More Evidence That Republicans Really Are the Stupid Party:
When U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Dick Armey calls
for Israel to "grab the entire West Bank" and for Palestinians to
move to a Palestinian state someplace else--in their "hundreds of
thousands of acres of land... and soil and property and opportunity"
that Arab countries have, does he know what he is saying? As I see
it, there are three ways to interpret what Armey said to Christ
Matthews:
I. Armey is a total imbecile who doesn't realize that there are
non-Israelis living on the West Bank.
II. Armey wants Sharon to "ethnically cleanse" the West Bank--send
all Palestinians across the Jordan--and then annex it.
III. Armey wants Sharon to annex the West Bank, but allow those
Palestinians who want to remain to remain under Israeli
government--without voting rights, without representation, et cetera.
I think the most likely interpretation is (I): that Armey's just not
too swift, not well-briefed, and doesn't remember very much of what
his aides told him three hours before.
What does it say about the Republican Party that it elects such a
guy--either a moral imbecile, or just an imbecile--to head it in the
House of Representatives?
And what does it say about the assembled conservative opinion-makers
of the United States that they are desperately unwilling to talk
about what Armey really meant? If some European lawmaker had said
that the solution is to move the Israelis to the United States, what
would George Will be saying?
----------
From Hardball, May 1, 2002: Chris Matthews and Dick Armey:
ARMEY: I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West
Bank.
MATTHEWS: Well, where do you put the Palestinian state, in
Norway? Once the Israelis take back the West Bank permanently and
annex it, there's no place else for the Palestinians to have a
state.
ARMEY: No, no, that's not--that's not at all true. There are
many Arab nations that have many hundreds of thousands of acres of
land and--and soil and property and opportunity to create a
Palestinian state.
MATTHEWS: So you would transport--you would
transport the Palestinians from Palestine to somewhere else and call
it their state?
ARMEY: I would be perfectly content to have a
homeland, just as--most of...
MATTHEWS: But not in
Palestine?
ARMEY: Most of the people who now populate Israel were
transported from all over the world to that land and they made it
their home. The Palestinians can do the same, and we're
per--perfectly content to work with the Palestinians in doing
that...
MATTHEWS: Right, no. No, that's not the question and that's
not your answer. The question here is: What is the future of the
Palestinians who are fighting Israel right now? You say there future
is somewhere besides Palestine. That runs in the way of US policy
going back to 1948. It runs--it runs completely against the
president's policy and every policy I've heard a president take,
which is that Israel has to give up its settlements on the West Bank
and give it back to the Arabs in exchange for peace. You say the deal
should be the Palestinians leave?
ARMEY: That's right...I happened
to believe that the Palestinians should leave.
MATTHEWS: Have you
ever told George Bush, the president from your home state of Texas,
that you think the Palestinians should get up and go and leave
Palestine and that's the solution?
ARMEY: I'm probably telling him
that right now.
MATTHEWS: Well, just to repeat, you believe that the
Palestinians who are now living on the West Bank should get out of
there?
ARMEY: Yes.
-----
Later on, Armey made a statement that is itself mendacious in at
least three ways that I can see:
"In my exchange with Chris Matthews tonight, I left the impression
that I believe peaceful Palestinian civilians should be forcibly
expelled from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This does not reflect my
views. I was merely trying to convey my strong belief that Israel
should yield no further territory until its security is assured and
that the individuals who support terrorist acts may properly be
exiled from the area.
"Let me be clear. Israel is fighting the same
war on terrorism that we are fighting. I reaffirm my support for
their right to defend themselves and secure their peace and
security."
"As much of an imbecile as a Republican politician from Texas" --
Galactic Proverbs 8111:27(c)
