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Mark Steyn:Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers
http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn18.html ^ | Mark Steyn

Posted on 12/18/2005 2:24:36 AM PST by mal

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any disaffected Iraqi minority groups left. Oh, wait, there's Ahmed at 37 Sword of the Infidel Slayer Gardens in Ramadi. Apparently, he's still rejecting the new constitution. Maybe, if we're lucky, he's got a brother who's mildly irked. Whoops, sorry, they just went off to vote, too

(Excerpt) Read more at suntimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: defeatists; iraq; iraqielection; losers; lostdems; marksteyn; steyn
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To: mal

bump


41 posted on 12/18/2005 8:52:51 AM PST by hattend (Dang, it's cold up here.)
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To: Pokey78
And the point is, even if I was in the mood for a story about two rugged insecure men who find themselves strangely attracted to each other in a dark transgressive relationship that breaks all the rules, who needs Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger when you've got Howard Dean and Abu Musad al-Zarqawi? Yee-haw!

And:

The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot -- even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble."

And the coup de gras:

Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.

Thank you Mark Steyn!

Merry Christmas Pokey!

42 posted on 12/18/2005 8:56:43 AM PST by Rummyfan
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To: mal

Just wait until the WMD show up...


43 posted on 12/18/2005 9:05:42 AM PST by Go Gordon (I don't know what your problem is, but I bet its hard to pronounce)
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To: freeangel
Great article! Too bad the media is still ignoring......

Mark Steyn should replace Andy Rooney as the commentary on "60 Minutes". (well I can dream)

44 posted on 12/18/2005 9:05:55 AM PST by elbucko
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To: Crackingham
We need more than an election. We need peace to shut the dems up.

Which is precisely why the Dems have to root for more deaths of innocent Iraqis and US soldiers. The Democrat Party is once again, as always, the Party of Death.

45 posted on 12/18/2005 9:18:57 AM PST by Teacher317
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To: mal
From www.suntimes.com:

Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers

December 18, 2005

BY MARK STEYN SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any disaffected Iraqi minority groups left. Oh, wait, there's Ahmed at 37 Sword of the Infidel Slayer Gardens in Ramadi. Apparently, he's still rejecting the new constitution. Maybe, if we're lucky, he's got a brother who's mildly irked. Whoops, sorry, they just went off to vote, too.

Heigh-ho. The Iraq election's over, the media did their best to ignore it, and, judging from the rippling torsos I saw every time I switched on the TV, the press seem to reckon that that gay cowboy movie was the big geopolitical event of the last week, if not of all time. Yes, yes, I know: They're not, technically, cowboys, they're gay shepherds, but even Hollywood isn't crazy enough to think it can sell gay shepherds to the world. And the point is, even if I was in the mood for a story about two rugged insecure men who find themselves strangely attracted to each other in a dark transgressive relationship that breaks all the rules, who needs Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger when you've got Howard Dean and Abu Musad al-Zarqawi? Yee-haw! And, if that sounds unfair, pick almost any recent statement by a big-time Dem cowboy and tell me how exactly it would differ from the pep talks Zarqawi gives his dwindling band of head-hackers -- Dean arguing that America can't win in Iraq, Barbara Boxer demanding the troops begin withdrawing on Dec. 15, John Kerry accusing American soldiers of terrorizing Iraqi women and children, Jack Murtha declaring that the U.S. Army is utterly broken. Pepper 'em with a handful of "Praise be to Allahs" and any one of those statements could have been uttered by Zarqawi.

The Democratic Party have contrived to get themselves into a situation where bad news from Iraq is good for them and good news from Iraq is bad for them. And as there's a lot more good news than bad these days, that puts them, politically, in a tough spot -- even with a fawning media that, faced with Kerry and Murtha talking what in any objective sense is drivel, decline to call for the men with white coats but instead nod solemnly and wonder whether Bush is living "in a bubble."

One day Iraq will be a G7 member hosting the Olympics in the world's No. 1 luxury vacation resort of Fallujah, and the Defeaticrat Party will still be running around screaming it's a quagmire. It's not just that Iraq is going better than expected, but that it's a huge success that's being very deftly managed: The timeframe imposed on the democratic process turns out to have worked very well -- the transfer of sovereignty, the vote on a constitutional assembly, the ratification of the constitution, the vote for a legislature -- and, with the benefit of hindsight, it now looks like an ingeniously constructed way to bring the various parties on board in the right order: first the Kurds, then the Shia, now the Sunni. That doesn't leave many folks over on the other side except Zarqawi and Dean. What do the two have in common? They're both foreigners, neither of whom have the slightest interest in the Iraqi people.

And no, I'm not questioning their patriotism. Honestly, who can be bothered questioning anything so footling as Howard Dean's patriotism? If you're a Democratic patriot and you're outraged by my linking your party to the "insurgents," take it up with your leaders: They're the ones who've over-invested the party in American failure. And instead of being angry at me you should be ashamed of them. Your party is regarded as unserious on national security because it got it wrong last time round, when Kerry spent the last half of the Cold War siding with every loser on the planet -- opposing the liberation of Grenada, supporting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. And at least that little Sandinista guy looked awful cute in his fatigues, like a novelty houseboy Teresa picked up on vacation. It's hard to believe a bunch of crazy mullahs and suicide bombers are going to do much for the lefty T-shirt business.

George Clooney, the matinee idol, made an interesting point the other day. He said that "liberal" had become a dirty word and he'd like to change that. Fair enough. So I hope he won't mind if I make a suggestion. The best way to reclaim "liberal" for the angels is to get on the right side of history -- the side the Iraqi people are on. The word "liberal" has no meaning if those who wear the label refuse to celebrate the birth of a new democracy after 40 years of tyranny. Yet, if you wandered the Internet on Thursday, you came across far too many "liberals" who watched the election, shrugged and went straight back to Valerie Plame, WMD, Bush lied.

Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers. That's what this is about: Millions of Kurds, Shia and Sunnis beaming as they emerge from polling stations and hold up their purple fingers after the freest, fairest election ever held in the Arab world. "Liberal" in the American sense is a dirty word because it's come to stand for a shriveled parochial obsolescent irrelevance, of which ''Good Night, and Good Luck,'' Clooney's dreary little retread of the McCarthy years, is merely the latest example. (Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.)

The Anglo-American political tradition is the most successful in the world in part because of the concept of "loyal opposition." Yes, the party out of office opposes the party in office and hopes to supplant it, but not at the expense of the broader political culture. A party that winds up cheerleading for a deranged loser death cult is the very definition of pointless self-defeating sour oppositionism. So, as Zarqawi flails, Dean and Murtha and Kerry flail ever more pathetically, too. Just wait till the WMD turn up.

© Mark Steyn, 2005

Copyright © Mark Steyn, 2005

Copyright © The Sun-Times Company
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


46 posted on 12/18/2005 9:42:17 AM PST by RonDog
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To: RonDog
See also:
Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints

47 posted on 12/18/2005 9:45:01 AM PST by RonDog
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To: RonDog
Indexing RELATED threads:
Iraqi Vote Leaves Dems Looking Like The Losers
(American Insurgents Reverses Alert)

  Posted by goldstategop
On News/Activism 12/18/2005 7:19:22 AM PST · 16 replies · 630+ views


Chicago Sun Times ^ | 12/18/05 | Mark Steyn
 

Mark Steyn:Iraq vote leaves Dems looking like the losers
  Posted by mal
On News/Activism 12/18/2005 2:24:36 AM PST · 46 replies · 1,695+ views


suntimes.com ^ | Mark Steyn

48 posted on 12/18/2005 9:47:02 AM PST by RonDog
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To: mal; Pokey78; Cornpone; AmericanArchConservative
There was once a time when political parties put aside their differences in a time of war.

The Dems and the rest of the Left hate Western Civilization so much, that they are prepared to begrudge democracy to a long oppressed people.
49 posted on 12/18/2005 10:05:33 AM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
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To: mal

only ONE thing wrong in Steyn's article (although it just might be a headline writer's mistake)

The Democrats are not "looking" like losers.

They have crossed the line and have BECOME full fledged Losers, filled with brown oozing loser-ite, smelling of loser-musk, living in loser-stan.

Until Friday, I avoided accusing the Democrats of engaging in anti-Americanism, but it is getting harder and harder to avoid the obvious.


50 posted on 12/18/2005 10:29:27 AM PST by Edit35
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To: Pokey78

Love it! Thanks for the ping.


51 posted on 12/18/2005 10:36:11 AM PST by GOPJ (War on Christmas? Celebrate the sweetness of forbidden customs -deck the halls with boughs of holly.)
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To: mal
One day Iraq will be a G7 member hosting the Olympics in the world's No. 1 luxury vacation resort of Fallujah, and the Defeaticrat Party will still be running around screaming it's a quagmire.

Great term: Defeaticrat Party! LOL

52 posted on 12/18/2005 10:40:00 AM PST by GOPJ (War on Christmas? Celebrate the sweetness of forbidden customs -deck the halls with boughs of holly.)
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To: mal
Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers.

I want this in a bumper sticker!

53 posted on 12/18/2005 12:00:20 PM PST by Ruth A.
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To: HighWheeler; Mercat

Bush lied ??


54 posted on 12/18/2005 12:05:07 PM PST by hripka (There are a lot of smart people out there in FReeperLand)
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To: appleharvey

If and when we ever have peace, the Dems will claim we got it only by finally following their advice to pull out. And those democracies left in our wake would have happened anyway, and a lot sooner, and with no one inconvenienced in any way ... and on and on and on.


55 posted on 12/18/2005 12:07:35 PM PST by n-tres-ted (Remember November!)
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To: RonDog
(Clooney says he wants more journalists to "speak truth to power," which is why I'm insulting his movie.)
56 posted on 12/18/2005 12:15:09 PM PST by aculeus
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To: Ruth A.
Bush lied, people dyed. Their fingers.

Catchy, but inaccurate. I do not for a second buy into the notion that Bush "lied." I don't think the CIA, the NSA, the DIA or any foreign intelligence service lied either. I think they were WRONG.

57 posted on 12/18/2005 12:21:06 PM PST by pettifogger
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To: ABG(anybody but Gore)

"Steyn's not saying anything we don't already know, but he has a helluva gift for saying it."

That is called winning the war of ideas!

Nice to have a wordsmith of Steyn's calibre on our side.


58 posted on 12/18/2005 12:24:03 PM PST by Prost1 (Sandy Berger can steal, Clinton can cheat, but Bush can't listen!)
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To: mal
A party that winds up cheerleading for a deranged loser death cult is the very definition of pointless self-defeating sour oppositionism. So, as Zarqawi flails, Dean and Murtha and Kerry flail ever more pathetically, too. Just wait till the WMD turn up.

LOL...Mark's the man...tellin' it like it is.

59 posted on 12/18/2005 12:32:00 PM PST by shield (The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instructions.Pr 1:7)
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To: pettifogger
Good point. I don't buy into it either. Saddam tried to bluff, but Bush called him and there was no other way to find out for certain. The things we have learned (and didn't know how to look for) in the aftermath is just as important as WMD.

I first ran into "pettifogger" while reading a Kakfa novel.

60 posted on 12/18/2005 12:43:54 PM PST by Ruth A.
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