is a very good historian.

    You know, it comes to me that the media is gonna have a real tough time playing these BS games with Sarah Palin. She is bright, she is motivated, she is earnest, and most importantly, she is 100% honest. What you see, is what you get. Unless that is, you want to see the Palin-ator :)

  • STEVEC
    September 19, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    VOTE FOR NEWT. Smartest guy around who can talk the talk and walk the walk.

  • RonF
    September 19, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Perhaps if some of the pundits went to church more they’d recognize what people meant when they talked about God.

  • MaxDamage
    September 19, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    Palin is from my tribe. We’ve not been represented much in Washington, having so little population. The media generally don’t come around here, and when they do they report on our quaint little backwaters and head home to the land of Starbucks as soon as possible.

    News out today is that Biden has soured the Catholic vote. Which, given their numbers, isn’t a good thing for the Obama campaign.

    At one time we were a Christian nation, and the fact that my neighbor was Catholic or Anglican or Lutheran or Mormon didn’t matter a whole lot — we all prayed to the same God and had pretty much the same view on the Gospels.

    Now that I’m told I’m stupid for believing in an Imaginary Friend, that faith is a crutch I alone bear. I’m sort of wondering how *that* message is supposed to buy my vote.

    All I can hope is they keep it up.

    – Max

  • Rob Johnson
    September 20, 2008 at 6:58 am

    Reporters have to report not analyze. Whenever they do, they show how less of a person they are than they think they are.

  • sandman
    September 20, 2008 at 7:38 am

    Actually more factual analysis and factual reporting is what seems to be wholely missing from this political season, the public is being blinded by the onslaught of personality promotion at the expense of substance and discourse on the issues America faces at the present and in the future. Mi dos centavos.

  • Skippy-san
    September 20, 2008 at 7:53 am

    Seems to my uneducated mind that Gingrich and Gibson are talking past one another.

    Gibson asked, rather poorly in my opinion, whether we were attempting to order our foreign policy in order to complete the alignment of dominos to fufill biblical prophecy-that’s a point that has been made by many ministers and many news analysts.

    That is a far different thing than asking God to provide for the safety of the troops on the front line. Which was the essence of Sarah Palin’s response-and her remarks in church.

  • Skippy-san
    September 20, 2008 at 7:58 am

    Max,

    Exactly how has Biden soured Catholics? Joe Biden is a Catholic.

  • blackeagle603
    September 20, 2008 at 1:30 pm

    “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”

    That did not look like any kind of interview. That was a game of gotcha being played against Gov Palin.

    Gibson was trying to school her but he got schooled.

    Think twice before you mess with a woman from our tribe. They raise Spartans after all.

  • Casey
    September 20, 2008 at 10:03 pm

    Now that I’ve had a chance to watch that vid, Skippy-sama, I really have to disagree with you.

    Gibson mis-quoted Palin: “Our national leaders are sending US soldiers on a task that is from God;” whether deliberately nor not I can’t say. He then immediately asked “Are we fighting a holy war?”

    He is obviously focusing directly on her phrase “on a task that is from God.” A careful reading of her complete statement shows that she invoked the same sense of purpose, and the same aspiration that our country is, indeed, following His will as demonstrated by many other American leaders.

    And, no, she just wasn’t praying for their safety, sir. She was asking people to pray that our course was, in fact, following the path of righteousness.

    The same way that Lincoln, FDR, and others have done since the birth of the Republic.

    It’s a real stretch to conflate her original and un-edited remarks with some sort of hypothetical attempt to fulfill apocalyptic destiny. She neither predicted nor acclaimed any sort of “end times,” nor did she evince any sort of millennial desire to throw over the secular world order in order to prepare for the Rapture.

    Maybe Skippy has been reading too many Left Behind novels? :)

  • MaxDamage
    September 20, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    Skippy, the headline was from Drudge a couple of days ago. Biden is a Catholic, but apparently the Bishops don’t find his stance on abortion to be particularly appealing. While he hasn’t been excommunicated, according to the Drudge article and my (admittedly failing) memory he has been refused communion. Which, to a Christian, if you can’t partake of the sacraments you might as well not show up.

    I know little of the Catholic faith, my main interaction has been to pretend I know Latin while at funerals, so don’t think I’m an authority here.

    The odd thing to me is I’ve only seen it mentioned in the Drudge headline. A quick google picked up a bunch of links from the catholic blogosphere as well as official church sites. Darned near nothing in conservative commentary or mainstream media.

