The Post does not mince words in an editorial that will make it to the desk of Speaker Pelosi. The editorial ends questioning Ms. Pelosi integrity, even though it is cast and amusing and diplomatic terms. And a little before that we read a grudging support for Bush:
To be sure, President Bush provoked Ms. Pelosi. But he forced the issue only after months of inconclusive dickering convinced him that Democrats were determined to avoid a vote that would force them to accept accountability for opposing an agreement that is manifestly in America's interest. It turns out his suspicions were correct.Yes, the apple of discord is again the FTA with Colombia. That agreement is one of the very few good things that Bush has done in his mercifully to be done eight years. Yet, Democrats are willing to jettison that, not even because it would spite Bush, it is too late for that, but because they are in bitter internal campaign where any tiny support they can get is worthy ditching the bigger interests of the country.
Thus not only Pelosi panders irresponsibly, and is justly exposed by the Post, but empty headed Obama even threatens to balk out of NAFTA while Clinton is willing to lose all of her credit as a respectable New York Senator to win Pennsylvania. It is staggering for me to see how the Democrats are toying with the future of the US in the Americas just because some disgruntled Union Worker in Scranton might stay home on election day.
Thus in the very same week I get to describe how the two sides of the US are equally tone deaf to what is really going on in Latin America. The United States, like it or not, is "the Empire", and even if today Empires are not supposed to send Marines, nor even send subversive money, they have a responsibility to set example and help as much as they can any democratic process, no matter how feeble that one is, when it is directly threatened by clearly established undemocratic actors. And this the more so when it happens not even three hours away by plane.
Let's not kid ourselves, what Mack and Ros-Lehtinen are doing from Florida trying to put Venezuela on a terrorist sponsor list is not any better than what Pelosi is doing trying to sink the Colombia trade deal. All of them, including Obama and Clinton, are making a big mistake on Latin America, to the point of making Bush look good and fair and knowledgeable!
If Pelosi and the trade union wing of the Democratic party were serious they would have negotiated a rider on the Colombia deal, to set some goals for Colombia to reach in a reasonable amount of time otherwise the deal is canceled. After all some Democrats such as Pelosi know and recognized that Colombia human rights have made some progress. But their problem is that they have accepted to become hostages to people who just want to eliminate any FTA, no matter what, and Human Rights is just too much of a convenient excuse to not look mean and petty. The hypocrisy is highlighted when Obama, to name one, calls for an Olympics boycott and yet does not say much about punishing Human Rights violations of China through stiffer import quotas from them. What gives?
If Pelosi and Mack and Ros-Lehtinen are let get away with their objectives the result will be extraordinarily simple: Chavez will be consolidated in power, Uribe will be weakened and eventually a permanent anti US group of countries will line the Southern flank of the US (even with a Democratic president, by the way). That group incidentally will support all sorts of terrorist actions against the US as well as against their only people so as to dominate them better. Where will be the people who "lost South America" when the truth comes home?
Is this Liberal blogger going to have to support McCain? I suppose that I should be grateful that Huckabee or another of those right wing weirdos did not make it tot he GOP nomination....
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