Mitt Romney, Working Hard

The NY Times, evidently having a fit of pique about news not broken there, front-pages a story about Mitt Romney's vigorous effort "to Put Skeptics’ Doubts to Rest" without any mention of his gaffe sci-fi fantasy involving seven-year "marriages" in France.

By way of contrast the WaPo has circled back to this in two separate columns (Blogs?  Who can tell these days?) by Howard Kurtz and Perry Bacon Jr.  That said, the WaPo does owe us, since it was Mr. Bacon who presented the original Romney revelation with a perfectly straight face.

Comments

[clarice]

The real story is that no one marries in France, at least that's what an acquaintance told me, noting none of her children were married to their children's fathers--she BTW is the legally recognized concubine of the man she lives with which forced me to bite my tongue and not ask,"I wonder where they ever got that idea from"

[Crust]

Romney's claim that many marriages in France expire after 7 years was strange. But the strangest part was his spokesman's attempt to explain it by pointing to civil unions (not marriages) that last a minimum (not maximum) of three months (not seven years).

[Crust]

Can anyone parse this sentence at the Instapundit link? "Times have gotten worse, but they haven't gotten better." Maybe he just mistyped or maybe he's saying something unbearably clever that's escaping me.

[Other Tom]

Bob Novak, discussing Al Gore on Wednesday:

“He likes being rich ... he likes being an Oscar-winner and I think he likes being fat, too.”

[seamus]

Seems General Petreus is coming out against torture (see his letter today)...good for him, and us too.

[Other Tom]

Whether it is good for either him or us has not yet been determined. We shall see.

[Other Tom]

From ABC News:

"By CHARLES BABINGTON Associated Press Writer

"WASHINGTON May 11, 2007 (AP)

"House Democrats are suddenly balking at the tough lobbying reforms they touted to voters last fall as a reason for putting them in charge of Congress.

"Now that they are running things, many Democrats want to keep the big campaign donations and lavish parties that lobbyists put together for them. They're also having second thoughts about having to wait an extra year before they can become high-paid lobbyists themselves should they retire or be defeated at the polls.

"The growing resistance to several proposed reforms now threatens passage of a bill that once seemed on track to fulfill Democrats' campaign promise of cleaner fundraising and lobbying practices."

And the scales continue to drop from eyes in the heartland.

[Other Tom]

The eminently predictable drumbeat continues. And believe me, they've hardly begun on this one.

"In covering the Jersey Jihadists case, pundits did their best to play down the religious factor that screamed as loud as the suspects' 'Allah Akbar!' shouting and shooting in the Poconos.

"Others yawned at the news of several Muslims plotting to kill 100 soldiers on U.S. soil. 'Lot of hoopla,' sniffed a spokeswoman for the NYU Center on Law and Security during a segment on the 'CBS Evening News.'

"Such skepticism was music to the ears of left-wing bloggers who posit that such publicized arrests are part of a Karl Rovian conspiracy to frighten Americans into supporting the Iraq War. Apparently they also think the Circuit City clerk who tipped off the feds was in on the conspiracy.

"The Philadelphia Inquirer chimed in that such anti-terror arrests are 'often overblown.' The same paper ran a long piece interviewing neighbors and relatives of the six Muslim suspects that studiously avoided mentioning that anyone involved is Muslim. After making a point of saying the FBI 'alleged' the men are 'Islamic radicals,' the article proceeded to try to shoot that description down."

As long as a Republican is in the White House, this is the template into which the MSM will fit all stories of this kind. God only knows how or whether the tune will change if Hillary dons the mantle of Washington and Lincoln. Allahu akbar.

[teri edgar]

I don't know about 7 years, but TEMPORARY MARRIAGE is a belief of Islam and has been exported to Europe.

Seamus, don't feed us the crap about the evils of torture, if it was your life or your family, you'd step up and torture someone yourself. You just can't admit it.

I think petreaus will continue to totuire people, unless you believe he will stop dropping bombs on and shooting terrorists.
It tortures the hell out of them....

[teri edgar]

Whether Romney said it corretly or not, here are the tenants of Islam recognizing temporary marriage. The SEVEN years comes from the age of a child conceived during the temporary marriage:

"""Mut'ah (Temporary Marriage)

2430. Contracting a temporary marriage with a woman is in order, even if it may not be for the sake of any sexual pleasure.

2431. The obligatory precaution is that a husband should not avoid having sexual intercourse for more than four months with a wife of temporary marriage.

.............................
* Until a son or a daughter completes two years of his/her age, his/her father cannot separate him/her from his/her mother. And as a precaution, a child should not be separated from its mother till it is SEVEN years of age. """"

REFERENCE: http://www.al-islam.org/laws/marriage2.html

[teri edgar]

""""Seems General Petreus is coming out against torture (see his letter today)...good for him, and us too.""""

