9/11 Memorial Update

I'll be on Channel 5 between 5:00 PM and 6:00 PM to discuss the 9/11 memorial. 

If you want to know how bad the memorial is, check the schedule of the local politicians.  Will anyone be making a speech in front of the memorial tomorrow?  The Governor was there for the dedication, but I can't imagine that she will be there for the anniversary. 

Isn't that astonishing?  The Arizona 9/11 memorial is such an embarrassment that the Governor won't go near it on the 6th anniversary of 9/11.  What a shame. 

Unfortunately, the memorial can't be fixed.  If the offensive statements are removed, only the banal statements will remain.  The monument will go from offensive to trivial.  The monument is also physically unattractive and poorly designed--it has no drainage and little shade. 

The only solution is to start over or to forget it.  This year, the local officials are going to forget it.  But that's not much of a long-term strategy. 

Frankly, the Governor is unwise to ignore it.  Since she has national political ambitions, there will eventually be national news crews in town to tell the American People "Who is Janet Napolitano?  She may be on a presidential ticket, nominated for Attorney General, up for a Supreme Court seat, and the media will need a story line.  They will need a way to introduce her and define her in 30 seconds. 

The film of her dedicating a 9/11 memorial that is critical of the United States military will dominate that 30 seconds.  You may think I'm exaggerating, but you would be naive.  The Senate subpoenaed Robert Bork's movie rentals and library records.   The Republicans combed through Geraldine Ferraro's father's business records despite the fact that he died while she was young. 

By the time she moves on, the Governor will have presided over the Memorial for 5 years.  Is she going to attend the initial dedication and then ignore it for 5 years?  Is she going to distance herself and let the committee make minor changes?   Will that solve her problem?  Maybe in Arizona, where she has a fawning press corp and 60% approval ratings, but it's not going to work when Fox News and Rush Limbaugh present her to the nation. 

No, as unfair as it is, when she takes the national stage the Memorial will define her.

Think I'm exaggerating?  Just ask John Kerry if he's ever been to Cambodia. 

The Governor's going to be Swift Boated.  She needs to tear it down. 

Comments

[The Klute]

I think if we're talking gamesmanship, and if we're playing the averages, I think Janet would be able to parry the thrust with a comment about how her opponent supported an administration that allowed the mastermind behind the actual 9/11 to escape and still send us valentines every year.

And I'm glad we're all on the same page now: Fox News = Rush Limbaugh = Swift Boaters.

[Joe Baby]

Janet might be able to parry the thrust were it not for something called Piestewa Peak.

Not sure why the State Board on Geographic and Historic Names needed to be steamrolled while the Memorial Commission deserved such deference.

[Ahel]

NY Times = Keith Olbermann = Al Qaeda Propagandist

Olbermann's comments in the most recent issue of Playboy:
"Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda--worse for our society. It's as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was."

[Timothy]

Do you recall what Moses did with the first set of the Ten Commandments?

[Travis]

Comments that start with Klute seem to deteriorate into a mash of idiocy.

We need Ann.

[Nick S.]

Klute must mean Soros' Americans Coming Together (ACT) and their $775,000 fine by the FEC. I guess the Hsu is on the other foot when it comes to illegal fundraising.

The Swiftboats merely replayed Kerry's own words, forced Kerry to admit two of his purple hearts were for self-inflicted wounds and that he was not in Cambodia in Christmas of 1968. Private groups had to do this since cBS and the NY Times only cared about "news" stories on the fake Bush national guard documents.

Fox News = Rush Limbaugh = Swift Boaters = facts the lamestream media refuses to print.

The Arizona 9/11 memorial is sadly reflective of the negative views of America that many, but not all, liberals have. As an "anonymous" Democrat Senator said, Democrats don't have to smear Gen. Petreus, that's what "outside groups" are for. And MoveOn.org has sickeningly lived up to its billing as a hate organization.

I hear MoveOn is playing a night at the movies to see Brian DePalma's latest schlock about the "vicious" American military.

But they support the troops!

