The US President has faced a backlash over the informal way he greeted the kingdom’s de facto ruler on his arrival in Jeddah on Friday. Critics have said the fist bump was inappropriate given US suspicions that the Crown Prince was responsible for the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — and Biden’s subsequent 2020 campaign trail pledge to turn Saudi Arabia into a “pariah”.

But Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan played down the controversy in an interview with CNN’s Nic Robertson hours after the President left Jeddah on Saturday.

“I see the image as a win for President Biden,” bin Farhan said.
— CNN, 7/17/22

While Khashoggi’s murder was horrific, there weren’t too many news organizations who demanded the last three American presidents avoid the appearance of undue courtesy after the 2,977 fatalities and over 25,000 injuries that resulted at the hands of Saudi citizens on September 11, 2001. Al Qaeda was the prime culprit, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, but subsequent lawsuits by the families of 9/11 victims implicated Saudi officials, not to mention FBI files that have still not been released.

Where was the outrage and demands from the media that Presidents George Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump not visit Saudi Arabia after the horrors of 9/11?

4/25/02: President Bush Meets with Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
1/15/08: President Bush in Saudi Arabia
4/20/16: Barack Obama holds talks with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman
9/23/16: Obama Vetoes Bill to Let 9/11 Families Sue Saudi Arabia
5/16/17: President Trump Is Visiting Saudi Arabia to Cement a Friendship

There was little media consternation, if any, because the World Trade Center attack was just a news story for them. There were no interviews of the hundreds of widows from that day. But because a journalist was murdered, it was a media all-hands-on-deck.

Washington Post: Biden says he confronted Saudis directly on Khashoggi
Variety: ‘The View’ Host Sunny Hostin Slams Biden for Fist-Bumping Saudi Crown Prince and ‘Normalizing a Murderer’
ABC News: Biden says he raised Khashoggi murder with Saudi crown prince
Newsweek: Biden Scoffs at Reporter’s ‘Silly Question’ About Khashoggi Killing
CNBC: Biden said he raised murder of Jamal Khashoggi with Saudi leaders after MBS fist bump
New York Post: Khashoggi fiancée says Biden owns ‘blood’ of next MBS victim after fist bump
NPR: She was married to Khashoggi. She wants accountability as Biden lands in Saudi Arabia
The Hill: Biden betrays Khashoggi, campaign promises in quest for Saudi oil
CNN: Wolf Blitzer presses Saudi diplomat who was in meeting with Biden on Khashoggi’s murder
U.S. News & World Report: Biden Confronts Saudi Crown Prince Over Khashoggi Murder, Expects Action on Energy
Business Insider: Bernie Sanders rebukes Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia, says the US shouldn’t ‘be maintaining a warm relationship with a dictatorship’

The privileged left is predictable, as evidenced by our ongoing documentation of how indifferent they are when bad things happen to the people as opposed to how batshit indignant they get when bad things happen to one of them. The media has the immediate megaphone and they will stop the presses when the unfortunate happens to one of them.

More to come. You can be sure of it.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) told a San Fernando Valley fundraiser audience that the Council on American–Islamic Relations was founded because Muslims were given increased scrutiny after the 9/11 attacks because…

“they recognized that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties.”

Not that the September 11 terror attacks forever changed the way Americans live within our own borders.

Five months later to the day, during the 9/11 Memorial and Museum Ceremony in New York City, Representative Omar’s comments were addressed by a private citizen.

Wearing a shirt with the Muslim Minnesota congresswoman’s infamous words emblazoned on it, Nicholas Haros Jr. paused from reading the names of the dead at the televised Ground Zero service to lambaste Omar.
— New York Post, 9/11/19

You probably won’t see this clip on any of the major news outlets because the New York Times clarified who was really responsible.

“Airplanes took aim”, possibly with “some people” who “did something”.

Glad we finally got that cleared up.

Of course, I will share. But what’s so embarrassing is that at one time, I was one of them….

