The Times They Are A...Changin'
Roger L Simon
rogerlsimon.com
I don't want to brag that I wrote The New York Times editorial on March 1 was a sea change in traditionalist liberal reaction to the War in Iraq, but Bill Richardson's appearance on the Today show this morning (transcribed by Citizen Smash) is another indication that I was right. This is not to take away from the New Mexico governor who is one of our more honest politicians, but... pathetic as that is...it almost seems that the Times has given him and others a permission slip. Even the reified Katie Couric seemed to be going along this time. Will Howard Dean be far behind? How strange it must be for these liberals to have to face the fact that they were not liberal after all.
SMASH - Did He Just Say That?
NBC'S TODAY, 7:10am PST March 7, 2005.
KATIE COURIC: Let's turn to Lebanon, if we could for a moment, Governor. Because as you know, Syrian President Assad has announced that his troops will withdraw from Lebanon, a country that Syria has occupied since the mid-70s. For people who may not be foreign policy experts, how significant is this?
NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR BILL RICHARDSON (D): Well, this is very significant. I believe the Bush Administration deserves credit for putting pressure, and saying that authoritarian regimes have to go. What is happening here is, the assassination of a very popular former prime minister in Lebanon, has fueled massive demonstrations in Lebanon, that hopefully will lead to all 14,000 Syrian troops out of Lebanon, plus their intelligence agents, by May. It means that in Lebanon, in Egypt there's some potential new elections. The Palestinian Territories; in Iraq; I think there's a wave of democracy caused by internal pressures, of young people in the Arab world, rooting against these authoritarian regimes--and pressure from the Bush Administration--
KATIE COURIC: I--
BILL RICHARDSON: They deserve credit.
KATIE COURIC: I was going to say, because a lot of foreign policy experts are hailing the Bush Administration's policies, and saying the Bush Doctrine, of spreading democracy throughout the world, there's clear evidence that it's working. You agree with that assessment?
BILL RICHARDSON: Well, it is working. Whether by design, or by accident, it is working. The fact that the President has spoken out, where in the past the US policy has winked at Saudi Arabia, or Egypt, because of their massive security, and we have energy interests there, we have military bases, we kind of said, "OK, it's alright not to be democratic. The President, in talking about freedom and democracy, is sparking a wave of very positive democratic sentiment that might help us override both Islamic fundamentalism that has formed in that region, and also some of the hatred for our policies of invading Iraq. So, this is not only bringing a good result in the Middle East, potential democracy and full elections, but also it is helping our security, perhaps making us safer, by having less Islamic fundamentalism--
KATIE COURIC: Right.
BILL RICHARDSON: ...because democracy provides an outlet against it. And also, younger Arabs that are fueling this discontent throughout the Arab world, becoming pro-US, which is a good sign for the future.
KATIE COURIC: Alright. Good news indeed.
He almost sounds like one of those awful neo-cons I've heard about. |
