Mark Steyn Has Point
Today is our day to touch on Hugh Hewitt show topics. After Mr. Steyn's interview with Hugh, he played an interview he conducted with Karl Rove earlier in the day. The transcript for that very informative interview is here. Trust me, read it.
But here is what the great Mark Steyn and Hugh talked about today.
HH: Of course, Mark Steyn is here to begin, as he does most Thursdays with us. That's Mark Steyn, as is S-T-E-Y-Nonline.com, not Joel Stein, as in the Los Angeles Times. Mark, welcome. Good to have you. Congratulations, you have a new conservative government forming in Canada.
MS: That's right, and I hope in the next ten minutes or so, I don't end up bleeding all over the floor like Joel Stein did after you were through with him. (laughing)
HH: (laughing) I actually don't think that there's much danger of that ever happening, because you actually read books and go places. So...
MS: Well funny enough, I reckon I could have made his case better than he did. I mean, I'm actually...I think there's a lot of truth in what he says, that people actually put up these we support our troops stickers, particularly some of the ones you see on the back of cars, and that's like their cover. That's when Kathy Shaidle, a Canadian who is a blogger up in Canada, she said it's the equivalent to people who say I'm not racist, but... And that sort of line excuses then all the racist stuff they say in the next ten minutes. Similarly, you can say we support our troops, but in what way do you support them if you want them to lose the war? So in a sense, I think it's better that they come out of the closet and just say it like Joel Stein did.
HH: He could've made a much better argument, had he gone at it head-on, as opposed to being I think snippy and quite ill-informed, if he had made any effort to learn what he was talking about.
MS: Yeah, yeah.
HH: But he chose not to. Tell us about Canada, though. Were you under...were you disappointed by the lack of an absolute majority?
MS: No, I wasn't, really, because the scare tactics work. I mean, they basically claimed that this guy was going to be...they were running ads saying he's going to be George Bush's new best friend, and all this kind of talk. You know, he'll end a woman's right to choose, and your unborn children will grow up to be serving cocktail snacks around the pool at Dick Cheney's ranch. I mean, it was all rubbish, all this stuff. But it worked in the sense that particularly in urban areas, it scared people back into the liberal camp. But I thing he's got a good working minority, and people will see that he's actually able to get things done. I'm very happy.
HH: Who will support him to get to a majority on any matter?
MS: Well, I think it will be different parties on different issues. But just to say what the core relationship will be, the Bloc quebecois, which are separatist Quebecers, basically, they believe Quebec is their own country, but they're not actually willing to get off their butts and actually seriously get their own country, which they could have it they were willing to. But I mean they will support him, I think, on a lot of kind of de-centralization measures, that give more powers to the...you know, a kind of federalist thing, a sort of states rights equivalent, north of the border. So I think on some of that stuff, they'll get things done. And basically, when you have a minority parliament in a British Westminster-type system, in this situation, nobody wants to have to bring down the government, and then have to explain to the electorate why they're having another election three months later. So he'll get things done.
HH: Now let's turn to the other election news of the week, which is of course Hamas' sweeping victory, despite exit polls yesterday saying they were going to be in a minority. Obviously, they're not doing exit polling better in the West Bank than they do in Florida. But in fact, we now have a radical terrorist group responsible for the deaths of more than five hundred Americans since it was formed.
MS: Yeah, that's right. And basically, that we thought they were going to be in a Stephen Harper-type conservative party situation. They won a landslide. And you know, I don't want to make a frivolous comparison, but in a sense, this is a kind of Joel Stein vote. I mean, they're basically saying that the Fatah line, which is that we believe in a two-state solution, but at the same time, we subsidize and glorify terrorism and suicide bombers. They're saying to hell with that humbug hypocrisy line. Let's vote for the party that says we don't believe in a two-state solution, where what we are, we want to drive every last Jew into the sea. And in that sense, this is a less hypocritical expression of where the Palestinian people are at, than supporting Fatah was. Also, I would say that of course, Fatah was incredibly corrupt. Basically, they were in the tenth year of the five year parliament. I mean, you can imagine if the Bush administration says don't worry, folks, we're going to stick around until 2013. And Fatah had spent most of the last ten years taking all the money from the European Union, and basically salting it away in their Swiss bank accounts. That's...eventually, that's going to catch up with you.
HH: The other thing that comes to mind that my friend, Dennis Prager, made very obvious, no honest person can deny now that the Palestinian people want Israel destroyed.
