My friend Jim Coombes puts together his regular list on "What you have to believe to be a liberal these days" -- it is really telling:
WHAT YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE TO BE A LIBERAL THESE DAYS…
by Jim Coombes
You have to believe that when both Clinton and Bush said that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, Clinton was telling the truth but Bush was lying.
You have to believe that a movie about Jesus based on the Bible is anti-Semitic, but that the United Nations' refusal to condemn synagogue bombings is not.
You have to believe that Jean-Bertrande Aristide was democratically elected in Haiti in 2000, but that President Bush was not democratically elected in 2000.
You have to believe that we had enough evidence to prevent 9/11, but that we did not have sufficient justification to depose Saddam Hussein.
You have to believe that the first World Trade Center bombing, the 1998 US embassy bombings, and the USS Cole bombing were not enough reason for Clinton to crack down on Al Qaeda, but that Bush somehow ”ignored” the Al Qaeda threat during the first 8 peaceful months of 2001.
You have to believe that providing scholarships to minorities to pay for private college tuition is critical to their success in life, but that providing scholarships to minorities to pay for private high school tuition is a racist conservative plot to break down the separation of church and state.
You have to believe that letting violent felons out of prison does not contribute to crime, but letting law-abiding citizens purchase guns does cause crime.
You have to believe that Clinton did the right thing by providing aid to North Korea while it killed 2 million people and developed nuclear weapons, but that Bush is doing the wrong thing by *not* offering them more money.
You have to believe that more regulations and taxes and higher minimum wages are going to make more people want to start businesses.
You have to believe that giving trial lawyers free reign to bankrupt companies is going to create new jobs.
You have to believe that killing a fetus at 8 months is morally acceptable, but that killing Osama bin Laden is not.
You have to believe that Saddam kept weapons inspectors out of Iraq for five years because he had nothing to hide.
You have to believe that the United Nations is willing to use military force if there is *evidence* that a nation is developing WMD, but that Iran's admission of developing nuclear weapons doesn't apply.
You have to believe that “inspections work”, but that Iran and North Korea… well… I guess you just have to ignore them.
You have to believe that the democratically elected leaders of the “coalition of the willing” do not represent the will of their people, but that the dictators at the United Nations do.
