Political correctness attacks. News at 11.

Today was one of those news days in which people cause controversies by making politically incorrect statements that nevertheless express a certain truth. First at bat is Vice President Dick Cheney:

Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday harshly criticized Democrats' attempts to thwart President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq, saying their approach would "validate the al-Qaida strategy." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fired back that Cheney was questioning critics' patriotism.

Given that al-Qaida's current strategy in Iraq is "wait for Democrats to withdraw U.S. troops" and that the Democratic Party's current plan for Iraq is "withdraw U.S. troops", there might technically be some "validation" occuring at some point. You do know that the Chinese communists call the United States a "paper tiger" for a reason, right?

Then there's remarks made by David Geffen (in a Maureen Dowd column in the New York Times) about Senator Hillary Clinton. For example, the article states:

Among other things, Hollywood and music mogul Geffen had told Dowd, "God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton?" and "Obama is inspirational, and he’s not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. Americans are dying every day in Iraq. And I’m tired of hearing James Carville on television.”

and also states:

They fell out in 2000, when Mr. Clinton gave a pardon to Marc Rich after rebuffing Mr. Geffen’s request for one for Leonard Peltier. “Marc Rich getting pardoned? An oil-profiteer expatriate who left the country rather than pay taxes or face justice?” Mr. Geffen says. “Yet another time when the Clintons were unwilling to stand for the things that they genuinely believe in. Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it’s troubling.”

It's nice to know that Senator Joe Biden isn't entirely alone out there. But isn't this just the mainstream conventional wisdom from early 2001 -- the Clintons are ruthless; the Clintons are liers; the Clintons really screwed up the pardons; etc. -- basically timewarped into 2007?