Combs Spouts Off

"It's my opinion and it's very true."

  • Calendar

    March 2024
    S M T W T F S
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    24252627282930
    31  
  • Recent Posts

  • Tag Cloud

  • Archives

Posts Tagged ‘lieberman’

The Third Jihad

Posted by Richard on October 24, 2008

Tonight, I attended a special Denver screening of the Clarion Fund's new film, The Third Jihad, along with members of the Jewish Republicans of Colorado, Colorado fans of Dennis Prager, and others like me concerned about the Islamists' war against Western Civilization.

I'm tired and not up for a detailed review, but I highly recommend this film. You can see a 30-minute version on the website and pre-order the full-length film, which ships Oct. 29. This film is more low-key than Obsession because it's focused on the "soft" or "political" jihad instead of violent jihad. But in many ways, it's even more compelling and disturbing.

The film is narrated by a real moderate — and heroic — Muslim, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser. I've posted about (and donated to) his organization, American Islamic Forum for Democracy in the past. The film also features Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Walid Phares, Joe Lieberman, Mark Steyn, Bernard Lewis, and Melanie Phillips. 

I suspect that viewers of The Third Jihad will fall into three groups: (1) those who go into denial, say to themselves that none of it is true or real, and just put it out of their heads; (2) those who get quite depressed, discouraged, and hopeless (this is an unfortunate, but understandable reaction; the film suggests that Western Civilization faces a grim future if things don't change); and (3) those who are motivated (or even more motivated) to take action to defend the values of liberty and democracy against barbarism.

I'm in the third group. As soon as I got home, I made online donations to the Clarion Fund, The Third Jihad, the new associated site, RadicalIslam.org, and AIFD. Please check out these fine organizations and watch the short online version of The Third Jihad. See if there's a theatrical screening in your area — or contact them about scheduling one! Or order the full-length DVD and then have some friends over to watch it with you. 

I'd really like you to join me in the third group.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Wrong versus evil

Posted by Richard on September 3, 2008

So I'm sitting here enjoying an adult beverage and watching the talking heads analyze tonight's RNC speeches on Fox News, and some liberal talking head says that it's ironic that Lieberman, whom Republicans were so adamantly opposed to as a VP choice, got such a warm reception. And my reaction is, "No, it's not ironic! It's exactly in character!"

See, I'm one of those people that many of those RNC delegates would have serious policy differences with. But I know from experience that they'd describe me as wrong, but not evil.

And that's how the Republicans I know — and I suspect, the ones at the convention — are different from their Democratic counterparts. They might view someone as wrong on policy issues, but not judge them as evil.

They don't want Lieberman as the veep (too many policy differences), but they're ready and willing to embrace him as a McCain supporter. Because they don't condemn him as evil. Just wrong on some issues. He's more than welcome to be part of their campaign. Because he's not evil.

The Democrats I know think that anyone who opposes them on, say, environmental issues must want to poison the air and water. Anyone who opposes them on Iraq or treatment of detainees must want to torture and kill people. They're convinced that anyone who disagrees with them is evil. Bushitler! Halliburton! Cheney! Fascism! Theocracy!

The reason that I, as a libertarian, am much more comfortable among Republicans than Democrats is because they're much more tolerant and less judgmental. Really. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | 5 Comments »

Lieberman at the RNC

Posted by Richard on September 3, 2008

Sen. Joseph Lieberman addressing the RNC:

I'm here to support John McCain because country matters more than party.

I'm here tonight because John McCain is the best choice to bring our country together and lead our country forward.

I'm here because John McCain's whole life testifies to a great truth: being a Democrat or a Republican is important.

But it is not more important than being an American.

Both presidential candidates this year talk about changing the culture of Washington, about breaking through the partisan gridlock and special interests that are poisoning our politics.

But only one of them has actually done it.

Only one leader has shown the courage and the capability to rise above the smallness of our politics to get big things done for our country and our people.

And that leader is John McCain!

… 

Senator Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead. But eloquence is no substitute for a record – not in these tough times.

In the Senate he has not reached across party lines to get anything significant done, nor has he been willing to take on powerful interest groups in the Democratic party.

Contrast that to John McCain's record, or the record of the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who stood up to some of those same Democratic interest groups and worked with Republicans to get important things done like welfare reform, free trade agreements and a balanced budget.

Governor Sarah Palin, like John McCain, is a reformer who has taken on the special interests and reached across party lines. She is a leader we can count on to help John shake up Washington.

That's why the McCain-Palin ticket is the real ticket for change this year.

Read. The. Whole. Thing

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Lieberman endorsing McCain

Posted by Richard on December 16, 2007

Senator Joe Lieberman is going to endorse Senator John McCain for President on Monday:

It may seem a long journey, emotionally and politically, from being the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee in 2000, to endorsing a conservative Republican for president, less than eight years later — an endorsement scheduled for Monday morning in Hillsborough, N.H.

A top Lieberman aide says the senator disagrees with McCain on many domestic matters, including abortion and affirmative action, but "on the key issue, the central issue of being commander in chief, and leading the war against Islamic extremists, they see eye to eye." …

Last month, at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Lieberman eviscerated Democrats on foreign policy. "For many Democrats, the guiding conviction in foreign policy isn't pacifism or isolationism — it is distrust and disdain of Republicans, in general, and President Bush, in particular," he said.

"In this regard, the Democratic foreign policy worldview has become defined by the same reflexive, blind opposition to the president that defined Republicans in the 1990s — even when it means repudiating the very principles and policies that Democrats, as a party, have stood for, at our best and strongest."

"There is something profoundly wrong, something that should trouble all of us, when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran's murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops," Lieberman said.

"There is, likewise, something profoundly wrong when we see candidates who are willing to pander to this politically paranoid, hyper-partisan, sentiment in the Democratic base, even if it sends a message of weakness and division to the Iranian regime."

I'm no fan of John McCain (McCain-Feingold, AKA the Incumbent Protection Act, alone is enough to sour me on him), but I think this is a good thing. I'm glad that there's at least one Democrat who understands the threat of Islamofascism and is willing to put principle above party.

And I think Lieberman's analysis of what's driving the Democrats is spot on. You go, Joe! You're not the only one who finds himself with strange bedfellows these days. The differences between Lieberman and McCain, or between me and Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson, are rather trivial compared to the differences between all of us and those who want to impose a 7th-century theocracy on the whole planet. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »