As you may know the members of the Watcher’s Council each nominate one of his or her own posts and one non-Council post for consideration by the whole Council. The complete list of this week’s Council nominations is here.
Soccer Dad, “”Evolution” = “Growth””
I’m not surprised that the Washington Post article caught Soccer Dad’s attention—it certainly caught my eye. Soccer Dad sees confirmation bias in a reporter’s characterization of the changing attitudes of American Jews towards Israel.
Bookworm Room, “Making Capitalists”
Bookworm considers the works of Horatio Alger, glossing over some of the more sordid details of the author’s life. I’m aware that Alger’s works were important in forming the late 19th century immigrants’ attitudes towards America but I find their message somewhat mixed.
As I think I’ve mentioned before after failing to learn to read in 1st grade I taught myself to read by immersing myself in late 19th and early 20th century children’s literature so the stuff I read as a very young child actually resembled what kids my age of a generation before had read rather than what my contemporaries were reading. One of the books I read was a Horatio Alger story, Luck and Pluck if I remember correctly. I could barely stand it. I found the odd combination of hard work and determination, blind luck, and the kindness of (mostly male) strangers uncomfortable.
I still love that old children’s literature, though, especially for its positive, affirming messages. Just last year I read Spunk, Leader of the Dog Team and Gumpy, Son of Spunk. Good stuff. With dogsledding!
Wolf Howling, “The Audacity of Newsweek”
GW analyzes a Newsweek article and arrives at the surprising conclusion that the authors are in the bag for Obama.
The Glittering Eye, “Curiouser and Curiouser”
Some of the news coming out of Iran is very odd indeed.
The Colossus of Rhodey, “And People think George W. Bush Is a Moron”
Hube isn’t happy with former President Jimmy Carter’s observations about terrorism, the Palestinians, and Israel. I wonder if the former president understands that the missiles being fired at the Israelis by the Palestinians aren’t strategic weapons but unguided rock-hurling intended for the battlefield. They really don’t care what target they hit as long as they’re pointed in roughly the right direction. Sounds like terrorism to me.
Rhymes With Right, “BUMPED: McCain Ahead In Electoral Vote Race?”
Greg looks at the electoral map and arrives at the point I’ve been making for months now: it doesn’t matter whether the Democrats take 50% plus 1 or 100% of the votes in states they’re going to carry anyway. The important thing is what additional states they can carry. Look to the states that tilt narrowly one way or another to decide the election.
Hillbilly White Trash, “Where we went wrong”
I found this statement in Lemuel Calhoun’s pondering of the mistakes made by Republicans over the last dozen years puzzling:
Ronald Reagan showed anyone with even an average IQ how to turn the Republican party into a permanent majority by the consistent application of conservative principles.
I think this must be the mythic Reagan rather than the real one. To what principles is LC referring? President Reagan was demonstrably not a fiscal conservative—look at the deficits he consistently ran. He wasn’t a social conservative—no major socially conservative initiatives were passed during his presidency although he gave rhetorical support to such things.
What Reagan actually was was anti-Communist and a consistent booster of America and American values. Communism is a dead letter although its former exponents continue to beat the dead horse by attempting to resurrect it under other guises. I do think we could use a little Reagan-style boosterism but I don’t think you can build party hegemony on it.
Done With Mirrors, “Protecting Marriage”
Callimachus posts on a measure proposed in the Pennsylvania legislature that would really protect marriage. Good and hard.
The Education Wonks, “Los Angeles’ Combat High School”
EdWonk is baffled by a report of pitched battles at an LA high school. How could school authorities allow it to get to this state? How could parents? One thing in the cited article did catch my eye:
“It’s not the way it’s portrayed in the media; that’s not what it’s like at all,” said Sherlock, who is black. Another black student, Ronald White, said African American and Latino students commonly divide along ethnic lines but aren’t necessarily hostile. “Everybody usually just sticks to themselves,” he said.
Emphasis mine. Looks like we’ve come full circle in 50 years.
Joshuapundit, “Lebanon Becomes Hezbollahstan”
Freedom Fighter analyzes recent developments in Lebanon. He does make one assertion I have some questions about:
Instead of insisting on a UN ceasefire at the moment the IDF had Hezbollah’s forces surrounded in an iron ring, Condi Rice, aided and abetted by Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and his foreign minister Tzipi Livni could have allowed the IDF to finish the job.
I see little evidence that there was a great deal of political support in Israel to “finish the job”. What form would finishing have taken?
Cheat Seeking Missiles, “And Tango Makes 420”
Laer takes note of ALA’s list of children’s books “most challenged” in libraries.
