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Insight's "Bush Won!!" Posted October 1, 2004 By Adam Yoshida "As has been pointed out at length over recent days, the final verdict on any debate takes two or three days to be rendered. But let me try and pre-empt that now: Bush won not only the debate but, in all probability, the election. Senator Kerry stood up well but, once more, he didn't say anything. In fact, coming out of the debate, I'm less clear as to what Kerry actually thinks about Iraq and the broader War on Terrorism than I was before I went in. Kerry's managed to...

A Surprise Nuclear Attack is Our Only Chance On one matter there can be little doubt: the Stalinist Monarchy which calls itself the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” is, by far, the greatest threat to peace today. It is persistently and recklessly aggressive, an economic basket case perpetually on the brink of total collapse, and run by a man who seemingly lacks any basic connection to reality and who, in any sane nation, would be institutionalized. More than that, it has just become the world’s newest nuclear power and has given us every reason to believe that they intend to...

I think that many people who have seen the sixth ad being put out by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth will agree with me when say that the ad, entitled "Friends" had the potential to do as much damage to the Kerry campaign as the entire Rathergate/Danron fiasco. Don't believe me? Watch the ad yourself. And, in case you can't see it, here's a transcript. The beauty of this ad is that it is simple, verifiably true, and utterly devastating. We know that John Kerry met with the Vietnamese Communists because he admitted it to us. We know that,...

The Lead Moderator has graciously pointed out that Adam Yoshida's material is no longer welcome at Free Republic. And, I must agree. Yoshida is too extreme. And today, I failed to read the full context of the last paragraph in his recent message. It was correct to wipe the message off the board and I am heartened to know that the moderators are doing their job.Many times, I did not post his stuff because of his extreme views. I should have done likewise this time. To my FRiends, rest assured that Yoshida's views are his - and some are very...

Frankly, one of the main reasons for the present troubles in Iraq is the fact that the initial offensive into that country was overly quick and insufficiently destructive. Irregular resistance is almost always contemplated (and often planned for) at the end of a major war. At the end of the Civil War some Confederate hotheads wished to fight on, but were discouraged from doing so by General Lee. Various factions in Germany and Japan pondered continued resistance after the Second World War but, ultimately that resistance failed to materialize in any meaningful way. Too many were already dead and the...

Some have suggested that I believe the United States to be perfect. This is, in fact, far from the truth. The Untied States has made serious mistakes in its history: it’s just that the real mistakes are not the ones commonly identified by America’s opponents. The problem is not that America is too aggressive, too bullying, or too imperialistic: but that it is insufficiently all of those things. Mistakes by American leaders are, to a great degree, responsible for creating the world in which we live. It’s just that the mistakes are not the ones we commonly identify. I’m going...

“The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win.” These are not the words of Al Jazeera, or the ravings of some fanatical Moslem Sheik. They are the words of Michael Moore, Oscar-winning filmmaker, best-selling author, and ostensibly an “American.” There is only one word which can be used to describe such a man: traitor. Based upon the success of his movies and the sales of his books, it’s fair to call Michael Moore the leading...

While it was largely forgotten in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, in recent decades the internment of Japanese-Americans during that war has become one of the most regularly discussed (or, at least, one of the most regularly taught to students) issues related to the war. It is often used by individuals of a certain temperament and character to prick the balloon of “good war” mythology which has sprung up around World War Two. Some have gone to somewhat insane lengths to make this point, for reasons that are there own. One suggested “lesson plan” for High School...

Today I stumbled upon Books for Soldiers (www.booksforsoldiers.com) an excellent program which links Americans serving overseas up with books and other materials. While I admire this program, I was shocked to see that Michael Moore is using this opportunity to ship thousands of copies of his books and DVD’s overseas to propagandize American servicemen, apparently in an effort to destroy their morale. I can’t imagine that anyone sitting in the Mesopotamian desert could read Dude, Where’s My Country? and come out feeling good about themselves or their service (that being, if they take Michael Moore seriously). This is an utterly...