Actually it would have been nice if the Democrats and the left had come out against torture way back in 1993 when you systematically began torturing the innocent population of Iraq. Even Madeline Albright proclaimed she thought it was worth the price to kill 5,000 innocent Iraqis per month. She still gets cheer from the left.

Two heads of the Iraq sanctions oversight resigned claiming what Clinton was doing amounted to genocide of the Iraqi people.
We got a big hoo-hum from the likes of Seamus.

Imagine if Bush acted like Clinton and cut off all funding for clean water and sewage at GITMO, that denied the people at GITMO medicines and vaccines and medical treatment. Imagine cutting off 70% of the food supply...this was the left/Clinton policy toward the people of Iraq for eight years.

The GITMO prisoners would be dying of dysentary, disease, starvation, etc. and the left would righting condemn Bush, but they didn't condemn Clinton for him doing it on a country-wide scale.

THE THREE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CLINTON AND BUSH:

1. BUSH HAS BEEN MUCH MORE HUMANE
2. BUSH HAS SINGLED-OUT THE GUILTY, THE BAD GUYS, WHILE CLINTON WREAKED MOST OF HIS HAVOC, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ON THE INNOCENT, MOSTLY CHILDREN.
3. THE LEFT HAD NOTHING BUT PRAISE FOR CLINTON AND SOUGHT TO MAINTAIN HIS GENOCIDE POLICY OVER LIBERATION.

[seamus]

Some may argue that we would be more effective if we sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the basic fact that such actions are illegal, history shows that they also are frequently neither useful nor necessary. Certainly, extreme physical action can make someone “talk”; however, what the individual says may be of questionable value. In fact our experience in applying the interrogation standards laid out in the Army Field Manual (2-22.3) on Human Intelligence Collector Operations that was published last year shows that the techniques in the manual work effectively and humanely in eliciting information from detainees.

We are, indeed, warriors. We train to kill our enemies. We are engaged in combat, we must pursue the enemy relentlessly, and we must be violent at times. What sets us apart from our enemies in this fight, however, is how we behave. In everything we do, we must observe the standards and values that dictate that we treat noncombatants and detainees with dignity and respect. While we are warriors, we are also all human beings. Stress caused by lengthy deployments and combat is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign that we are human. If you feel such stress, do not hesitate to talk to your chain of command, your chaplain, or a medical expert.

We should use the survey results to renew our commitment to the values and standards that make us who we are and to spur re-examination of these issues. Leaders, in particular, need to discuss these issues with their troopers—and, as always, they need to set the right example and strive to ensure proper conduct. We should never underestimate the importance of good leadership and the difference it can make.

Thanks for what you continue to do. It is an honor to serve with each of you.

David H. Petraeus
General, United States Army
Commanding

[Other Tom]

George Tenet appears to disagree most emphatically with a number of the general's assertions. Gen. Petraus cannot point to a single war in which the victor has treated every captured combatant with "dignity and respect." I doubt that he can even point to one in which the losing side has done so. This one may become the first.

[Other Tom]

Here's how Linda Mason, a Senior VP at CBS News, explains the fact that Katie Couric's ratings are in the tank:

"I'm just surprised at how, almost 30 years after I worked on the 'Evening News' as the first woman producer, that Katie is having such a tough time being accepted by the public, which seems to prefer the news from white guys, and now that Charlie's doing so well, from older white guys."

It's the public's fault.

(H&R blames Bush.)

[hit and run]

You're darn right I blame Bush.

If he hadn't personally flown those two planes into the twin towers on 9/11, made a deal with Satan to have fire burn steel for the first time in history, if he hadn't started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, causing Muslims to hate us and Europeans to be disgusted with us, all in a naked attempt to secure oil and no bid contracts for Halliburton, America would want to tune in to watch the perkiness.

[seamus]

I think at this point, Petreaus has a world more credibility than Tenet.

[Lew Clark]

Hey!
I retired in 2003. Taking one ugly, mean old white guy out of the workforce to be replaced by a perky female. I'm only one man. I can only do so much.

So don't blame me!

[Other Tom]

Tenet says that in a number of instances "aggressive interrogation" techniques thwarted planned attacks and saved American lives. Does Petraeus (or anyone else) dispute what Tenet says about those instances? Does Petraeus purport to have knowledge of what the CIA has been doing? Not that I am aware of...

[boris]

Although it's Tenet not Petreaus who has actually prevented domestic terrorist attacks.

OTOH Petreaus is allowed to shoot, kill and bomb the enemy in Iraq. Tenet had to operate with somewhat less force.

