De-Bunking Bushisms
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
The President is in full election year mode. In my estimation, President Bush is like Bill Clinton in that they are both excellent campaigners. The similarities end there, of course. But to invoke Joe Lieberman for a moment, those who underestimate President Bush’s political skills do so at their own peril. That being said, the audio of Bush’s Monday press conference revealed a desperate man. He continues to spew the talking points, but they seem to lack their former (circa 2002, 2004) tone of superiority. His points, as paraphrased below, are now more easily refuted.
We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here. This presumes two things: (1) That our troops are being used as human-bait and (2) that as long as we’re “over there,” the threat is lessened “over here.” The first is deplorable, the second is obviously wrong. Does anyone think extremists are refraining from plotting attacks in America so long as we maintain a troop presence in Iraq? No. At least I hope not.
If you think Iraq is a mess now, it would be far worse if we leave. Not that I’m necessarily advocating an immediate pullout, but I’m not entirely sure this is true either. And who, at this point, trusts the administration’s predictions? I submit that our troop presence may be, in effect, a safety net enabling the sectarian violence. Perhaps our leaving would generate the political motivation to forge a Sunni-Shiite compromise. In any event, a strategic redeployment elsewhere in the region seems to be the best option.
Our enemies are trying to stop the spread of democracy and freedom. This ignores the reality that Hezbollah, Hamas and Ahmadinejad were all freely elected to govern their respective citizens. After witnessing the last 2 Presidential elections in this country, I worry foremost about free elections in this country. Our enemies have a problem with us, not elections. It would behoove us to consider what that problem might be and how we’ll ultimately deal with it -- beyond the indiscriminate killing of Arabs.
Leaving Iraq now would send the wrong message to the people there. Really? If someone were to come into my life and cause untold destruction and chaos….their leaving would be taken by me as the exact right message. I would strongly support their getting the hell out as quickly as possible! Who are we protecting? Shiite death squads? Sunni insurgents? Might our leaving Iraq be the exact message many of its residents are waiting to hear? Maybe? Either way, I don’t count on President Bush to accurately sense the mood or desire of the Iraqi citizenry.
“Nothing!” – President Bush, screaming like a child, in response to a question about what Iraq had to do with 9/11. Actually, he’s right about this. No de-bunk required. And hopefully this clip has already been made into Democratic campaign advertisements.
--Jay
posted by The Angry Progressives @ 3:58 PM,
