Monday, February 22, 2010

From: Gary L. Bauer

BREAKING NEWS

In spite of all hope, the White House clearly has not learned a thing from the election results in Massachusetts. President Obama is determined to ram a government takeover of healthcare through Congress this year no matter what. Today, he’s unveiling his framework for the legislation, and price controls are a big item on the president’s agenda. The White House is now seeking the power to set insurance rates.

This morning, a White House spokesman said, “The president expects and believes the American people deserve an up or down vote on health reform, and our proposal is designed to give ourselves maximum flexibility to ensure that we can get an up or down vote if the opposition decides to take the extraordinary step of filibustering health reform.” In other words, Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will use the reconciliation process, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate, to force socialized medicine on the American people. We will analyze the president’s proposal this afternoon and expose its hidden agenda tomorrow morning.

Compounding Errors

Last week I wrote about the controversy surrounding Rashad Hussain, President Obama’s envoy to the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), who was accused of defending radical Islamist Sami al-Arian. Hussain initially denied defending al-Arian, who pled guilty in 2006 to charges of conspiring to raise funds for a Palestinian terrorist organization. Friday, Hussain reversed himself and now admits to making “ill conceived or not well formulated” statements. Referring to al-Arian’s trial on terror-related charges, Hussain said in 2004 that al-Arian was the victim of “politically motivated persecutions.”

The potentially greater error here was not committed by Hussain, but by Barack Obama, and that error was appointing an envoy to the OIC, which represents 57 Islamic nations. George Bush did so as well, and it was a mistake then too. But Obama is compounding that error now. Writing in The Weekly Standard, Paul Marshall has an outstanding column dissecting the dangers of appointing an “ambassador to Islam.” Here’s why the move is so bad.

The OIC considers itself the “collective voice of the Muslim world.” Obama apologists will insist that this appointment is just an effort to help America improve its relations with the “Muslim world,” as if we are somehow the problem. But, as Marshall notes, no one is suggesting that America improve “U.S.-Christian relations.”

In fact, it is a terrible mistake to deal with other countries based on the religion of some of their citizens. Do we conduct negotiations with Nigeria based on Nigerian interests or based on Islam? The OIC, with its stated goal of defending “the true values of Islam and the Muslims,” assumes the latter. But Muslims are not monolithic; there are great divisions within Islam. This is a serious concern because some OIC nations are not even majority Muslim states or governed by Islamic law, and some aren’t even states at all. For example, included in the OIC membership roster are the “State of Palestine” and the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus,” which is recognized only by Turkey.

But the biggest problem with the OIC is that it is fundamentally anti-democratic. It has been a leading force in de-legitimizing Israel, even going so far as to suspend Egypt’s membership when it signed a treaty with Israel in 1979.

The OIC took the lead in criticizing Western nations over the Danish cartoons and spearheaded an anti-blasphemy resolution in the U.N. that was a direct assault on free speech. It is easy to understand why when you know that the OIC believes every right is subject to Sharia law. As Marshall writes, the OIC charter on human rights states, “Everyone shall have the right to express his opinion freely in such manner as would not be contrary to the principles of the Sharia.”

America’s participation with the OIC is at best a waste of time. It is diametrically opposed to fundamental American values. The last thing we need at the OIC is an envoy who believes that confessed Islamic terrorist sympathizers are somehow victims of “politically motivated persecutions.”

CPAC – A Reality Check

As you probably know, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference was held last weekend in Washington, D.C. This year’s gathering witnessed a huge turnout with eight to ten thousand attendees. There were many well-received speeches and lots of enthusiasm about the future of the conservative movement. But then came surprising news that Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) won CPAC’s 2012 straw poll, which according to one report elicited “a cascade of boos” from the audience.

Let me add some perspective to this. First, not every attendee voted. The number of total votes cast was around 2,500, and Paul won 31% or roughly 775 votes out of the eight to ten thousand people there.

Second, it’s difficult to consider Ron Paul within the mainstream of American conservatism. While his views on limited government have some appeal, his voting record on values issues is abysmal. Paul opposed the marriage protection amendment, has voted against key pro-life legislation and critical national security issues, such as military tribunals for terrorists.

The producer of the Bauer and Rose radio show was at the CPAC convention all weekend, and he gave me this disturbing report: The Paul supporters were overwhelmingly young. That’s great. But Paul supporters of all ages were often “9/11 truthers.” That’s very bad. Many were openly spouting conspiracy theories that were favorites among leftists during the Bush years, accusing our own government of attacking us on 9/11.

Paul’s rhetoric and his many appearances on alternative radio shows often encourages this dangerous and deranged mindset. It is way beyond time for Ron Paul to publicly denounce the 9/11 truther movement and reject the support of those who adhere to such nonsense.

Paul was interviewed on CNBC this morning and said, “Why should we be looking for a war with the Iranians? What have they done to us? What are they capable of doing to us?” Let me remind Rep. Paul that Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. We know Iran is responsible for the deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Its leaders routinely refer to the United States as “the great Satan.”

When the CNBC hosts said that the regime was pursuing nuclear weapons, Paul denied it three times, adding “Nobody’s proven that.” Somehow convinced that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s apocalyptic views will lend themselves to rational dialogue, Paul repeatedly insisted that we should follow Obama’s policy of reaching out diplomatically to our enemies, including the Iranians. This degree of delusional thinking is on par with that of European leaders who thought they could negotiate in good faith with Adolf Hitler.

I cannot fathom how any Ronald Reagan conservative could share these views, but I’d be happy to hear from those who think Paul is right.

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