I just love right wing talk radio. Anna Nicole Smith has been dead for just over 12 hours now, and the hatemongerers have already connected Anna Nicole Smith to the "cultural left" and blamed her and everyone else on this side of the aisle for 9/11. I am not kidding.
Anna Nicole Smith is to blame for 9/11. Not bin Laden. Anna Nicole Smith. So now that she is dead, we can declare victory in the War on Terra (TM) and bring our brave men and women home from Iraq.
Right? Right??!!??
::Crickets::
For the clinically insane, the above connection is not hard to make at all. I was listening to Michael Smerconish's show here in Philadelphia this morning. I confess to listening to him during the commercial breaks during Angelo Cataldi's show on WIP 610, the local sports station.
So there was Michael Smerconish, concluding an interview with Dinesh D'Souza, who was lumping Anna Nicole Smith in with what he identifies as the "cultural left" in this country, who he claims is responsible for 9/11. What follows are some of his ramblings.
From the Washington Post:
In my book, published this month, I argue that the American left bears a measure of responsibility for the volcano of anger from the Muslim world that produced the 9/11 attacks. President Jimmy Carter's withdrawal of support for the shah of Iran, for example, helped Ayatollah Khomeini's regime come to power in Iran, thus giving radical Islamists control of a major state; and President Bill Clinton's failure to respond to Islamic attacks confirmed bin Laden's perceptions of U.S. weakness and emboldened him to strike on 9/11. I also argue that the policies that U.S. "progressives" promote around the world -- including abortion rights, contraception for teenagers and gay rights -- are viewed as an assault on traditional values by many cultures, and have contributed to the blowback of Islamic rage.
From the Los Angeles Times:
The world's sole superpower would seem to be much more formidable than local Muslim rulers such as Hosni Mubarak in Egypt or the Saudi royal family. Bin Laden argued, however, that the far enemy was actually weaker and more vulnerable. He was confident that when kicked in their vital organs, Americans would pack up and run. Just like in Vietnam. Just like in Mogadishu.
Bin Laden saw his theory of American weakness vindicated during the Clinton era. In 1993, Islamic radicals bombed the World Trade Center. The Clinton administration did little. In 1996, Muslim terrorists attacked the Khobar Towers facility on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia. No response. In 1998, Al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa. Clinton responded with a few perfunctory strikes in Sudan and Afghanistan. These did no real harm to Al Qaeda and only strengthened the perception of American ineptitude. In 2000, Islamic radicals bombed the U.S. destroyer Cole. Again, the Clinton team failed to act. By his own admission, Bin Laden concluded that his suspicion of American pusillanimity and weakness was correct. He became emboldened to plot the 9/11 attacks.
Still, the 2001 attacks might have been averted had the Clinton administration launched an effective strike against Bin Laden in the years leading up to them. Clinton has said he made every effort to get Bin Laden during his second term. Yet former CIA agent Michael Scheuer estimates that there were about 10 chances to capture or kill Bin Laden during this period and that the Clinton people failed to capitalize on any of them.
From the D'Souza's own introduction to his book, THE ENEMY AT HOME:
THE CULTURAL LEFT AND ITS RESPONSIBILITY FOR 9/11
In this book I make a claim that will seem startling at the outset. The cultural left in this country (such people as Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, George Soros, Michael Moore, Bill Moyers, and Noam Chomsky) is responsible for causing 9/11. The term "cultural left" does not refer to the Democratic Party. Nor does it refer to all liberals. It refers to the left wing of the Democratic Party—admittedly the most energetic group among Democrats, and the main source of the party’s ideas.
...
Moreover, the cultural left includes organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women, People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood, Human Rights Watch, and moveon.org.
...
[T]he left is the primary reason for Islamic anti-Americanism as well as the anti-Americanism of other traditional cultures around the world. I intend to show that the left has actively fostered the intense hatred of America that has led to murderous attacks such as 9/11. If I am right, then no war against terrorism can be effectively fought using the left-wing premises that are now accepted doctrine among mainstream liberals and Democrats.
The left is responsible for 9/11 in the following ways. First, the cultural left has fostered a decadent American culture that angers and repulses traditional societies, especially those in the Islamic world, that are being overwhelmed with this culture. In addition, the left is waging an aggressive global campaign to undermine the traditional patriarchal family and to promote secular values in non-Western cultures.
Anna Nicole Smith is part of that decadent American culture. A culture fascinated with celebrity and breast size and beauty rather than morals, faith, and God.
As a member of the cultural life, I say with righteous indignation:
Excuse me?
Is it the left or the right that wishes to spread "American culture" throughoust the world?
Is it the left or the right that peddles America's interest in celebrity and decadence? Turn on Fox News right now. Is it all seriousness and in depth discussion of politics and problems facing the world? Or rather is it a light discussion of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears and Anna Nicole Smith?
During the 1980's, was it Rosyln Carter that was donning furs, jewels, and $5,000.00 dresses, or was it Nancy Reagan, the wife of Conservatism's Revered Father? Was that not decadence?
I find myself questioning Mr. D'Souza's basic premise. The conservatives in this country, and definitely in this country's government, definitely enjoy our short celebrity attention spans and our fascination with decadence and celebrity lives. They foster it on every occasion. Why? It distracts us from what they are doing.
However, whether or not you agree with Mr. D'Souza's indictment of American culture being responsible for 9/11, who is responsible for American culture today? The Left? Or the Right?
Finally, if Mr. D'Souza were a liberal, he would be called a traitor and it would be proclaimed that he hated America. Funny, that.