This picture really bothers me. Is it just me?

[finecraft]

This picture is shown on Tom Delay's website at www.majorityleader.gov. It really bothers me.

What kind of message is this sending. Is there any real hope for Bush's roadmap if we have pictures like this on government websites? If we wish to win the "hearts and minds" of those in the islamic world, shouldn't we appear a little less biased?

[Brian Sweat]

1. Yes, it is a little disturbing.

I hope this picture doesn't get too much publicity. It is not going to make us any friends in the Arab world.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. But isn't it the right-wing roadmap?

Didn't we just learn that a "think-tank" outside the U.S. wanted us to correlate Iraq with 9/11? Maybe Delay is doing us all a favor by being so incredibly brazen. He's defying the sheeple to wake up and connect the dots.

[CBHagman]

34. Refresh my memory. Which think tank?

I'm blanking out.

[The Backlash Cometh]

39. Try this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=170621&mesg_id=170621

[Warpy]

12. I find it disturbing

...that any US Congressman would display the flag of a foreign power on his website. Surely, there's a conflict of interest in there along with the supreme bad taste.

I wonder if we could get rid of him on the grounds that he's acting as an agent for a foreign power?

(note: I'd be just as unhappy with any other flag from any other foreign country. The flag of Israel just adds a little nose-thumbing to the Islamic world, something we really don't need more of)

[soleft]

3. If only Islamic control of Israel were key to bringing on the rapture

Then Delay would be making pilgrimage to Mecca.

[ameriphile]

4. No, it's not just you

This image is totally inappropriate. But that's Tom DeLay, all over again.

[Liberal_Andy]

5. He's the "Dale Gribble" of Congress

X-Terminator Man

[Friar]

6. Holy Shiite

That is so disgusting. Is he planning to remake the Flag? While I support Israel's right to exist, this is beyond the pale. And we're paying for this BS? "God, I hate them. I hate them all."-Mike Malloy

[tom_paine]

7. What is really grotesque is that DeLay probably HATES JEWS

We're a bunch of Commies, remember? You think their's an inch of daylight between his views and Annthrax Coulter's?

I doubt it.

But DeLay loves Israel because he needs it to have his rapture.

I wish that dumbass would have stayed in the "killing-things-smaller-than-him-cause-it-makes-him-feel-tough" business.

Not that all exterminators are like that, but undoubtedly a gutless mean turd like DeLay is.

[DuctapeFatwa]

15. Yes, of course he hates Jews, the whole idea is to destroy Israel

Obviously, the policies of the current Israeli government are not compatible with the continued existence of the nation, or the well-being of the Israeli people.

But since the idea of the Rapture includes having the vast majority of the Israeli people hurled into a lake of fire or something, whether they are hurled from a glorified US military base or a sovereign state is a minor detail.

For the less evangelical in Washington, it is just a money thing, a fat guard dog for their "economic interests."

If the US were really interested in the best interests of Israel and its people, it would have put its energy into helping and encouraging them to develop good relationships with its neighbors.

The Israeli people deserve a country that is a responsible, law-abiding member of the community of nations.

And the region deserves a good neighbor that makes democracy look like a good thing, not a mangy crackhead pitbull.

[Jacobin]

30. Ahem...actually

If I remember my Falwell/Robertson propaganda, the Jews will be converted to Xtianity upon the rapture and jaaayyzus will rule the earth from Jerusalem.

Both sides are using each other in a cynical way. The Israeli's obviously don't buy into that rapture crap, but are happy to have the funds and the military helping them to conquer the traditional holy land. The rapturists are listening to soothsayers and are trying to start armageddon. They are nuts and there is nothing for them but a loony bin. The military hardware folks think this is great. Bush is a moron. Condi is clueless. Rummfilled likes being the head warmonger. Perle and Wolfowitz are using the fundies to get the holy land expanded using U.S. troops.

What's not to like, unless you are an American citizen who is not insane?

[jmowreader]

33. Yeah, there's a bunch of difference between Coulter and DeLay

Coulter is this administration's Useful Idiot--the louder she yells and the more brazen her words, the more moderate DeLay, Bush et al look.

Bush and DeLay are evil in ways you've never read about.

[bluestateguy]

37. And the other irony

is that Israel is a socialist country.

[madmax]

8. Yes, it bothers me

Any flag juxtaposed with our Capital and our flag bothers me.

Oy Vey, what a message it sends to the rest of the world.

[DuctapeFatwa]

9. I don't think people in the rest of the world are so stupid

People in the rest of the world, Islamic and otherwise know very well that the US supports the Likud party 100%, and that American taxpayers fund daily atrocities against Palestinian civilians.

It's important to remember that although covering the actions of mlitant Sharon gunmen is for all practical purposes forbidden in US media, the rest of the world sees it every day.

http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_e/ipc_e-1/e_News/news2003/2003-08/057.html

There is a small but zealous segment of Americans, most of whom also believe that God chose Bush to bring the Rapture, and evildoers who hate freedom did the 911 attacks, who do not understand very well what the "policy" on Palestine is, and any politician who expresses any other opinion will go the way of Cynthia McKinney.

[SoCalDem]

10. He's an IDIOT..'nuff said... but who are these people with Cheney?

[leftofthedial]

11. Who said anything about

winning hearts and minds in the Islamic world.

That is clearly not part of the agenda.

Bringing about bibical end-times prophecy is the agenda.

