IntenseDebate - soccerdhg

10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Livni Already Making E... · 0 replies · +11 points

Of course if political support is important for peace talks to succeed, Livni should rather be focusing her criticisms on her counterparts across the table who never made an effort to build support for concessions of any kind.

10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Settlements and the Pr... · 0 replies · +7 points

Remember Israel froze settlements in 2010 and got no (serious) negotiations. Abbas refused to negotiate until the end of freeze and then, when the freeze was up, walked out again. Abbas wasn't blamed for this. (The New York Times actually reported somewhat sympathetically that Abbas blamed Obama for not forcing Netanyahu to extend the freeze. Abbas of course, defied Obama, but the New York Times, in this case, put the onus on Obama!) In other words, Obama already wouldn't stand behind Netanyahu in the case of a settlement freeze, why would Netanyahu make that choice again?

10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Shutdown Would Be Craz... · 0 replies · +1 points

I don't think that Republicans should fear a government shutdown. Certainly not one of limited scope.

In 1996 the dynamic was much different. Then depriving hard working middle class federal employees of their salaries was considered an anathema. Now, with so many public employees being seen as a problem I don't believe that the "laying off federal employees" tactic will be as effective.

In 1996, also, Newt Gingrich made the fight about him and his ego. Boehner has been low key. In fact a shutdown initiated by someone other than Boehner (if possible) makes him look reasonable.

Finally when the social payments take significant hits Obama will have to explain how he allowed those who are least able to fend for themselves (those very same people he claims to champion) to get penalized for his inability to govern.

10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Choosing the Lesser of... · 0 replies · +3 points

Your last sentence is exactly right:
And Democrats who treat Bill Clinton like royalty and swear they would have given him a third term if they had been given the opportunity are in no position to blast Republicans for concluding that Sanford was the lesser of two evils.
In 2006 and 2008 the Republicans had to fight the "culture of corruption" meme put forward by the Democrats and their cheerleaders. Since then we've seen numerous Democratic scandals but those never were defined as a "culture."
So, yes, Sanford's hardly an ideal candidate or representative of the Republican party, but he's hardly the liability that Democrats want him to be.

10 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The 2012 Election Is O... · 0 replies · +3 points

Mazeld,

Excellent analysis. One point I'd ask is this.

If the media were forced to choose between President Obama and Secretary Clinton, who would they sacrifice?

I'd have to assume that they'd sacrifice Hillary if it became necessary to protect the President.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Misleading Fayyad ... · 0 replies · +2 points

Lumiere, Thank you very much for the plug! :-)

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Misleading Fayyad ... · 2 replies · +3 points

Forget the Friedman changes history, he changes his own history! First of all he first introduced the term "Fayyadism" in a column in 2009, after Fayyad had served two years and instituted some changes, not in 2007.
And it's hard for Friedman to dismiss Hamas now, when in 2011 he argued that a Hamas-Fatah agreement would be good for Israel's security. If he believed that he's a fool. the fact that he touted a Hamas-Fatah agreement at a time that Hamas insisted that Fayyad be removed from government (while he was cheerleading Fayyadism) shows that he's a knave.
Bottom line: Friedman doesn't know history as you point out; but he doesn't even seem to recall his own history!

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Lethal Logic Behin... · 0 replies · +11 points

You wrote: "Rather, I suspect they are avoiding the story because it demonstrates an undeniable fact: abortion is an act of violence against an unborn child."

That's not the whole story. Gallup regularly polls on the topic of abortion. From memory: about 33% of the population opposes abortion in the first trimester. But once you get to the second trimester, 60% Americans oppose abortion generally and 80% in the third. This isn't talking about partial birth abortion. Americans may call themselves "pro-choice" but that just means that they don't want abortion outlawed. They are not pro-choice by the extremely permissive Planned Parenthood perspective.

The media doesn't want to acknowledge this because they know that they are so far from the mainstream. The better known the Gosnell case is, the better chance of getting a partial birth abortion bill passed.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - Minority Voters and th... · 1 reply · +7 points

Romney did go to the NAACP, didn't pander and he was booed for his efforts. Maybe that made him gun shy about future outreach efforts. (Sean Trende has argued that Romney lost because of missing white votes.)

Maryland's gay marriage referendum lost in the African-American dominated Prince George's county. Would anyone say that this law was adopted in disregard to the religious sensitivities of the African American community there? Well the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun surely wouldn't. But perhaps an enterprising Republican candidate will use this to show that the Democrats take African-American support for granted.

11 years ago @ Commentary Magazine - The Media Can’t Bury... · 0 replies · +1 points

Just out of curiosity, why did I get so many negatives? I was simply pointing out that Obama's supporters tolerated much worse from their candidate. It wasn't simply a planning session in which he played the Mormon card, it was an actual commercial.

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