Kathianne
10-18-2012, 10:26 PM
October 18, 2012
ANDREW MCCARTHY: It’s Not Just Obama’s Lies — It’s the Premise of Obama’s Lies. (http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/10/18/its-not-just-obamas-lies-its-the-premise-of-obamas-lies/?singlepage=true)
Obama’s emphasis on the video as causation was so demonstratively false that detractors have focused myopically on the lying. This serves short-term political objectives: a president who richly deserves to lose is reeling with the election just 19 days away.
Nevertheless, long-term societal needs are being disserved. Focus on the administration’s serial lies has left unrefuted the obnoxious premise of these lies.
It is as though we have conceded that if the movie had actually triggered protests that led to violence (as Islamist protests are wont to do), responsibility for that violence would lie with the filmmakers. The culprit would be our culture of liberty and reason, not the anti-democratic culture of the Muslim Middle East.
That is dangerous nonsense.
Constitutionally protected speech can never be legitimized as a cause of violence. Period.
Related thoughts from Roger Kimball. (http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2012/10/18/mccarthyism-i-can-support/) “The Obama administration has been complicit in this attack on the First Amendment, subverting the law by resorting to extra-legal means to achieve the same ends. What happened to Nakoula Nakoula, the alleged producer of that internet video, is one example. Others are the bullying speeches administration officials, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on down, have made and the Pakistani television commercials that, at U.S. taxpayer expense, criticize the video and its author.”
Indeed.
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/protectanddefend.png (http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/protectanddefend.png)
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 11:07 pm
ANDREW MCCARTHY: It’s Not Just Obama’s Lies — It’s the Premise of Obama’s Lies. (http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/10/18/its-not-just-obamas-lies-its-the-premise-of-obamas-lies/?singlepage=true)
Obama’s emphasis on the video as causation was so demonstratively false that detractors have focused myopically on the lying. This serves short-term political objectives: a president who richly deserves to lose is reeling with the election just 19 days away.
Nevertheless, long-term societal needs are being disserved. Focus on the administration’s serial lies has left unrefuted the obnoxious premise of these lies.
It is as though we have conceded that if the movie had actually triggered protests that led to violence (as Islamist protests are wont to do), responsibility for that violence would lie with the filmmakers. The culprit would be our culture of liberty and reason, not the anti-democratic culture of the Muslim Middle East.
That is dangerous nonsense.
Constitutionally protected speech can never be legitimized as a cause of violence. Period.
Related thoughts from Roger Kimball. (http://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2012/10/18/mccarthyism-i-can-support/) “The Obama administration has been complicit in this attack on the First Amendment, subverting the law by resorting to extra-legal means to achieve the same ends. What happened to Nakoula Nakoula, the alleged producer of that internet video, is one example. Others are the bullying speeches administration officials, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on down, have made and the Pakistani television commercials that, at U.S. taxpayer expense, criticize the video and its author.”
Indeed.
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/protectanddefend.png (http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/protectanddefend.png)
Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 11:07 pm