Much credit on his re-election could probably be given to a very scary (yet timely) videotape of Osama bin Laden. If you will recall, on October 29, 2004, al Jazeera broadcast excerpts from a videotape of Osama bin Laden addressing the people of the United States (in which he accepts responsibility for the September 11 attacks) condemns the Bush government's response to those attacks and presents those attacks as part of a campaign of revenge. The video was reported to be 18 minutes in length; with Osama only speaking for 14 minutes 39 seconds.
Strangely enough, here we are again in another election season with Americans watching anti-American sentiment spread across the Middle East, thanks to some silly film short, that showed up on YouTube. I bet some little known avant-garde film maker (whomever he or his surrogate may be) is quite pleased with the response their little YouTube venture has received. Who could possibly be responsible for such a hateful film; who benefits the most from it being public?
Because we are such a cynical republic, let us speculate:
Stuart Stevens is Mitt Romney’s top strategist. In what many in the campaign now consider a fundamental design flaw, Stevens is doing three major jobs: chief strategist, chief ad maker and chief speechwriter. It would be as if George W. Bush had run for president in 2000 with one person playing the roles of Karl Rove, Mark McKinnon and Michael Gerson. Or if on the Obama campaign of 2008, David Axelrod had not been backed up by Jim Margolis, Robert Gibbs and Jon Favreau.
Asked if he had assumed too many roles, Stevens said he had big teams to help him in each area. “Everybody wears a lot of hats,” he said. “We’re that kind of campaign — very un-compartmentalized.” He said that making the ads in-house has been a huge advantage. “You can walk down and stick your finger in the cookie batter.”
Stevens, a 58-year-old son of the South, is easy for conservatives to dislike. His official bio does not exactly scream “Republican ad guy from Mississippi”: “Stuart was educated at Colorado College, Middlebury College, Oxford University and the UCLA Film School, [and] is also a former Fellow of the American Film Institute.”
He is not particularly ideological, and has a big-city, Hollywood aura that grates on movement conservatives. “He’s a smart, capable guy but he sends bad signals” to the right, said a Republican operative who works closely with the campaign. “He has a lot of goofy quotes that cause everybody to shake their heads. … Stuart is one of the most insecure guys in the business. But he has become the top strategic adviser to the nominee, which is a huge accomplishment.”
Every profile of Stevens includes the descriptor “eclectic,” which seems fair, given he has skied to the North Pole, chronicled his use of steroids to compete in an extreme race, written novels and a campaign memoir, advised clients in Albania and Congo and consulted on Hollywood projects, including the political film “The Ides of March.”
Stevens has a free-flowing way about his life and is excited by ideas he deems wonderful or weird. He enjoys a love-hate relationship with the media — firing off emails with his candid and often illuminating take on the political spat of the moment, while also stoking the media-is-so-damned-biased flames inside the campaign and among conservatives. Source
24 comments:
Huh?
What?
Huh? and so are you saying the film on YouTube is from this Romney guy?
I have no idea what your point.
Provocative Ms. Emerge.
Huh meaning did you accidentally merge two posts together? What does the hypocrisy of the Muslims have to do with Romneys head dude?
Reaching Ms. Emerge.
You're not making any sense on this one. What's your point?
Made perfect sense to me!
Not too far of a reach when this type of propaganda is making the rounds in Repug e-mails
"Muhammad was a man who consummated his "marriage" to Aisha when she was 9 years old and still playing with dolls. Mohammad was a child molester."
There is less and less reason to believe the attacks were due to a super-obscure "film" that hasn't been released and more and more reasons to believe it was a coordinated event on the 11th anniversary of 9/11. We have little to fear from any other religious group except radical Islam - and that is sad because I'm sure a lots of Muslims are against what has been happening.
And smart people are asking why didn't Religulous spark the same response? Maher slammed Islam in the film too.
Yet in Egypt, not to long ago, a film was released there slamming the Jews and the State of Israel. I didn't see the Jews trashing embassy's.
Exactly. IN the US, there are a certain number of Christians that will always scream bloody murder if they feel their religion is being attacked.
Over there, it's the same except it's ACTUAL bloody murder if Islam gets snubbed.
I am a Christian and I keep looking in the Bible for examples of Christians (among the disciples) who screamed bloody murder when their religion was attacked. So far I haven't read about any--I believe most of them ended up as martyrs for their faith. I think what they did was to keep preaching the Gospel without attacking non-believers, who were their mission field. Actually, their mission field was quite possibly the predecessors of those in the Arab world that are upsetting our world today.
I just hope Christians are defending their faith rather than their American way of life. America has offered us protections that most Christians in the world do not enjoy. I believe the Old Testament speaks of those who are "at ease in Zion." That might just be us.
Sorry to preach, but...
Pardon me while I digress but in no rational sense are Muslims being oppressed or persecuted in the US. The same is NOT true of Christians who have the misfortune of living in Muslim dominated countries. hundreds if not thousands of Christians have been murdered at the hands of Muslims over the last several years in Muslim dominated countries. I frankly don' t HOW Coptics survive in Egypt and other Muslim countries.
Vonster, I am not trying to pick a fight. I am asking if you understand what I am about to say. Are you referring to American Christians living in Muslim countries or Christians, in general? The reason I ask is that the Bible does not, in any way, state that those who proclaim Christ have any right to protection--in fact, the Bible states that we are guaranteed persecution for proclaiming Christ. We have been very fortunate to live in a country that does protect us (and Muslims) from persecution. Whether or not America can protect Americans living in Muslim countries probably depends on why they are there and on whether or not they are willing to leave during times of unrest, etc. Christians who purposely put themselves in harm's way to preach the gospel probably cannot expect total protection--at least, no more than Americans who do not necessarily declare themselves as Christians.
I know that there is a contrast between the way Christians handle persecution and what we just witnessed in Libya, etc. That is our witness to the rest of the world--the one that should and often does result in conversion--which should be the ultimate goal of Christians, right?
Sharon, I was with you till the last part. IMHO, the Christians ultimate goal is to live aa Christ filled life. The conversions will happen when people witness a true Christian and realize that they are not playing the conversion game, but genuinely care for others with no ulterior motive.
Anoymous, I don't disagree with you, but I do believe that missionaries do often risk their lives to go to foreign countries to follow the command, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel." I am well aware that Christians sometimes do not use the most effective ways to reach people--being genuine and living Christ filled lives, as you stated. The "ulterior" motive, however, is at God's command (reading the Bible you can't deny that command, can you?).
Who said anything about "American Christians"??,
get caught bringing a Bible into Saudi...
I did not deny that that is in there. I took issue with the "ultimate goal." I think the ultimate goal is to love one another as oneself.
John 3:17
Vonster, I was asking for clarification--not sure whether or not you meant Christians. Yes, Christians don't fare well in the Muslim world. Do you remember or have you ever heard the story of Jim Elliott's death in Ecuador? Spreading the Gospel has often been a death sentence--began with Stephen and has never ended.
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