South Dakota Politics

Drowning in Guilt

Sioux Falls blogger Jay Reding (with a new blog design!) is examing an argument made by NRO's Victor Davis Hanson, who argues that the "West is hampered by a set of ideologies that weaken our resolve against terrorism - moral equivalence, utopian pacifism, and multicultrualism."  Reding makes this point:

We can no longer afford the idea that for every criticism of radical Islamists must come a corresponding period of handwringing over Western sins, real or imagined. The idea that we can say “the use of terrorist tactics is wrong, but…” is no longer acceptable, and should have collapsed along with the smouldering wreckage of the World Trade Center on that terrible day in September. Either we stand as one united force for the doctrines of human rights, or we admit that we don’t really care for the concept at all. Either it’s universally wrong to commit acts of terrorism and systematically oppress women and minorities, or human rights is a worthless concept. Either self-determination including free elections is a universal concept shared by all humanity or the values of democracy and human rights are worthless.

Why Won't This Horse Die?

I said I was bored with the Rove/Plame story, but it just won't end, and today Clean Cut Kid repeats falsehoods that demand a response.  CCK claims, falsely, the Joe Wilson went to Niger and found no evidence that Iraq was seeking nuclear material in Niger.  But then Bush lies in his SOTU address claiming that in fact Iraq was seeking nuclear material.  Wilson later writes an editorial in the New York Times exposing Bush's lies.  The Bush people then go after Wilson and his wife, CIA analyst/agent Valerie Plame, as retribution for exposing the Bush administration's lies. 

The only thing wrong with this scenario is that it is all factually false.  There is a dizzying amount of evidence for this.  You can read about it at Powerline here and here, and here, and see Michael Barone's take and also Mark Steyn.  John Hinderaker at Powerline sums up the facts of the case nicely:

So, to sum up: the Senate Intelligence Committee's report shows that: 1) Wilson lied in the New York Times about what he told the CIA after he returned from Niger. In fact, far from debunking the concern that Iraq may have tried to buy uranium from Niger, Wilson reported that Niger's former Prime Minister told him that Iraq had made just such an overture in 1999. 2) Wilson lied when he leaked a report to the Washington Post about documents he had not even seen. 3) Wilson lied when he said that his wife Valerie "had nothing to do with" his being chosen to go to Niger.

The Senate Intelligence Committee and the British Government's Butler Report both undermine Wilson's story.  Those are the facts.  I think Steyn nicely sums up the political import of the story:

What's this really about? It's not difficult. A big chunk of the American elites have decided there is no war; it's all a racket got up by Bush and Cheney. And, even if there is a war somewhere or other, wherever it is, it's not where Bush says it is. Iraq is a ''distraction'' from Afghanistan -- and, if there were no Iraq, Afghanistan would be a distraction from Niger, and Niger's a distraction from Valerie Plame's next photo shoot for Vanity Fair.

The police have found the suicide bomber's head in the rubble of the London bus, and Iran is enriching uranium. The only distraction here is the pitiful parochialism of our political culture.

Update: Isn't it interesting that the Time Magazine reporter most implicated in this story, Matt Cooper, is married to Democratic strategist and former Clinton aid Mandy Grunwald?  I guess it's like Christian Amanpour of CNN being married to former Clinton State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin.

Update, Part II: The Captain has more on the Rove/Plame affair here and here (hat tip Instapundit).  Those still pushing this story as one of high import should be ashamed of themselves.  I think this says it all:

What an embarrassing denouement for the mainstream media and the Democrats in their zeal to target Karl Rove. No one except the darkest paranoid conspiracy theorists could believe that Rove or Libby deliberately sat around, knowing Cooper would call and eventually get around to asking about Wilson, and then use that opportunity to wreak revenge for Wilson's serial lies in his by-lined NYT piece as well as his leaks to Walter Pincus at the Post. Rove and Libby both performed the traditional background role (for which the media insists it needs anonymous sources) to warn Cooper that Wilson's version had seriously distorted the record.

