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Jimmy Carter, again

Reliapundit writes in response to a Clark Mountain Musings via Gateway Pundit:

It's always worth remembering that most of the major problems the Free World faces all began on Jimmy's horrifyingly awful single term in office: the Shah fell - giving rise to Khomeini and islamofascism; Afghanistan fell to the USSR; Saddam came to power in a coup. All while Jimmy's cronies profiteered with BCCI - a bank with nefarious ties to the hubs of islamofascism.

Here at The Squiggler, I support all of the posters above in the low opinion of Jimmy Carter and would add that he nearly destroyed our own military. As an active duty family during the Carter years, I can say from personal experience that in our 26 years of being an active duty military family, those four years were the pits, the worst of the worst.

I'm with you, Michael ...

I pined the loss of the GWB I voted for a couple of days ago, after the wishy washy statement by the G8 participants regarding Israel's response to Hezbollah. I had to correct myself because within minutes of posting the following, the Bush/Blair open mic remarks were broadcast.

"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider conflict. The extremists must immediately halt their attacks. It is also critical that Israel, while exercising the right to defend itself, be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of its actions. We call upon Israel to exercise utmost restraint," the statement continues.

I want the old George Bush back, you know, the one who says things like "wanted dead or alive." This diplomatic Bush is B.S.

It is always nice to find out that someone else agrees:

Let W. Be W.

In Michael Smerconish

By now, you know that they caught President Bush on an open mic in a candid chat with Tony Blair at the G8 summit in St. Petersburg on Monday. I listened to the audio and read a transcript. My take? Let W. be W. Bush's unplugged -- er, plugged -- comments reminded me for the first time in a while of the guy I voted for twice. The Bush we came to know as W., not the Bush who morphed into a capital-P President. I'm talking about the W. who made Al Gore and John Kerry look like a couple of blow-dried, finger-to-the-wind stiffs. A guy who is centered. A fellow with values. A man whose heart you know to be in the right place even when he's in the wrong. Someone you'd like to have a beer with. Remember, after eight years of Bill Clinton, it was time for a plain-talkin' 'Merican -- and never more so than when the forces of evil reared their heads on 9/11.

Gateway Pundit has a theory ...

After Cursing Syria, Bush Job Approval Climbs

By Gateway Pundit

S--- Factor?

President Bush's job approval rating climbed to 45% in the latest Rasmussen poll. This is the highest it has been since mid-April.

Is the current gain because of the "strong words" for Syria?... Instead of sounding like a chimp when his mic was accidentally left on at the G8 Summit, just like Condi's mic two weeks before that , he sounded human and tough when talking with Tony Blair and Vlad Putin. Too bad for the media.

Syria invites Americans to become hostages

When I first saw this story, all I could think was HOSTAGES WANTED! Who would be stupid enough to take Syria up on their offer? Who indeed? Next thing we hear will probably be a story of how Sean Penn or maybe Cindy Sheehan is hurrying off to shephard some of their moonbat minions to the Syrian embassy. Or wait, maybe it will be Jimmy Carter leading the troop.

Syria offers safe haven to US nationals fleeing Lebanon

The Syrian embassy said it was offering "safe haven" to Americans and other citizens wishing to flee Lebanon, where nearly 200 civilians have been killed during a massive Israeli military bombardment.

"Now, while thousands of United States citizens are stranded in Lebanon attempting to flee the ongoing massacre there, Syria has opened its borders to US citizens as well as citizens of other nationalities," the embassy said in a statement.

Oy vey! Here they are!

Israeli Moonbats Against Self-Defense

It's one thing for an ignorant fool like Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) to repeat over and over again like a Head On commercial that all you have to do to end terrorism is "build relationships" with terrorists, as he did ad nauseam on Fox News Sunday yesterday. For someone who lives in Israel, under daily assault from Muslims who have made it plain that their objective is total cultural extermination to think that you can "negotiate" with a mad dog as it lunges for your throat is a tribute to the astounding resilience of moonbattery. For sheer idiocy, it is unsurpassed even by Amuri's other comments. No one wants the war? Then why did Hezbollah deliberately start it? Why don't they end it by giving back the soldiers they kidnapped? As for exchanging captured terrorists for the hostages — nothing could be more effective at encouraging future kidnapping, although the suggestion is actually welcome in that it serves as a reminder that terrorists cannot be incarcerated except for short periods; they must be killed.

