Metahypocrisy at BuzzFeed

Sometimes the story isn't really the story...

Yesterday, BuzzFeed posted an article, "7 Things Democrats Would Have Freaked Out About If Bush Had Done Them."

Now, BuzzFeed isn't exactly known for being necessarily friendly to conservatives. Their treatment of a recent interview with Senator Marco Rubio drew criticism for its slanted portrayal of him, although Rubio handled it with his typical grace. Still, yesterday's post was a pretty vicious takedown of the Left's hypocrisy about certain foreign policy decisions by the Obama administration:

Obama is better than the previous 11 presidents combined!

Oh yes, I am absolutely serious about that post title. Barack Obama is better than the eleven presidents who held the office before him. In fact, he's better than all eleven of them combined.

The unfortunate thing for Obama is the category where he is better than his predecessors:

Adam Putnam recalls spending 9/11 with President Bush

On the morning of September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush was visiting an elementary school in Sarasota, Florida. Accompanying the President was then-Congressman Adam Putnam, now Florida's Commissioner of Agriculture. 

Here's an interview the St. Petersburg Times did with Putnam about what he remembers from that terrible day:

St. Petersburg Times | During Sept. 11th attacks, then-Rep. Adam Putnam was with President George W. Bush 

..."It's hard to believe it's been 10 years," said former U.S. Rep Adam Putnam, now Florida's agriculture commissioner, who was at the school. 

Putnam, a Bartow Republican the president nicknamed "Red," and the others were preparing for a feel-good event: a visit with students that would highlight the school's improvement. 

The call Bush took was startling, but no one knew what was really going on. Officials first thought a small propeller plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers. 

Bush continued with the program, reading along as second-graders recited The Pet Goat, a story in a workbook. Then Card walked over and whispered in his ear, "A second plane hit the second tower. America is under attack."

Condi Rice puts the smack down on Lawrence O'Donnell

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell made an attempt to interview former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by tossing wildly inaccurate and illogical liberal talking points at her. Rice repeatedly smacks him down so many times, I'm surprised he wasn't bleeding from the ears by the end of the interview.

The carnage starts almost immediately, when Rice openly mocks O'Donnell for not understanding that September 11th was, well, kind of a big deal:

O'Donnell: [Bush is] clearly saying that September 11th is the reason he looked at Iraq differently and saw a threat there.

Rice: Yeah. Are you surprised by that?

O'Donnell: Yes.

Rice: After September 11th...

O'Donnell: Yes, because Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th.

Rice [grinning and shaking her head]: After September 11th, of course you look at threats differently...

O'Donnell keeps interrupting her to repeat the tired bit about "Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th!" and Rice stops him...

Lawrence, we can end this interview right now if you don’t want me to finish my point.

 ...and calmly gets back to the point that it's not that Iraq caused September 11th, but that Iraq was presenting its own threat, and golly gee, what we learned on September 11th is that we should take threats seriously.

The beat down continues from there. Enjoy:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Hat tip to Moe Lane, who humorously labeled his RedState post "MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell *had* 32 teeth." Newsbusters and The Daily Caller have some great commentary on this interview as well.

That was too easy. Next victim...uh...I mean interviewer!

[Cross-posted at The Minority Report]

We Got Him

What a great day in American history.

We got him. Osama bin Laden is dead, after a raid on his secret compound where he was hiding in Pakistan.

Crowds spontaneously gathered to celebrate in front of the White House, in New York City at Times Square and Ground Zero, and at our military academies.

This picture, from the New York Times, is destined to become iconic:

Photo: Michael Appleton, New York Times

The New York Post and New York Daily News seem to have the best headlines this morning:

[Hat tips to Patrick Ruffini, Nathan Wurtzel, and Brian Stelter]

I am so proud of the excellent work by our intelligence agents and military in bringing this evil man to justice. His death does not erase the loss and pain of those lost on September 11th, 2001, but it does show that America fulfilled its commitment to the victims to see that justice be done.