Will this finally put this non-story to rest?  Doubtful.

 

 

Review: Daschle's Permanent Campaign

From last Friday's Hotline:

SOUTH DAKOTA: The Permanent Campaign

      Sen. John Thune's (R) victory over ex-Senate Min. Leader Tom Dachle (D) "didn't really end" the '04 campaign. The "Daschle team," including ex-campaign manager Steve Hildebrand, "continues to wage political war against Thune." Staffers have "hammered" Thune on his "failure" to keep Ellsworth Air Force Base off the closure list, "compared" Thune "unfavorably" to the money Daschle secured for state projects, and "questioned" Thune's role "securing" loans for friend Dan Nelson.
      UVA prof. Larry Sabato: "It's unusual, though it's part of a common pattern...the permanent campaign. Even for a six-year Senate term, the campaign never ends." Daschle campaign aide Jeremy Funk used his blog to "promote "F--- Thune" T-shirts. Thune communications dir. Kyle Downey: "it's unfortunate that a small partisan group continues to wage these negative campaign-style attacks."
      Hildebrand: "On (Thune's) watch, we've seen a reduction in transportation money; we've seen a reduction in money for the Lewis and Clark water project...I'm not going to sit by and not call (Thune) on the carpet." Hildebrand is paid $6K a month from Daschle's campaign fund and DASHPAC. Dachle: "I have not asked Steve to make any comments on John Thune. Those are his decisions" (Wooster, Rapid City Journal, 7/10).
      More on Hildebrand and Funk: Dem bloggers "have pressed newspapers and local television departments to investigate Thune's ties to" Nelson. Wooster: "The Dem bloggers certainly prompted me to get into the story sooner than I might have otherwise." Thune was "forced" last week to "respond to the bloggers' charges" after Wooster and KELO-TV "ran stories" that included the "bloggers' accusations" (Stanton, Congress Daily, 7/14).

From the new issue of U.S. News and World Report:

Daschle-Thune Fight Goes On

How many attack blogs does it take to keep former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle 's political hopes alive? So far, five. Or so say friends of Daschle-slayer Sen. John Thune , the target of the blogs. Maybe it's revenge or just his old pals trying to soften up rookie Thune for a 2010 race, but we've failed to find any other political newcomer hit so hard by the latest Internet fad. Is it a conspiracy? The Rapid City Journal reveals that Daschle's political action committee still pays his old campaign partner, who runs one of the blogs.

From last week's National Journal:

POLITICS
Thune Foes Seeking Cyberspace Payback
     Veterans of former Senate Minority Leader Daschle's unsuccessful re-election effort have launched an aggressive Internet-based campaign against GOP Sen. John Thune in South Dakota, taking a page from the freshman senator's 2004 election playbook.
     Mimicking Thune's successful use of paid Web loggers to prod state media outlets to run stories damaging to Daschle, the Democratic bloggers have pressed newspapers and local television news departments to investigate Thune's ties to a used car salesman who is under investigation by the Iowa attorney general for alleged predatory lending practices.
     "The Dem bloggers certainly prompted me to get into the story. Or, more accurately, to get into the story sooner than I might have otherwise," Rapid City Journal political reporter Kevin Wooster said in an e-mail Wednesday.
     Former Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrand and campaign aides Jeremy Funk and Todd Epp have been posting information for over a month on the financial woes of Dan Nelson Automotive, which is owned by longtime Thune friends and advisers Dan Nelson and Chris Tapken.
     The three former Daschle aides are operating separate political Web sites largely targeting Thune. Hildebrand still draws a salary from the Daschle campaign account.

Also, note this from the Rapid City Journal last week:

John Thune's victory over Tom Daschle last November shook up the power structure of the U.S. Senate and ended the 26-year career of one of the nation's most prominent politicians.

But it didn't really end the 2004 campaign — at least, not for some former members of Daschle's staff.