Some Salon.com writer by the name of Mark “Right Hook” Follman cut-and-pasted a few lines from my column, added some commentary, and I’d like to return the favor:

The true scourge of the 9/11 hearings
He dismisses Richard Clarke as a money-grubbing hack and defends “black conservative” Condoleezza Rice from “liberal racist” attacks, but Bob Parks, a former Republican congressional candidate from Southern California, saves his real venom for the 9/11 families. Writing on Mens News Daily.com, a news site devoted to “the relentless pursuit of the truth” with a “unique focus on family issues and politics,” Parks says the 9/11 spouses are simply out to get President Bush.

“We’ve seen untouchable victims’ spouses launch into well-coordinated and political attacks on the present administration. Of course, these are victims’ spouses so they get the kid glove treatment. Their allegations are unchallenged and if anything, they get a comforting pat on the hand.”

But Parks has no qualms about taking the gloves off.

“When they wheel these spouses, some who we’ll probably see more of in Boston this summer at the DNC Convention, it’s obvious they prefer to blame a Republican president and not the Muslim fanatics who carried out the attacks. One thing these women should remember is that when President Bush launched the War on Terror, it was to protect them too.

“The people who wish us to convert to Islam or die have little regard for women and definitely have a place for women who dare speak out against men. Without a War on Terror, these spouses could and probably would be subject to beatings, rape, and stoning (or burning) to death for daring to criticize a male politician. They could be brutally murdered in plain view in the middle of the street and it would be totally legal. Think about that …”
— Salon.com, 4/15/04

So let’s start with this.

And yes, liberals can put “liberal racists” in quotes like it’s some absurd fabrication but I’ll back that up later.

Mr. Follman, you want to see venomous…?

It’s easy to throw out some words when your audience is a bunch of uneducated sheep. Look at the words I wrote. Don’t stare in between the lines because there’s nothing there.

My father died suddenly of a heart attack almost two years ago. If he were to have been murdered, I wouldn’t be blaming the Bush Administration for not having enough cops on the street to predict the actions of a punk. To blame the President and not say one word about the true terrorists who murdered thousands on sunny September morning, is nothing short of opportunistic partisanship.

And if I suddenly found myself the “head of household”, I’d be out working like the many women out there who suddenly and tragically lose a husband. Not doing a media tour around the country blaming the one man who wasn’t piloting an aircraft that day.

I remember a few short weeks after 9/11, hearing lawyers telling the American people on Larry King that insurance policies weren’t enough for the victims. So the American people, through legislation no one disagreed with, gave money to the families so they could pay off their homes and send their kids to college. I find it troubling that these widows are spending time blaming Bush on Chris Matthews, and in front of the commission on the charity of the American people.

But I did say Follman’s readers are sheep, and not broke sheep like those bouncing checks from Air America. These people are premium subscribers to Salon.com and some sent me some email….

“I’ve got two words for you: “sickle cell”. With any justice, you’ll become personally aquatinted with them.”

Okay, I’m black. Black people disproportionately get sickle cell anemia. Mr. Follman, next time leave the quotes off of liberal racists. And I’ve never, ever heard a conservative wish death upon a Democrat or a Green. In 1995 I walked away from you hysterical liberals. No regrets….

I basically replied that sentiment to ol’ boy and this is what came back titled “Deathwish”:

“You know, it’s just like a conservative to get all insulted when someone directs a hurtful, personal attack at them, but when they do the same it’s simply engaging in public discourse. I guess what I should have said is: I have two words for you Bob- “fascist state.” However, being a fanatical conservative, I guess this wouldn’t have elicited a response from you. Would it? You’ve got no problem with America raped by the jackboot mentality of the current Republican leadership.

“And give me a break about how much safer we all are now that Bush has figured out that terrorism is a direct threat to America and he actually needs to do something about it. Maybe if he took this same attitude at the start of his administration…yeah I know, wishful thinking, fantasy. Just like the belief in Bush as competent warrior. Did he actually need the date and locations of the attacks before he could order action to be taken? Of course he did- because he’s a moron; a puppet for the darker force at work.