[The Klute]

Other than in losing the mouthbreather vote which wasn't going to get anyway, I don't see how renaming Squaw Peak to Piestewa Peak was a negative for her politically.

[The Klute]

"Comments that start with Klute seem to deteriorate into a mash of idiocy."

Travis,

I've missed you too, kitten.

[Ann]

WOW! Who knew that Bill Clinton supported Len Munsil!

We aren’t talking gamesmanship, we are talking politics. The idea that it is a game should be quickly lost when, while being forcibly removed, a woman screams out in the middle of a Congressional hearing over the most important issue of our time while wearing a pink crown and T-shirt, “I’m 60 years old and you are hurting me!” This after yelling loudly and with the intent to interrupt she shouted words like, “Liar” and “The American people don’t believe you!” This is no game, my friend; this is very real and very serious.

The Memorial (I hesitate to capitalize) insults the reality of the events of which all of this discussion generates. The game was played by Janet, but it is not a game and she is being called out on it.

Kerry was Swift Boated, Bork was Borked, and the future will have many more such instances that will continue to add to the vocabulary of politics and life in general. Janet certainly has her share of possibilities; student loans, VA Hospital, Piestewa Peak, signing the employer sanctions bill, and multiple school voucher bills. While she used the last two for local political gain, they will not play well on the big screen and offer her opponents much to use.

[The Klute]

Nick,

I must have missed when Kerry said his wounds were self-inflicted. Did he admit it at the same time Hillary Clinton admitted shooting Vince Foster in Fort Macy Park?

[Joe Baby]

The Piestewa Peak steamrolling prevents the Governor from using the "I leave these things up to the Commissions" argument re: the 9/11 memorial.

And the combo of her actions sniffs out her thoughts of what should be memorialized, if nothing more than watching her action or inaction.

[The Klute]

"We aren’t talking gamesmanship, we are talking politics."

There's a difference?

I mean, the left has Code Pink and Sheehanites, the right has Move America Forward and Little Green Footballs, each is exploited by their parent idelogical masters to serve their own ends.

Pawns to serve a larger purpose. And it's because pawns can be sacrificed that they can do such outlandish things and be savaged. Ultimately, what they do and who they are in micro doesn't matter.

It's the back row of pieces that matter, and why everyone's willing to give them a pass. Giuliani can say "I spent more time at Ground Zero than most rescue workers" wand can get a pass from those on his ideological side of the board (if a Democrat did that, you'd all still be braying for their head) or Clinton can siphon more money from special interests and try to be "for the people" and we say "That makes sense". It's a game, a obscene form of "Apples to Apples" that everyone plays because they think they know best.

9/11 shouldn't be part of this, but it is - when it was used to justify everything from tax cuts to donating money to political parties, on both sides. Len Munsil made it part of the game, when he tried to tie Janet to the 9/11 hijackers on immigration policy (nevermind that all of the 9/11 hijackers came here legally). I don't particularly find the memorial offensive. I know poeple who lost relatives and co-workers on 9/11 who don't find it offensive, and find that the Bush Administration exploits 9/11 for their political will - which is more offensive.

What offends you about the memorial is that it doesn't satisy you view of 9/11... Greg suggests tearing it down. Replacing it with what? Crying Statues of Liberty and soaring Eagles?

[Curious George]

There's an easy solution for this memorial question: Just re-name it the Leftist 9/11 Memorial, with a short message at the site that explains how there were no real conservatives on the memorial commission, so this is what we got.

[Ann]

Politics versus gamesmanship....Some may see it as the same Klute, but they shouldn’t. Politics is a necessary process in our form of governance while gamesmanship is the manipulation of that process.

I love the game Apples to Apples. A part of that game is to try and prove your choice as the correct one. However, the players have no choice in the cards they are dealt. In order to win they must contribute something that, no matter how far a stretch it might be, has some sense of relevancy to the subject card. When it comes to the memorial, the same logic seems to have applied.

[Nick S.]

Klute -- sorry to bust your bubble...portions from a true investigative journalist:

"GARRETT: And questions keep coming. For example, Kerry received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on December 2nd, 1968. But an entry in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes that, quote, he and his crew hadn't been shot at yet, unquote. Kerry's campaign has said it is possible his first Purple Heart was awarded for an unintentionally self-inflicted wound."

