Ted Rall is at it again
Unhinged cartoonist Ted Rall is throwing another troop-bashing tantrum. Normally, I would not feed this troll. But I agree with Noel Sheppard that this has to be the worst of the worst. Click for larger image–and make sure you do it on an empty stomach:
Rall is beyond contempt. He has accused our troops of being murderers for Halliburton, mocked soldiers as sexual deviants, and derided the late Pat Tillman as an “idiot” and “sap”. Now, all in one cartoon, he shows his naked contempt for the very traits of the American soldier that helped give birth to this country and secured it for 231 years: willingness to sacrifice, faith, courage, respect for the commander-in-chief, and determination to complete their mission.
Before you dismiss this anti-military hatred as marginal, I remind you that Ted Rall is not the far Left fringe:
In 1996, he was one of three Finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. He was one of the New York Times’ most reprinted cartoonists in 1997, 1999 and 2001. He also did color strips for both Time Magazine and Fortune Magazine from 1998 to 2001. He was awarded the 1998 Deadline Club Award by the Society of Professional Journalists for his cartoons. Rall received first place in both the 1995 and 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for Cartoons. The award, founded in 1968, recognizes distinguished work on behalf of disadvantaged Americans.
Does anyone on his side of the ideological aisle have the decency to question his patriotism?
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Feralcat-
I ask once again:
-If we cannot fight the extremists in Iraq, where would you prefer to fight them? (Hint: Islamic Extremism is a multi-national front. Iraq/Saddam Hussein is on record for supporting martyrdom terrorists attacks at the tune of $25,000 per suicide bombing. Just not the one that made the Libs so happy on Sept 11, 2001)
-What do you imagine for the future if you got you wish, and we removed all of our troops starting 01 Jan 07? Please include actions by surrounding governments and NGOs.
-What would be your ideal plan? Or is it just “Anything but Bush”?
I’d love to hear from MikeB on this also, because the only answer I can get from my liberal friends is the patent non-answer:
Well, I’ll tell you what I’ve wouldn’t have done…
Let us not be distracted by these button pushing creeps. We need to stay united and focused on recruiting Republican candidates fron the US military. We proved we can win big with the defeat of Shamnesty. We shall overcome. Yeah I like it! Unite!
On July 14th, 2007 at 3:08 pm, MikeB said:
Hey Mike take a hike. You and your agenda are so transparent, or are you just a dim witted tool of the commie left. Why don’t you tell the truth about how you and yours can’t come to power in a society with a strong military and the Second Amendment?!!
Polls schmoles…i don’t trust any polls conducted about the war. The questions are as retarded as the respondents. The statistics and samplings are rigged. Knocking Bush makes good news. So how are the polls going to be used if they don’t yield a finding that makes “good” news and sell advertising?
I heard a former Iraqi government official who is now an American citizen comment on a liberal Bolshevik news commentator on public television who said that “almost 90 per cent of Iraqis polled” wanted to see the American troops leave. The Iraqi American said he doesn’t put any stock in poll data extracted from people who are living through battle conditions. But the NYTimes will report that poll data because it makes for good news copy and slams Bush. And they will publish the same “findings” as USA Flambe’ parrots, NewsBleat, Slime (Warner), and the other muck raking Dino-media.
There are at least 25,000,000 American voters who back doing the right thing in Iraq. If Bush would take control of the message, and its delivery, (can you believe we spent so many years relying on Scott What The Putz????) perhaps the pollsters would have to frame questions based on substance instead of adolescent reactionaries who run the Congress.
crashemt - “Feralcat-
I ask once again:”
I know that you are asking once again. You asked basically the same question yesterday and I answered you then.
Is this some kind of test to see if I give the same answer?
People, People… come on now… didn’t you read the sign…
Please Don’t Feed the Trolls
They get off on seeing how mad they can make you. Lets face it.. they have no other reason to be here.
Just IGNORE them..
Speaking of which… is there an ignore button??
Just a few weeks ago it was beyond the pale to most here that the President and Congress were defying the clear will of the majority of Americans on illegal immigration.
Somehow though when it comes to tarbaby Iraq, all that changes and the Iraqi-centric believers say “Go to Hell Americans”
Do those of you who discount the polls on how Americans feel about Iraq also discount the polls on how Americans feel about illegal immigration?