MS: No, and that's right. And I think you're much better knowing honestly and truly where people stand. And often times, particularly in the Middle East, the West has gotten into trouble because its believed leaders who have come up with a form of words that plays well in English language media, and that is not what they tell their own people, or where their people are. And the great thing about Hamas is they're perfectly open. They want to destroy Israel, they don't want it there. That's their bottom line. And I think that's very clarifying.
HH: Let's be cold and clear-eyed about this, Mark Steyn. I believe this means there is an inevitable war out there between Israel and Palestine, because Hamas is going to have to deliver to its constituents what it wants, doesn't it?
MS: Well, I don't think it will...I don't actually think it will be a war. In a sense, I think in the immediate future, what it does is it gives Israel a greater leeway to secure itself with the wall. Nobody's going to argue when you're living next to Hamas that you don't have the right to build a wall. That argument, which the Europeans and other people have made, looks absolutely stupid now. But I think what it does tell you is that in the end, the Palestinians are the most comprehensively wrecked people on the face of the Earth. Every city you go to...you go to New York, you go to London, you go to Paris, you meet talented, energetic Palestinian doctors and lawyers and accountants. All the talent got out of there in the late 1940's and early 50's. You imagine people, third, fourth generation, the people who stuck around because of this insane dream that they're going to get some olive grove of their great-grandfathers back one day, can you imagine what kind of idiot is going to stick around for sixty years for that? So it's the absolute worst of the Palestinian people who are in Gaza, and in the West Bank. And it's a terrible tragedy for them. But it is the fact that they've been wrecked by being essentially mollycoddled by the U.N. and world opinion for sixty years.
HH: The only good news is that the kleptocracy may lose its grip on the aid. I don't know that that's enough to stop the poisoning, continued poisoning of the society when you have a terrorist organization running it, but maybe. I want to switch, if I can, to Saddam, and his general who is running around the United States with a new book saying that they shipped airplane loads of WMD out of Iraq and into Syria. Mark Steyn, he can make his own case, but if a ranking Saddamite had come forward and said there were no WMD's, do you think he would be getting what? 5, 10, 100 times the publicity that this fellow is?
MS: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I don't think...the fact of the matter is, when you look at the regime's behavior, they behaved as if they had WMD. When you're in that, what you call the Syrian Desert, which is...sort of spreads over Syria, Jordan and Iraq, when you're in that part of the world, you stumble across these huge bases that just have numbers and letters. They're all called H-2 and H-3. And these things go on for mile. And you drive in them, because when I was there, the gates had all been sort of torn down. And you think, well, what the hell is this? It's not an airfield or anything. What was he keeping here? And then you go up to the Syrian border, and you see it's basically just a line in the sand. There was all kinds of stuff that disappeared over there, because essentially, the United States and the United Nations chose to give Saddam effectively a year to get the stuff out of the country.
HH: Right.
MS: This idea that there were no WMD, which is the Democrat position, is completely preposterous.
HH: You've also written a fine piece in the Spectator on OBL's, Osama bin Laden's reduced state. He's down to mockery. On Letterman last night, and your column, this is truly his worst nightmare.
MS: Yeah, I think so, and I think the interesting thing is, I mean there's still serious problems with Islam, and Saudi Wahabism, but the cult of bin Laden, I think, is on the wane. It's very hard to sell a loser. You know, it's where...he put it in the right terms. He said when people see the strong horse and the weak horse, they're naturally attracted to the strong horse. His last audio tape, assuming it is him, and he's not, you know, several pieces of dust in Tora Borah somewhere, but assuming it is him, that is a weak horse cassette. Oh, just leave Iraq and Afghanistan, we can have a truce. You know, winners don't sue for truce. Winners are like Hamas. They say we're going to kill every one of you. He sounds like a loser.
HH: Well, speaking of losers and weak horses, John Kerry from Davos tonight calling for a filibuster of Alito. We have about a minute. You think there's any way in the world the Democrats are dumb enough to hand us, the Republicans, that gift?
MS: Not Democrats in purplish states, who are facing reelection? I mean, Robert C. Byrd, who is an extraordinary figure in many ways, but he's seen the writing on the wall, and his attack, essentially, on the Ted Kennedy's and Joe Biden's, who made Mrs. Alito cry in the Senate earlier today, that's where Senators who have to face...Democratic Senator who have to face re-election are. John Kerry is...he should stay in Switzerland. It's where he went to school. He could make a good Senator for Switzerland, maybe.
HH: Mark Steyn, always a pleasure. Great parting shot. Thank you. Steynonline.com.
As usual, Mark is right on target.
