NY Post Editorial HOWARD THE COWARD

[missile_bender]

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/4965.htm

By RALPH PETERS
"January 5, 2004 -- IT'S fashionable in left- wing circles to describe anyone who admires America as a fascist. But the real totalitarian threats of our time come from the left. And no public figure embodies the left's contempt for basic freedoms more perfectly than Howard Dean."

No, it's fashionable in left-wing circles to describe anyone who admires rule through force, not democracy, as a fascist.

"Whenever one of my forlorn leftie pals raises the issue, I ask him or her to cite a single example of how the Patriot Act has limited their personal liberty. They never can. Instead, they rail about what-ifs and slippery slopes."

I don't know who he talked to, but demanding libraries turn over client lists comes to mind immediately. So do "free-speech" zones set into which protestors are hereded. One doens't have to look far for examples.

"Dean wants to muzzle his Democratic competitors, too. He believes the Democratic National Committee should shut them up. His followers try to intimidate other presidential aspirants by surrounding the cars delivering them to their rallies and chanting to drown out their speech. Of course, Dean denies any foreknowledge or blame.

"These are the techniques employed by Hitler's Brownshirts. Had Goebbels enjoyed access to the internet, he would have used the same swarm tactics as Dean's Flannelshirts."

Wow. Well, if Dean is Hitler, I guess that makes Bush literally Satan.

Unembedded.com

[MysticMind]

1. Most of Dean's active supporters

Aren't really Democrats, their only issue is the war and hating the Democratic party. Dean hasn't convinced me he won't cut Medicare and give the NRA everything it wants.

[trumad]

2. Pretty ignorant thing to say.

Aren't really Democrats... How the hell do you know?

[mopinko]

3. and what the hell does it mean? nt

[MysticMind]

8. I didn'tt mean they aren't real Dems

I meant they're non-partisan liberals.

[Cocoa]

11. can you relate that to the article?

what did you think of the comparison of Dean to Hitler?

[fjc]

13. Non partisan liberals?

Makes sense to the mysticminded, I guess.

[salin]

18. And you suggest this based upon what?

In this democratic community there are several active candidate groups - and Dean's is the largest. It includes local democratic office holders. The group that is pulling in 'nonpartisan' liberals seems to be Kucinich who has both green support and liberals who vote for democratic candidates but tend not to be involved with the party.

Note there is also a Kerry group here, and I have seen bumper stickers also for Edwards, Clark - and I believe - Gephardt and Lieberman.

[aquart]

10. I am a real Democrat.

I hate the war. I'm not too fond of the DLC.

I have lots of issues with George, starting with his hypocritical and treasonous desertion in time of war during VietNam.

Or his giveaway of American resources like air, water, land, minerals, and the health and well-being of our people to multinational corporations which have no loyalty to the American people, values, or constitution.

Or his collusion with his brother Jeb, Ken Lay, and various other fascist billionaires to steal Florida during the 2000 election in return for a huge payout.

Or his refusal to make anything but cosmetic reforms to prevent another Enron.

Or his refusal to make anything but cosmetic reforms to prevent another mad cow entering our food chain.

I am a very real Democrat and my activity is going to be voting. Whomever I choose in the primary, I will vote the Democratic ticket in November. Why? Because the future of my country is at stake. And the choice of a president does make a difference.

[aquart]

14. In case you haven't noticed...

Medicare barely exists since the passage of the expensive insurance giveaway bill.

The NRA isn't an issue in this campaign. If you think it is, you have missed everything.

The issue here is the financial health of this nation which has been destroyed. Bush has made us into a third world country. You can't get your mind around that yet, but it is what he's done.

Our vast debt is held by foreign nations. Should we annoy even one of them, they can choke us.

He has exposed our military weakness. We have the bomb. Big deal. The bomb is only useful in mutually assured destruction, a concept Bush doesn't understand. It means we all have it so we none of us use it. We have spent so much time and money on big ticket toys for the military, our backbone, our soldiers, find themselves in Iraq without essential protective gear, water or food. Brilliant. And there aren't enough of them to control a country of 30 million people who hate our invader guts.

Now everybody knows we're too busy to engage elsewhere. Even with a draft, we won't have the troops or the equipment (genius Republicans who allowed our steel and tool and die industries to go overseas, if we need parts, we have to order them from Taiwan and Japan) to fight even a short war anywhere else. Bush has left us naked to our enemies.

