THE INFANTILE LEFT

As Evan Sayet has repeatedly argued, (see here and here) there is much about Leftists that appears infantile. The "Mommy look at me" syndrome is very evident among them at times, for instance. Ben Stein, V.D. Hanson and Dennis Prager, too point out a variety of ways in which Leftists would appear to be fundamentally juvenile. I have myself previously commented on the phenomenon here and here and here.

The following excerpt from Taranto exhibits the "me, me" infantilism vividly -- as well as being childishly incoherent. And the infantilist got a standing ovation from other Leftists! Note that the addled speaker ADMITS she is not an adult even though she is 22!

"Rush Limbaugh has a fascinating transcript from a town-hall meeting John and Elizabeth Edwards held at the University of New Hampshire Monday. They were questioned by an undergraduate named Jenny Ballantine, who had this to say:

I need to be able to look to my leader and see words of encouragement, words of hope. I need to be able to trust that person. I need to be able to know that I'm going to be grow [sic in transcript] in a world that's not going to be full of hate and prejudice and racism and to know that I matter, that I wasn't just dumped in this world for no particular reason whatsoever.

I'm busting my ass in school, I work 25 to 30 hours a week, and it's just me and my dog. So what can you do for the people that are in my situation, that are trying their damnedest in school, wanting to go to grad school, is going to be hit with the loans--and, uh, I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I don't know what I want to be when I'm an adult. But I'm 22 right now, so people are like, "Honey, you are an adult." You know what? It's about me. It's about me voting for you or supporting somebody who's going to be the next president. So it's all about me right now. Just give me something.

Here is how the Edwardses responded:

Edwards: God bless you. If I were choosing a president, uh, that's what I'd be doing. I'd be looking for the specifics of what they want to do, because that matters, but I would also be judging them personally, because we need to trust our president.

Mrs. Edwards: I want to say something, too. I was really impressed with you, Jenny Ballantine, and I think probably everybody in this room was, and I want everybody in this room who believes that Jenny Ballantine is going to be able to do it to give her a round of applause.

According to Foster's Daily Democrat of Dover, N.H., the audience gave Miss Ballantine not only a round of applause but a standing ovation."

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A New Civil Right: Not Having To Pay Your Bills

Post lifted from New Editor

This could have far-reaching unintended consequences.

Civil rights groups called Wednesday for a six-month moratorium on foreclosures resulting from high-risk loans given to people with shaky credit, arguing that lenders should help borrowers refinance their mortgages or face lawsuits...

They also said lenders, real estate agents and investors who bought subprime loans could face lawsuits under a federal law prohibiting housing discrimination.

I covered real estate for business information provider Hoover's in the late 1990s, and I recall that at that time, lenders were being threatened with civil rights lawsuits for not making mortgage loans to people with lower credit scores, who were disproportionately African-American and Hispanic.

One of the Clinton administration's best efforts was its successful drive to increase homeownership nationwide. Forcing lenders under threat of lawsuit to refinance bad loans may help some people in the short-term, but in an already shaky market, could have a counterproductive chilling effect on homeownership rates in the future.

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ELSEWHERE

Publius Pundit takes a look at the Iran hostage crisis, but not as it has been seen elsewhere. Publius contends that Iran's strategy was to treat the sailors well; that the confession videos and ensuing media attention upon their arrival to Britain, is all a ploy to convince the European public that Iran is not as bad as their governments tell them it is. Public support for UNSC sanctions will drop precipitously. If history is any indication, this will probably happen. Score one for Iran.

NY to Wal-Mart: We prefer unions, high prices, snobbery: "New York City citizens (Manhattanites), who have cried themselves to sleep at night hoping to have nearby Wal-Marts like most of the rest of us, can now, in the words of The New York Times, 'fuhgeddaboudit.' Actually, the way the paper words it in a subhead is: 'Wal-Mart to New York: fuhgeddaboudit,' implying that the world's largest retailer is thumbing its bent nose at the city. The facts, as outlined in the article, tell a different story."

Leftist "flexibility" again: "The Democrats claim that the November 2006 election gave them a mandate to end the war in Iraq. That isn't what they were saying late last year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the following on November 30, 2006: "Now he's the commander in chief, and we're not going to anything to limit funding or cut off funds, even though there are some on the outside who suggest that." Now, on April 2, 2007, Reid said he supports a new bill that would set a March 31, 2008 deadline for withdrawing all troops and stopping most military spending in Iraq. To that end, both the House and Senate passed an Iraq spending bill that includes a troop pullout date by September of 2008."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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