They older I get the stranger life seems to me.
3Steps - “Speaking of which… is there an ignore button?
No.
The only thing that has passed rigorous engineering studies and has been found to be effective (99.26%) is a 12 gauge shotgun blast to your computer. Please make sure that all children and pets are at a safe distance.
A 105 howitzer would also be effective (100.00%) if you do not mind losing part of your house.
I think his point is that the suicide bombers are “soldiers” for the other side. While I do not agree, I find it difficult to understand why so many here cannot even comprehend the idea that the other side thinks that they are the good guys and we are the evildoers who must be destroyed. In Rall’s world, all soldiers are evil because they kill, and justify their killing by their patriotism or their religious beliefs.
I said it before, I’ll say it again: the lefties love and care the USA the same way Ike loved and cared for Tina.
The problem with Rall’s cartoon is that he never finished it! He forgot the last panel, that has an illustration of Rall himself angrily hunching over his drawing table, drawing the same cartoon being discussed. The subject line in the panel reads “Illogical, Hate-Filled Cartoonist Destroying Own Career” and in it he’s saying, “Suicide Bomber? I’ll show ‘em how to behave like a suicide bomber!”
There is a difference here that you are not seeing. I have yet to see a poll on Iraq that gives the responder an option besides “stay” or “withdraw troops”. That leaves out the opinions of nearly 100 people I have talked to about this, several of whom work for DOD, are currently in the military or are retired military line officers. Nearly every person I talk to about this have the opinion of: Change the ROE to let the troops fight the enemy all out or, if we are going to keep pussyfooting around, bring the troops home immediately. On the immigration issue the media actually polled on and reported on people who were not necessarily opposed to immigration reform but wanted enforcement and border security first as we don’t trust the gov’t to do it later if the immigration bill passed. The why of the immigration dissent was presented (although late and biased) however, the why of the Iraq issue isn’t even discussed.
Most all the people I know and I would, in the polls you are talking about, answer that we are opposed to the Iraq War and that we want the troops to come home. However, we are never offered the option of stay in Iraq and let the military do their job instead of forcing them to act as a police force and social workers. It is offered as a “continue the idiocy we have now” or “bring them home”. I easily believe that 65% of Americans, given those options, want the troops brought home tomorrow, as I am part of that 65%. However, I have doubts that the majority of Americans would answer “bring them home” if that third option were given. I think the media doesn’t give that third option because it doesn’t even occur to them that Americans actually want unequivocal victory rather than pussyfooting in a war. It is clear that they don’t want a total victory and that they are out of touch with the People on many issues.
Thank you for your time in serving our country. It is greatly appreciated.
Oh, I think most of us understand very well; they’re psychopaths.
No problems with moral relativism in this quarter.
Hi, Purplepeep!
Well said, as always.
I do not know if I would regard Rall as a traitor in the sense that he’s mentally and emotionally responsible for his actions. In one cartoon of his I’ve seen, he takes one past world leader (Adolf Hitler) and compares him to GW Bush. In doing so, he goes so far in trying to make Bush a villian that he presents Hitler as having been a sane, sensible, and responsible individual. Here is a person who no-doubt would prefer the leadership of someone with the same attributes of a Hitler to President Bush.
Now, I’m sure that Rall speaks, for a vast amount of the time, out of sheer ignorance. I’m sure he’s never read more than a few paragraphs about Adolf Hilter in his whole life; however, that alone, along with Hitler’s world-wide reputation as being one of the most evil, bloodthirsty tyrants who ever lived, should have served him enough notice not to go where he did with that particular cartoon. Also, anyone with any sense would know that if Bush even EQUALED Hitler (rather than exceeding him in being a dictator and a power-mad tyrant), Rall would surely be dead right now.
Ted Rall is insane. He does not make intelligent points with his cartoons, but rather goes far over the edge with ridiculous, infantile assersions and ignorance. Hitler himself suggested that one does not persude the masses with a small lie, but rather a big one. Out of his derangement and instability, he tells huge whoppers with his angry cartoons. Rall would have made it big in Joseph Goebbles’ Propaganda Ministry.
