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From Michelle Malkin (via PJM):
Fox News is reporting that VP Dick Cheney was involved in a hunting accident yesterday.
...I'm very thankful Whittington is doing fine. Unfortunately, this is very bad news for the White House--and not just because of the inevitable late-night jokes that will inundate the airwaves over the next week. The Dems will exploit this accident to smear Cheney as incapable of being trusted, weak of mind, etc. The resignation rumors will fly again. And the biography of a man who has served this country so well and so honorably for so many years will be overshadowed by a single, ill-fated hunting mishap.
Cheney can greatly minimize the damage from this if he follows the path blazed by Hugh Grant and other celebs in embarrassing circumstances. He should immediately do Letterman and/or Leno, express his regrets, make fun of himself, and let the host make fun of him.
From Laura King at the LA TIMES:
The Face of Hamas Rule May Not Include Its Own
GAZA CITY - The militant group Hamas, facing the threat of diplomatic isolation and a precipitous drop in foreign aid when it assumes power, is exploring the possibility of taking a less visible role in the new Palestinian government than might be expected after its sweeping parliamentary election victory.
Though the shape of the new government is not yet clear, options being weighed by the Islamist organization include appointing a nonmember as prime minister and creating a Cabinet made up mostly of people from outside parliament rather than from the ranks of the group's newly elected lawmakers.
Israel, the United States and many Western countries have made it clear they will have no dealings with a Hamas government unless the group renounces its aim of Israel's destruction and disarms its military wing.
However, quirks in the Palestinian parliamentary system, together with all sides' desire to advance their own pragmatic interests, could combine to offer a face-saving path forward, according to an array of analysts, Western diplomats and Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The coming weeks, in their view, could yield a nuanced new Israeli-Palestinian reality under which all parties can claim they are holding fast to their principles while managing to avoid a political confrontation that could trigger the collapse of the Palestinians' fragile economy and governing structure, an outcome almost no one desires.
"It will all depend, if it's finessed the right way, whether the Israeli government can perceive and extend to the public the perception that it is not actually dealing with Hamas," said Joseph Alpher, a former senior Israeli government advisor and editor of the Mideast affairs website http://www.bitterlemons.org .
Needless to say, any officials brought into key positions of a government controlled by Hamas, will be figureheads for Hamas.
There is no reason for the free world to play along with this charade. Hamas needs money from the free world. For the first time, the terrorists of Hamas are at the mercy of those they wish to destroy. It seems unlikely that those Hamas has been killing for years, would let Hamas off the hook.
Olmert doesn't seem to be buying this potential Hamas fake-out:
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that "the moment the Palestinian parliament is sworn in, the Palestinian Authority becomes a Hamas Authority."
The moment that Hamas assumes power, Olmert added, "Israel [would] play by completely different rules.
Today Hamas officially reiterated its determination to destroy Israel:
GAZA, Feb. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Mushi al-Masri, a spokesman of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), reiterated here Sunday that Hamas would never recognize the state of Israel under any circumstance.
Al-Masri told reporters that Hamas would never recognize "what is called Israel" and "would do all its best with all its power to smash the Zionist entity on earth and replace it by the independent Palestinian state."
"Hamas movement would never drop its arms and would never abandon its strategy and would never forget about the manner of Jihad and resistance and would never abandon its armed wing al-Qassam Brigades," repeated al-Masri.
Financially, Hamastan is on the brink of failure:
A new report from the World Bank has warned that the Palestinian Authority's (PA) budget has become dangerously untenable, blaming "uncontained" government spending on a deficit that topped US$800 million in 2005.
The report cautioned that the prospects for economic recovery are limited as previous promises by Palestinian officials to implement reforms are not being fulfilled.
Palestine's population of 3.6 million has a total GDP of US$3.3 billion, yet its GDP per capita (US$934) has decreased by 38% since 1999. According to the report, there is a 48% poverty rate and crippling 27% unemployment.
For years the goal of the Palestinians has not been to improve their own lot, but only to destroy Israel. The result of their hatred of Israel has been a disaster to themselves. The sooner the Palestinians are forced, by a humiliating loss, to give up their goal of destroying a nation, the better off they will be.
The Palestinians will continue to attack Israel until one side loses decisively. But at this time they are at the mercy of the free world. The free world now has an opportunity to force a devastating loss on the Palestinian machinery of genocide.
