Sarah Palin deserves respect
Sarah Palin is a phenomenon. She is plucky and, in a winsome way, in your face. Referring to middle class America as Joe-Six-Pack and to herself as a hockey mom, she debated last week with veteran Senator Joe Biden, who has served in the Senate for 36 years and knows his way around Washington. I have never met Governor Palin. I have known Joe Biden for many years. I really like Joe and share his positions on most issues.
I admire Sarah Pain's spunkiness and feel she has not been treated fairly by the media which has tried to make her look foolish and provincial. When she was interviewed by Charles Gibson and asked the question, "Do you agree with the Bush Doctrine?" I thought it unfair. Why? I consider myself to be knowledgeable on foreign affairs and I did not know what the Bush Doctrine referred to until later when it was described as support for preemptive military action. However, that term -- Bush Doctrine -- has also been applied to other policies of the administration. I certainly do believe in the right to take preemptive action to thwart an enemy's attack upon us. Sarah Palin later explained when she learned what the Bush Doctrine stood for, that she did too.
Comments (3)Campaigning for the Obama-Biden ticket
On Sunday, I flew to Florida at the request of the Obama-Biden Democratic campaign for the purpose of speaking on their behalf in the Jewish condo community. Four years ago, in the last presidential campaign, I had flown to Florida at the request of the Bush-Cheney Republican campaign to rally support for that ticket.
I had announced back in 2004 that I did not agree with President Bush on a single domestic issue, but that I concluded that of the two men running for president representing the two major parties - Republican and Democratic - Bush understood the danger to Western civilization of international Islamic terrorism and John Kerry, in my opinion, did not; and that Bush was willing to take on Islamic terrorism, no matter the cost, while Kerry, in my opinion, did not treat confronting Islamic terrorism as a priority. The danger to Western civilization included the danger to Israel, located in a sea of Muslim states intent on destroying it as an outpost of Western civilization.
US safer in Obama's hands
The time has come to declare whom I will be voting for.
When I made my decision four years ago and supported the reelection of George W. Bush, I said at the time the overwhelming issue for me was international Islamic terrorism, including al-Qaida. The goal of Islamic terrorists was and still is to reestablish the Caliphate encompassing most of the Muslims living in a host of nations from Spain to Indonesia and placing them under a single religious leader with full authority over the civil affairs of the countries, in the style of Iran. That goal includes the deaths or forced conversions of Christians and Jews as infidels or the payment by them of tribute, and the elimination of the State of Israel.
The right to abortion
For those interested, I will be making my choice for president public
next week. The candidates, we now know, are Barack Obama and Joe Biden
for the Democrats and John McCain and Sarah Palin for the Republicans.
My choice will be made next week, so nothing I write here should be
perceived as an endorsement of either ticket.
The newly announced vice presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin,
is at this point the only unknown personality. If McCain wins the
election on November 4th, his choice of Palin will be praised as a
stroke of genius. However, if he loses, he will be viewed as a dope who
shot himself in the foot by selecting Palin and assured his own defeat.
The complete picture
With Barack Obama's selection of Joe Biden as his running mate, the Democratic Party Presidential ticket is now complete.
I have known and admired Joe Biden for many years, having served with him in Congress. While I have never met Barack Obama, I have come to know him through his speeches and television appearances during the primary and now in the ongoing general election. He is a highly intelligent and honorable individual.
The adulation for Obama here in New York rivals that exhibited for Bobby Kennedy when he ran for President in 1968. Millions of people, myself included, loved Bobby. He had a McCarthy side to him, but we forgave him his shortcomings. Ultimately, he conveyed an innocence and had an inexplicable radiance that touched us.
Georgia, Russia and Kosovo
War between Russia and Georgia, and an illicit romance between John Edwards and a woman who served on his campaign staff when he ran for president are dominating the headlines and dinner table conversation.
First, the war. Responding to Russian provocations, Georgia and its president, Mikheil Saakashvilli, unwisely began to fight, which was just what Russia was hoping for. Two of Georgia's provinces, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, are seeking independence and are being encouraged by Russia and its prime minister, Vladimir Putin. Putin is incensed that Georgia, a state that was formerly part of the Soviet Union, is not only a good friend of the United States -- it provided 2,500 troops to assist us in Iraq, the largest contingent after Great Britain -- it is also seeking to become part of NATO.
Obama's mistake
Last week, I wrote of the recent successes of Senator Barack Obama -- his trip abroad to Iraq and Europe and his reception in Germany where 200,000 people came to hear him speak and cheer him. I compared Obama with Julius Caesar, evoking Caesar's boast of "Veni, Vidi, Vici."
But Caesar also made his share of mistakes. This week, I'm writing about a gaffe by Senator Obama, in which he appeared to be playing what has come to be known as "the race card."
On August 1st The New York Times summed up the situation: "Senator John McCain's campaign accused Senator Barack Obama on Thursday of playing 'the race card,' citing his remarks that Republicans would try to scare voters by pointing out that he 'doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.'" The Times went on to state, "The exchange injected racial politics front and center into the general election campaign for the first time, after it became a subtext in the primary between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton."
McCain's terrible campaign
The week that was, was a homerun for Senator Obama. Like Eva Peron of Argentina and Julius Caesar of Rome, it was for him, Veni, Vidi, Vici (I came, I saw, I conquered). Obama was lionized by 200,000 Germans when he addressed them, applauded by French President Sarkozy who made it clear he approved of the young American whose speeches apparently reminded his listeners of Jack Kennedy and Camelot, and received a warm reception from the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.
Earlier in Iraq, Obama received a serious boost from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki by agreeing with Obama's timeline of 16 months for a US troop withdrawal. Adding to Obama's good fortune was the over-the-top description by Senator John McCain of Obama as someone who "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign."
On gay adoption and race relations
Republican presidential candidate John McCain opposes adoptions by gay parents. Last week in an interview with The New York Times he stated, "I think that we've proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don't believe in gay adoption." A few days later he clarified his comment, stating that the issue should be decided by individual states.
I believe it is easier for a child to grow up in a home with two loving heterosexual parents, because it saves the child from the occasional unpleasant experience of having to explain why he or she has two mommies or two daddies. But surely that is small potatoes when compared with the alternative of keeping these children in orphanages where they have no loving parents to care for them. And, of course, having one loving parent is far better than two hateful parents, heterosexual or homosexual.
Leave Afghanistan first
The United Nations resolution authorizing the United States presence in Iraq runs out at the end of this year. The United States and Iraq are now negotiating a new agreement to govern US relations and conduct when the UN agreement expires.
The Prime Minister of Iraq, Nuri Kanal al-Maliki, according to The New York Times, "was leaning toward concluding a short term security pact with the United States instead of a broader agreement that would last for years." The Iraqi people and their government do not want a permanent US presence in their country. John McCain has said that the US may end up with permanent bases in Iraq, agreed to by the Iraqi government. I don't think permanent bases are necessary. We already have bases in Kuwait and Qatar, etc., and a base in Diego Garcia provided by Great Britain, more than enough to serve our needs as the protector of the area and its oil wealth.
About this blog Koch's Comments
New York's legendary Jewish former mayor Ed Koch scopes out the scene in the US.
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