Head v. Heart

In the eight years since he lost the Election of 2000 — and was installed as President anyway by a lawless Supreme Court — Bush managed to wreck America big time:  from two badly-fought wars, to the worst deficit in American history, to the worst Depression since the Great one.

And now that Obama can’t undo all of Bush’s catastrophic errors in 12 months, particularly with a Republican Party determined to make America fail, some voters are turning against him.

Is anyone surprised?  Demagoguery works.  It never hurts to play to voter’s emotions over their intelligence.  Sadly, populist anger without solutions works.  Nihilism works.  And it’s a heckuva lot easier to tear a country apart than to build one up.  Just ask Al Qaeda.

Debate: Obama’s First Year

Republican strategist Mike Lane will defend the “Party of No.”

Planned topics:
Haiti
Obama after 1 year
The Massachusetts Senate Election
The Final Round for Health Care Reform
Wall Street Reform
Sarah Palin and FOX News

Catch-22 in the War on Radicalized Islam

Mark hosts the Leslie Marshall show tonight for two hours from 7 to 9 pm Eastern Time.
For the subject, see the blog entry above: “Not just Afghanistan, Not Just Al Qaeda”

Race, Reid, Republicans, and Ridiculousness

Really, Republicans?
Is saying the word “Negro” really the same as advocating segregation?
Republicans claim not to know the difference between an unfortunate use of an archaic phrase and advocacy of racist discrimination. And Michael Steele isn’t helping matters.
Is saying that a “light-skinned” African-American man without a “Negro dialect” is more electable than a darker skinned person with a heavy blaccent (Reid) really worse than saying our country would be better off if racists came to power in the United States and a permanent second-class status for Blacks enshrined into law (Lott)?
Reid’s calling white American voters racist is the same as Lott saying our country would be “better off” if we returned to Jim Crow days?
Would that mean if I accuse Republicans of being racist opportunists — and I am — that that is the equivalent of myself advocating slavery?
Does anyone, other than a complete idiot, buy any of this?

Not Just Afghanistan, Not Just Al Qaeda….

Guest: Professor Jordan Tama of American University

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Etc.
Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Muslim Brotherhood, Radical Shia, Radical Shiite, Etc.

Radicalized Islam is growing. The struggle in the Arab world between rich despots (largely supported by the United States) and poor anarchic, murderous theocratic terrorists has left few peaceful moderates having any say at all.

Much like Latin Americans in the 1980’s, most Arabs just want to live their lives, but they’re stuck in the middle of an international civil war where they distrust all sides. They hate both their corrupt, torturing governments AND the brutal fundamentalist Islamist terrorists who want to massacre innocent people (Muslim and non-Muslim) worldwide. And most hate the USA as well (not to mention Israel).

In fact, about the only thing the corrupt governments and the fanatical terrorists agree on (and do quite well) is putting the blame for their brutal wars on us: on the West, on the USA, on Israel, on Christians, on Jews, and on anyone but themselves.  (Not that we don’t deserve some significant blame, because we do.  Which makes everything even more complicated!)

Still, demagoguery works. And we are losing the battle for hearts and minds. And isn’t this battle — the battle for public opinion — the only way to win the “war on terror”?

We are in a Catch-22. How do we defeat a worldwide assymetrical enemy? How do we preserve our values while fighting an enemy that seeks anarchy and destruction? If we fight back hard, we are seen as bullies killing civilians (however accidentally we do so). If we fight back soft, we are seen as defeatable.

The real question is: will Islamic Arabs ever stand up and say: “There’s a third way”? A way of responsive democratic, non-corrupt, non-brutal governing. A way practiced by the few Muslim-majority democracies on earth: Turkey (though radicalism in Turkey is unfortunately growing) and, recently, in Indonesia and even Pakistan.

Where are the moderates?
Who are the moderates?
Do they even exist?
If so, how do we help them succeed?