I guess they didn't get the word:

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Gingrich on WW III with a big huh? - UPDATED - Bush drops "diplospeak" (Video)

Dave Postman of the Seattle Times interviewed Newt Gingrich and then followed up by watching him on Meet the Press before writing his article. In the course of the interview, Gingrich makes the following statements as detailed in Postman's article:

On Meet the Press Gingrich did repeat his assertion that World War III has begun. He said the current fighting in the Middle East:

"is absolutely a question of the survival of Israel, but it's also a question of what is really a world war. ... I mean, we, we are in the early stages of what I would describe as the third world war, and frankly, our bureaucracies aren't responding fast enough, we don't have the right attitude about this, and this is the 58th year of the war to destroy Israel.

"MR. RUSSERT: This is World War III?

"MR. GINGRICH: I, I believe if you take all the countries I just listed, that you've been covering, put them on a map, look at all the different connectivity, you'd have to say to yourself this is, in fact, World War III."

Russert seems genuinely surprised to hear the words World War III, but should anyone be surprised? Gingrich makes a valid point. A point, by the way, that President Bush made back on May 5th (Hat tip: Reliapundit):

BREITBART (AFP):

US President George W. Bush said the September 11 revolt of passengers against their hijackers on board Flight 93 had struck the first blow of "World War III."

In an interview with the financial news network CNBC, Bush said he had yet to see the recently released film of the uprising, a dramatic portrayal of events on the United Airlines plane before it crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

But he said he agreed with the description of David Beamer, whose son Todd died in the crash, who in a Wall Street Journal commentary last month called it "our first successful counter-attack in our homeland in this new global war -- World War III".

Bush said: "I believe that. I believe that it was the first counter-attack to World War III.

The article ends with some very strange ramblings by Gingrich that seem to knock the President or at least his policies of the last couple of months pretty hard.

On Meet the Press Gingrich seemed to be drawing a distinction between two visions of foreign policy and how to deal with dictators and terrorism. But it came out sounding like he was comparing his view to that of the Bush Administration -- which he advises as a member of the Defense Policy Board -- rather than what I heard as the contrasting views of Democrats and Republicans.

He told Russert:

"My point is -- and this is a core difference in how, in how I think we think about foreign policy. When in doubt, I want the United States to be very strong and I want us to be very clear with dictatorships. We're sending signals today that no matter how much you provoke us, no matter how viciously you describe things in public, no matter how many things you're doing with missiles and nuclear weapons, the most you'll get out of us is talk.

"MR. RUSSERT: You're talking about the Bush administration.

"MR. GINGRICH: I'm talking about the policies of the United States today.

"MR. RUSSERT: But that is such a condemnation of George W. Bush.

"MR. GINGRICH: Well, it's not a condemnation of George W. Bush. It's a statement that--look what we've done in the last six weeks. I mean, I think we are in a very serious crisis in this country."

Perhaps he was projecting a message to someone, because to say that President Bush isn't strongly motivated and very focused on taking a hard line against terrorists would be ludicrous. Or perhaps he was tailoring his message to Russert's liberal NBC audience. Or perhaps its all a Rovian plot. Even the Instapundit is confused: "IS NEWT GINGRICH CRITICIZING BUSH, or is he criticizing the left? Maybe both?"

UPDATE:

Perhaps I was too hasty. I hope the President clarifies this remark which comes from the joint G8 statement released earlier:

"These extremist elements and those that support them cannot be allowed to plunge the Middle East into chaos and provoke a wider conflict. The extremists must immediately halt their attacks. It is also critical that Israel, while exercising the right to defend itself, be mindful of the strategic and humanitarian consequences of its actions. We call upon Israel to exercise utmost restraint," the statement continues.

