Duking It Out

Publication:The Oklahoman;
Date:Nov 20, 2007;
Section:Opinion;
Page Number:12
Clinton answers the bell Hillary Clinton’s tendency is to call disagreements personal attacks.
AFTER performing dismally in the Democrats’ previous presidential debate, front-runner Hillary Clinton looked to write a new storyline when the field gathered for another round last week in Nevada. And she did. If anything, the news out of Las Vegas was that the lady can take a punch and knows a thing or two about hitting in the clinches. Caught with her gloves down when Democrats debated Oct. 30 in Philadelphia, Sen. Clinton went after her rivals in Nevada. And she didn’t hit like a girl. She caught “Gentleman” Johnny Edwards walking in, flush on the nose, when he accused her of waffling on the issues. Mudslinging, Clinton called it, and what’s more, she branded it inaccurate mudslinging. She tagged “Bomber” Barack Obama on the chin, suggesting he wasn’t strong enough on health care. Grrrrr! Fightin’ words. And so it went. If the other campaigns thought Clinton had a glass jaw after Philadelphia, they were mistaken. Clinton was ready this time around, made the most of a friendly crowd and demonstrated why she’s leading the Democratic pack. Certainly, it’s good to see her get away from complaining about “piling on,” which her campaign did after the mugging in Philly. In the City of Brotherly Love, Clinton got no love. She took some shots — especially on immigration — but drawing fire is to be expected by the front-runner. Later, her husband said it was the men ganging up on the girl. But it was more like the kids’ game of kill the man with the ball. Having the ball draws a crowd. The senator does better when she demonstrates command of the issues with detailed answers. Spewing fog is safer; Republican ad men watch from the tall grass for sound bites to use against her in the general election campaign, to say nothing of YouTube. But she has to do more than equivocate. Clinton also should show a thick skin. Her tendency is to call disagreements personal attacks. Her opponents are obliged to call her out, but that doesn’t make each contrast a personal attack. Indeed, Team Clinton is better than most at bare-knuckle brawling. So it’s a little hypocritical to seek immunity from criticism by claiming someone is engaging in the “politics of personal destruction,” as the Clintons coined it while Bill was president. Politics is a full-contact sport. As Sen. Clinton showed last week in Las Vegas, it’s all about the give and take — and being sure to do more of the giving than the taking.

Publication:The Oklahoman;
Date:Nov 20, 2007;
Section:Opinion;
Page Number:12
Duking it out
Clinton answers the bell Hillary Clinton’s tendency is to call disagreements personal attacks.
AFTER performing dismally in the Democrats’ previous presidential debate, front-runner Hillary Clinton looked to write a new storyline when the field gathered for another round last week in Nevada. And she did. If anything, the news out of Las Vegas was that the lady can take a punch and knows a thing or two about hitting in the clinches. Caught with her gloves down when Democrats debated Oct. 30 in Philadelphia, Sen. Clinton went after her rivals in Nevada. And she didn’t hit like a girl. She caught “Gentleman” Johnny Edwards walking in, flush on the nose, when he accused her of waffling on the issues. Mudslinging, Clinton called it, and what’s more, she branded it inaccurate mudslinging. She tagged “Bomber” Barack Obama on the chin, suggesting he wasn’t strong enough on health care. Grrrrr! Fightin’ words. And so it went. If the other campaigns thought Clinton had a glass jaw after Philadelphia, they were mistaken. Clinton was ready this time around, made the most of a friendly crowd and demonstrated why she’s leading the Democratic pack. Certainly, it’s good to see her get away from complaining about “piling on,” which her campaign did after the mugging in Philly. In the City of Brotherly Love, Clinton got no love. She took some shots — especially on immigration — but drawing fire is to be expected by the front-runner. Later, her husband said it was the men ganging up on the girl. But it was more like the kids’ game of kill the man with the ball. Having the ball draws a crowd. The senator does better when she demonstrates command of the issues with detailed answers. Spewing fog is safer; Republican ad men watch from the tall grass for sound bites to use against her in the general election campaign, to say nothing of YouTube. But she has to do more than equivocate. Clinton also should show a thick skin. Her tendency is to call disagreements personal attacks. Her opponents are obliged to call her out, but that doesn’t make each contrast a personal attack. Indeed, Team Clinton is better than most at bare-knuckle brawling. So it’s a little hypocritical to seek immunity from criticism by claiming someone is engaging in the “politics of personal destruction,” as the Clintons coined it while Bill was president. Politics is a full-contact sport. As Sen. Clinton showed last week in Las Vegas, it’s all about the give and take — and being sure to do more of the giving than the taking.

