EVENING UPDATE,  FEBRUARY 24, 2008

Hours to go

The excitement over the Oscars builds!  Can we overcome it?  All together, Obama fans:  Yes we can!

It may be too much for us

More excitement.  Ralph Nader is running for president again.  He reasons as follows:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Ralph Nader said Sunday he will run for president as a third-party candidate, criticizing the top White House contenders as too close to big business and pledging to repeat a bid that will "shift the power from the few to the many."

Nader, 73, said most people are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties due to a prolonged Iraq war and a shaky economy. The consumer advocate also blamed tax and other corporate-friendly policies under the Bush administration that he said have left many lower- and middle-class people in debt.

"You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts."

"In that context, I have decided to run for president," Nader told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Did the story say he's 73?  So, that could make him the oldest man elected to the office.  John McCain, you're not the oldest guy in the race any longer.  Rejoice.

Middle East alert

Stand by for a major stunt in the Middle East tomorrow.  Hamas is apparently going to rush the Israel-Gaza border with thousands of the "oppressed."  There could be casualties.

This, of course, is a massive photo op.  A stunt.  You can be sure that all the proper left-wing journalists have been notified, and even told where to station themselves to get the best pictures.  The Palestinian protest to the UN has probably been written.  Samantha Power, the child writer on Obama's foreign-policy team, may well be dreaming of the comments she can make to NPR over the "cruelty" of the Israelis, who may actually have the nerve to stop this onslaught. 

The Israelis got completely out of Gaza, and the Palestinians had a chance to show what they could do with the area.  They've shown:  rocket fire into Israel, and now the planned use of human beings in this circus.  Where are the protests from "human rights" activists?  Don't be silly.  The facts:

In preparation for a large-scaled Palestinian protest march planned for Gaza on Monday, security forces mobilized along the security fence Sunday night in an effort to head off a replay of last month's Rafah border-storming at the Erez or Kissufim crossings.

An artillery battery was moved to the Gaza border for the first time in months, and rules of engagement were reviewed as troops prepared for the demonstration Hamas is calling a "human chain.

A joint statement issued by the Foreign and Defense ministries blamed Hamas for fanning the flames and endangering Gazan civilians.

Comments, Mr. Obama?  What is your solution?  Specifics, please.

The worst

This is surprising because I respect David Ignatius, of The Washington Post.  However, he's written the worst example of groveling to a candidate that I've seen in a long time.  He demeans the value of experience in foreign policy - and an argument can be made for that - and presents us with this:

To prepare for the next stage of the U.S. presidential campaign, try this thought experiment: Imagine the television footage of Barack Obama's first trip abroad as president -- the crowds in the streets of Moscow, Cairo, Nairobi, Shanghai, Paris, Islamabad. Now try to imagine the first visit by President John McCain to those same cities. McCain is a great man, and he would be welcomed with respect, deference, perhaps a bit of fear.  Obama would generate different and more intense reactions -- surprise and uncertainty, to be sure, but also idealism and hope. Now tell me which image would foster a stronger and safer America in the 21st century.

Obama has liabilities as a candidate, but his inexperience paradoxically may actually bolster one of his core arguments -- that he would give America a fresh start.

Oh, please.

Frankly, I'd take the respect, deference, and a bit of fear.

When are journalists going to learn that the purpose of American foreign policy isn't to win popularity contests?  Sure, approval has its place.  But all of Bill Clinton's smiles and hugging didn't prevent 9-11.  America offers hope because of what we are as a nation, not because of who's in the White House, or his color.

Also, I think the list of cities Ignatius gives is a bit much.  Yeah, right, I can just see the Moscow populace cheering.  They'd be out in the streets all right, but to see a curiosity, not to love us.  Is Ignatius familiar with the racism of Russia?  Does he think the Chinese will care?  What about the residents of Cairo?  Years ago Egyptians objected to Lou Gossett Jr. playing Anwar Sadat in a movie because Gossett is black.  So much for Cairo.

And so much for this stuff.  I want a president who sends this message to foreign countries:  We seek only peace with you.  We will help you.  But if you attack us, we will fight back ferociously, until complete victory.  Now, which do you prefer?

Haven't heard Obama say that.

Anatomy of a fraud

Rape is a terrible crime that must never be tolerated, or laughed off.  But the great Heather MacDonald of The Manhattan Institute demonstrates how this crime has been politicized by some feminists and, of course, by some university officials.  The politicization of rape led directly to the Duke University scandal, where party-line thinking replaced sane analysis.  The quote:

It is a central claim of these organizations that between a fifth and a quarter of all college women will be raped or will be the targets of attempted rape by the end of their college years. Harvard's Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response uses the 20% to 25% statistic. Websites at New York University, Syracuse University, Penn State and the University of Virginia, among many other places, use the figures as well.

And who will be the assailants of these women? Not terrifying strangers who will grab them in dark alleys, but the guys sitting next to them in class or at the cafeteria.

If the one-in-four statistic is correct, campus rape represents a crime wave of unprecedented proportions. No felony, much less one as serious as rape, has a victimization rate remotely approaching 20% or 25%, even over many years. The 2006 violent crime rate in Detroit, one of the most violent cities in the U.S., was 2,400 murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults per 100,000 inhabitants -- a rate of 2.4%.

But try speaking those facts to the ideologists who run rape programs, and who have probably done far more harm than good. 

Several years ago I was involved in a television movie about a sexual misconduct case on a college campus.  The powers involved wrecked the project by demanding that it hew closer to the approved party line, rather than to the truth.  It was an incredible experience, and I felt the heat, which I resisted.  The movie was never made, for which I am grateful.

Adversity becomes him

Once again, the Brits get the best of us journalistically.  Tomorrow's Telegraph has a fine story about John McCain's bounceback from the New York Times smear:

John McCain's campaign sought to read the funeral rites yesterday over newspaper allegations that he had an improper — even romantic — association with Vicki Iseman, a female lobbyist, eight years ago.

The 3,000 word article, published in The New York Times last week, has triggered an unexpected surge of support for him from conservative figures such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham.

These are some of the people who a few days earlier had expressed deep reservations over Mr McCain's emergence as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. But they appear to hold The New York Times in even lower regard as an unapologetic bastion of liberal influence.

Oh goody.  That's such a positive note on which to end.

And I'll bounce back in the morning.

Posted on February 24, 2008.