Monday, March 2, 2015
From: Gary L. Bauer
Stand With Me!
It’s been a busy day as you will read in a moment, and the rest of the week is just as jam-packed. Your generous financial support is the only thing that keeps me going! Please stand with me now.
Israel Has A Strong Voice
I was at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual policy conference this morning with 15,000 people cheering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As he began his remarks, Netanyahu identified a few people who were present, including President Milos Zeman of the Czech Republic. I was struck by the historical significance of Zeman’s attendance.
In the 1930s, Czechoslovakia was offered up as a sacrificial lamb by world leaders eager to satiate Adolf Hitler. It did not work. Today there are those who would do it again, but this time the lamb would be Israel.
In the 1930s Czechoslovakia wasn’t strong enough to speak loudly enough. As Prime Minister Netanyahu noted, today Israel is strong. The prime minister said:
“For 2000 years, my people, the Jewish people, were stateless, defenseless, voiceless. . . . We suffered relentless persecution and horrific attacks. We could never speak on our own behalf, and we could not defend ourselves. Well, no more, no more.
“The days when the Jewish people are passive in the face of threats to annihilate us, those days are over. . . . Today, we have a voice. And tomorrow, as prime minister of the one and only Jewish state, I plan to use that voice.”
SPECIAL NOTICE: We are less than 24 hours away from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s much-anticipated address before Congress. Thousands of you have answered my call to pray for Israel and its leader. I hope many more will do so today.
Click here to pledge to pray that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s warnings about a nuclear-armed Iran will be heard from one end of Pennsylvania Avenue to the other.
A Foreign Policy Election
The economy generally dominates U.S. elections. But it seems likely that foreign policy will play a greater role in 2016 than it has in recent presidential campaigns. Many on the left believe that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can make foreign policy her asset. It could be difficult.
On the day the body of her son returned home from Benghazi, Patricia Smith, mother of slain State Department officer Sean Smith, met Obama, Biden, Clinton and then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta. “They all looked me directly in the eyes and promised they would find out [who was responsible] and let me know,” Mrs. Smith wrote in a letter to members of Congress.
As we learned last week, new documents indicate that Clinton’s chief of staff and executive assistant knew within minutes that the Benghazi attacks were not protests about a video but Al-Qaeda-linked terrorism. Hillary Clinton knew the truth, yet she and the Obama White House repeatedly told the American people and the victims’ families it was a protest over a video.
Charles Woods, father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, also met with Hillary Clinton that same day at Andrews Air Force Base. According to Mr. Woods, she said, “We will make sure the person who made that film is arrested and prosecuted.”
Clinton’s response to a grieving father wasn’t, “We’ll get the jihadists who murdered your son.” Instead she essentially said, “We’ll crack down on the free speech of those who dare to criticize Islam.”
CPAC Sounds Reaganesque Themes
The Conservative Political Action Conference wrapped up this weekend. Once again, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul won the CPAC straw poll. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker finished second, and many analysts argued that he was the real winner because of his rapid rise in recent weeks. Sen. Ted Cruz (12%), Dr. Ben Carson (11%) and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (8%) rounded out the top five.
Virtually every speaker other than Rand Paul delivered a confident, Reaganesque message about the need to confront radical Islam and rebuild America’s defenses. None did it better than Indiana Governor Mike Pence, who is not a declared candidate for the 2016 presidential contest. Here are some excerpts of his remarks:
“First, let’s recognize that 2016 could be the first foreign policy national election since 1980. The world seems to become more dangerous by the day. Sadly, the administration has reduced our Army to its smallest size since 1940. The Navy has fewer ships than at any time since 1916, and our Air Force has its smallest tactical fighter force in history. . . .
“Weakness arouses evil. As we speak, ISIS is setting up franchises across the Middle East and is on the offensive across the Arab world. The president says jobs are the answer to violent jihad. Mr. President, “Jihadi John” doesn’t want a job. He wants to see paradise and I think we should help him get there as quickly as possible. . . .
“The truth is you cannot command the respect of the world when you spend years apologizing to our enemies and abandoning our friends. Lecturing the American people about the Crusades while refusing to call Islamic extremism by name is an abdication of leadership.
“And as President Reagan taught us, peace comes through strength. Providing for the common defense of the United States is the chief responsibility of our national government. With everything happening in the world, it is imperative that conservatives again embrace America’s role as leader of the free world and the arsenal of democracy.”
Amnesty Showdown Continues
House conservatives Friday rejected the demands of Senate liberals to decouple Obama’s executive amnesty orders from legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security. After four filibusters, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell split the legislation into two bills — one funding DHS and one opposing Obama’s executive amnesty.
But House conservatives refused to budge. A bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for three weeks — without any restrictions on Obama’s amnesty — failed after more than 50 conservatives broke ranks. Late Friday night, the House passed legislation funding the Department for one week.
On CBS’s “Face The Nation” yesterday, Speaker Boehner reminded the American people about the reason for this gridlock:
“Remember what is causing this. It’s the president of the United States overreaching. And that’s not just on immigration. You know, 38 times he made unilateral changes to Obamacare. . . . I made it clear we were going to do everything we could to block the president’s executive overreach. And that’s the basis of the problem that we’re trying to deal with.”
On NBC’s “Meet The Press,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy urged Senate Republicans to change the filibuster rules so they could pass legislation avoiding unnecessary disruptions at the Department of Homeland Security while also defunding Obama’s executive amnesty.
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