    So, the pulpit seems to be against Biden for the pro-life crowd, Palin practically exemplifies what the pro-life crowd wants, and there’s only a headline on Drudge to report on this demographic. Seems like kind of a large demographic base to not be mentioned in the polling data, wouldn’t you agree?

    Figure 40% of the electorate is for a particular party. That remaining 20% is what each has to reach for. Campaign left/right during the primaries, shift to the center for the election.

    The center just seems to be swooning for one VP and a significant portion against another VP.

    Not saying it will decide the election, I just found the lack of coverage and the potential ramifications to be interesting.

    – Max

  • Peter W.
    September 21, 2008 at 5:29 am

    Hugh Hewitt has been covering the uproar that Biden and Pelosci (sp?) have created by their misrepresenting Catholic teaching regarding abortion. Something like over 40 church officials have released public statements directly refuting what they have expressed as sound Catholic thought. Such a massive and direct refutation from church officials is unprecedented, as has defined their (Biden and Pelosci) positions as outside of acceptable church belief. This is not helpful if you want faithful Catholics to vote for you.

    Gibson strikes me as typical of most media. He has no appreciation or understanding of religious faith, and probably honestly doesn’t understand what Governor Palin is trying to explain to him. Neither is he making an honest effort to understand, which is also typical of the inflexible and close-minded mind-set of most liberals/progressives.

    Main-stream media is a product of academia, which is monolithic in its leftism and liberal fascism. I work in the education community, and almost every single time I’ve come into conflict with a liberal, I found a wanna-be tyrant with fascist tendencies. The exceptions are notable and rare.

    Best regards, Peter Warner.
    (not a Catholic)

  • Skippy-san
    September 21, 2008 at 6:55 am

    Casey,

    I’ve not been reading too many Left behind novels-I just don’t subscribe to the idea that God sanctions war. Wars are for men’s purposes not God’s. Lex does not have the bandwidth or the time to get into a discussion of Just War theory-so its probably best left at that.

    I will admit though that I heard her differently-and I think her words were carefully chosen. I heard her asking for prayers for the safety of the Soldiers and that the Soldiers individually act in a manner consistent with the will of the Lord. Which to me, is a different thing entirely.

    I also did not say that Palin espoused the belief-it is just that to me, there was no real reason for Gibson to ask the question-except if he was trying to drive that there was some sort of a divine inspired reason for us to invade Iraq. And he wanted to draw her out into saying that-and she did not.

    Which leads us back to the first paragraph-when nations go to war they are doing men’s business not God’s.

    regards,

  • Peter W.
    September 21, 2008 at 9:59 am

    Skippy wrote: ‘Wars are for men’s purposes not God’s.’

    Well, Skippy, I have to disagree. I believe there have been numerous times in history when Divine Providence has supported organized military effort.

    In fact, I would go further and say that only an uncaring and unloving G-d would NOT encourage, support, and Bless organized military efforts to stop tyranny and aggression. If Justice and Goodness mean anything to Him that created us, surely He is interested in the effort to defend and advance them. And if He’s interested, it’s guaranteed He’s involved.

    Dennis Prager once illustrated this quite plainly when he said ‘During the Second World War, it was an act of goodness to kill Nazis.’ I don’t believe G-d is neutral when it comes to cruelty and tyranny.

    Let us pray always to do His will, and for His guidance and presence.

    Best regards, Peter Warner.

  • Skippy-san
    September 21, 2008 at 10:44 am

    Peter-There’s little point in going into a theological debate-it could go on for days, or “ad homnium” as our host refers to it. And in the end we both be wherever we choose to be. Suffice it to say that believing an all loving God supports the mass murder of His children is a leap for me to accept. I can accept, that God weeps when men fight each other, and that some men may be more aligned with His will than others-but then it gets into the question of why He does not intevene to stop it all before it ever begins. For whatever divine reason he has declined to intervene in the affairs of men.

    And that debate, has been going on for well over 6000 years. Not going to solve it here.

  • lex
    September 21, 2008 at 11:00 am

    Your host might agree with the sympathies expressed, and yet choose to characterize his referral alternately…

  • blackeagle603
    September 21, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    SS,
    I’ll just leave quietly then and infer that to discuss the Just War Doctrine would be a waste of Navy chow.
eXTReMe Tracker

View My Stats