So if its in Kerry's own journal, why didn't the NYT, cBS and the rest of the MSM publicize it? Oh yeah, that's not part of their job description as the PR wing of the Democrat Party.

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002317.php

Ann, there is a difference between 'Borking" and "Swiftboating" someone. Borking is the scurrilous, hateful attacks a la MoveOn, "Swiftboating" is presenting the facts that are inconvienent to the MSM.

[The Klute]

So we've gone from:

[Swift Boats] "forced Kerry to admit two of his purple hearts were for self-inflicted wounds"

To:

[Kerry campaign]: "said it is possible his first Purple Heart was awarded for an unintentionally self-inflicted wound."

So, you've gone from saying the Kerry campaign admited to 2 were self-inflicted to saying 1 which was *possibly* self-inclited in less than 24 hours.

Huh.

And of course, your source is Fox, which, sorry, immediately circumspect. Now, if it were Neil Cavuto telling me which Hooters shows the most thigh, then I might take it at face value.

[Nick S.]

The Swiftboats did two things: (1) replay John Kerry's own words before the US Senate and on TV and (2) forced him to admit he lied about his service. You can question Kerry's own writings in his own journal if you want.

Cover your ears and scream la-la-la-la.

Now when Fox posts fake stories from Iraq like The New Republic, admits it sensors bad news in dictatorships like CNN, publishes fake documents like CBS did on a US President, then you might have something on Fox.

Until then, MoveOn.org fever swamps are full of a bunch of intolerant yahoos.

[The Klute]

So, we're not addressing your inconsistency within 24 hours then?

[Timothy]

K wrote "circumspect" when he meant to say "suspect."

[The Klute]

I did. In fact, there are tons of grammatical and spelling errors in my last couple of posts - something I can say, without sarcasm, that I'm embarrassed about.

I wish we could go back and edit our comments. They're going to take away my writer's license, I tell you.

[Nick S.]

Travis wins the award for the smartest thing written on this comment string:

"Comments that start with Klute seem to deteriorate into a mash of idiocy."

Klute please read this slowly THEN cover your ears and yell la-la-la-la:

"But an entry in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes that, quote, he and his crew hadn't been shot at yet, unquote."

[The Klute]

And yet, I'm still not getting an explanation from you about how the Kerry campaign admitted both Purple Hearts were admitted to be from self-inflicted wounds to 1 which the Kerry campaign said could have possibly been so.

So let's do this: you focus on your minutiae, I'll focus on mine. And so long as you keep fighting the 2004 campaign, I'll fight the 2008.

[Travis]

Arm chair generals and terrorist apologists are working toward the same goal - to weaken the resolve of America.

I don't care what their intentions are. Intentions don't matter at the point of a gun or the recieving end of a bomb.

Apologists and bloviators are doing nothing to help win this war. This administration and the military are doing everything.

I choose to criticize the blowhards.

[Nick]

Kluke -- you first brought up the Swiftboats and attempted to slander these military veterans. Someone has to defend our warriors against liberal attacks.

If you read the quote (instead of screaming la-la-la) Kerry claims to be wounded on Dec-2 but on Dec-11 says he has never seen any action.

"GARRETT: And questions keep coming. For example, Kerry received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on December 2nd, 1968. But an entry in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes that, quote, he and his crew hadn't been shot at yet, unquote."

Go back to screaming la-la-la-la!

I didn't realize you were trying to win in 2008. I thought you were trying to lose in Iraq.

Take care Huckleberry.

[The Klute]

"I didn't realize you were trying to win in 2008. I thought you were trying to lose in Iraq."

Clever. You forget, though, as a liberal S-P with San Francisco values, I'm trying to bring down our permissive Western society and replace it with a repressive Islamist theocracy.

Because that makes sense.

[Nick S.]

Klute -- for once, I believe you.

[NICK]

Clever is as clever does.

The Swiftboat $600,000.00 expenditure
wiped out one hundred million of
ads by George Soros!