Thursday, January 28, 2016

Nicholas Kristof, "Compassionate Conservatives, Hello?": How Dare You!



Describing George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" in his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Compassionate Conservatives, Hello?," Nicholas Kristof writes:

"That instinct to show a little heart helped elect Bush but then largely disappeared from Republican playbooks and policy. Yet now, amid the Republican Party’s civil war, there are intriguing initiatives by the House speaker, Paul Ryan, and some other conservatives to revive an interest in the needy.

Liberals like myself may be tempted to dismiss these new efforts as mere marketing gestures, meant to whitewash what one of the initiatives acknowledges is 'the longstanding view of a meanspirited conservatism.'"

Yup, this comes from Kristof, a columnist who traveled across Iran with his children in June 2012 and regaled us with anecdotes from his chance meetings with Iranians in his opinion piece "In Iran, They Want Fun, Fun, Fun." Discussions with members of Iran's persecuted Baha'i minority? Kristof didn't mention any. Exchanges of views with Iran's oppressed Kurds? Again, no such thing. Dialogue with Iranian homosexuals? No way, given that homosexuals are hanged in Iran. A visit to Evin Prison to check the well-being of political dissidents languishing in its dungeons? Sorry, not on this road trip. Better still, an off-the-beaten-track side trip to witness the stoning to death of a woman accused of adultery? No, he wouldn't want his children to see such a spectacle.

Fun, fun, fun . . .

Sorry, but you're in no position to lecture us on compassion, Nicholas.

4 comments:

  1. Yes, believe it or not, it does get worse than this. In today's NY Times, Roger Cohen takes direct aim at Netanyahu again in his piece entitled "America's Jew Boy in Tel Aviv".
    http://goo.gl/pxS420
    What Cohen forgot to mention is that terror attacks currently taking place in Israel are a near-daily occurrence and have the popular backing of most of the Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. Most of those attacked in Israel have been the elderly, women and children. The Palestinian attackers have been primarily teenagers motivated by Palestinian Authority incitement. Israeli violence against Palestinians on the other hand is an extremely rare occurrence and is denounced and condemned by the vast majority of Israelis.
    But all that doesn't seem to matter to Obama's 'Jew Boy' at the NY Times.

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  2. Typical...title was changed from "America's Jew Boy in Tel Aviv" to "Israel's Image Issue".

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  3. Here is a screen capture of Cohen's original OpEd from 28.1.2016
    http://www.tiikoni.com/tis/view/?id=3adbcd8

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  4. 'US issues guidelines on labeling West Bank products'

    http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4759400,00.html

    New 'Guidelines' issued within hours of Roger Cohen's OpEd calling for exactly the same White House Policy. Coincidence? I think not.

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