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September 29, 2008

Exclusive: Missing at the Debate: The ‘J’ Word

Ruth King

First, the debate did not change my vote. I am still voting for McCain. Second, I thought the debate was a real dud and I agree with gurgling David Gergen that it was essentially a draw with no “gotcha” moment.

McCain did not rise to the occasion on the $700 billion bag of goodies that the Democrats and the President and Secretary Paulson wanted to give failed companies at the taxpayers’ expense. He got enough hints from Gingrich and he did go to Washington to energize Republican opposition, but he remained wooden and mum on what could have been a good offense for him. He could have hammered away at Obama’s “call me if you need me” response to solving the financial meltdown, but instead Obama was free to babble on about his quick fixes for everything and everyone.

Then, after having offered no plans and no solutions they segued into foreign policy which was largely a boring rehash of McCain’s surge suit and Obama’s early opposition to the war in Iraq...a remembrance of primaries past.

There was a rich moment there when Obama quoted Henry Kissinger who did, in fact, agree to “diplomize” with Iran. Kissinger was joined by Madeleine Albright, who dazzled North Korea’s thug, into dropping nuclear ambitions for one hour; Colin Powell, who stridently demonstrated evidence of Iraq’s nuclear arsenal before he was against it; James Baker, whose Iraq Study Group was totally derided in Congress and by President Bush. Oh yes, I almost forgot that Warren Christopher was also there. Christopher – whose middle name is a very apposite “Minor” – was Carter’s deputy Secretary of State during the hostage crisis and the failed rescue effort.

McCain should have dismissed the entire group and mentioned Obama’s associations with radical mentors who considered Kissinger a war criminal during the Vietnam era, but instead he fell into that trap by mentioning his long friendship with Dr. Kissinger and the latter’s trip to China as Richard Nixon’s emissary. Bad mistake there. Kissinger did go to China with serious preconditions…only they were issued by China’s brutal dictator. In exchange for this “engagement” China demanded and got America’s betrayal of Taiwan.

Both agreed that a Holocaust in Israel is bad and Ahmadinejad is bad and war is tough, and Putin is up to no good and North Korea has got to be watched and NATO has to welcome more former Soviet controlled nations, veterans have to be helped, and dependence on foreign oil has got to be stopped and so on. As for Venezuela, as far as I know, they both agree that it is a nation in South America because it never came up. And, oh yes, they both flashed their bracelets in a totally silly display of showing their “I feel your pain” side.

At least McCain gave a stout defense of nuclear power and debunked ethanol while Obama finessed “energy independence” altogether with a utopian laundry list of s- called alternatives which do not deal with our immediate crisis.

On the other hand, McCain’s evoking of a “League of Democracies” was pathetic. Just who would join us? Would you count on Germany or France or Spain or Sweden or any of the Euros? Does he read any European newspapers and does he really expect cooperation from Eurabians? Puhleez.

The words “insurgents” “terrorists” “Taliban” and “al Qaeda” were all bandied about by the candidates. Who are these enemies? What is their connection? What is their guiding ideology? What is their ultimate goal? You would not know from the debate.

It is totally astonishing that the overriding issue of our generation…the Jihad against the West…was not even mentioned. You would not know that Iran is a Muslim nation or that OPEC, those folks holding us over their barrels of oil are all Muslim Arabs with the exception of Venezuela, or that the Darfur genocide has been committed by the Muslim Arabs of the north against the non-Arab animists of the south, or that our academies and our institutions are falling prey to a “soft” Jihad of stealth takeover and overt propaganda, or that the various cells of terrorist wannabes that have been intercepted are all Muslims, or that the bombings in Pakistan, the Philippines, and India all bear the return address of Islamic Jihad.

There was not a peep about homeland security even in the question of American safety post 9/11. The moderator correctly stated that the financial crisis is a matter of national security, but what about immigration or surveillance or security based profiling? No contest…no debate…no acknowledgement.

In the final two minute valedictory, each candidate was supposed to demonstrate presidential quality. McCain spoke of the poor treatment of Vietnam veterans and how he paved the way for reconciliation and normalization of ties with a united Vietnam. That was supposed to display his "peacemaking" talents? Vietnam remains a dictatorship with harsh repressions of human rights. On September 10th of this year three prominent human rights activists Pham Van Troi ,Nguyen Xuan Nghia, Pham Thanh Nghien and university student Ngo Quynh and poet Tran Duc Thach were seized and arrested. McCain could have used that as an example of the terrible legacy of an unfinished war but instead he squandered the opportunity.

Obama's valedictory was even worse. He evoked his father who came to America from Kenya to pursue a dream. These are his exact words: "The ideals and the values of the United States inspired the entire world. I don't think any of us can say that our standing in the world now, the way children around the world look at the United States, is the same."

What effrontery! Does he think that our values and ideals no longer inspire? Is he unaware of the millions of people who still line up for visas in every corner of the world to come to this great nation?

That could have been a "gotcha" moment for McCain, but the debate ended on that note.

They both agreed on their opposition to torture. So why were we subjected to this verbal water boarding?

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Ruth S. King is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column in OUTPOST, the publication of Americans for a Safe Israel. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.

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