Right Wing Nut House, “Poll: America Is a Sucky Place To Live Right Now”
While I do think you can draw the conclusion that Republicans are in trouble in November, I don’t think you can draw the conclusion that Americans think their country is a “sucky place to live right now” from the polling data. The polls are pretty consistent. Although the polls show a rising tide of dissatisfaction in right direction/wrong direction questions the majority of the people show optimism and satisfaction with respect to their own lives. I think the conclusion that should be drawn is that most people are like Will Rogers—they don’t know nothin’ but what they read in the newspapers.
Well, I’ve decided which posts I’ll vote for this week. Which posts would get your votes?
Hello Dave,
To answer your question….
First there was a great deal of political support in Israel for finishing off Hezbollah as a threat from the Israeli electorate. Not only were they deliberately attacked, but Hezbollah’s missile attacks on civilian targets in Northern Israel had the same sort of effect that the Nazi Blitz had on Britain’s population in WWII – they wanted to even the score and finish off Hezbollah.
The uncertainty came from the Olmert Government, who originally tried to fight the war from the air while sending in ground troops piecemeal with no offensive plan, thanks to Olmert and his amatuer defense minister Peretz, who later resigned. Read the Winograd report sometime.
Based on what I’ve heard from my IDF contacts, they were outraged at both the mismanagement of the war and the proclamation of a ceasefire when they had Hezbollah’s positions in South Lebanon surrounded. ( You’ll rmember that Olmert finally sent the IDF ground troops in full force towards the end). From what I’ve heard, they feel they could have destroyed Hezbollah in South Lebanon in about two to three more weeks or so of fighting,since they had already crossed the Litani and split the Hezbos in South Lebanon off from their bases in the Bek’aa Valley so they couldn’t be reinforced or resupplied except from the air…which the IDF controlled.
‘Finishing the job’ would have entailed continuing the offensive and destroying Hezbollah’s bases and infrastructure in South Lebanon and then continuing to bomb their bases in the Bek’aa Valley, while holding out for a meaningful ceasefire that would have ensured that Resolution 1701, which mandated the disarmament of Hezbollah was actually carried out.
If that had happened, Hezbollah would have been destroyed as a player for quite some time, and a major Iranian proxy would be off the board.
One need only look at how our warriors and the Iraqi Army defeated another Iranian proxy, the Mahdi Army as an example of how that works..and yes, I understand that there are differences in the two situations, but the basic principle applies.
As it was, Condi Rice engineered a meaningless ceasefire that did nothing to stop Hezbollah from being rearmed under the noses of UNIFIL, who were supposed to prevent it under the Resolution. They’re now a threat again not only to Israel and Lebanon, but in other places like Central Africa where Iran is trying to expand.
The Israeli public is fully aware of this, which is one big reason Olmert’s approval ratings poll in single digits.
I hope this clarifies things.
All Best,
ff
Thanks, ff. I appreciate your response. I’m absolutely no expert on Israeli politics but doesn’t the fact that Olmert continues in power constitute prima facie evidence that, although some Israelis may have wanted otherwise there wasn’t enough dissatisfaction with what happened that there would have been enough political support to do more?
Hello Again, Dave
The problem is the demon of coalition politics.
As I said, if you look at the polls, Olmert’s approval ratings have been in single digits for quite some time. The Knesset ( Israeli parliament) has 120 members of whom Olmert’s party,Kadima, has only 29. You need at least 61 members to be able to seat a government, and a majority vote of no confidence to go to elections.
When a government is formed, building a coalition means various goodies are handed out in the form of ministries.which means power, subsidies for special interests and patronage,just like here. Some members of Olmert’s coalition are reluctant to go to elections with a vote of no confidence, because many of them, particularly in Kadima and would not only lose their ministries but likely get voted out of power. So they’re hanging on for dear life in spite of an increasingly infuriated electorate…kinda like our Fearless Leader in DC.
I mean,can you imagine where Bush’s approval ratings would be if they were shooting rockets at shopping malls from Mexico and he basically did nothing effective to stop it?
At present, Olmert’s majority is a bare 63 seats, which includes 10 Arab members. Several of the members of his coalition will likely bolt if he’s indicted, as seems likely.
According to all the polls I’ve seen, a Center Right coalition made up of Likud, Shas, NRP and probably Israel Beiteinu would win the election handily if it were held today, with Likud getting a majority..which means that Bibi Netanyahu would be the next PM.
There you go, boyo..more about the bodily contact sport of Israeli politics than you probably wanted to know! Hope it was helpful.
All Best,
ff