I want the old George Bush back, you know, the one who says things like "wanted dead or alive." This diplomatic Bush is B.S.

And just in case anyone has forgotten, Israel has been following the "be patient" plea from the United States for years, going all the way back to Bush 41's plea as Iranian scuds were landing in their country during the first Gulf War back in 1991.

UPDATE II:

Hmmm. Perhaps this is the clarification from Condi Rice  (Hat tip: Tammy Bruce):

Rice: No point in temporary ceasefire

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that for the time being the United States is not interested to assist in negotiating a ceasefire. There is no point in achieving a ceasefire so long as Hizbullah and Hamas are capable of firing rockets at Israel, and by doing so to breach it...

The Pentagon notified Congress of plans to sell Israel jet fuel valued at up to USD 210 million "to keep peace and security in the region".

"The proposed sale of the JP-8 aviation fuel will enable Israel to maintain the operational capability of its aircraft inventory," the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in notice required by law.

UPDATE III:

Aaaah, I feel better. Behind the scenes, GWB tells it like it is.

Bush was talking privately to British Prime Minister

Tony Blair during a lunch at the Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg about an upsurge of violence in the Middle East, not realizing a microphone was recording what he said.

"I think Condi (Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice) is going to go pretty soon," Bush said.

Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together."

The two leaders also referred to an offer by Blair to help. Blair said Rice has "got to succeed" if she goes out to the region.

Bush replied: "What they need to do is to get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit." Shortly afterwards Blair noticed the microphone and hastily switched it off, but not before the recording had reached news media. Video.

 

Condi's Revolution

That's the title of an article detailing Condeleeza Rice's speech at Georgetown detaiing the reforms necessary at the State Department in order to make it a viable entity in the years to come.

She pulled no punches with reforms such as:

Diplomats can no longer build careers by hiding behind desks in comfy capitals. They'll have to accept dangerous assignments and serve in hardship posts; develop regional expertise in at least two areas; and speak at least two relevant foreign languages (French waiters need not apply). That ain't going to make Rice popular with diplos accustomed to rotating between Rome and Northwest D.C. on their way to ambassadorships. Yet, it's vital if we're going to convert our failed, 19th-century- model State Department into a useful tool for the 21st century.

She doused the hopes of the diplomats-in-training at Georgetown of sliding into a cushy job in one of the major capitals and biding their time until an ambassador appointment. She noted the inequities within the State Department with countries like Germany with a population of 82 million rating nearly the same number of State Dept. personnel as India with its population of 1 billion.

She laid out a reassignment strategy that would immediately move an initial 100 diplomatic slots from Europe to countries that matter in today's world, naming China, India, Brazil and South Africa as the future.

She announced that those who refuse to get down and dirty in their jobs will get the axe. No more playing tea party and paper pusher.

State Department officials are going to have to become true team players — the biggest challenge of all for that bunch. Rice speaks of "transformational diplomacy," recognizing that cooperation between government agencies is vital to securing global advantages. But it's going to be a bitter experience for an ambassador to have to listen to a DEA agent or to a Marine colonel who actually knows what's going on outside the embassy compound.

Ralph Peters, in a NYPost article today writes:

The key will be the people. Can the department attract new recruits with courage and a spirit of adventure, in place of the fishbelly-white twits it's always favored? Perhaps, instead of fishing in theory-poisoned backwaters such as Georgetown, State should poach military officers from the Pentagon, men and women accustomed to getting things done? (While we're at it, how about a physical-fitness test for diplomats? And no, lifting a wine glass doesn't count.)

Our suggestion to Condi is to stay out of the elite schools with their State Dept. head hunters and hire from those who understand what work is all about. In today's world we need personnel with street smarts far more than we need another academician skilled in writing white papers. We need to eliminate all those who are "stuck on stupid" and get some people based in reality.