Disgrace in Benghazi

[Draggingtree]

National Review Online:

 

Disgrace in Benghazi

 

And a dying superpower’s blundering response.

By Mark Steyn

September 15, 2012 4:00 A.M.

So, on a highly symbolic date, mobs storm American diplomatic facilities and drag the corpse of a U.S. ambassador through the streets. Then the president flies to Vegas for a fundraiser. No, no, a novelist would say; that’s too pat, too neat in its symbolic contrast. Make it Cleveland, or Des Moines.

The president is surrounded by delirious fanbois and fangurls screaming “We love you,” too drunk on his celebrity to understand this is the first photo-op in the aftermath of a national humiliation. No, no, a filmmaker would say; too crass, too blunt. Make them sober, middle-aged midwesterners, shocked at first, but then quiet and respectful.

The president is too lazy and cocksure to have learned any prepared remarks or mastered the appropriate tone, notwithstanding that a government that spends more money than any government in the history of the planet has ever spent can surely provide him with both a speechwriting team and a quiet corner on his private wide-bodied jet to consider what might be fitting for the occasion. So instead he sloughs off the words, bloodless and unfelt: “And obviously our hearts are broken . . . ” Yeah, it’s totally obvious.

And he’s even more drunk on his celebrity than the fanbois, so in his slapdashery

[Draggingtree]

September 14, 2012

 

Thoughts on the Clash of Civilizations

 

I'm often told by liberals that it is dangerous to believe that there is any merit in Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations thesis.

For some odd reason they are under the impression that it is people in the West who have to be warned not to heed Huntington's theory. But what motivates them is not a belief that the theory is wrong, but that the theory is dangerous. They labor under the impression that if people in the West believe what is an allegedly empirical theory of how things are that those people will somehow normatively adopt the theory as the way things ought to be.

A self fulfilling theory, they think, that will only come to pass if people believe in it.

I think after the last few days it has become clear who it is that these do-gooders ought to be spending their time convincing. Here's a hint: it's not residents of Mississippi who are storming the Saudi embassy.

The same do-gooders ought to take their self-righteous message on how Islam is read more http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/213589.php

[pollyannaish]

This makes me feel sick to my stomach. Indifference to those who help us is even more evil than leaving ourselves unprotected...which is horrid in and of itself.

[Casino67]

A Tweeter had an interesting thought:

 

"Melody ‏@prfekrdumbrella

Seriously, a little watched YouTube caused this, wait for the damage after Obama's movie of how he killed BinLaden is released."

I wondered if that movie's release will be delayed?

[Pepper]

Great Steyn article. Sobering. @SrWoodchuck @NCTexan.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/320283/disgrace-benghazi-mark-steyn

[SrWoodchuck]

Great Steyn article. Sobering. @SrWoodchuck @NCTexan.

http://www.nationalr...hazi-mark-steyn

OUCH! That will leave a mark.

 

Thanks, @Pepper!