Cheering Germans

On the way to the doc today, I was listening to NPR breathlessly tell me that "if Germans could vote in the U.S. election, 75% would vote for Obama..." To which I thought..."who cares?"

I mean, seriously, who cares what the Germans think about one of our candidates? Do you? This gives a peek into the mindset of these journalists that probably actually think that German opinion would sway an American voter. I don't even think it would sway my good Hessian friends' opinion...Just another puff piece paid for by my tax dollars...

Oh, and what is this "citizen of the world" crap? I don't want a citizen of the world to be my President...I want to know that he's on my side, not the Germans or anyone else's. I want a President who understands the importance and natural right a nation has to unapologetically utilize power...and someone who has to preempt his comments by assuring foreigners that they are fellow citizens strikes me as pandering, at best, but telling about his view of national sovereignty. I guess this might fall in line with his professorial restructuring of the definition of patriotism.

"no challenge too great for a world that stands as one" - Here he was referring to the conquering of the Soviet Union. Hmmm...they weren't part of the world? He speaks as if victory was some sort of foregone conclusion, that Reagan and Gorby were hanging out at Reykjavik smoking pot and dreaming big dreams about world unity.

There's a lot more to this speech...mostly platitudes...feel-good stuff...easy to say but hard to do (he's going to stop global warming by partnering with the EU).

He really does strike me as an eloquent toddler sitting behind the driver's seat...his head full of big dreams and fantasizing about racing in the Indy 500...bargaining for the keys to the car...and the "responsible" adults seem inclined to hand them over.

Iraqi Government Meets Benchmark #2

The political progress in Iraq is slow -- a major component of NPR's critique of the Surge. The Dems have changed tactics from saying the Surge isn't working to saying that we have bought off our enemies and no political progress is being made.

18 Benchmarks for success in Iraq were passed into law by Congress in the U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, 2007. One key benchmark is to "enact and implement legislation on de-Baathification."

The Iraqi Parliament made significant progress toward this benchmark yesterday.

You think this will be promoted or discussed on NPR?

NPR Takes Aim at the Surge

Always one to look for bad news among the good, (assuming a conservative can take credit for the good), NPR did a hit piece on the Surge this morning.

They started by recognizing that the Surge has reduced violence (something apparently everyone but Bill Richardson can acknowledge), BUT, says the articulate Guy Ross in an ominous, all-knowing tone, what CAUSED the cease in violence. The answer, according to the smarmy voice, is that we've "bought off" our enemies.

This policy was given to the Bush administration by a writer for the "neoconservative" [Note: I do not endorse the whole of the wiki definition, the entry will give you lots of info, mostly from the liberal point of view] Weekly Standard who works with the "neoconservative" American Enterprise Institute. ("Neoconservative" is a pejorative term recently concocted by liberals to describe a perceived shadowy movement that is trying to [horrors!] export democracy to other nations. Ill-advised as that policy might be, the shadowy mutterings of a Straussian conspiracy are the stuff of Roswell, JFK and the vast right wing conspiracy.)

General Petraeus gets a 3 second sound bite saying that he credits the decline in violence to the increase in troops and the strategy employed. Several retired officers and Jim Webb (who gets expert status on this particular issue because his son was fighting in Ramadi) get multiple opportunities to criticize the CLC program, which they claim is merely paying people to be nice to us.

Smarmy Guy concludes the piece by stating unequivocally that each group is arming as we speak, preparing for a future, much bloodier civil war.

Is there no room in the heart of NPR for confidence, optimism or even a lack of smugness when offering critique? The answer, of course, is ... how naive of me to even ask the question...

Good News from NPR

I caught an NPR reporter saying something like, "When an Al Qaeda member waves a flag in Iraq, it is now just a matter of who's going to shoot him first? The Shia who they call infidels or the Sunni who used to be their allies?" (:15)

The NPR anchor intoned that the surge that has been in place for almost a year seems to be working, with the only question being, "what will happen when the troops draw down and force the Iraqi government to take over?"

SEGUE

"Congressman are returning to their districts and facing a firestorm of opposition from their constituents. Although increased numbers of Americans believe that we are making progress in Iraq, 60% of the American people are against the war."

At least 2 more minutes of citing opinions from different segments of people about their view of the war--all negative. Quote from a military father: "The way this is going, we'll be in Iran in a year."

That's NPR, hold the positive news of actual developments to a minimum, then really delve into the opinions of selected individuals -- because that's the real news!

Why I Love (and Hate) NPR

Love - classical and jazz (not the "smooth" kind that makes me ill)
Hate - that I am forced to pay for it with my taxes
Hate even more - that they take twice a year to shill for money (which I wouldn't have a problem with if they didn't plunder me prior to asking).

Love - the occasional insightful (usually international with no discernible link to current US politics) news story
Hate - the often disdainful tone and rhetoric used to report on US political news stories

Love - no commercials (which put me into internal conflict with hating that I am forced to pay for it through taxes).
Hate - the ever-so-unbiased and reasonable newscaster/editorialist espousing foolishness