[Other Tom]

I don't have a problem with telling the troops not to use "torture"--reasonable minds can disagree as to what constitutes the practice. It's the part about "dignity and respect" that, in many instances, simply cannot intrude onto a battlefield. Patraeus's troops know that, and their survey responses reflect it. In the climate established by today's congress, he probably had little choice but to issue such a silly directive.

[seamus]

Tenet has his Medal of Freedom and all, but it's hard to know if what he says is true or not. What's done in secret is unverifiable, especially if the first hand testimony is coming from the torturers or the tortured.

[PeterUK.]

captured combatants treated with "dignity and respect Warning graphic images.

[Other Tom]

It would certainly appear to me that Tenet had absolutely zero incentive to fabricate anything he said about the use of aggressive methods, and in fact the incentive would seem to be to fabricate in the other direction.

Resolution of the issue is not advanced at all by the use of the loaded word "torture," which is defended by almost no one. And it is absolutely correct that what's done in secret is unverifiable; it is also immune from punishment. That's the way it's always been, and we can all hope it remains that way.

[clarice]

PUK, Don't you think it's time for the SCAM financed research project "Smaller genitalia found on those who make jihadi snuff and torture films" be released to the general public?

The DVD "Achmed has only got one ball" is also slated for release next week.

(Everything old is new again.)

[PeterUK.]

Clarice,
It appears that "Extreme Use of Nearly Universal Cooling Hardware" Project EUNUCH,an investigation into the incidence of impotence and testacular deficiency in those carrying explosives under their clothing.
Though my view is that the predilection for killing and blowing things up in the hope of meeting a group of strange women is a cover for serious genetic problems.

[teri edgar]

One mans torture is another mans genocide. The left supported genocide, supported killing hundreds of thousands of children, but can't stomach the water boarding of Muhommed Atta to stop 9/11.

Moral compass anyone?

Can some lefty explain what the difference was between the torture of starving a child to death and the water boarding of a terrorist? Can you explain it to the dead five year old? Seamus? Can you put it into words the dead child can understand?

Why was it OK to starve him, to deny him medicine, vaccinations, clean water? But not OK to even deprive a known terrorist a Koran for an hour? Or shut off his air conditioning.

Clinton had the power to kill those hundreds of thousands of kids, or let them live, he chose death - and he still gets high praise from the likes of Chris Mathews.

Is Bush just not killing on a grand enough scale for you Seamus??

[Lew Clark]

Petraeus, Bush, Cheney, and Rove are good guys. They all oppose torture.

On the other hand Pelosi, Murtha, Reid, and Dean support torture. if you don't believe it, I have hours of their performances on tape that I can send you. Cruel and unusual, I think so.

I've been trained to withstand torture and can take it. Be warned, these tapes are not for the faint of heart.

[clarice]

I think Hillary's choice for her running mate is Evan Bayh, a rather nice mostly centrist guy. If she wins the nomination, there will be great pressure for her to make Obama her running mate-------unless something really awful comes up to totally destroy him.

Just saying.

[PeterUK.]

If Hillary becomes President, what would Bill's official title be,"First Dude"?

[teri edgar]

Hilliary's big problem is going to be finding a running mate that doesn't over shadow her.

But to tell she is really interested in winning, look for a Ross perot type candidacy starting next spring to make it a three way race.

The Democrats can't win in a two person race, they need a Perot type to split the republican vote. Even Bill Clinton could never manage 50% of the vote.
Patton

[BarbaraS]

Petraeus doesn't have to torture the terrorists. He can turn them over to the Iraqis. They no problem with it. I'm sure the terrorists would prefer to be tortured by the Americans. They would certainly be kinder.

Of course, my take would be don't take any prisoners. That way the terrorists can be eliminated one by one with no messy trials. That has been the problem all along during the last four years. The military would capture a terrorist and his uncle or a friend of his uncle would ask them to release him and they would so he could fight the military again. This went on too much and really angered the troops.

[BarbaraS]

If Hillary becomes President, what would Bill's official title be,"First Dude"?

How about First Fabricator? Or First BSer?
Or First Bent One?

[PeterUK.]

Well BarbaraS,you can see the problem,the counterpart to First Lady would be First Gentleman....

[teri edgar]

If we were fighting a 21st century adversary, we could fight by 21st century rules, but were not; were fighting 13th century savages.

[lurker9876]

Ah...

May 17 is coming up - just around the corner!

Isn't that when Joe and Val show up before some judge????

[BarbaraS]

Well BarbaraS,you can see the problem,the counterpart to First Lady would be First Gentleman....

Well, calling BJ First Gentleman is tons worse than calling Hillary First Lady as bad a misnomer as that was. That's a real stretch and just think of the potential for Leno jokes about that. A gentleman he isn't and never was. Just as she is not a lady and never was.

