THE DAILY BLADE: A Tale Of Two Candidates
Writing in WSJ.com's “Political Diary” (E-mail subscription required) John Fund describes two candidates who won their primary battles this week: Candidate A “was homeless on the streets … shining shoes to survive for two years.” Candidate B is “a complete unknown who never mounted any kind of campaign [and is] an unemployed military veteran who lives with his father.”
One of these men is suspected of being a ringer, and an influential pol has called upon federal prosecutors to "investigate the circumstances” of his candidacy. Can you tell which one?
Candidate A is regarded as a legitimate candidate, while Candidate B is suspected of being an interloper (if not worse). What are the salient differences between the two?
Candidate A (Paul LePage) is the Repub nominee for the governor of ME, and Fund calls him “a classic rags-to-riches American success story.” Candidate B (Alvin Greene) is SC’s Dem candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Fund notes he “is awaiting trial on felony charges for allegedly showing pornographic images while propositioning a young woman” and has filed an "affidavit of indigency" asking for a public defender to handle his case.
Both party’s candidates say they have a constituency (fifth item) in their respective states.
Calling Bulls*it On Turkey
The Wall Street Journal (finally) calls Turkey out over its outrageous claim that
Turkey's ambassador to the United States makes the argument that Israel had no cause to clash with the "European lawmakers, journalists, business leaders and an 86-year-old Holocaust survivor" who were aboard the flotilla. But there was no fighting with those people, or with five of the six boats in the fleet. All of the violence occurred aboard the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, and all of those who were killed were members or volunteers for the Islamic "charity" that owned the ship, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).
The relationship between Mr. Erdogan's government and the IHH ought to be one focus of any international investigation into the incident. The foundation is a member of the "Union of Good," a coalition that was formed to provide material support to Hamas and that was named as a terrorist entity by the United States in 2008. In discussions before the flotilla departed, Turkish officials turned down offers from both Israel and Egypt to deliver the "humanitarian" supplies on the boats to Gaza and insisted Ankara could not control what it described as a nongovernmental organization.
Yet the IHH has certainly done its best to promote Mr. Erdogan. "All the peoples of the Islamic world would want a leader like Recep Tayyip Erdogan," IHH chief Bulent Yildirim proclaimed at a Hamas rally in Gaza last year. And Mr. Erdogan seems to share that notion: In the days since an incident that the IHH admits it provoked, the Turkish prime minister has done his best to compete with Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's Hasan Nasrallah in attacking the Jewish state.
For its part, The Journal rather gingerly observes that the Turks go after the PKK (AKA Kurdistan Workers' Party) hammer and tong even as it repeatedly condemns Israel for similar policies against Hamas:
The Middle East's regional superpower has again deployed its air force to bomb a rebel group considered by some to be terrorists and by others to be freedom fighters. Another Israeli air strike on Gaza? Not quite.
The attacker is the Turkish air force, which on Monday bombed PKK positions in northern Iraq for the second time in a month. …
Israel has enemies similar to the PKK, including Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, and it has dealt with them in similar ways. Successive Israeli governments have also accepted the legitimacy of a Palestinian state, which is more than can be said for the Turkish government's attitude toward an independent Kurdistan. …
However well Mr. Erdogan's dalliance with Islamic extremists plays at home, the world can plainly see his double standard.
Writing in The Armenian Weekly, Armenian activist Harut Sassounian is much more pointed (though, it must be noted, he’s no fan of Israel owing to the Jewish state's official policy of Armenian Genocide denial):
† How can Turkey blockade Armenia for 17 years and credibly call on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza?
† How can Erdogan condemn Israeli attacks on Palestinians when Turkish jets regularly bomb Northern Iraq (Kurdistan), killing and maiming innocent men, women, and children?
† How can Erdogan condemn Israel’s mistreatment of Palestinians when his own country deprives Alevis, Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, and Kurds of their most basic rights?
† How can Turkey oppose the occupation of Palestine and Karabagh (Artsakh) while it occupies Northern Cyprus and Western Armenia?
† How can Turkish leaders accuse Israel and China of committing “genocide” when they deny the reality of Turkey’s own genocide of 1.5 million Armenians? …
Israel and the United States share responsibility for Turkey’s hypocritical behavior - they joined in supporting, defending, and covering up numerous Turkish violations of human rights, the denial of the Armenian Genocide, and the suppression and ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish minority. In the past 60 years, the United States and other NATO members have given billions of dollars in foreign aid and military assistance to Turkey, vainly expecting to win its loyalty. This was a massive waste of U.S. resources, as Turkey did not even allow American troops to go across its border at the start of the Iraq War. …
Of course, over the years, the Israeli government has acted just as hypocritically as Turkey’s leaders. While countering any and all manifestations of Holocaust revisionism, Israeli officials have shown no reluctance in supporting Turkey’s denials of the Armenian Genocide. But now that Erdogan has raised his voice against Israel to a fever pitch, Israelis have jumped at the opportunity to use the possibility of recognizing the Armenian Genocide as a weapon against Turkey.
Just as there is a double standard for Israel – its policies and implementation of them always have to be beyond reproach - there has also been a double standard for Turkey – its policies and implementation of them can never be reproached. It’s time to stop tolerating the duplicitousness and hypocrisy.
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