Keep It Pithy (18 page)

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photo credit 10.1
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Soros
is El Jefe of the S-P forces, a man whose vast fortune is directed toward undermining traditional America and replacing it with a so-called Open Society. George Soros is the puppet master, the man with the plan, a ferociously far-left
force about whom most Americans know little or nothing.… What kind of man is Soros? Well, he does not believe in God, his social philosophy is libertarian, and his political outlook is far, far left.… At this point, he is the prime financier of a number of operations that consistently smear conservative and traditional Americans.… To sum up, Soros is a smart, ruthless ideologue who will stop at nothing to advance the secular-progressive offensive. He has no scruples, ethics, or sense of fair play.

On a lighter note, as they say, here’s what I wrote once about S-P-leaning actor
ALEC BALDWIN
.

Alec Baldwin
is a first-rate actor who can convincingly bring to life a variety of characters. Check out his performance in
Glengarry Glen Ross
. It’s brilliant. Yet Baldwin has not achieved the leading-man fame that was once predicted for him, and some believe his strident politics (calling Dick Cheney a madman, generally overreacting to conservative
thought) have damaged him in the marketplace because some right-leaning Americans abhor his politics. And it might be true.…

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photo credit 10.2
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Okay, okay
.

You can stop laughing now. He’s everywhere in the entertainment marketplace
.

Stop it!

I’m the perceptive one, all right. Check this out
.

CHARLES RANGEL
. The congressman from Harlem may be to the left of Karl Marx, but he will show up anywhere to defend his positions, and he does so with good humor. I always enjoy sparring with him, and I find that he is always worth listening to. Why? Because he is a hardscrabble guy who actually cares about his constituents. If we had more elected officials like him, from left to center to right of the political spectrum, this would be more like the country designed by our
Founding Fathers. There’s nothing wrong with having opposite points of view. What’s wrong is corruption or incompetence.

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photo credit 10.3
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Charlie, I guess we hardly knew ye
.

We’re all flawed. I say that a lot, always including myself
.

But Rangel’s apparent ethical “malfunctions” now being investigated are so petty, so stupid, so hurtful to his legacy that I’m flummoxed
.

It takes a lot to flummox me. I still believe most of what I wrote above, but how can both Rangels exist in the same man?

If you figure it out, write me
.

Somehow, when I talk about others, I often talk about myself as well
.

Something wrong with that?

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photo credit 10.4
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I am a journalist who insists on honest government; I’m an absolutist (some say fanatic) in that way. Lie, cheat, steal in the public arena—I’m gonna let you have it and I don’t care who you are.

DAN RATHER is more of a pragmatist. He indeed
has seen it all and is willing to tolerate far more shenanigans than I am. He understands that a certain amount of corruption is built into the system and is willing to play by those rules. I am not.

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photo credit 10.5
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Three times I have interviewed
GEORGE W. BUSH
, and here is my assessment: I believe he is an honest man. I believe his presidency was challenged by extraordinarily difficult circumstances that only a few other chief executives have ever faced. The terror attack on September 11 instantly changed the world, introducing a complex set of unique circumstances to Americans. Understanding that, I do cut President Bush some slack, unlike many in the media.

That being said, President Bush has made some major mistakes, most of which were exacerbated by what I call “the rich-guy syndrome.” Let me explain. For people like
me, raised in working-class homes, disaster is always in play, constantly present on the horizon. As I mentioned, both my mother and father were possessed by a nagging fear that stuff would inevitably go wrong. This is common among everyday folks who have to work hard to get by.

But Americans born into wealth and power usually do not have that fear. That’s because things always seem to work out for them. Money buys security from harm and often can mitigate difficult situations. Power, as we’ve discussed, leads to opportunities. You must accept that truism in order to understand President Bush and his approach to vexing problems.

The crowning achievement of the Bush administration, usually ignored by the bitter left-wing media, is the hurt it put on al Qaeda. Within a year after 9/11, President Bush and his allies had delivered a series of devastating blows to the Islamic extremist community. The Taliban were routed in Afghanistan, dozens of al Qaeda leaders and operatives around the world were captured or killed, and scores of countries cooperated with America in freezing suspected terrorist bank accounts.

President Bush was flush with success. In most polls, his approval ratings were above 80 percent.

Then came the invasion of Iraq and the unraveling of the president’s initial terror war success. As you know, the “Bush lied” crowd cannot stop screaming that the president fabricated the reasons for removing the tyrant Saddam Hussein. The prevailing wisdom on the far left is that Bush is a savage warmonger intent, for venal reasons, on
imposing American dominance on the world. The anti-Bush partisans paint a harsh picture, and unfortunately, many people believe it. But that analysis is largely bull.…