And one of our kossacks has been quoted!
Take a look at The National Review for the fun and lamentations over the scorching beating dealt by Galloway yesterday to their astroturf pseudo-issue of the UN Oil For Food scandal. They may want to dial back on that one now that the U. S. has been shown to be the chief culprit in the scandal.
Anyway, there's lots of sturm und drang over there about Galloway yesterday. Some quotes below the fold.
First up: some comments and grudging admiration from the execrable anti-gay bigot
John Derbyshire. Read the whole thing:
It was hard to know quite what Senators Norm Coleman and Carl Levin expected from the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow; it was impossible not to suspect they got more than they bargained for. As a rule senators are not, I think, accustomed to being accused by their witnesses of committing "schoolboy howlers."
Coleman in particular seemed bemused by Galloway's characteristically defiant and even ebullient performance. He suggested Galloway was not a "credible witness" but failed to advance the claims that the Scot profited from the manipulation and corruption of the U.N. program.
"You have nothing on me," crowed Galloway, who claimed the attention paid to his activities was "mother of all smoke screens" designed to divert attention away from the "crimes" committed by the United States and Britain in Iraq. "You want to talk about illegalities? You launched an illegal war."
Evidence from senior Iraqi officials -- including former Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan, who have told investigators that Galloway was rewarded on account of "his opinions on Iraq" -- was dismissed by Galloway. "Knowing what the world knows about how you treat prisoners," he ranted, "I'm not sure how much credibility anyone would put on evidence from prisoners in those circumstances."
Furthermore, "What counts is not the names on the paper. What counts is where's the money, senator? Who paid me money, senator? Who paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars? The answer to that is nobody and if you had anybody who paid me a penny you would have produced them here today."
snip
I must admit I have been smiling over the Galloway hearing.
Don't get me wrong: Galloway is a piece of offal, who used a sick-kids charity as a cover for enriching himself, and smooched with one of the world's nastiest dictators for the same purpose.
Galloway came up through the UK parliamentary system, though, where you have to be fierce and clever in debate, and need to be able to think fast on your feet. The US Senate is full of pompous bores, stuffed up to the nose holes with a conviction of their own terrific importance, whose idea of debate is to drone their way through a speech some minimum-wage staffer has written up for them. This was like watching an alley mongrel let loose in a room full of pampered, overfed lap dogs.
To judge from Galloway's name, appearance, and style, this was also a vivid illustration of the good old Scotch-Irish scrapper from the Borders taking on a smug establishment. I wouldn't want Galloway at my dinner table, but I must confess, this was fun to watch.
Next up, a guest writer from Scotland lauds Galloways performance, gives not an inch on their lies about him and expresses the fear that Galloway's aggressive example might be taken up by. . . us! From his lips to the DNC's ears!
Galloway is smart enough to realize that the current investigations, too murky for many readers and too complicated for the television news bulletins, work in his favor. They give him a reason to continue the war against the war by other means, chipping away at the war's legitimacy and sapping the willingness of the American and British peoples to see their troops sent into action again, should that ever prove necessary. (The real damage done by the failure to find WMDs is the impact it will have on the public's trust in intelligence and political leadership in the event of future emergencies.)
Since it is all but impossible to imagine Galloway or his fellow-travellers supporting any military action led by the U.S. and U.K., it should be clear that Iraq is but one element and one front in this long struggle to hamstring Washington and London.
And Galloway is winning beyond Bethnal Green. "Why oh why are our Democratic leaders not capable of straight talking like Galloway? There is nothing he said that is wrong or false and the impact will be immense. I accuse our democratic leadership of being pathetic wimps who would do well to emulate this superb performance" was one all too typical comment at the liberal blog Daily Kos. Many other posts saluted, to coin a phrase, Galloway's courage, strength, and indefatigability.
This is, it is becoming clear, Galloway's real importance. Galloway and his ilk in this country are slowly corrupting the Democratic party just as much as the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food program was eaten away by kickbacks and bribery.
That may be useful for Republicans in electoral terms but it is an unhealthy development for a country still burdened with great responsibilities (and opportunities) by virtue of its time and place in history.
As you read the whole article, you hear that wistful undertone of regret that they could not nail him for anything, like the sad silent, goodbye one mutters to oneself whan you know you'll never see an old "friend" again. So sense picking on Galloway anymore. You also hear reference to a facorite standard for those wingnuts: Galloway's greatest offense is him "immorality" in fighting the sanctions against Iraq, which is worse than any possible illegality. The law is less important than their conviction of him for not going along with their political programs. . . or should that be "pogroms?"
The real regret at the end of the article is that Galloway might inspire similarly virile opposition here in the U. S. Given their empire ambitions, er, our "unique place in history," it would be a shame to see more opposition to military activism. After all, word on the street is there's a June timetable for Iran.
So, the lesson here is, in part: the wingnuts FEAR us at dailykos. We are the Democratic Party's renaissance, or the beginning of it. Keep up the good work!