LOL, thanks, MrCC - but that really wasn’t much of a head-scratcher, was it?
Kinda like pondering if bank-robbers think the police are the bad guys.
Too much desperate searching for a moral equivalence that just ain’t there can make people as insane and irrational as Rall.
He belongs in the NY Times. They are made for each other. Both are anti-American, liberal loving traitors. This guy reminds me of Trudeau, that anti-American Canadian who draws the Doonesbury cartoon. Two peas in a pod; equally disgusting.
I’m not sure if Michelle has lost her perspective. Journalism is like Academia these days - it’s 95% far left. Of course Rall is far left fringe - what else is there in MSM journalism today?
Robert F. Kennedy’s journalism award, the Pulitzer Prize, Time Magazine - these are “moderate” endeavours? Maybe 30 years ago, but not now. And being reprinted in the New York Times? What next, the Beijing Gazette? The Teheran Herald?
What the left doesn’t understand is that there are zero significant conservative newpapers in the USA, and zero conservative TV news outlets. Fox News and the WSJ are moderate, not conservative. Only talk radio and the blogosphere can truly claim to have any conservatives POV’s.
Let’s not lose our perspective here. Rall is scum, but that’s pretty much par for the course when you’re tee-ing up at the MSM’s country club.
Remember this the next time we read “circulations continue to plummet.” I haven’t purchased a MSM paper or watched an MSM news report in years.
I’m not alone.
Maybe enough people will eventually get sufficiently p1$$ed to ensure the Dhims and their enablers, like this useful idiot, will get thrown out of office in large numbers in 2008.
Vote early. Vote often.
@feralcat and all the other ‘numbers’ people…
There isn’t a polling company left in the world who’s numbers I would trust. You must have taken Statistics in college…?? Didn’t you learn then that it’s all about manipulating the numbers? You can create polls that prove ANYTHING. If you want to ‘prove’ that Martians live in NYC you can do it if you ask the right people. It all depends on who you ask, how many you ask, EXACTLY what you ask and then how you interpret the data.
Never trust the ‘polls’ or those that throw their results around like they mean something….
@RobM1981
I think you are the one missing the point. MM’s comment about Rall not being on the far left fringe was exactly what she meant… and more or less what you said.
She said not to discount what he said as just some fringe wacko because he isn’t on the ‘fringe’. And he’s not. As you said, the entire MSM has shifted so far to the left that people like Rall are no longer fringe. They are ‘mainstream’.
You are both right… I think you just misinterpreted MM’s comment. But then… maybe I did too…
Earlier on #7, I asked, “Where’s the outrage?” Disregard that question, there’s plenty on this thread.
Thanks
/s/
José
Folks, First of all as the NY Times reports today less than 50% of military families support our Iraq policy. I am tired of politicians and chicken hawk pundits putting political language in the mouths of the military. I included the long quote about Pat Tillman to prove that he was a hero but not a supporter of the illegal (his words) Iraq war. Chicken hawks like MM like to pretend they speak for the troops they do not and never did.
Sorry, it was early morning and the caffeine hadn’t kicked in yet. I stand corrected.
Not a great sentence to start off your defense. I mean, come on. Are you serious? That was an attempt at humor, right?
We need to boycott advertisers that support the newspapers and websites that show his rubbish.
MikeB,
Blow it out your ass.
After reading the crap that passes for your thoughts for the past several days, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t have to question your patriotism. You don’t have any.
I actually appreciate the fact that Rall is at least being honest. I am so sick and tired of the stupid and irrational mantra of “We support the troops just not their mission.” You can not separate the troops from their mission, so just own it. I would rather have an honest enemy than one who tries to patronize me with a bunch of mindless drivel.
The NY Times does not speak for the troops. No one here speaks for the troops collectively. If you want to know how the troops feel about their mission then talk to them! Go to the main milblogging site and start reading. Sure it is a random sample of troop thought, but it is much more accurate than the crap you read in the liberal media!
Stop ASSuming that the NY Time and other MSM outlets give a rat’s butt what our troops think and truly feel about what is going on. Go ask Pat Dollard and all of the Marines he was embedded with how they feel about the NY Times. If you are offended by the “F” word though you may not want to ask.