I have never understood the European love affair with these two. I thought Europeans were more fastidious than to take up with trash. But maybe I am the naive one. But the French and the left have put forth the idea that France is so much more superior than the US in all ways.

[clarice]

May 17 is the oral argument in the Motion to Dismiss their civil case. TS found a filing setting forth the time the defendants had divied up. Interestingly, Rove has the most time.

[Other Tom]

That is indeed interesting about Rove. I don't know whether to read anything into it. I have had the hearing on my calendar for months, and eagerly await the results.

I have no idea what is the practice of US troops concerning turning captives over to their Iraqi counterparts. I do know that in the area of Vietnam where I was, when we took a guy alive we didn't really have any choice but to turn him over to the nearest South Vietnamese popular force or regional force guys (who frequently were with us when the capture occurred). We had no place to lock them up, and hardly any way of even speaking to them. It's always been my assumption that things did not go at all well for them after they left our custody. I had plenty of things to worry about, and have never lost sleep over that one.

[PeterUK.]

On the bright side, if Hillary gets elected,she might bring the towels back.

[Other Tom]

Just so the Dems will no what they're striving so mightily to bring about (courtesy of the Times UK):

"A RADICAL plan by Al-Qaeda to take over the Sunni heartland of Iraq and turn it into a militant Islamic state once American troops have withdrawn is causing alarm among US intelligence officials.

"A power struggle has emerged between the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, an organisation with ambitions to become a state which has been set up by Al-Qaeda, and more moderate Sunni groups. They are battling for the long-term control of central and western areas which they believe could break away from Kurdish and Shi’ite-dominated provinces once the coalition forces depart.

"According to an analysis compiled by US intelligence agencies, the Islamic State has ambitions to create a terrorist enclave in the Iraqi provinces of Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Salah al-Din, Nineveh and parts of Babil."

[Pofarmer]

As long as a Republican is in the White House, this is the template into which the MSM will fit all stories of this kind. God only knows how or whether the tune will change if Hillary dons the mantle of Washington and Lincoln.

Anything unfavorable to a Dim administration will be fastidiously ignored.

[hit and run]

Robert Novak: The Prince of Darkness

The long-awaited memoir – and how fitting is both the title and subtitle? – is finally out in July.

If his comments to Grover Norquist's Wednesday Group are any indication, and they surely are, rest assured that scores will be settled and scalps will be displayed.

UPDATE: Attn: Chris Matthews and other Libby lovers. One reader of an advance copy tells me that the book begins and ends with Novak's account of Plamegate.

[hoosierhoops]

Happy Mothers day..
Clarice: I, for the life of me, connot understand nor fathom why Sen. Bayh does not
make a run for the White House. Look at the losers the Dems are trotting out..And here sits the honorable Mr. Bayh looking on...
He is an awesome person who will never lose an election in Indiana to anyone.. Maybe he has gotten too comfortable in the Senate.

[clarice]

He can't raise money. I am certain he is Hillary's choice for VP.

A little update on the stupid Haditha prosecutions.(I told you so a long time ago.)

This prosecution brought to you by Time

[Other Tom]

Nice to see this, via AP, polling by Quinnipiac:

"In Connecticut, Giuliani leads all Democratic contenders in presidential matchups. He inches past Obama 44-42 percent, Gore (who has not announced his candidacy) 45-42 percent, and Clinton 48-42 percent. But Dodd, a longtime Connecticut senator, gained no traction in his home state."

Also nice to see the bloated toad Dodd getting no respect even in Connecticut. Give it up, fatso. (What is it about CT and these fatties? Remember their love affair, now terminated, with the gasbag oaf Lowell Weicker?)

___

[clarice]

OT, Sorry to see Dodd is sunk at the bottom. I was so looking forward to Bianca Jagger as his national security advisor.Fat, stupid, corrupt...a chip off the old block (well, his dad was thin, but you get my drift.)

[PeterUK.]

Haditha,
Which brings upJack "Over the Horizon" Murtha

[Daddy]

Happy Mothers Day.
With that out of the way, IIRC, I vaguely remember reading years ago in something like Pinatti's History of everyday things, that back about 1910, when Congress was deciding on whether to make an official Mother's Day, that a venerable old Kansas Senator took to the floor, and after railing against the idea as stupid, finished with a flourish by saying something like, "And where will it end? Are we eventually going to have a Father's Day?"
Apologies for not having the actual quote, but I'm on the road.

[PeterUK.]

It is to be hoped that al Qaeda will treat the American taken prisoner in Iraq. I fervently hope that those who pillory their own side will show some compassion. Another stunt for the Democrat's benefit.

[PeterUK.]

It is to be hoped that al Qaeda will treat the American taken prisoners in Iraq with dignity and respect. I fervently hope that those who pillory their own side will show some compassion. Another stunt for the Democrat's benefit.