I find it very telling that bin Laden preached to his followers about the decadence and sins of the West, while living a luxurious - especially by Pakistani standards - lifestyle, in a private mansion. The same man who bragged about killing innocent Americans died a coward's death, reportedly attempting to use a woman as a human shield. Bin Laden was a hypocritical coward, but now he's a dead hypocritical coward.

Another interesting aspect of this story is how it played out online.

The White House had announced that the President would have a press conference at 10:30 pm last night regarding a "national security issue," but did not release the topic. Speculation and rumors began flying immediately. What seems to be the first real "leak" of the story was posted on Twitter by Keith Urbahn, who had served as Donald Rumsfeld's chief of staff.

Once the news of bin Laden's death was on Twitter, it set off a flood of "anonymous sources" at the White House, Pentagon, and Congressional offices who confirmed the story.

Once Obama finally spoke an hour later at 11:30 pm, the entire nation was already celebrating.

The Wall Street Journal has a story about how an IT consultant named Sohaib Athar inadvertently live-tweeted the raid on bin Laden yesterday.

Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.Mon May 02 04:41:46 via TweetDeckSohaib Athar
ReallyVirtual

Some of the internet's merry pranksters had a little fun with Google reviews, adding a location for "Osama bin Laden's Compound" to the map for Abbottabad, Pakistan...and giving the place a four-star review. [Hat tip: Matt Bramanti]

Here's some more of my favorite tweets from the night:

Hey, it looks like there is a military solution to terrorism after all. Go figure.Mon May 02 02:47:46 via TweetDeckNoah Pollak
NoahPollak

Ya know whats awesome about all this? It'll never be "too soon" for Osama jokes.Mon May 02 04:53:17 via TweetDeckBrandon Morse
CnservativePunk

PLEASE tell me "Handling #Osama 's body according to Muslim tradition" is a euphemism for "Bacon-stuffed piñata" #tcotMon May 02 04:57:52 via webExurbanKevin
Hawthorne

In the morning, I'll wake up needing coffee. Osama? Not so much.Mon May 02 05:03:13 via TweetDeckRick Wilson
TheRickWilson

I think they should shlep Osama's body around the country like the Stanley Cup.Mon May 02 05:38:54 via webAndrewBreitbart
AndrewBreitbart

Osama Bin Laden was a coward. He hid from us for 10 years, the last 10 seconds of which behind some poor woman.Mon May 02 05:57:59 via web'Jim' 'Treacher'
jtLOL

Hey Taliban: while you've been camping in caves, your leader was living in a mansion. Think he lied about anything else? #novirginsforyouMon May 02 05:32:39 via ÜberSocialSarah Rumpf
rumpfshaker

And my favorite:

We're unlikely to ever know the name of the individual who pulled the trigger. Unnamed, you are still our hero.Mon May 02 03:41:21 via TweetDeckBen Domenech
bdomenech

Update: here's a transcript of both President Obama remarks, and the statement released by President George W. Bush last night.

RedState | Iraq vs. Libya: A Graphic Interpretation

From Caleb Howe, originally posted at RedState:

Iraq vs. Libya: A Graphic Interpretation

Today Jeff Emanuel posted a very interesting chart regarding the differences between President Bush’s War in Iraq and President Obama’s Kinetic Military Action in Libya. I found the data to be very illuminating, and kudos to Jeff for the research and clarity in putting it together.

In fact, I thought the chart was so good that I was inspired to put it into graphic format. So below, please find Jeff Emanuel’s chart, with some graphics added to it.

Part of the graphic (the part that addressed UN resolutions, etc.) wouldn't link well for some reason, but you can click here to see the original post and the full graphic. Post a nice comment for Caleb Howe while you're there.

"This Is How You Stand With Israel"

There are some fair criticisms of George W. Bush, but one thing he definitely understood is the importance of our friendship with Israel.  Here's a great post from TheHotJoints with a look back:

TheHotJoints | Video | This Is How You Stand With Israel