Led by public statements from former Daschle campaign manager Steve Hildebrand and the pointed and sometimes profane Internet sniping from other former staffers, the Daschle team continues to wage political war against Thune.  ...

And Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics says the ongoing tussle is a perfect example of an emerging phenomenon in national politics: the permanent campaign.

"It's unusual, though it's part of a common pattern, which is the permanent campaign. Even for a six-year- Senate term, the campaign never ends," Sabato said. "In this case, a very bitter race produced the upset of a Senate leader, and Democrats are determined to get revenge in six years. I suppose their assumption is that they need to attack virtually every day."

If not quite daily, the remnants of the Daschle team maintain a consistent critique of Thune, his statements, votes and effectiveness. And in some cases, they receive leftover Daschle campaign funds while they do it.  ...

It some cases, it can also be profane. Former Daschle staff member Jeremy Funk, who works with Hildebrand, uses a personal Web log, or blog, to promote "F... Thune" T-shirts.  ...

Hildebrand said he does not get any direction from Daschle in making those statements. He does, however, get money each month from both the 2004 campaign fund and Daschle's political action commission — DASHPAC.

HildebrandTewes Consulting — the "Tewes" is Paul Tewes, Hildebrand's partner — receives $2,000 a month from Daschle's campaign fund and another $4,000 a month from DASHPAC. Hildebrand, who manages both funds for Daschle, said the payments his firm receives were to maintain and manage the political action committee and to wrap things up from the campaign.

Funk and another former Daschle staff member, Chad Schuldt, run personal Internet blogs critical of Thune. And some of that criticism is shaped in language that many South Dakotans would consider offensive.

Hildebrand said neither he nor Daschle supported the use of profane commentary or the Thune T-shirts promoted by Funk.

"What he does on his own time is just that," Hildebrand said. "He's not being paid by anybody to write that Web site."

Downey said, however, that since Funk works with Hildebrand's consulting firm, which receives money from Daschle's funds, the effect was the same

"This is a perfect example of their tone," Downey said, referring to the T-shirt. "It's sad."

Daschle said by e-mail that he was keeping his campaign and PAC funds open and paying Hildebrand to manage them.

"I have no plans to run for office again, but something could change," Daschle said.  ...

Jason said it best about the legacy Daschle is leaving for himself:

About a year ago, John Thune first started running television ads in for the 2004 Senate race.  Daschle started his first television ads two years ago, during the summer of 2003.  And Daschle isn't done.  His campaign is still going.  Daschle is still paying his campaign manager Steve Hildebrand $6,000 a month from both DASHPAC and also the Daschle campaign coffers (e.g., A Lot of People Supporting Tom Daschle).  As noted before, this could be just payments to finalize items from the campaign, though, as Jon Schaff noted, "it certainly raises questions when those who run 'independent' political groups that do nothing other than attack John Thune are actually on the payroll of Tom Daschle."  Furthermore, Hildebrand (and others) is busy contacting the press on a regular basis to bash Thune and is coordinating anti-Thune efforts generally.  He's even hired the former Daschle staffer famous for promoting "F--- John Thune" t-shirts.  When will Daschle quit subsidizing this hate campaign against Thune?  One thing is for sure, Daschle is cementing his political legacy: scorched earth.

Support Waning

Good news from the War on Terror front:

Osama bin Laden's standing has dropped significantly in some pivotal Muslim countries, while support for suicide bombings and other acts of violence has "declined dramatically," according to a new survey released yesterday.

Predominantly Muslim populations in a sampling of six North African, Middle Eastern and Asian countries share to a "considerable degree" Western concerns about Islamic extremism, according to the poll by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, conducted by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization.

"Most Muslim publics are expressing less support for terrorism than in the past. Confidence in Osama bin Laden has declined markedly in some countries, and fewer believe suicide bombings that target civilians are justified in the defense of Islam," the poll concluded.