“I have no problem with the idea behind the war on terrorism, hell I supported the strikes against the Taliban. I’ve also got no problems with Saddam’s downfall. The problem is how the war is being conducted- with no vision or imagination. Step back Bob, take a deep breath, and ask yourself if the odor wafting across the plains is the smell of Republican bullshit or the stench of America rotting from within. Problem is: they’re one and the same. And that’s no joke.”

Note the sheepish repetition of liberal code words: fascist, jackboot, moron, puppet, bullshit, etc.

Later came this:

“I also noticed that the widows are being treated kindly. Do you think that if they were black they would have been treated any differently? Do you think they ought to be stoned, burned, raped, beaten?

“I work with many, many black women (that’s what they call themselves – black). They thought Dr Rice was lying. LYING. They came in to work on Friday talking about how she was “whoring for Bush”. They also talked about how they’d like to have a little talk with her about what life in the real world is like.

“I, personally feel that Dr Rice is treated differently because she is black. I personally feel that my own supervisor, is treated badly because she is a woman and because she is a white woman.

“You may have excellent references, and a heroic background, but you’re no woman, and worse than that, you write like a white woman-hating racist.

“Keep up the good work.”

This is one confused woman and she’s not alone.

If this woman read what I wrote and not what she thought I was writing, she’d see that I never said that these widows should be stoned, burned, raped, or beaten. I said that this administration is protecting these widows from animals, who not only slaughtered their husbands, but would do all those things to them under the legal cover of their antiquated edicts.

I don’t know what kind of acclamation she expects from her working with “many, many black women.” Why she added they call themselves “black” puzzles me. White liberals hyphenated minorities and relieved us of our status as whole Americans. Note, the only people they didn’t hyphenate was themselves.

Maybe those black women know a liar when they see one after eight years of Bill Clinton. Maybe Dr. Rice should tell them what the real world is like and that racism is a tool bigoted liberals use to keep blacks under their control while not delivering one damn thing in return… for decades now.

I’d like to ask those black women just what they’ve gotten for their blind loyalty to Democrats?

I write like a “white woman-hating racist.”

Obviously, this genius hasn’t seen my picture and the phrase is confusing. Is she saying I’m a black hater of white women or a racist white man who hates all women? If I said I hated black women, she’d call me an “Uncle Tom.” If I said I hated white women, she’d call me a racist. If I said I hated all women, she’d call me a rapist. Where do you go with someone like this when I never said I hated anyone?

She ends with “Keep up the good work.” Understand why she seems confused?

There was also this gem:

YOU ARE INSANE!! WHAT KIND OF A FREAK WANTS TO SEE THE WIDOWS (WHAT ABOUT THE WIDOWERS?) RAPED AND STONED!?!!! YOUR A FREAK JUST LIKE MOST OF THE EXTREMIST RIGHT WING NUTCAKES OUT THERE. And, by the way, what is point of criticising Bob Kerrey for mistakenly referring to Condaleeza Rice as Dr Clarke? Did you see that pathetic excuse of a press conference last night: Rumsfield is Secy of State. And there is no such word as “suicider.” And that is not the first time he has used it. Bush just figured out on 9/11 that “our oceans will not protect us.” Clearly he has never heard of PEARL HARBOR! THE PRESIDENT IS AN IDIOT AND SO ARE YOU!!!!!!!!!

“Extremist”, “Right Wing”, “Idiot”, oh my!

You can call me insane if you disagree, but when you try and put words in my mouth, don’t pull them out of your ass first. There are only so many times I can try and ask people to read what I carefully took the time to write.

If you can bash Bush for mispronouncing “nucular”, then why can’t I note Kerrey’s simple and repeated confusion on a panel that deals in intelligence matters?

Incidentally, the St. Petersburg Democratic Club just yanked an ad that while referring to Secretary Rumsfeld voiced, “We should put this S.O.B. up against a wall and say ‘This is one of our bad days,’ and pull the trigger.”

Again, so much for the myth of liberal (and Mr. Follman, you can put this in quotes too) “tolerance”, “compassion”, “open-mindedness”, et al.

I guess I’m not so mad anymore. I’m actually learning to laugh at these people because they make it so damn easy.