I'll do Tacitus (Trevino at Red State) first because I respect him and assume he might listen.
Tac writes:
Markos Moulitsas is spluttering about the purported paucity of the American aid efforts in the Indian Ocean basin --a mere $35 million as he wrote, which in my neighborhood is real money, but of course only goes so far in the vast devastation of the Christmastime tsunami. . . . But, as the kids say, oops.
"President Bush announced Wednesday the United States, India, Australia and Japan have formed an international coalition to coordinate worldwide relief and reconstruction efforts for the Asian region ravaged by a deadly earthquake and tsunamis. Bush . . . pledged a multifaceted response from the United States that goes far beyond the $35 million initially pledged."
Well Tac misses kos' point. Bush looked stingy and uncaring by his initial responses and the amounts of aid preliminarily announced.
More on the flip
As kos explained in a later post:
This unimaginable, horrible catastrophe, had the potential to demonstrate the "compassionate" side of the United States and reap goodwill in the Muslim world (much like Clinton's Kosovo liberation did for some time.)
What kos is saying is that Bush looked like he was forced by the bad publicity to do more, not that he was genuinely reaching out to do more. Of course the U.S. would lead the World in giving relief for this horrible natural catastrophe. No one believed otherwise. But BushCo looks like they were dragged into it, instead of leading the charge. That was the problem and that was the missed opportunity.
As for Podhoretz, well the ignorance is obvious, but let me just provide some basic evidence. On December 20, I posted A U.S. Soldier's Life: Perpetual War. In it I stated that:
It is sometimes said that it is fashionable here at dkos not to empathize with our soldiers. This is false. Rather it is because we so fully appreciate the sacrifice these men and women make for us that we are so torn up about this disastrous Iraq Debacle.
And most of the comments proved this out:
For quite a few months after I got out of the service, back in '69, I'd have a recurring dream in which I would somehow find myself back in the Army. It wasn't so much frightening as it was a feeling of powerlessness, that I was in a situation I didn't want to be in and was unable to do anything about. But sooner or later, I would wake up.
These poor bastards are trapped in a nightmare, while the rest of us are able to slap yellow ribbons on our vehicles and feel we've done our part.
Maybe people would think differently if the those strutting martinets who got us into this quagmire would show just an ounce of concern, compassion, or plain human decency.
But that will never happen. You can see that in the latest outrage. Even when Rumsfeld had a chance to apologize for letting a mechanical pen sign letters of condolence to the families of over 1000 slain soldiers, he chose instead to utter the lamest excuse yet: that it was "in the interest of ensuring expeditious contact with grieving family members."
GMAFB.
Forty years ago, in "Catch-22," Joe Heller wrote about an officer who decided to make things more efficient by designing a form letter to be sent to families of dead and wounded soldiers.
"Dear (Mrs.) (Miss) (Mr.)
"This is to inform you that your (son) (husband) (brother) (father) has been (killed) (wounded) (listed as missing in action).
"Words cannot express my deep personal sorrow."
Satire then. Real life now.
That's why all the Christmas money went to soldiers in Iraq and wounded at Walter Reed - I sent gifts from sites I found here on dKos and elsewhere. I hate the goddamned war, and I am so thankful no one I love is there, that I keep sending stuff to National Guard that are there. They CERTAINLY didn't sign up for this. They are supposed to be cleaning up after hurricanes and responding to floods, not Bushie's "optional" war. When I get hammered occasionally for being anti-war, I ask the "patriot" what he sent to the troops lately. At least I can sleep nights. (Well, most nights....).
This is a sampling I think representative. Obviously we support the troops - we don't support this Debacle.