The Bunny ;)
Today is our day to touch on Hugh Hewitt show topics. After Mr. Steyn's interview with Hugh, he played an interview he conducted with Karl Rove earlier in the day. The transcript for that very informative interview is here. Trust me, read it.
But here is what the great Mark Steyn and Hugh talked about today.
HH: Of course, Mark Steyn is here to begin, as he does most Thursdays with us. That's Mark Steyn, as is S-T-E-Y-Nonline.com, not Joel Stein, as in the Los Angeles Times. Mark, welcome. Good to have you. Congratulations, you have a new conservative government forming in Canada.
MS: That's right, and I hope in the next ten minutes or so, I don't end up bleeding all over the floor like Joel Stein did after you were through with him. (laughing)
HH: (laughing) I actually don't think that there's much danger of that ever happening, because you actually read books and go places. So...
MS: Well funny enough, I reckon I could have made his case better than he did. I mean, I'm actually...I think there's a lot of truth in what he says, that people actually put up these we support our troops stickers, particularly some of the ones you see on the back of cars, and that's like their cover. That's when Kathy Shaidle, a Canadian who is a blogger up in Canada, she said it's the equivalent to people who say I'm not racist, but... And that sort of line excuses then all the racist stuff they say in the next ten minutes. Similarly, you can say we support our troops, but in what way do you support them if you want them to lose the war? So in a sense, I think it's better that they come out of the closet and just say it like Joel Stein did.
HH: He could've made a much better argument, had he gone at it head-on, as opposed to being I think snippy and quite ill-informed, if he had made any effort to learn what he was talking about.
MS: Yeah, yeah.
HH: But he chose not to. Tell us about Canada, though. Were you under...were you disappointed by the lack of an absolute majority?
MS: No, I wasn't, really, because the scare tactics work. I mean, they basically claimed that this guy was going to be...they were running ads saying he's going to be George Bush's new best friend, and all this kind of talk. You know, he'll end a woman's right to choose, and your unborn children will grow up to be serving cocktail snacks around the pool at Dick Cheney's ranch. I mean, it was all rubbish, all this stuff. But it worked in the sense that particularly in urban areas, it scared people back into the liberal camp. But I thing he's got a good working minority, and people will see that he's actually able to get things done. I'm very happy.
HH: Who will support him to get to a majority on any matter?
MS: Well, I think it will be different parties on different issues. But just to say what the core relationship will be, the Bloc quebecois, which are separatist Quebecers, basically, they believe Quebec is their own country, but they're not actually willing to get off their butts and actually seriously get their own country, which they could have it they were willing to. But I mean they will support him, I think, on a lot of kind of de-centralization measures, that give more powers to the...you know, a kind of federalist thing, a sort of states rights equivalent, north of the border. So I think on some of that stuff, they'll get things done. And basically, when you have a minority parliament in a British Westminster-type system, in this situation, nobody wants to have to bring down the government, and then have to explain to the electorate why they're having another election three months later. So he'll get things done.
HH: Now let's turn to the other election news of the week, which is of course Hamas' sweeping victory, despite exit polls yesterday saying they were going to be in a minority. Obviously, they're not doing exit polling better in the West Bank than they do in Florida. But in fact, we now have a radical terrorist group responsible for the deaths of more than five hundred Americans since it was formed.
MS: Yeah, that's right. And basically, that we thought they were going to be in a Stephen Harper-type conservative party situation. They won a landslide. And you know, I don't want to make a frivolous comparison, but in a sense, this is a kind of Joel Stein vote. I mean, they're basically saying that the Fatah line, which is that we believe in a two-state solution, but at the same time, we subsidize and glorify terrorism and suicide bombers. They're saying to hell with that humbug hypocrisy line. Let's vote for the party that says we don't believe in a two-state solution, where what we are, we want to drive every last Jew into the sea. And in that sense, this is a less hypocritical expression of where the Palestinian people are at, than supporting Fatah was. Also, I would say that of course, Fatah was incredibly corrupt. Basically, they were in the tenth year of the five year parliament. I mean, you can imagine if the Bush administration says don't worry, folks, we're going to stick around until 2013. And Fatah had spent most of the last ten years taking all the money from the European Union, and basically salting it away in their Swiss bank accounts. That's...eventually, that's going to catch up with you.
HH: The other thing that comes to mind that my friend, Dennis Prager, made very obvious, no honest person can deny now that the Palestinian people want Israel destroyed.