When the history of the Iraq War is ultimately written the major criticism of President Bush may not be that he moved too soon, but that he waited too long. He had the best of intentions, of course. Prime Minister Blair and Secretary Powell, among others, thought it was best to go through the UN. So did American public opinion. So did opposition Democrats and much of the American foreign policy establishment. There was no need to, “rush to war,” the opponents of conflict repeatedly assured Americans. But they were wrong. After David Kay, the former head of the Iraqi...

The Deficit Hoax Those who are throwing a fit over a few billion in spending by the Bush Administration (and who are not, as many Democrats are, deathbed converts to the concept of fiscal responsibility) are missing the point. A few billion here and there are nothing in the face of the fact that, according to the non-partisan Concord Coalition, the unfunded Social Security and Medicare liabilities of the Federal Government are (in present-day dollars) somewhere in the neighbourhood of 24.1 trillion dollars and this number is growing with each passing day, each birth, and each expansion of the span...

Just who is backing Moqtada al-Sadr? Is he backed by a groundswell of Shiite opinion? Hardly: all media whining aside, there are no signs of a true “mass uprising” among the Shiite population of Iraq. If there were, the “civilian” dead in Southern Iraq would number in the thousands or tens of thousands and the pictures would be being played around the clock on television. In fact, when given their chance to voice their opinions democratically in the form of local elections, the Shiites of Iraq have repeatedly and consistently opted for secularists over Islamists. Who then is backing al-Sadr...

In the next few days we’re going to hear a lot from both war opponents and a variety of nervous twits who are ostensibly on our side about how we’re “losing” Iraq. This will be patent nonsense, of course, but it will get very good play in the media. “Iraq is in chaos,” various correspondents will intone to the very concerned and proper nods of the anchor back in New York or Atlanta. The timid among the Congress (meaning: about eighty members of the Senate) will all suddenly become convinced of their own strategic genius, along with all of the...

The Bush Administration has been predicting an upswing in violence in Iraq during the months leading up to the transfer of power on June 30th. It should, therefore, hardly be a surprise to see that this upswing has arrived. The forces we face in Iraq are not growing stronger overall, but rather weaker. They are desperate, damaged, and disintegrating with only a single, final, hope. In the last day the internet has been abuzz with stories of a “coup d’etat” in progress in Iraq, discussing how followers of Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are taking to the streets in the “tens...

Did you know that the Democratic National Committee is sponsoring, to the tune of hundreds and perhaps even thousands of dollars, a man whose response to the killing and mutilation of four American security contractors in Fallujah was, “Screw them”? Perhaps the phrase can enter the lexicon of this year’s Democratic insanity, along with Howard Dean’s scream and John Kerry inanely intoning, “Bring it on,” over and over again. Two hundred people were murdered by terrorists in Spain? “Screw them.” After all, they brought it on themselves by opposing al-Qaeda’s just and right desire for the restoration of the medieval...

From the reaction to the Israeli assassination of Hamas’ “Spiritual Leader”, Sheik Yasin, in some quarters you’d have thought that the Israelis had entered and defiled the Church of the Nativity. No, wait, it was the Palestinians who did that. Well, forget about that then. The primary reaction from European and Western sources was to exclaim their hatred for Yasin’s role in the mass-murder of innocent Israelis, but an equal concern for the fate of the so-called “peace process”. Frankly, I can barely speak the word without spitting it out. As Patrick Henry said, “Peace? But there is no peace....

People ought to read the actual preliminary reports being released by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (popularly known as the “9-11 Commission”) instead of listening to the confrontational blather of Democrat partisans both on and before the commission and elsewhere. Contrary to what is being widely claimed in the media, the actual findings of the commission do not “blame Bush and Clinton equally,” rather they paint a damning picture of the failure of Democratic policies towards terrorism from the 1990’s. The present-day actions of the left give us no reason to believe that, if given...

I expect there to be as much (or more) violence at the Republican National Convention in New York City this September as occurred at the Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968. At the very least, the convention will almost certainly bring the worst civil disturbances that the United States has seen since the World Trade Organization met in Seattle. This, of course, is potentially perilous: but it might well also be a magnificent opportunity. Frankly, I wouldn’t be shocked to see real street battles. The extreme left is angry. Angrier than I’ve ever seen them. And they will be made...

