Tom Perriello, Manchurian Candidate

The Danville Register & Bee recently published an editorial about Tom Perriello's first year in office that seems like it was written by one of the liberal bloggers with a mancrush on the 5th District Congressman. The narrative is that Tom may be liberal, on the big issues, but he's still conservative on guns and abortion. And he works really, really hard. Really. He'll even talk to you!

Besides the obvious question of who did the fact checking for the story (the 21st town halls were BEFORE the health care vote, not after), I want to focus on how little this and other articles focus on the real Tom Perriello. Even his opponents like to act that he is little more than a Dudley Do-Right, a hard working and well meaning politician who just happens to be liberal. The reality is consistently ignored by both the press and the blogosphere. He is a Manchurian Candidate, a saboteur within the American political system.

Now I could focus on how this is the fault of the 2008 campaign against Perriello, run by Tucker Watkins, that focused more on the "New York lawyer" claim than actually talking about Perriello's past. But, for once, I'll try to focus on something new. The story behind the real Tom Perriello.

I've mentioned before that every single conservative, all of you, need to read Charles Krauthammer's article "Decline is a Choice." Right now. I'm serious. I'll be here when you get back. Yes, I know it's long. Go!

. . . .

OK? Good.

Here is the key passage:

Facing the choice of whether to maintain our dominance or to gradually, deliberately, willingly, and indeed relievedly give it up, we are currently on a course towards the latter. The current liberal ascendancy in the United States--controlling the executive and both houses of Congress, dominating the media and elite culture--has set us on a course for decline. And this is true for both foreign and domestic policies. Indeed, they work synergistically to ensure that outcome.

The current foreign policy of the United States is an exercise in contraction. It begins with the demolition of the moral foundation of American dominance. In Strasbourg, President Obama was asked about American exceptionalism. His answer? "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism." Interesting response. Because if everyone is exceptional, no one is.

Note also the emphasis on the liberal notion of the "international community" as if the UN and other organizations actually meant something more than a collection of countries that included some of the most brutal dictatorships in history. As a "national security consultant" of the left, Perriello is not just a passive consumer of this rhetoric, he's a primary producer of the propaganda pushing America's decline. For too long, the focus on Perriello's time abroad has been this vision of a young college graduate hopping on a plane to fly to parts unknown and save the world. The real story is that he has been an active agent in pushing the liberal internationalist agenda that is weakening America both at home and abroad.

Why else was Tom Perriello, a virtual unknown, able to match Virgil Goode, a long time incumbent on the powerful Appropriations Committee, dollar for dollar in the 2008 race? Powerful liberal interests, including George Soros, knew him and want him in power. It's the same story behind liberals clearing the field for carpetbagger Hillary Clinton in New York. The liberal powers that be wanted Perriello in office, somewhere. He just was honest enough to do it from his actual hometown and not some random place he moved to.

Consider Perriello's role in removing Liberian President Charles Taylor from power. Perriello would have us believe that this was a simple case of good versus evil. In reality, Taylor was a Christian politician trying to crack down on Muslim rebels who were just as brutal in their tactics as the accusations thrown at Taylor. Since his removal, Liberia's policies have tilted toward placating and pandering to Muslims within the country. This is just one example of Perriello backing weak liberal responses to the threat of Islamic extremists, including his ads on Al Jazeera. More sunlight is needed on Perriello's work abroad and how it undermined American security. Because he's still doing the same as a member of Congress.