The Trial

The New York Times is reporting that charges have been filed:

The Iraqi Special Tribunal set up to try Saddam Hussein said in a statement today that Mr. Hussein and three others will be referred to criminal court on charges related to the killings of about 150 Shiites in the Iraqi town of Dujail in 1982. The tribunal said that investigations into millions of documents and the questioning of thousands of witnesses have been completed, and that the trial related to the Dujail killings was one of several Mr. Hussein and his top aides are expected to face.

Officials at the tribunal have said that they expect to put Mr. Hussein on trial by the end of the year. The tribunal's chief investigating judge, Raed Jouhi, said at a news conference in Baghdad that a date for the trial would be set "within days," the Reuters news agency reported.

Today's statement represents the announcement of the first formal charges against Mr. Hussein. Other crimes for which Mr. Hussein is likely to face eventual prosecution in separate trials include the Anfal campaign of the late 1980's, in which as many as 150,000 Kurds were killed; the chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in March 1988 that killed about 5,000; and the repression of a Shiite rebellion in southern Iraq in 1991, in which 150,000 people are believed to have been killed. Also under investigation by the tribunal are the executions of more than 200 Baath Party leaders after Mr. Hussein seized power in 1979.

A Split in the Insurgency?

A divergence is developing between Islamism and Jihadism.  According to the AP and USA Today (via the Austin Bay Blog), Zarqawi has clashed with his spiritual mentor:

The AP reports:

Al-Barqawi, known in militant circles as Abu Mohammed al-Maqdisi, said in an interview with Al-Jazeera from Jordan last week that militants in Iraq should revise their tactics, saying “the number of Iraqis killed in suicide operations has become a tragedy.”

To Zarqawi this means his spiritual adviser is listening “to Satan”:

Terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi criticized his spiritual mentor for urging militants in Iraq to rein in attacks on civilians and warned that the sheik’s comments could split Islamic fighters, according to a purported statement posted on an Islamic Web site Tuesday.
The statement, signed by al-Zarqawi, warned his sheik — Isam Mohammed al-Barqawi — “do not follow the path of Satan that leads to your destruction. Beware, our noble sheik, of the trick of God’s enemies to lure you to drive a wedge in the ranks of the mujahedeen.”

Bringing the terror war “home to Middle East” has forced this confrontation– and make no mistake, this is a significant split.

 

Markets

Larry Kudlow:

Remarkably, global stock markets continue to shrug off the London terrorist attack. Markets have proven resilient since the terror war started on September 11, 2001, but this time around they shrugged fast — and big.

Stock markets in Britain, France, and Germany hit three-year highs in recent days. The U.S. S&P 500 stock index reached a four-year high. The mid-cap S&P 400 and the small-cap Russell 2000 climbed to all-time historic highs, as did the transportation index and the New York Stock Exchange index.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S., it took the S&P two years to recover its pre-attack level. After the Madrid train station bombings in 2004, it took stocks 14 sessions to recover. But after the London attack, it took only one day for markets to rebound, with substantial gains coming on the following two days.

I have long believed that stock indexes reflect the health, wealth, and security of individual nations. That explains why stock markets are standing tough in the face of al Qaeda’s latest attack. Worldwide investors are telling the enemy they have long-term confidence that the war on terror will be won, just as they believe in the resiliency and flexibility of free-market economies and the outlook for pro-growth policies, which are in action across nations. ...

Though President Bush’s critics will never admit it, his supply-side tax reforms of two years ago are working brilliantly. With new incentives to work and invest, the economy is expanding, the income base is widening, and businesses and individuals are producing an unprecedented surge of tax collections. All this is occurring at lower marginal tax rates. Once again, the Laffer curve is working.

The budget deficit is shrinking to roughly 2.5 percent of GDP, in line with the average of the past four decades. As for the claim that trade deficits are bad for U.S. workers, consider this thought from Café Hayek blogger Russell Roberts, a professor at George Mason University: “The U.S. has run a merchandise trade deficit for every year since 1976, trillions of dollars of deficits. And since 1976, the U.S. economy has created over 50 million jobs.”