It makes me wonder if the sad legacy of pain and injustice can ever be overcome….

Once Rice went to State, that all changed. It just seems to happen that way. Must be something in the water at Foggy Bottom.

In any case, let me repeat what I have said umpteen times before: if I thought that withdrawing from most of the “West Bank”, and even the Golan, would bring real peace, I would support it, albeit reluctantly. I don’t know how many times I have to say this.

But since it is obvious that nothing of the sort will happen, I oppose it, and any administration that tries to browbeat Israel into withdrawing while not applying the same pressure on the Arabs to stop shooting is, by definition, an anti-Israel administration.

Why do you have such an overblown sense of entitlement that the U.S. Government and people owe Israel so much? That the U.S. has a proud history of allowing large numbers of Jews to immigrate here as free people who enjoyed all the benefits of full citizenship is not enough? What other country has been as good to it’s Jews and Israel as the U.S.A.?

Still really tired today and not yet recovered from a serious cold.

If it’s not jihadist violence, I’ll speculate Iran will disclose it’s developed nuclear weapons, and/or my personal favorite– Russia announces it’s annexing the Crimea.

Both the tragic events of 1968 and our response and the systemic reactions to them split the country in a horrible way that we might just now finally be coming to terms with.

Third parties come and go in America and serve their purpose but the system is too far rigged against the ultimate success of any one of them as a permanent structural component.

Muffti thinks that those concerns ARE too esoteric for the average voter. They are too complex for most of us. But Muffti wasn’t really saying how they should sell themselves but how they should, in Muffti’s opinion, orient themselves and what philosophy they will adopt as a party. Then they can get people with silky voices and nice no more than bi-syllabic words to explain things like anti-empiricism (i.e. ‘we like science and not just when it makes weapons!’) As a professor, Muffti can only hope that this ridiculous anti-intellectualism will be a thing of the past and a mutual appreciation can be reconciled between groups that have been so divided (and, who, in fairness, have really let themsevles be divided).

Or maybe ideally that party will split in 2, one representing the lunatic fringe and one representing a real centrist party that can take a bite out of the democrats and the USA will have a real viable democracy with multiple parties and a choice of options (plus a much diminished ability to run divide a conquer strategies that the republicans have run so effectively for so many years: abortion, race, immigration…as way of dividing democrats). Who kknows. It’s a tough time for them but it represents an interesting opportunity.

I wonder what Obama’s “test” is going to be? My guess is perhaps Lebanon, where Syria (that is to say Iran) has its tanks right up against the border. I wonder if Syria (that is to say, Iran) will give the Go signal on Jan., 21, 2009 or have the decency to wait a week or two.

But, hey, there always seem to be Whiteboys around to prove that maybe we are smarter than people like you.

And by “people like you” I mean stupid people, not gentiles.

Andrew Sullivan thinks that the Repubs are going through a longterm phase of introspection, reminiscent of that which the British Tories went through and are still going through. As someone who grew up there, he might know. I’m with you on all their faults re: theocratic impulses and anti-empiricism, but those concerns might perhaps be too esoteric (well, at least the latter is) to your average voter. The debate on how to keep themselves from continuing to hemorrhage support from youth is on, and being held most honestly by younger conservatives such as Ross Douthat and Reihan Salaam. Whether that conversation attracts broader attention from party bosses, however, is as of yet an unanswered question.

As for Palin’s ignorance, I guess that depends on whether or not you think it is just a passable mistake to confuse Africa with an actual country:

andrewsullivan...

I would be pretty sad if the right fell prey to utter intellectual bankrupcy all the way through, but with guys like Michael Weiss at Jewcy and elsewhere hopefully they can do what they must to find a way to stem the freefall. But my take is that it will take even more intellectual honesty and exploration than we are getting. A lot of what they’ve been trying to sell just doesn’t seem to be what US voters are interested in buying. They really need to re-work what they’re offering to fit within a post-cold war, post-industrial, high-tech world, IMO.

latimes.com/ne...

Muffti also likes that the reporter Carl managed to throw in the word ‘nailing’…a subtle reference to the porn that came otu a while back entitled ‘Nailin’ Palin’?

The republicans have a real chance here to reform and regroup, to drop all the anti-science creationist bullshit, to stop trying to make education a defect rather than a problem, expunge the homophobia and the defend all things jesus and present themselves as a party who has a sensible take on fiscal responsibiility with a hard line on terror. Otherwise, they may as well sit around and pray that the Dems really fuck things up or its gonna be a lot of lean years for those bums.