That's just a short list of the problems we didn't have before BushCo stole everything that wasn't nailed down and then came back for the nails.

[billbuckhead]

21. The NRA is always an issue wherever progressive people meet.

Want some Ted Nugent, Charlton Heston, Grover Norquist ,Wayne LaPierre quotes?













h

[tom_paine]

24. Man, that's some confused talk

I'm not even a Dean Supporter but what you just said is the equivalent of 1 + 1 = 3, IMHO.

Perhaps you'd like to elaborate?

[Forkboy]

26. Just when you think you've seen the stupidest post of the day

along comes another like this :eyes:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

4. Mr. Peters is giving a little back...

for the moveon.org Hitler ads that they opted not to run. As the election gets closer were going to see more of these kinds of petty attacks on Dean.

[aquart]

15. He'll have to do better than that.

Murdoch just got a payoff with the okay to acquire DirectTV.

That means the attacks on Dean need to be a whole lot more than petty just to work off the debt.

[bemildred]

5. I would say this fellow has studied Goebbels.

The big lie is alive and well in his writing.

[mmm]

6. I never look at the NY Post

they feature all these four paragraph anti-Democratic editorials
written at the high school level. Who has time for that?

[Cocoa]

7. Dean doesn't offer specifics...

therefore he's like Hitler!

Funny stuff. :-)

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Skittles]

16. please let all of us pagans know

how YOU know that "most northeasterners are not religious ??????????????????????

[bunk76]

17. Have you been..

been talking to God or Pat,in relation to us"northerners" and our
sinnin ways?

[Kathy in Cambridge]

19. We're Catholics, therefore not really Christians

:eyes:

Not to mention all the Jews up here! They're never going to heaven!

Yes, all of us Northeasterners are Heathens.

How ignorant.

[bunk76]

20. Rose...

you forgot to mention the Buddhist's and Muslims,as you are aware they
are going straight to hell,they do not get to pass go,or collect their
two hundred dollars.I suggest we all move south and get that free pass to the pearly gates.

:evilgrin:

[Gemini Cat]

12. What a morAn!

Just another NYPost article thats only useful function is wrapping fish in.

:dem:

[Red_Storm]

22. NY Post = Right Wing Garbage

but it has Page Six and a pretty good sports section, though

[Grins]

23. I've read Peters before...BUT...

Peters is an interesting writer - when he write about something he knows something about - the military. I particularly like the shots he took at Rumsfeld, and General Officers in all the services last summer. But this is crapola! All of it. But some of them...

“Then there are Dean's endless "Big Lies":
Liberating 25 million Iraqis was "wrong."
Yes, it’s wrong, at least from a conservative republican point of view where that is referred to as “Nation building”, something Dubya campaigned against. And we never went to Iraq to “liberate” them, and that violates one of Clausewitz’s Principles of War, Colonel. (See Objective: <http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Depts/MilSci/BTSI/prinwar.html>)

Saddam's capture doesn't make any difference.
Has it? There is no change, other than the fact the bulk of our military is tied down in Iraq and unable to project power elsewhere in the world, not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars going there instead of our national infrastructure.

Osama bin Laden should be presumed innocent, despite his own admission of responsibility for the 9/11 attacks.
No, we only say that he has a right to a trial if he is ever captured, alive. Just like Dubya’s administration says they want for Saddam, just like the ones we gave to others in Nuremberg 60 years ago.

Bush knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks.
And your point is…what? He did. We’d know a lot more but, as he did with his gubernatorial records, Dubya has put endless stalling delays in establishing the investigating commission, and in now providing information to the committee it has requested. This prompted an outburst from the Committee with support from both parties. Why would Dubya do this? Got a thought or two, Colonel? “Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame. "There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.
<http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00160.htm> More to come....

The Global War on Terror is a failure.
It is. Terror threat reduced…anywhere in the world? Are we now through with the color-coded threat alerts? Osama is the slammer? Al Qaeda recruiting down? Well, I’ll give you one difference – we now have a Patriot Act aimed at ourselves and our Constitution, and declared we have a right of pre-emptive attack.

