“During his presidential campaign Bush cried, ‘I’m a uniter, not a divider.’ As one critic put it, ‘He’s got that right. He’s united the entire world against him.'” George McGovern goes house on Dubya, and it’s definitely worth a gander. (Via Looka.) And, if Dubya approaches his religion with anything more than born-again zeal, perhaps he’ll take a moment’s reflection on this: “We will, of course, win the war with Iraq. But what of the question raised in the Bible that both George Bush and I read: ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul,’ or the soul of his nation?“
Category: Dubya Diplomacy
Running the Table.
Although Saddam’s regime appears to be on its last legs, the Bushies have not yet begun to fight. In fact, this administration now seems recommitted to the task of destroying whatever remaining credibility America has left in the Middle East and the international community. For, despite recent setbacks in Afghanistan, Rummy, Wolfowitz, and the rest of Dubya’s neocon hawks now turn to Syria as the best candidate for our next splendid little war, a war that even England is loath to enter. And one has to assume Iran, Irkutsk, and Yakutsk are next. (Then maybe the Bushies will be content to take a card.)
Over Here.
To the vast credit of our armed forces, the Iraq war now seems to be going as well as it possibly can. (As I’ve said several times before, I fear the Iraqi peace will be somewhat tougher.) But the Bushies aren’t in the clear yet. For, despite all the work Karl Rove’s doing to paint Dubya as Eisenhower for the reelection campaign, it’s still the economy, stupid. And despite our military successes outside Baghdad, the deficit is soaring, the GOP is repudiating their own budget, and the economy is now clearly poised for the Dubya-dip. Like father, like son?
Unconscientious Objectors.
On the question of war, it seems that, Dennis Kucinich notwithstanding, the Dems have basically decided to lay low for the time being. It’s the Iraq vote all over again…when is our party going to get its act together? Be they pro-war or anti-war, Democratic reps should be actively involved in the public debate on Iraq, not running scared from the underhanded smears of the administration. Get in the game, people. Update: Perhaps this is the beginning. At a Q & A today, John Kerry argued that the world will only trust a new president after the experience of this war. Y’know, I think he’s on to something.
Turning the Tide?
Between the rescue of Pvt. Lynch (which seems an interesting comment on the Greenberg piece linked yesterday) and the advance of American forces to within 20 miles of Baghdad, we’ve gotten a recent spate of good news on the war front. But, as Terry Neal of the Washington Post notes, trouble is now brewing in the rest of the Arab world. And given both Saddam’s deliberate attempts to incite Muslim rage and the shocking, extremely graphic images of civilian carnage being broadcast on Al-Jazeera, it’s little wonder why. (I caught ’em via Week in Review, but the Al-Jazeera site seems to be down now.) Even if Saddam’s regime falls soon, and let’s hope it does, we have our work cut out for us in rebuilding the region’s faith in America. And, as I said before, it will take reservoirs of diplomacy and goodwill that the tone-deaf and heavy-handed Bushies have yet to manifest.
Now We live in Infamy.
Historian Arthur Schlesinger mourns America’s fall from innocence under Dubya. (Via Medley.)
Dollar Diplomacy.
This is old news at this point, but I missed it back in the day. 2000 Presidential candidate Bill Bradley comes out against the Iraq war after hearing Dubya’s State of the Union address. Particularly with Moynihan now gone, we could use Dem statesmen like Bradley to cultivate a higher profile. The questions facing America today aren’t going to get any easier, even if we took out Saddam tomorrow.
Unfortunate Sons and daughters..
The party of sacrifice? Get your priorities straight. As Ari Fleischer warns America to expect American casualties in the coming conflict, the Republican Congress promises the Iraq war will have no bearing on tax cuts. As CCR put it, Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Well, they help themselves, yeah. Then as now, the poor may lose their sons and daughters, but the rich will get their rebates.
Regarding another recent facet of GOP hysteria, I know it’s fun to pick on the French, what with the Maginot Line and the Rainbow Warrior and all that. But next time you hear some idiot like Tom DeLay say the French are good-for-nothing, remember Lafayette. The fact of the matter is, we would never have gained our freedom (or our freedom fries) without the aid of the French during our Revolution. Something to consider before our former Gallic friends are written out of the history books in a fit of revisionist patriotism.
Nothing Succeeds like Failure.
Daschle catches flak from Dubya’s yes-men for stating the patently obvious – that this administration’s amateurish diplomacy has embarrassed us before the world and led us to the brink of a globally unpopular, non-UN-sanctioned war. (And as David Chess pointed out by way of Medley, “the idea that the U.S. must defy the U.N. in order to punish Iraq for defying the U.N. is simply absurd.“) Of course, Daschle’s comments notwithstanding, there’s also a convincing case to be made (as Maureen Dowd does here) that the Bushies wanted diplomacy to fail from the very beginning, so as to further weaken the UN’s international standing. Inept or corrupt…take your pick. Update: Kerry gets involved as well, although, in what’s becoming a troubling pattern, he’s hedged his bets a bit.
Pre-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
March Madness? With even Bush Sr. now calling out his son’s unilateralism (Bully for him, via Looka), Pat Buchanan (and, to be fair, Dem Congressman Jim Moran) decrying his fellow conservatives as being dupes for an Israeli conspiracy, and the Republicans renaming the french fries as “freedom fries” in the House cafeteria, it appears the Grand Old Party has been reduced to mass hysteria by the looming war in Iraq. Add these bizarre episodes to the assault on civil liberties mentioned below and the nation’s growing economic woes (which the Bushies are now responding to by hiding information), and I’m now starting to think the 2004 election might just be the Dems to lose.