On the evening September 11th, 1970: thirty-one years to the day before al-Qaeda’s attack on America, John Forbes Kerry was sitting in a room somewhere with the other leaders of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, engaged in a busy meeting of the Executive Committee. Among other things they discussed plans to brand all American soldiers as “war criminals” (literally so, in the form of demonstrations outside of induction centers, “for the purpose of making clear the transition between citizen and war criminal”) and making plans for a speaking tour starring fake Vietnam veteran Al Hubbard and unindicted traitor Jane Fonda....

I’m going to make a prediction. It might sound foolish at this stage and it’s certainly true that I’ve made predictions in the past that have turned out to be wildly (wr)ong, but I’m going to make it anyways: John Kerry is going to lose this election, and lose it badly. The first truly ominous sign for Kerry since his sudden rise after Iowa is the surprisingly strong candidacy of Ralph Nader. Given the widespread perception that Nader cost Gore the last election, and the supposed fact that Democrats are united and energized because of their “anger” towards President Bush,...

I have said it many times before: the War on Terrorism cannot be won in a day, but it can be lost in one. There can be no more effective demonstration of this dictum than the recent election results in Spain. For all that we fear it; al-Qaeda’s actual forces are so small that, if they were to attempt to fight a traditional open battle, they would probably be destroyed by a single Spanish brigade. Yet it was al-Qaeda that beat Spain. Already their propagandists are crowing about the “conquest of Madrid” and proclaiming a truce to allow Spain to...

Lost amid the clamor over the disastrous result of the Spanish elections on March 14th have been the results of the perhaps equally important Russian Presidential election of the same day. Frankly I suspect that, over the long term, these might be even more consequential. While it is far too early to proclaim the death of freedom in Russia, it would not be an exaggeration to say that, at the very least, liberal democracy has perished in that great land. I still don’t know what to make of Vladimir Putin: is he a future tyrant that we shall have to...

What happened in Spain’s election was almost enough to make one feel nostalgic for General Franco (who is, unfortunately, still dead). Whatever other flaws he had (and they were both serious and numerous) at least he’d have made sure that Spain dealt harshly with Islamic terrorists and their allies. There is no inherent legitimacy in democratic decisions. A bad decision remains one even if it is taken in such a fashion. The choice of the Spanish people to, in response to the Madrid bombings, opt for the road of cowardice and of the appeasement of terror is such a decision....

We’re still not sure exactly who was responsible for the recent atrocity in Madrid. Initial speculation focused on the ETA, a violent Basque separatist group. Now, after a claim of responsibility by an affiliated group, most people are looking towards al-Qaeda. Frankly, on reflection, I believe that this was probably a joint operation, given evidence linking both the ETA and al-Qaeda to the attack. The fact that the sort of explosives used match up with those that the ETA has been caught with in the past points directly at them. The operational methods (which are inconsistent with those of the...

In announcing his campaign for the Presidency in late 1967, Senator Eugene McCarthy assailed the war in Vietnam on the grounds that it was opposed by the “decent opinion of mankind.” That’s an interesting phrase, when you think about it: and one that’s been at the core of Democratic foreign policy ever since. American policy can be legitimate, the left holds, only so long as “decent opinion” supports it. But who defines “decent opinion”? The hard-working, hard-fighting Americans who are willing to stand up against tyranny or the limp-wristed, faint-hearted Europeans who want to see the “nuance” in evil? This...

This is an essay that began as one thing and ended as another. I went into this with the intention of writing on the potential of military conflict between a European Superpower and the United States, in particular on those areas where such open military conflicts might arise. However, as I conducted research for that paper, I came to a very different conclusion: there isn’t going to be any military conflict between the United States and European Superpower, because there is probably never going to be a European Superpower. In fact, unless trends change drastically, within a few decades the...

Frankly, I’m mystified at how anyone could have lost a relative on 9-11 and responded by calling for steps that would protect the murderers. Other than in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, the only time that family members of the lost have been showcased is when one of them is trotted out to attack the Bush Administration with heavily-choreographed leftist rhetoric to bolster the cause of a courage-challenged Democratic Party. The media has attempted to stir up a controversy over the use of 9-11 related images in the first batch of Bush-Cheney campaign commercials. This, in fact, is not...

