Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

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Belafonte, past hope

The times are wild, confusion is back, as are the students! So I am not at leisure. But I could not help noting that Harry Belafonte (with Cornel West of Princeton) is in Venezuela, saying this: "No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people ... support your revolution."

Discussions - 20 Comments

Ok, you corrected Belafonte, but you still have Cornel (only ONE L) West wrong...

Someone needs to blow him up with a shoe.

What a presumptuous arrogant pissant that Harry (DayOOOOOOO) has become. I do not know whether to laugh or cry.

Nawwwwwwwwww..........a good hearty laugh would be much better for the soul.

So who are these "millions" of Americans? I was never asked about this - were you?

Perhaps Mr. Belafonte could be described as an assassin of language.
Did the AARP go ahead and give him that award?

Obviously this is one way of reviving a flagging career, or at least getting the young to pay some attention to you.
Over the top! Whatever it takes!


We Republicans often look for commercial motives and fail to understand how deep the liberal ideology (James Burnham might say the "liberal syndrome") goes. I suspect Mr. Belafonte is simply a rabid socialist (and racist?) ideologue who cannot refrain from expressing his hatred in the most blatant ways. Such people cannot be laughed off, because there are always idiots whom they influence.

Well, more to David’s point, there is no check on such behavior on the Left...in fact, it is considered a virtue (a sign of honesty and ernest concern for the global situation, yada yada). Probably the only place one can safely be a bigot and hater these days is on the racial left.

Generally speaking, the left doesn’t have the conscience or the character to police itself. If it did, scum like Belafonte, Jesse Jackson, Michael Moore, and many others would have been "taken out," figuratively speaking, years ago.

Honest liberals should think LONG AND HARD about the failure of their leaders to distance themselves from the scum, except in the most grudging Machiavellian terms ("not the right message for the Democratic party," etc.) At the end of the day, they seem to be on their side.

I find Cornel West to be more reprehensible than a mere demi-educated calypso singer like Belafonte.
We have all, from time to time, run into people like West who try, and oh how they try, to show us just how very smart and deep thinking they really are. First, there are those pseudo-pregnant pauses where they pretend to be deep in thought. Then there are the allusions to obscure writers and thinkers. They sprinkle in those big words and the academic jargon. Then there is that tedious speaking manner where they ooze that self-satisfied pomposity that is supposed to convince us that what they say must be deep.
And out of all of this very deliberate and calculated effort that simulates depth and intellect, all we really have is Cornel West the lightweight; who hates the country that enables him to have his cushy, high-paying, tenured job; who believes that Mumia the Philadelphia cop-killer is a "freedom-fighter"; who race-baits with the best of the Klan; and who believes that any enemy of Amerika must be his friend. About three seconds into one of his monologues and anyone with an ounce of sense can see that there is nothing of substance here. But this act works for Cornel and his crowd and so, it’s off to see the dictator, the wonderful dictator of Venezeula.
And we have the sorry spectacle of Harvard and Princeton actually vying for the services of this posterchild of racial preferences, who would not be qualified to teach in a community college if he were a mere caucasian. This says much about the Ivy League institutions and their commitment to racial preferences over real accomplishment
No one with an IQ above room temperature takes Calypso Harry seriously. The very fact that some refer to Cornel West as a "scholar" without the quotation marks suggests that some actually take West seriously. This is a sad sign of the times and the state of the culture.

Ironic that Harry Belafonte should be saying that, in light of this gem that circulated after 9/11.

Ironic, too, that the "gem" you linked to ends w/ the text "Osama bin Laden: Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide." THAT makes me all the more eager to hear the Bush administration’s explanation for why he hasn’t been caught.

JM, do you think it will end if OBL is captured/killed? Will the muslim revolution end then? In your opinion is he the heart and soul of the movement to bring Sharia to the world?

Yea, me neither.

Let’s talk about how Pat Robertson represents the right: the unchecked, hate-filled, loose cannon, reprehensible right. Or, let’s nominate Tom Delay to represent the Right (Actually, you did, didn’t you?)

Sam - your series of questions are really beside the point. Osama is one fellow that nearly everyone can agree was involved in 9/11. Sure, he isn’t the only or the last terrorist or terrorist leader (Muslim or non-Muslim), but it would still be good to see him captured.

Jmont, if you find it so frustrating, strap on a backpack, grab your squirrel rifle, and go huntin’. But don’t get too excited...anyone who knows anything about the structure of Al Qaeda knows that it’s nearly impossible to crack open. There’s a long history of failure to find guerilla leaders...you shouldn’t be so critical.

Of course, most of us suspect that you are far less concerned about finding Osama that you are about criticizing Bush for not finding him.

J Montgomery:

I suppose you are also upset that Clinton did not use missles to attack and kill bin Laden in the late 1990s? After all, bin Laden was responsible for the USS Cole bombing, and who knows what else. It seems reasonable to assume that if he had been killed then, that 9/11 plans might not have materalized, or would not have been implemented, or at least delayed until countermeasures could be taken. Also, if 9/11 had not happened we probably would not be in Iraq, no crazy wiretaping, etc., so Clinton’s dropping the ball was very costly and led to results that liberals dislike a lot. Of course, no one is protesting outside of Clinton’s office....but maybe you are?

How dare you suggest that Clinton’s failures to catch OBL were the fault of his administration! We have a well-established norm, these days, of blaming such failures on previous administrations! Get with the program. Steve! Clinton failed to catch bin Laden, because of George the First! We blame Clinton for the failures of George the Second. What kind of a conservative right wing-nut are you?

Fung:

In order for there to be a moral fault concerning bin Laden, some sort of action must be possible, which requires knowing where he is. I suppose one could say Bush II should look harder, or whatever. I think the current Bush should do everything he can (including violating international law if necessary) in order to get bin Laden, but finding one person can be difficult (though not impossible as Saddam shows). Clinton is guiltier because his administration actually knew where bin Laden was and did nothing.

Exactly! That’s what I said! I can’t wait for 2008. That poor slob has a lot to answer for!

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