Take a moment and start asking troops in Ramadi and Fallujah what they think about what is going on. There are some good bloggers in those areas. Don’t be too disappointed when they tell you how much relative peace and stability they are living in right now, and how clean and safe the streets of Fallujah are now. Go to Michael Yon’s blog and see what our men have been doing in Baquba! We are having many victories and there is plenty of evidence to support that — in the military community that is. You won’t find these victories reported in the MSM.
You might get the impression if you take the time to listen to the troops (that is if you aren’t careful to keep your own biases in tact) that the troops are doing a damn good job and they are making a heck of a lot more progress than the MSM will ever give them credit for. Be careful though… you may have to actually be open minded or something.
Good post through & through, ArmywifeArmymom. Thanks.
ArmywifeArmymom:
Thank you for your post. I would much rather read from soldiers themselves or their loved ones than from a scum like Rall. He knows nothing of your courage, sacrifice and patriotism. He lives in a alternate reality. You are what has made this country great not parasites like him.
First, MM and Ann Coulter actually had to face whipped cream being thrown at them by college students, oh the horrors. They are so brave!
Second, no one here likes polls because they don’t favor your position–that doesn’t make them wrong.
Third, this is a democracy don’t forget. The majority is against the war and want to end it now. Don’t the people have some voice in this country?
MikeB, at first I was going to ignore your post, but it’s so glaringly biased and wrong that it warrants a response.
This is disrespectful. Both MM and Coulter were invited guests to speak at an event. They had every right to be there and speak their opinions. It is insulting, rude, and childish for people who disagree with their viewpoints (usually liberals) to throw food at them to shut them up.
It’s a typical tactic of the left. If you can’t win in the arena of ideas, you attempt to shut your opponent up by resorting to legislation (i.e., the Fairness Doctrine) or violence.
We don’t TRUST polls. There is a difference. Polls may be accurate, but they are only accurate to the sampling from which they were taken. If you take a poll of 90 Democrats/liberals and 40 Republicans/conservatives…guess which position is going to win out. It’s not rocket science.
A biased sample is both questionable and dishonest and any poll should be treated with such scrutiny.
First - great double standard. It’s okay when liberals throw pies at conservative speakers, but then you whine and moan that people don’t have a voice in this country.
Are you the type that believes in free speech…only for those you agree with? If not, then you need to seriously alter your opinion because it’s either free speech for all (even if you dislike what they’re saying) or free speech for no one (believe me, there are a lot of things liberals say and do that offend people…but they never get called on the carpet for it).
As for people not having a voice - hello! - they do. It’s called voting.
Your elected representatives - and I’m going to safely assume here you voted Democratic - are doing (or not doing) the job you elected them to do.
Don’t sit there and tell me you’re not being heard. You had the opportunity to be heard in November, and you obviously voted for people who are too busy pointing fingers, placing blame, and launching investigations to actually do anything useful.
Excellent post, englishqueen01. Unfortunately it’s lost on Mikey, who long ago professed a problem with reading comprehension. Explaining the nuances of slanted push-polling techiques would just goe WHOOSH!
Of course, starting a post citing the NYT as one’s source authority provokes any serious person to guffaws, so the kid started out of the gate already intellectually crippled.
It is very easy to condemn the NY Times, but facts are facts. The liberal NY Times with Judy Miller were the idiots who beat the drum for the war by not questioning the (false) WMD claims of the Bush administration. The editorials of the Times may be liberal, but the polls are facts and every other paper and network in the country has similar polls.
It is amazing how any poll that doesn’t agree with your positions is skewed and biased. And all of you are correct, elections count. In the 2006 election, the people spoke and they voted to end this disaster (as Bush said, it was a thumping). Not just in Blue States but Red States as well.
Of course, all of you would have no problem citing poll results if they favored your side. But since they don’t, of course they are biased.
Face it MM followers, your time has passed. Your nativist, militaristic, theocratic reign of error is over.
georgej said:
MikeB,
Blow it out your ass.
After reading the crap that passes for your thoughts for the past several days, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t have to question your patriotism. You don’t have any.
I do NOT agree with MikeB on everything at all, but I think that he makes some valid points, even if not in the way that I would make them and adds to the discussion.
