For all those interested, not only in the issues, but the players and master “framer” talking heads, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy displays the technique known as “slick as shit.” (Remember, vampires needn't pause for breath)
"As to whether people are using Cindy, obviously people who are putting television ads up for her are exploiting her celebrity of the moment. And, look, the problem is not whether if we hug people we will demonstrate that we're good people. The problem is we're dealing with people who wish to destroy us. And I don't know how to make that more starkly or more clearly. They have in mind creating a global kalifate, they call it, subjecting all of us to a rule of Shariah like the Taliban."
CINDY SHEEHAN'S PROTEST; August 16, 2005
GWEN IFILL: What began as a small protest has also galvanized proponents of the war who question Sheehan's motives. And one mother's stubborn vigil has now become the latest flash point in the debate over war in Iraq. That debate has been fueled by polls, which show even people who initially supported the war, now express growing misgivings about it. As the protests along the two-lane road in Crawford continue, tension with the president's neighbors has been building. Today, a group of them asked the county to impose parking restrictions and ban future large protests near their homes. Sunday, one rancher fired a shotgun into the air near the encampment, later saying the protesters have overstayed their welcome. And last night, a pickup truck mowed down a row of roadside crosses that were part of the protesters' salute to the war dead.
GWEN IFILL: Now for more on the Cindy Sheehan phenomenon, we're joined by: Frank Gaffney, a columnist with the Washington Times, and president of the Center for Security Policy, a Washington think tank; and Joan Walsh, editor-in-chief of salon.com, an online news magazine.
<snip> (with apologies to Joan Walsh) (full discsussion:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec05/sheehan_8-16.html )
GWEN IFILL: Frank Gaffney you wrote today in the Washington Times that Cindy Sheehan is a poster child for surrender. Is that what you believe she symbolizes?
FRANK GAFFNEY: Yeah Let me be clear, I think she as a mother who lost a son who volunteered to try to help the people of Iraq have a government that was not a threat to them or to us, and lost his life, as such a person she deserves both our gratitude and our sympathy. But I think she clearly has morphed in recent days perhaps to some extent at the hands of others, but nonetheless has become an advocate for cutting and running from Iraq, I think without a great deal of clarity as to how on earth that will actually help, either the people of Iraq or if she doesn't care about the people of Iraq the people of the United States.
It will clearly be the case that enemies of this country in a global war of which Iraq is one front will be emboldened and hardened, even as I think they are by these sorts of indications that we're losing our nerve, that we're being bloodied and we're going to try to or at least some of us are going to try to compel the president to give up, that will only bring the threat we face currently principally overseas to our shores and I think do so in a way that will make the losses we've sustained in Iraq pale by comparison.
:smoke: <snip>
FRANK GAFFNEY: Well, listen, I think Cindy Sheehan has become a little bit of a phenomenon in the August doldrums. She has cleverly, again either on her own initiative or that of handlers, figured out that if you position yourself in the vicinity of a press corps that has a lot of time on its hands down in Crawford, Texas, you're likely to get a lot of publicity and attention to yourself. I would not dignify somebody who has called the President of the United States a liar, who has urged had that he be prosecuted for war crimes, who has even indicated she thinks we should withdraw from Afghanistan with a second meeting when the president I think has an awful lot of other things to do.
I would much rather have the president spending his time leading the nation on this war in a much more vigorous way. A fraction of the capital that he spent on Social Security I think needs to be expended on explaining the points that I was making earlier. This is in fact a global war against a hostile ideology, I call it "Islamafascism;" it will not be appeased; it will only redouble its efforts if we cut and run. And I'm not suggesting for a moment any more than the president was that Cindy Sheehan isn't entitled to say what she wants
I'm just saying that words do have consequences, and there's no doubt about it, our enemies understand, they cannot defeat us militarily but they hope to do what a previous enemy did in Vietnam, and that is to sap our will, to demonstrate that we are as weak and as resolute as they have long believed we are, that cutting and running that they precipitated in Lebanon and in Somalia may be replicated here but with infinitely more dire consequences because this is indeed a global war and they will come after us here at home.
:crazy: <snip>
GWEN IFILL: Mr. Gaffney, why wouldn't the president just meet with her? It seems that might defuse the whole situation. Do you think that would be a bad idea?
FRANK GAFFNEY: Oh, listen, I'm not going to give the president PR advice on how to handle a sticky issue like this. I think it would probably be about as ill advised as cutting and running from Iraq. As to whether people are using Cindy, obviously people who are putting television ads up for her are exploiting her celebrity of the moment. And, look, the problem is not whether if we hug people we will demonstrate that we're good people. The problem is we're dealing with people who wish to destroy us. And I don't know how to make that more starkly or more clearly. They have in mind creating a global kalifate, they call it, subjecting all of us to a rule of Shariah like the Taliban. I happen to think it was a very honorable and laudatory thing that we helped deliver the people of Afghanistan from that kind of world and indeed that we've helped deliver the people of Iraq from that kind of world, at least for the moment.
I think far from condescending comments about people who accomplish those sorts of things, we ought to be grateful for them and I hope the president will continue, as I say, to make the case to the American people that not only were these good things in their own right but they are an incredibly important ingredient in a larger global campaign which we cannot afford to lose.
CHERTOFF’S COUSIN?
Gaffney archive:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/frankjgaffneyjr/archive.shtml Media Transparency: The money behind conservative media
http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=489The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a right-wing think tank that has been described as "the nerve center of the Star Wars lobby." CSP was founded by Frank Gaffney, who helped formulate the Strategic Defense Initiative while assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. Gaffney founded the group to respond quickly to current debates, describing CSP's goal to "be the Domino's Pizza of the policy business."
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/ Gaffney bio:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/BIOS/cbgaffney.htmlFrank Gaffney is the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. The Center is a not-for-profit, non-partisan educational corporation established in 1988; a monthly contributor to Defense News and Investor's Business Daily. He is a contributing editor to National Review Online and a columnist for American Spectator Online, WorldNetDaily.com and JewishWorldReview.com.
In April 1987, Mr. Gaffney was nominated by President Reagan to become the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department with responsibility for policies involving nuclear forces, arms control and U.S.-European defense relations. He acted in that capacity for seven months during which time, he was the Chairman of the prestigious High Level Group, NATO's senior politico-military committee. He also represented the Secretary of Defense in key U.S.-Soviet negotiations and ministerial meetings.
From August 1983 until November 1987, Mr. Gaffney was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy under Assistant Secretary Richard Perle. From February 1981 to August 1983, Mr. Gaffney was a Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Senator John Tower (R-Texas). In the latter 1970's, Mr. Gaffney served as an aide to the late Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson (D-Washington) in the areas of defense and foreign policy.
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