Politics

I am so hungry for a positive surprise. I am so hungry to hear a politician, a statesman, a business leader surprise me in a good way. It has been so long. It’s been over 10 years since Yitzhak Rabin thrust out his hand to Yasir Arafat on the White House lawn. Yes, yes, I know, Arafat turned out to be a fraud. But for a brief, shining moment, an old warrior, Mr. Rabin, stepped out of himself, his past, and all his scar tissue, and imagined something different. It’s been a long time.

Read the rest at the New York Times

This last week, President George W. Bush spoke at a fundraiser at Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel, where he delivered this speech.

As I was staying downtown that afternoon, a counterpart and I walked the four blocks from our hotel to the “designated protest area” to check out the protests.

Other images available in my picture gallery.

My observations…  About 500 people overall, 4000 were predicted by anti-bush groups here.  I’d say 100 were pro-bush, 400 were anti-bush, but that’s a non-scientific estimate.

Protesters comments ranged from “bush is a liar” to “free the haitians” to “free the palestinians’, and so on.  Pro-Bush folks mostly had “college republicans for bush” and “Bush / Cheney” placards.

The rudest nastiest protesters were the union workers – they were in the face of the college republicans, cursing, and screaming.  

The funniest protesters were the “Billionaires for Bush” – you can see their website here.

Police were there in force, but not quite the overt presence I was expecting.  We did see one counter-sniper team on the roof of a nearby building, you can see that in a couple of the photos.

All in all quite an entertaining experience.

As usual, Tom Friedman of the New York Times says it better than I ever could:

The notion that Spain can separate itself from Al Qaeda’s onslaught on Western civilization by pulling its troops from Iraq is a fantasy. Bin Laden has said that Spain was once Muslim and he wants it restored that way. As a friend in Cairo e-mailed me, a Spanish pullout from Iraq would only bring to mind Churchill’s remark after Chamberlain returned from signing the Munich pact with Hitler: “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor and you will have war.”  

Read it…

Also yesterday, a ABC News poll found 48 percent of Iraqis believe the United States was right to lead an invasion of their country, while 39 percent said it was wrong.

Fifty-six percent said their lives were better than before the war; 19 percent said worse.

Now, why don’t we hear about this poll – a friend of mine found it buried at the end of an article in the Boston Herald.

As usual, Lex says it all far better than I can today:

The point is that it seems we cannot any longer count on Europe. Europe is accommodating again, appeasing again. When the USSR was the threat, they needed us – now they fear being associated with us. Our interests are no longer aligned.

And then we went to war.

I campaigned against this bill in 1994 as best I could – and it was one of two events (gays in the military being the other) that caused me to break with President Clinton and run away from the Democratic Party.

The assault weapons ban sunsets in September of this year. And I want it to sunset. It’s a stupid law that has done nothing to reduce or prevent crime.

I’m glad John Kerry has taken a stand on this – he’s made it very clear his opinion on this issue – and he just picked a fight with the largest special interest group. They turned 60 votes on this issue in a matter of minutes.

Time to donate some more money to NRA-ILA.

You can read more in today’s New York Times.

But Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, which has made legal immunity for gun makers and dealers one of its top legislative priorities, predicted the votes would hurt Democrats. Referring to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. LaPierre said, “I can just see Terry McAuliffe cringing in his office all day long.”

“I’m a bit numb,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, the lead sponsor of the assault weapons ban, said after the final vote. Of the rifle association, she said: “They had the power to turn around at least 60 votes in the Senate. That’s amazing to me.”

Halley comments today that Bush hasn’t attended any of the funerals of those killed in Iraq.

And I’m trying to decide exactly how this is relevant.

It’s a matter of record that Bush has met privately with many families who have lost those in the latest war in Iraq – as well as families from Afghanistan and those who perished in the 9/11 attacks.

And if he did goto the funerals – which funerals should he goto? A representative sampling of each interest group? Whites, blacks, hispanics, Indians, women, men — or just one or two? Or all of them?

Personally, I’d rather he focus on running this war than spend him time attending funerals.