Sunday, August 29, 2010

Unusually good video of Restore Honor rally … from the Washington Post

I was pleasantly surprised by one aspect of yesterday’s Restore Honor rally on the Mall. It came from a surprising source, the Washington Post. It is Anna Uhls superb video coverage of the event. She covers it from the perspective of David Meister, a 40 something father and his 12 year old son Adam who took a ten hour “red eye” bus from New Richmond, Ohio to participate.

David expresses his concern that President Obama is taking us down the wrong path and to turn things around he would have to change his policies 180 degrees. He adds that as America’s first African American President, he has the opportunity to become one of the greatest. But thinks he won’t and will be a one term president.

The video is interspersed with clips of the rally and speeches of the event’s organizer, Glen Beck, and from Sarah Palin. It finishes with bagpipe strains of Amazing Grace which will bring tears to your eyes. The Post’s treatment here is in stark contrast to the scant coverage of last September’s Tea Party rally in Washington. There is no snarkiness and no mention of Al Sharpton’s counter rally. It simply treats the sincerity of David Meister and his son with the dignity it deserves.

Two thumbs up for Anna Uhls.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Pelosi wants investigation of mosque opponents. Time for the House Un-American Activities Committee?

Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a KCBS interview has called for an investigation of who is funding the opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque. From the Washington Times:

"There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how ... this opposition to the mosque is being funded,"

Now I’m not sure which House committee would handle this. Perhaps she can resurrect the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The name has an interesting ring to it. Comments like this show the utter disarray Democrats find themselves in. First Obama, in front of a Muslim dinner audience at the White House last Friday, praised the concept of the mosque and then waffled in less than 24 hours when the reaction set in.

Then Harry Reid broke ranks with the President and now Pelosi in an attempt to support the President begins to sound a bit like Joe McCarthy. The hallmark party discipline of Democrats is coming unraveled as panic over elections sets in. It’s not only Pelosi, Reid and Obama. Barney Frank has called for the elimination of Freddy Mac and Fannie May. Now that sounds almost Republican.

But you have to understand Republican Scott Brown nearly carried Frank’s district when he won in January. We will see more of this. Democrats rationalized their gubernatorial losses in the blue states of New Jersey and Virginia as flukes. Now they are reading the poll numbers and they are not reassuring.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Would Harry Truman have been impeached if he hadn’t used the Bomb?

As we approach the anniversary (August 6) of the employment of an atomic weapon against a wartime enemy, many will want to apologize for our first use without the knowledge of the bloodiness of the war or the consequences of not using it.

There was entirely a different mindset by Americans in that war than there has been since. Every family was involved in some way with the war, either having a relative in the service or in some way working or volunteering in the war effort. Food (especially meat and sugar), gasoline, tires were strictly rationed.

The news media covered the incredible brutality of the Japanese who had attacked us at Pearl Harbor without warning. The Bataan death march, a photo in Life Magazine of an Australian prisoner about to be beheaded and press reports and newsreels of the enormous casualties at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, did not leave Americans with a warm and fuzzy feeling about the Japanese.

Wars are won by swift, decisive action. The comparison of WWI with its drawn out trench warfare and the German blitzkrieg in 1940 is an example. Despite millions of deaths in WWI, Germans never got within 70 miles of Paris. In 1940 with surprise and overwhelming force, France fell in 38 days with minimal casualties on both sides.


President Truman in 1945 was faced with the same realities. He could use a dramatic new weapon that could end the war quickly, or he could order the invasion of Japan. With the experience of Iwo Jima (6,822 KIA, 19,217 WIA in 33 days) and Okinawa (12,513 KIA, 38,916 WIA in 82 days), projections of US casualties varied from about 100,000 to 250,000 killed depending on the duration of the campaign.

So he did what was necessary, and the Japanese announced their surrender 9 days after the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. What would have happened had we not used the bomb? Would there have been a political reaction from the hundreds thousands of families whose children or brothers had been killed or wounded? You betcha!

The secret of the bomb would not have remained secret. And the wanton waste of life would have become a major political issue. At best Truman would not have survived the election in 1948. But there is a distinct possibility he would have faced far worse, impeachment.

Obama Disapproval hits 50.0%

Real Clear Politics’ Presidential Job Approval polling data shows Obama’s disapproval at 50.0% and the spread at minus 5.3%, both records.