Book of the Month

Dear Sir : I am a USMA grad (1999), and I am writing to you because I have written a book based on my experiences in Afghanistan securing the elections there and conducting counter-terrorist operations. The book, A Democracy Is Born (Greenwood/Praeger), came out at the beginning of this month, and I wanted to make you aware of it. I thought the book might be of interest to members of the West Point Society of SW Virginia, so I wanted to send you a note about it so you could pass the information along to your members. It has been favorably reviewed by two USMA grads, General (Ret.) Barry McCaffrey (1964) and author Ed Ruggero (1980). Please take a look at the website: http://www.ademocracyisborn.com Thanks for your attention! Sincerely, Matt Morgan Matthew J. Morgan404.915.4084
Endorsement from General Barry R. McCaffrey, USA (Ret.) A Democracy Is Born is an engaging story from the frontlines of today's major conflict against international terrorism.
Endorsement from Nathaniel Fick, Author of New York Times bestseller One Bullet AwayMatt Morgan is a rare breed of author, equally at home in a university classroom and on the streets of Afghanistan. A Democracy Is Born deftly weaves his personal travels into the wider sweep of an historic era. The beauty, danger, poignancy, and hope of Afghanistan come alive in these pages.
Endorsement from Ed Ruggero, Best-Selling Military Historian, Author of The First Men In and The Leader's CompassMatt Morgan served his country in Afghanistan, and he continues his service in writing A Democracy Is Born. He provides a vivid, first-hand account of the difficulties and tremendous sacrifices made by Americans and Afghans to bring stability and peace to that troubled land.

Abraham Lincoln Said:

from the intro to Dinesh D'Souza book "The Enemy at Home"

"Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step over the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reaches us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die buy suicide."

and

"Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale,
and undermine the military, are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged."

Take's One To Know One

In the article delineating Barak Obama's advisors and the kinds of advice they give ["The Outsider's Insider," front page, Aug. 27 in the Washington Post] exhibit A was Senator Obama's vote against John G. Roberts for the Supreme Court. Even though the "...Illinois Democrat expressed admiration for Robert's intellect," and even though "...Obama said...he wouldn't want his judicial nominees opposed simply on ideological grounds," in the end his decision to vote no was both personal and political. Indeed, it was an effort to push his own political agenda and career. Later that day in reacting to Alberto Gonzales' decision to resign, Senator Obama said that the Attorney General "...subverted justice to promote a political agenda..." Was that a compliment to Mr. Gonzales or a critique of his own voting record in the Senate? Or, just an example of that high school favorite, it takes one to know one?

Quote of the Day

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney at the Republican debate in Iowa Sunday, August 5, 2007.

"He's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week," Romney said of Barak Hussein Obama.

Romney continued: "I think Obama is confused as to who our friends and who our enemies are."

Republicans and the Black Vote

n 1870, African American men in Circleville, Ohio attempted to vote in municipal elections. Despite the recent ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, pollsters refused their votes on the basis that state law forbade them from receiving the ballots. The Second Baptist Church was the site of a meeting of 147 African American men seeking redress. Together with Republican leaders these men produced petitions that were sent to the United States Senate and House of Representatives. These petitions gave the Republican party the grounds to introduce bills to enforce the Fifteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. The passage of the Enforcement Act of 1870 imposed criminal penalties for interference with the right to vote and also helped to shift power and authority from the independent state legislature to the centralized Federal government.

Historical Marker located in Circleville, Pickaway County, Ohio at the location of the said Baptist Church.

Don't you agree that the Republican Party of Ohio should be trumpeting this message at about the October push for votes each election campaign?

I thought you ought to know and to be proud of our Party for its history of standing for voting rights in the United States of America for descendants of those who came from Africa.

Letter to The Washington Post

In "The Rise of Kos" on August 3 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/02/AR2007080202023.html E.J. Dionne postulates that the DailyKos is the ideological and partisan opposite of Rush Limbaugh and that it supples the "needed...discipline" to the party of FDR and JFK. I can only conclude that Mr. Dionne has never listened to Limbaugh, has never visited the DailyKos site and at best is glossing over the qualifications of Kos founder Markos Moulitsas. I watched Moulitsas interviewed on C-SPAN's book review and I was right with him until he said that he was so impressed with the way the military gets things done that he believes society as a whole should be similarly organized. What? I was associated with the U.S. Army for 31 years. It is a distinguished organization, but it is not democratic nor is it a place where decisions are debated. After that and often since I have visited the site. It is filled with invective and hate, but scarcely an idea or a sane discussion of anything. It's junior high at best and Mr. Dione has grossly insulted his idols. Limbaugh on the other hand deals in ideas, satire and humor. You must listen carefully lest you miss the most hilarious quips. According to the Pew Research Limbaugh has the most educated and informed audience in radio. In addition, Mr. Dionne is wrong to say that Dittoheads "despise all things liberal and Democratic." I understand he is using the adjective democratic to denote his political party, but conservatives are keen on democracy and liberality in the ancient sense that stresses the importance of the individual over the group and values freedom for that individual. These are classic values that have no relation to Mr. Dionne's political party as it operates today right in tune with the idealess, valueless, and hate-filled DailyKos. The fact that the Democrat candidates are "paying homage" to Kos tells us everything we need to know about those candidates