MS: No, and that's right. And I think you're much better knowing honestly and truly where people stand. And often times, particularly in the Middle East, the West has gotten into trouble because its believed leaders who have come up with a form of words that plays well in English language media, and that is not what they tell their own people, or where their people are. And the great thing about Hamas is they're perfectly open. They want to destroy Israel, they don't want it there. That's their bottom line. And I think that's very clarifying.
HH: Let's be cold and clear-eyed about this, Mark Steyn. I believe this means there is an inevitable war out there between Israel and Palestine, because Hamas is going to have to deliver to its constituents what it wants, doesn't it?
MS: Well, I don't think it will...I don't actually think it will be a war. In a sense, I think in the immediate future, what it does is it gives Israel a greater leeway to secure itself with the wall. Nobody's going to argue when you're living next to Hamas that you don't have the right to build a wall. That argument, which the Europeans and other people have made, looks absolutely stupid now. But I think what it does tell you is that in the end, the Palestinians are the most comprehensively wrecked people on the face of the Earth. Every city you go to...you go to New York, you go to London, you go to Paris, you meet talented, energetic Palestinian doctors and lawyers and accountants. All the talent got out of there in the late 1940's and early 50's. You imagine people, third, fourth generation, the people who stuck around because of this insane dream that they're going to get some olive grove of their great-grandfathers back one day, can you imagine what kind of idiot is going to stick around for sixty years for that? So it's the absolute worst of the Palestinian people who are in Gaza, and in the West Bank. And it's a terrible tragedy for them. But it is the fact that they've been wrecked by being essentially mollycoddled by the U.N. and world opinion for sixty years.
HH: The only good news is that the kleptocracy may lose its grip on the aid. I don't know that that's enough to stop the poisoning, continued poisoning of the society when you have a terrorist organization running it, but maybe. I want to switch, if I can, to Saddam, and his general who is running around the United States with a new book saying that they shipped airplane loads of WMD out of Iraq and into Syria. Mark Steyn, he can make his own case, but if a ranking Saddamite had come forward and said there were no WMD's, do you think he would be getting what? 5, 10, 100 times the publicity that this fellow is?
MS: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I don't think...the fact of the matter is, when you look at the regime's behavior, they behaved as if they had WMD. When you're in that, what you call the Syrian Desert, which is...sort of spreads over Syria, Jordan and Iraq, when you're in that part of the world, you stumble across these huge bases that just have numbers and letters. They're all called H-2 and H-3. And these things go on for mile. And you drive in them, because when I was there, the gates had all been sort of torn down. And you think, well, what the hell is this? It's not an airfield or anything. What was he keeping here? And then you go up to the Syrian border, and you see it's basically just a line in the sand. There was all kinds of stuff that disappeared over there, because essentially, the United States and the United Nations chose to give Saddam effectively a year to get the stuff out of the country.
HH: Right.
MS: This idea that there were no WMD, which is the Democrat position, is completely preposterous.
HH: You've also written a fine piece in the Spectator on OBL's, Osama bin Laden's reduced state. He's down to mockery. On Letterman last night, and your column, this is truly his worst nightmare.
MS: Yeah, I think so, and I think the interesting thing is, I mean there's still serious problems with Islam, and Saudi Wahabism, but the cult of bin Laden, I think, is on the wane. It's very hard to sell a loser. You know, it's where...he put it in the right terms. He said when people see the strong horse and the weak horse, they're naturally attracted to the strong horse. His last audio tape, assuming it is him, and he's not, you know, several pieces of dust in Tora Borah somewhere, but assuming it is him, that is a weak horse cassette. Oh, just leave Iraq and Afghanistan, we can have a truce. You know, winners don't sue for truce. Winners are like Hamas. They say we're going to kill every one of you. He sounds like a loser.
HH: Well, speaking of losers and weak horses, John Kerry from Davos tonight calling for a filibuster of Alito. We have about a minute. You think there's any way in the world the Democrats are dumb enough to hand us, the Republicans, that gift?
MS: Not Democrats in purplish states, who are facing reelection? I mean, Robert C. Byrd, who is an extraordinary figure in many ways, but he's seen the writing on the wall, and his attack, essentially, on the Ted Kennedy's and Joe Biden's, who made Mrs. Alito cry in the Senate earlier today, that's where Senators who have to face...Democratic Senator who have to face re-election are. John Kerry is...he should stay in Switzerland. It's where he went to school. He could make a good Senator for Switzerland, maybe.
HH: Mark Steyn, always a pleasure. Great parting shot. Thank you. Steynonline.com.
As usual, Mark is right on target.
The Bunny ;)
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