But Clinton Said...
Published by BG on Sunday, October 07, 2007 at 6:51 PM.Instapundit.com -
IMPORTANT ADVICE FOR THE POLITICALLY DISAFFECTED:
The people who came to the United States to bomb the World Trade Center were wrong. . . . How dare you suggest that we in the freest nation on Earth live in tyranny. How dare you call yourselves patriots and heroes.
I say to you, all of you, . . . there is nothing patriotic about hating your country, or pretending that you can love your country but despise your government. There is nothing heroic about turning your back on America, or ignoring your own responsibilities.
Read the whole, er, thing.
Ah... the double-reverse B-B-B-B-B-But Clinton! argument. See, what Professor Reynolds is trying to do here is point out the irony that EVEN THE ATHEIST JESUS BILL CLINTON once said (in a speech in 1995) that hating your country is unpatriotic.
Of course, you should note that even though he encourages reading the "whole, er, thing," he's using ellipses to cut out some pertinent details.
Like, for instance, that those of us who disagree with the handling of the Great Global War On Terror And Brown People Who Want To Kill Us And Put Our Women In Burkas believe that the terror problem can't be solved with a broad war against a non-state sponsor of terror who didn't attack us first. Actually, we think it's a law enforcement problem. Here, then, is a quote from in between what the Professor jumped over with the dot-dot-dot:
(W)e must respond to this threat in ways that preserve both our security and our freedoms. Appeasement of organized evil is not an option for the next century any more than it was in this century. Like the vigilant generations that brought us victory in World War II and the Cold War, we must stand our ground. In this high-tech world, we must make sure that we have the high-tech tools to confront the high-tech forces of destruction and evil.
That is why I have insisted that Congress pass strong anti-terrorism legislation immediately -- to provide for more than 1,000 new law enforcement personnel solely to fight terrorism; to create a domestic anti-terrorism center; to make available the most up-to-date technology to trace the source of any bomb that goes off; and to provide tough new punishment for carrying stolen explosives, selling those explosives for use in a violent crime, and for attacking members of the uniformed services or federal workers.
Funny, I don't see the words "Saddam" or "Iraq" in there anywhere.
He also adds, "We can do this without undermining our constitutional rights," which is another one of the atheoliberalappeasosympathetofascist arguments against this administration. That being said, Clinton was being very specific about the people who he accused of pretending to love America. Again, from somewhere inside the ellipses:
I want to say this to the militias and to others who believe this, to those nearby and those far away: I am well aware that most of you have never violated the law of the land. I welcome the comments that some of you have made recently condemning the bombing in Oklahoma City. I believe you have every right, indeed you have the responsibility, to question our government when you disagree with its policies. And I will do everything in my power to protect your right to do so.
But I also know there have been lawbreakers among those who espouse your philosophy. I know from painful personal experience as a governor of a state who lived through the cold-blooded killing of a young sheriff and a young African American state trooper who were friends of mine by people who espouse the view that the government was the biggest problem in America and that peopole had a right to take violence into their own hands.
So I ask you to hear me now. It is one thing to believe that the federal government has too much power and to work within the law to reduce it. It is quite another to break the law of the land and threaten to shoot officers of the law if all they do is their duty to uphold it.
It is one thing to believe we are taxed too much and work to reduce the tax burden. It is quite another to refuse to pay your taxes, though your neighbor pays his. It is one thing to believe we are over-regulated and to work to lessen the burden of regulation. It is quite another to slander our dedicated public servants, our brave police officers, even our rescue workers who have been called a hostile army of occupation.
This is a very free country. Those of you in the militia movements have broader rights here than you would in any other country in the entire world. (Applause.)
Do people who work for the government sometimes make mistakes? Of course they do. They are human. Almost every American has some experience with this -- a rude tax collector, an arbitrary regulator, an insensitive social worker, an abusive law officer. As long as human beings make up our government there will be mistakes. But our Constitution was established by Americans determined to limit those abuses. And think of the limits -- the Bill of Rights, the separation of powers, access to the courts, the right to take your case to the country through the media, and the right to vote people in or out of office on a regular basis.
But there is no right to resort to violence when you don't get your way. There is no right to kill people. (Applause.) There is no right to kill people who are doing their duty, or minding their own business, or children who are innocent in every way. Those are the people who perished in Oklahoma City. And those who claim such rights are wrong and un-American. (Applause.)
Note the key here is that Clinton said that he respects those who would criticize the government and work within the construct of society to make change. Again, one of those little complaints we rebels have against the Bush administration. However, there's a salient point here which I think the Professor is missing:
LEFTIES AREN'T CREATING MILITIAS AND KILLING LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL OR GOVERNMENT AGENTS ATTEMPTING TO CARRY OUT THE GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.
It's quite a leap for the Professor to make, scoffing at the supposed irony between what the Great Liberal Jesus Clinton says and what his flock supposedly does. But it's obviously lost on those that continue to blindly follow Captain 28% over the cliff that verbal opposition is about loving your country.
Clinton said, "Freedom of political speech will never justify violence--never."
Show me where the liberaldefeatocratfrancosurrendermonkeyKosfascists have gotten remotely close to violence in order to advocate their opposition to this administration.
The only irony here is the irony of what the Professor is missing. Clinton was correct in his opposition to terror, and he had what those of us who sit in opposition to this administration feel were sensible policies to combat it.
Frankly, I'd like to thank the Professor for highlighting what an utterly reasonable and thoroughly supportable approach to handling terror - both foreign and domestic - would look like.
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