If you do not think that he is patriotic in his own way would it help if he had a dd214?
I have got two and could send him one of mine.
LOL. Mikey, Mikey, Mikey - you’re confused again: your emotional explosions of personal opinion do not equal fact.
“nativist, militaristic, theocratic”
Giggle. Well, I suppose when one has no intellectual capicity for rational thought such psychotic emotional rantings will have to do instead.
Okay folks, so who’s been reading the NYT to Mikey, anyway? Fess up!
purplepeep - “Okay folks, so who’s been reading the NYT to Mikey, anyway? Fess up!”
Not me!
However I do read articles in it at times, usually when it is linked to from another site. You might be surprised at some of the sites that link to it sometimes. They are not exactly your “usual suspects”.
I try to judge by the message rather than the messenger.
Before reading something, I try to not even look at the source till later.
If my eye first catches something like, by Al Gore though, then I will violate my own rule. I do have some standards!
BTW I like your “handle”!
It is unpretentious, but yet as “cool”, like mine!
The handle has sports and music allusions.
And I do like cats. Dogs are great,too, but I’m partial to felines. (As pets, not dinner, that is)
purplepeep - “I’m partial to felines. (As pets, not dinner, that is)”
feralcat breaths great sigh of relief.
#141 I agree and disagree:
1) Worship death?
No. That is a myth.
2) The code of Bush-ido. By the time they get back, this great “patriot” they are dying for will have given the country away to Mexicans?
Can’t argue with that as el Presidente Jorge Arbusto is sure trying anyway. BTW Officers take an oath to the U.S. Constitution, not to the President.
3) Without dwelling too much on the morality of invading another country of no threat to us?
That is not what Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Madeline Albright, Sandy Berger, Nancy Pelosi, Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy and Al Gore told us. Maybe they were fibbing.
Mike B,
“Face it MM followers, your time has passed. Your nativist, militaristic, theocratic reign of error is over”
No, Mike, your rein of Error is over.
The MSM and it’s leftist agenda are falling apart at the seams: the NY Times has had to cut down on staff because circulation among readership is as low as the circulation to their bone-dry cerebellums. NBC, CBS and ABC are down to record low numbers while Fox cable news cleans the collective clock of CNN and MSNBC combined on all prime-time slots every night. While the approval for the Republican congress was moving into admittedly low numbers, it has bottomed out to unbelievable record lows - only 17% approval, and analysis shows that mostly favors the right -since Pelosi and the hard left took control. That doesn’t really leave you anywhere to go in the minds of the public according to your prognostications except the internet, and you yourself personally get your thoughtless, illogical ass kicked here every night so badly it’s becoming an embarrassment to watch.
The rein of Pelosi and company are only a hickup in the otherwise smooth proceedings - a bit of undercooked potato rising momentarily, but the heartburn shall go away in Jan of ‘08.
You’re living in a pathetic dream world if you honestly believe even half of what you say, and I have a hard time imagining that you do because you never engage in a direct debate on the cold facts and I must assume that even a half-assed ignorant moron like you must realize once in a while that you are intentionally skirting the facts for the sake of attempting to “win” a debate.
But keep playing your game. In this otherwise insular invironment, you remind us continually what A-holes liberal democrats really are, and your kind is so pathetically fantastic in their insanely illogical decision-making that we who stand in the sunlight of the real world really do need to be constantly reminded that idots like you are not exaggerations which are born in fertile imaginations in the dead of night, but somehow, impossibly, really do exist.
Oh, and I personally do not follow Michelle Malkin. I greatly respect her and am thankful for the fact that she voices facts and well-formed extrapolations which your beloved NY Times has found not fit to print in it’s unfair and unbalanced editorial pages. Indeed, with additonal respect to her, I almost feel internally as if she follows me, because like many here, I usually find that she reflects my thinking, not vise versa.
The pathetic truth, Mikey B, is that you and your kind are paleolithic hold-outs to an absurdist 40-year-old world view initiated and still held by spoiled rotten baby boomers; a spoiled and convoluted world view borne of LSD and parents who never spanked their kids or had the internal fortitude to tell them “no”.
As you grab at intellectually dishonest straws and your thinking reveals itself to be evermore opaque, the more transparent you yourself become, and that is reassuring to conservatives because you well represent the people who stand in oppositon against what we feel is right - and you are all too easy to beat.
So please do stay and be our energetic clay pidgeon, Mikey B. After all, the elections of 08 are nearly upon us - and we can use all the target practice we can get.
MikeB - “Face it MM followers, your time has passed. Your nativist, militaristic, theocratic reign of error is over.
MikeB, you have been so reasoned here, from what I have seen anyway, much more so than some of your extreme critics, but now you sound just like them with that last part. Maybe you are just “fighting fire with fire”, extreme talk with extreme talk?
There is nothing “nativist” about wanting your countries laws enforced.
There has been no “theocratic reign”. I think that I would have noticed if there was as I, like Pat Tillman, am an atheist.
BTW, it wasn’t just Bush who said that Iraq had WMD. A whole boat load of democrats said that Iran he had WMD. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Madeline Albright, Sandy Berger, Nancy Pelosi, Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, Ted Kennedy and Al Gore to name a few. I have some of their quotes on Saddam having WMD in one of my email files. It is a long list.
Iran heIraqFeral Cat,
Does Mikey B have extreme critics? Up until tonight most of what I’ve read written in response to his annoying, feckless arguements has been pretty civil considering what he brings - or does not bring - to the debate(s).
Let’s be blunt: the aggregate of his postings amounts to a puckish, malicious troublemaker. Certainly he knows better than to posture himself on a conservative message board as he does.
If you want to play being above the competition in terms of manners, that’s fine, but in defense of the concept that such a posture makes one a losing sucker in the rough and tumble world of high-stakes politics, I’d politely remind you of two words: “Bob Dole”.
Fellow cat, the comments in #103 and #128 were the ones against MikeB that I thought crossed way over the line, and some on a previous thread even more so, but he is big boy so I suppose that he can take care of himself.
I like to keep my manners and avoid the name calling, but I can be very “passive/aggressive” and sarcastic at times and STILL succeed in annoying the hell out of some people!
Bob Schieffer -
I am still not sure that I believe it: The Iraqi parliament is going on vacation during the month of August.
The White House offers the lame excuse that, after all, Baghdad is hot in August – sometimes 130 degrees.
May I ask a follow-up?
How much hotter do you suppose it is if you are a wearing a helmet, full body armor, carrying ammunition and walking foot patrols through Baghdad?
The last I heard, that is how American troops are spending their August in Iraq.
For me, this does it.
God help the Iraqi people because there is not much America can do to help a government that leaves Americans dying in the streets while the parliament escapes to cooler climes.
Does this mean we should pull out immediately?
No. A sudden withdrawal could set the entire region aflame. The truth is there are no good options left. But from here on, we need to put aside the dream of building a democracy in Iraq and focus solely on what is in our national interest.
It won’t be pretty, but for all our good intentions, about all we can do now is try to contain this mess, pull our troops back from the middle of this civil war, and concentrate instead on the terrorist threat that this country faces around the world.
As for what kind of government Iraq needs, let their parliament figure it out. They can get right on it when the Baghdad weather turns cooler.
Absolutely devastating!
This is something that the American people will not let stand for much longer.
I like feralcat, he is open minded. As I said many times, I am happy Michelle lets us have an open debate.
Unlike what you claim in your posts, you never really confront my points but level personal attacks (a conservative specialty).
If you think Pelosi is a blip, wait to 2008, a Democrat is sure to win the White House. Americans are war weary. A majority of Republicans in Iowa are anti-war.
And, sorry guys, I am as patriotic as anyone here. That means I don’t support domestic spying (anyone here remember the 4th Amendment). MM belives those who want to uphold the Constitution and who don’t favor a war of choice are so pre-9/11. Sorry, MM et al., 9/11 did not result in a repeal of the Constitution.
Mr. Rall is a manifestation of the rhetoric coming from the mouths of polidiots. Durbin’s Nazis, Kerry’s illiterates, Kennedy’s torture chamber operators, Rangle’s downtrodden, and Murtha’s cold blooded murderers. They speak it, he draws it. It shouldn’t surprise anyone.
This is a discussion about Rall isn’t it?
MikeB - “personal attacks (a conservative (and liberal) specialty).”
Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America
Everyone should listen to this.
MikeB-
The bottom line is that your willing to see the troops disparaged to help you bolster your view of the war. You’re using us as a pawn. I was in Iraq as a Marine. I have the opinion that every war is wrong and that it should only be taken up as a last resort. In Iraq however, I don’t have an opinion. It’s a conflict of interest for me. Every Marine is supposed to follow lawful orders by the President. When George Washington led the continental army he did not ask the solders and Marines to vote to fight the British, he ordered them to do it. As an American you should be just as angry as everybody else here about comments made about the troops. You are more interested in your own views about the war. MM went to Iraq to check on the welfare of Army solders. I admire her and respect her for that (although she didn’t go see the Marines). What have you done to support the troops? Have sent any care packages? Have you gone to see wounded service men at our VA hospitals? Did you go over seas to check on their welfare? Besides using the troops and your cousin as a crutch to point out your distain for this war what have you done for them? Twenty five years from now when Mexico sends its Army to come and take back California, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona, you’re the type that is going to turn around, bend over, cower and ask for more.
Thank you for being honest
/s/
José
The very best part, to me anyway, unfortunately is towards the end for the link in #152.
Hi Jose,
I thank you for your service and I as I posted above, my cousin Gene is in Iraq, in Anbar. He is a 2nd Lieut. We are proud of him and I have sent two care packages thus far as have my brother and parents.
I never criticized the troops. I said in the beginning Ted Rall’s venom should be directed towards the Bush Administration and chicken hawk pundits.
As far as MM’s three days in Iraq, I hardly think that was the best fact finding mission in the world. She went to Iraq looking to find something “positive” and believe it or not, she found it. Another school painted–democracy is really on the march.
People do tend to find what they are looking for. Human nature.
It was Ronald Reagen who described an optimist as someone who walked into a room full of horse manure and said cheerfully, “There must be a pony in here somewhere!”
My, my… I wonder if anyone would read this far.
So, my two cents:
Ted Rall: A less extreme example of the guy that shot the airman last week. Ted is the logical conclusion of leftist rhetoric. Though, I wonder, does he really believe what he spews in terms of relativism or is he just going for shock value. I imagine its a bit of both.
Ref MikeB’s thoughts on troops not supporting the war (on any war for that matter):
I’d like to take a moment to remind everyone here that just because one has worn or does wear the uniform it DOES NOT make them an authority on all things war related.
The milittary DOES have it’s share of naive and uninformed (though they are certainly not the norm), but of course, as Jose pointed out, they don’t have a choice in “supporting” the war or not since they HAVE TO actively support it whether they like it or not.
I would also like to point out, though it isn’t always enforced, contempt for the Commander in Chief is punishable under UCMJ. Basically, if a soldier engaged in the extreme leftist rhetoric that spawns people like Ted, they COULD be found guilty of a crime. What that means is, you won’t often hear from the fringe members of the military.
MikeB, your cousin is a brave and patriotic individual and I salute him as a fellow servicemember and vet. He is also a 2LT which means he is young, inexperienced, and likely just out of college. So, I wouldn’t nessecerily take his view of the war as gospel.
Finally, a personal antecdote to illustrate my point that naiveity exists everywhere:
I recently had a conversation with an NCO who had just watched some 9-11 conspiracy theory thing. I wasn’t about to be sucked into politics, but I did try and suggest that perhaps the piece he saw had an agenda. He was unconvinced and thought there was merit to the idea that the buildings fell in a way that couldn’t have been caused by the planes alone. I asked him what he thought that meant, and he (very wisely) stopped short of suggesting bombs placed by our own government. I then ended the conversation.
mikeB-
Thank you for your views and comments. Don’t forget to send Gene DVD movies!!
jose
MikeB’s cousin not withstanding (and we only have his word that he has a cousin in Iraq right now), most combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan DO NOT WANT THE MISSION ABORTED by Democrats.
These “trigger pullers” have even formed an organization to educate the American public why useful idiots like MikeB should be ignored.
Powerlineblog reports that they will be lobbying Congress on Capitol Hill tomorrow.
America knows who her patriots are, and who the disloyal Fifth Column is.
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” [Marcus Tullius Cicero]