The economy's a disaster.
Oh, Jesus!!! Where have you been Colonel? The US economy suffers from the stupidity of "...record budget deficits, record trade deficits, record low savings rates, the property/refinancing bubble. If China and Japan do escape having to revalue their currencies against the Dollar over the next 12 months, they may have the administration’s need to fund the budget deficit at low interest rates to thank for it. Over the longer term, however, the outlook is much more certain. There is nothing that can prevent the imbalances in the US economy from coming unwound. Not even the United States can continue going into debt to the rest of the world at the rate of (US) $1 million per minute forever. The Dollar Crisis has only just begun." (Richard Duncan a former Salomon banker, and World Bank staffer and author of The Dollar Crisis: Causes, Consequences, Cures (John Wiley & Sons, 2003). Even republican Warran Buffet says there should be a revolt.
Kenneth Rogoff, IMF Economic Counselor: “… the United States is on the "biggest external borrowing rampage in the history of the world with current account deficits projected at five percent for as far as the eye can see." <http://news.morningstar.com/news/DJ/M08/D15/1060982463249.html >

Today’s NY Times: <http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/06/opinion/06KRUG.html>

And the eye-opening whopper from Josh Marshall 04 Jan 04:
FORTUNE (Magazine): Does the U.S. still set the tone for the world economy?
(Peter) DRUCKER: The dominance of the U.S. is already over.
<http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/index.html#articles>

This goes with the “A not so super power” article from last September:
“Each day, Americans learn that "their" government has lied to them. Fudged unemployment figures, misleading environmental reports, flimsy and false intelligence, and censored news are all designed to keep the investors fat and happy and the facts locked away from the public…. if the USA can't take care of itself, what is the world to expect? …The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) will come out with another of its "infrastructure report cards" on September 4, 2003. That report assesses the quality of roads, bridges, school buildings, water systems, and electrical grids. The ASCE gave the infrastructure a grade of D+ in 2001 and suggested that $1.3 trillion was needed to fix things up. Given the swelling federal and state deficits, tax cuts and uncontrolled defense spending, it is unlikely that anything more than patchwork to the nation's infrastructure can be made.” (“A not so super power”, John Stanton, 4 Sep 03) And you think our economy is in good shape?

“Capital spending is up, but we’re buying product from Asia, not the US. Indeed, business spending on structures, adjusted for inflation, is no higher today than it was back in 1979.”
(I. Kellner, CBS MarketWatch.com, 1 Dec 03)

Colonel, you happy with the SEC? The NYSE? The Justice Dept.? Paul O’Neil? John Snow? Think our corporate governance problems with Enron, WorldCom, etc., are over because Dubya was forced to stand in front of a banner on Wall Street that shouted "CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY", and sign a bill he tried to kill? Happy with 40% of US debt owned by foreign governments?

The power of the United States is its ECONOMY, not its military; and that’s what has been squandered for political gain. You wanna see some power? Watch the US economic recovery slam to a screeching halt as interest rates leap 2-3% in an hour should the Asian nations decide to buy Euros instead of the dollar. And they can at any time. Happy?

And the administration is hiding terrible secrets.
Bush gubernatorial records.
Bush military records.
Meetings with energy executives prior to drafting legislation.
9/11 Committee investigation obstructed.
White House counsel vetting all information on Plame investigation.
New Bridge Strategies
Trireme Partners
Conrad Black
The Iraqi International Law Group

Paranoids and conspiracy theorists rejoice!
Not just yet. We have to wait until November, just like everyone else.

You finally have a candidate of your own.
A bunch of them! ABB!

(I guess he's being smarmy here.) Of course, when Dean seals his gubernatorial records so Americans can't examine his own back-room deals, that's perfectly legitimate.
No Ralph, it’s not! If you had said “if”, instead of “when”, you may have had an argument. DEAN!!! seals his gubernatorial records!!!??? C’mon Ralph, don’t you know that Dubya sealed his and parked them at the U. of Texas to get them out of public scrutiny? <http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-11-07/pols_feature.html>
And by the way, Colonel, where’s Dubya’s military jacket? Hmmmm?

[whirlygigspin]

25. maybe Ralph can visit Rush in jail

when the Dean "brownshirts" take over? ROLF

sounds like Ralph doesn't like it when the freep is on the other foot.