[Wwagsthedog]

13. Only one way to describe this.........

........OUTRAGEOUS. But then again, tOM dElAY personifies evil.

[RobertSeattle]

14. And why isn't there a "http://www.minorityleader.gov/ site as well?

So much for smaller government - government funded website for the adoration of Tom Delay.

Need to get this on CrossFire!

[texastoast]

16. Could We Please Have a Stars and Moon in There as Well

To show that Wiccans are represented as well?

:loveya:

[AntiBushRepub]

17. Quite the bonehead move.

One of the reasons that despite alot of my beliefs I'm not thrilled with this administration one bit...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

18. Not right at all

For what everyone said. DeLay would have been the first one outraged if a Congressperson displayed a flag of, say, the USSR back in the 80s. These 'rapture' people, who I know have no love of Jews, make regular Christians look bad. Luckily, I know that not all Christians are like them. Hope Christians don't think all Muslims are terrorists-though I believe DeLay thinks they are.

[izzie]

19. Would he have really put that up?

Are you sure he did this?

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

20. what's the problem?

israel owns the capitol.

[Friar]

27. BS

That's such white power hokem. The "Christian" right owns the Capitol now. While they think all Jews are going to hell, or will be miraculously converted during the "tribulation", they are needed as cannon fodder for Armegeddon.

[arcane1]

21. I'll give him credit for (sort of) being up front about it

but the sybolism there is too striking..

there should be NO country's flag there but ours!!!

[rocktivity]

22. "President's Leadership & Clarity Make Peace In Mid-East Possible"

THAT'S the part that disturbs ME.

rocknation

[David__77]

23. reminds me of something in the "Spotlight"

the anti-Semitic newspaper used to run pictures of Bush with an Israeli flag in the background. Is DeLay just feeding the anti-"dual loyalty" crowd. Interesting...

[MGKrebs]

24. Selected excerpts from the related speech

on the same site.
Pretty scary stuff. Apocalyptic messages. Kill 'em all type stuff.

"He made clear that the prospects for peace are the responsibility of the
Palestinian Authority. They must maintain sustained, targeted and effective
operations to fight terror and dismantle terrorist capabilities and
infrastructure

Terrorism cannot be negotiated away or pacified.

Terrorism will either destroy free nations, or free nations will destroy it.

Freedom and terrorism will struggle - good and evil - until the battle is
resolved.

And so shall it be until the last terrorist on earth is in a cell or a
cemetery

And, by their nature, democracies neither enable terror nor instigate war.

Terrorism, like its tyrannical forebears, is borne of the idea that with
enough guns, enough fear, and enough violence, human power can control the
human spirit.

Ladies and gentlemen, IT IS A LIE.

It was a lie at Auschwitz. It was a lie in the Gulag.

It was a lie behind the Iron Curtain. It was a lie in Kabul and Baghdad.

And today, it remains a lie in Beijing, and Havana, and Tehran, and
P'yong-yang, and Damascus and Ramallah!

The war on terror is not a misunderstanding. It is not an opportunity for
negotiation or dialogue.

It's a battle between good and evil, between the Truth of liberty and The
Lie of terror.

This war is the moral extension of World War II and the Cold War,…

All people who desire peace and freedom are therefore allies of the United
States.

And included in that number are the Palestinian people who yearn for peace,
who for too long have been used as pawns by their terrorist leadership.

But their enemy is not Israel, nor its people, nor its democratic
government.

Their enemy is Yasir Arafat

Terrorists are incapable of peace, because they live only to terrorize, to
intimidate, and to kill.

Democracies, therefore, must only make peace with those men capable of it.
Governments in Iran, Syria, and elsewhere who continue to offer support and
safe harbor to terrorists will be held accountable for their actions, and
suffer the consequences.

Terrorism is going to be ended in the Middle East and everywhere else, and
so too will regimes that support it.

So I say again, to all Israelis and Palestinians who seek peace: "Be not
afraid."

Your liberation from The Lie is at hand.

More blood may be spilled and more tears shed, but a future of freedom is
certain.

[MGKrebs]

26. He seems to think that this is a zero sum game.

That there are "X" number of terrorists, and once we kill all of them, that there won't be any more.

You should know better Tom. That doesn't even work with cockroaches.

[thebeaglehaslanded]

25. It's merely the flag of the 51st state.

[cmf]

28. Doesn't surprise me one bit

Tom Delay's version of peace in the Middle East consists of Israel moving the Palestinians out of the West Bank. There is no compromise.

[Jacobin]

29. At least he's not a hypocrite about it

The Bushco/Sharon junta and its world domination PNAC agenda is pretty obvious to most people not in this country.

What good would it do to attempt to hide it.....I mean look at what the fuck they are doing...

[alfredo]

31. I just sent the link to

Crossfire.

[finecraft]

35. Good Idea!

The boys should have some fun with this. I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it very disturbing!

[LEFTofLEFT]

32. tom is a sick fuck

i would not be surprised by anything he has done

[moondust]

36. WTF?

This is the very definition of undiplomatic. This goofy despot has no business messing around with the government. How embarrassing!

This picture on an official government website indicates that a member of the U.S. House of Representatives is officially serving a foreign power. That would be treason.

[Pobeka]

38. www.majorityleader.gov site is down

Not only is it down, it doesn't resolve to an IP address anymore.

It's as if it didn't exist.

[NashVegas]

40. Someone's Been Reading DU, Maybe?

just curious

maybe their server is in ohio