I’ve always wondered if it were possible for someone to get elected President with a truly secret agenda in the back of their mind. Could a sufficiently determined individual mouth the right platitudes, do the right things, get to know the right people, and then take hold of the greatest office in the land and use it for some strange purpose? Such things are hardly unknown. Our recent history is filled with examples of covert agents how managed to remain under cover for years or even decades. Look at how high the Cambridge Spies rose in Britain before their fall....

Nearly a year has now passed since the commencement of the Battle of Iraq. Given the time elapsed it now seems appropriate to assess the success of our venture there, the relative rightness of our pre-war arguments, and the path that we must now take towards a brighter future. Let us review our successes. Iraq is free and Saddam is in jail. More than that, the spin-offs of the invasion have been astounding. Libya has surrendered her weapons of mass destruction. Two foreign tyrants, thus convinced to US resolve, have willingly gone into exile when, in the past, they would...

The Democratic Party is determined to make this election as dirty a fight as possible. They mean to use every possible rumour to smear the President. They mean to interfere with the national defense for the sole purpose of putting their man in the White House. The Party of Treason must not be allowed to emerge victorious, whatever the cost. This means that we’re going to have to do what Howard Dean accuses us of: we’re going to have to fight a good part of this election on the issues of God, guns, and gays. Now, what exactly does this...

This election may be the most important in living memory. I believe that it is the most important since 1864, when the voters of the North were asked to choose between the folksy Republican who had led them through three years of war and a Democratic “war hero” whose election would almost certainly lead to capitulation and defeat. There were two sides in 1864: patriots, who were willing to save the Union regardless of the cost, and traitors, who were willing to lose the war for ideological reasons. The same is true today. Let us understand the cause for which...

Damn. It happened again. The moment it became clear that the presumptive Democratic nominee was eminently beatable, something happened to bring the guy down. I am referring, of course, to John F. Kerry’s latest apparent effort to emulate his initial-sharer and hero. Just as the whole “Bush AWOL” story had reached its culmination point, and just as people were beginning to focus on Kerry’s treasonous post-Vietnam behavior, this had to happen. Let’s review the story, because it’s already becoming cluttered and confused. Various internet pundits appear to be taking two different stories about possible affairs (several years apart) and fusing...

Damn. It happened again. The moment it became clear that the presumptive Democratic nominee was eminently beatable, something happened to bring the guy down. I am referring, of course, to John F. Kerry’s latest apparent effort to emulate his initial-sharer and hero. Just as the whole “Bush AWOL” story had reached its culmination point, and just as people were beginning to focus on Kerry’s treasonous post-Vietnam behavior, this had to happen. Let’s review the story, because it’s already becoming cluttered and confused. Various internet pundits appear to be taking two different stories about possible affairs (several years apart) and fusing...

At the present time, California authorities believe that at least half of the fires threatening the southern part of that State were deliberately set. In at least one case, witnesses report seeing a man drive a van into the brush, drop something which started a fire, and speeding away. The general conclusion would seem to be, based upon the vast scale of the fires and the large number caused by deliberate arson, that these fires are something more than the usual: that there’s something else at work in this. I’m going to go out on a limb here: I believe...

Canada is not a strong nation. Throughout all of our history, even when we were at our best, our fate has been dictated by events in outside of our control. We are a country at the mercy of waves, always at risk of running aground where we saw no ground. It is with this in mind that I assert that, if and when it comes, the final act of Canada's history will come at a time and place not of our choosing. We have already examined the question of what the fate of the West and of Canada itself could...

The Fall of Canada - Part 5 of 5 written by Adam Yoshida 2003-05-05 Canada is not a strong nation. Throughout all of our history, even when we were at our best, our fate has been dictated by events in outside of our control. We are a country at the mercy of waves, always at risk of running aground where we saw no ground. It is with this in mind that I assert that, if and when it comes, the final act of Canada's history will come at a time and place not of our choosing. We have already examined...