All this weekend, when I have not been forced to watch the repeats of Ichiro getting a hit in the WBC, as well as 12 different prognostication about Japan’s chances against Cuba; I’ve been watching the weekend news shows. Its been an interesting mix. Dick Cheney was on telling me Iraq is not in a civil war. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi was on telling me they were in one.
Christopher Hitchens was on This Week telling me that if a civil war in Iraq got Al Quaeda to fight one another, then the whole war would be worth that alone………( Yes its OK to scratch your head over that one, I know I still am. Nothng worse than a pro-war, British, Bush lackey…….). I also learned that the President had lost George Will. Which for him is probably worse than losing uber-conservative William Buckley. Now personally, I like George Will and have since I saw him in speak in person, as a guest of a friend in Norfolk many years ago. Tonight he made some real sense:
At this moment, one of the most dangerous since World War II, America’s perils are exacerbated by the travails of a president indiscriminately despised by Democrats and increasingly disregarded by Republicans. What should he do?
First, concentrate the public’s mind on the deepening dangers beyond Iraq. Second, regarding Iraq, accentuate the negative and eliminate the positive — that is, emphasize the dangers of failure and deemphasize talk about Iraq’s becoming a democracy that ignites emulative transformation in the Middle East.
In other words, abandon the neo-con fantasies and get the public back focused on doing what it has to do, to make the best of a situtation it never should have gotten into in the first place. Now, however, immersed in it, do what it takes to finish this little adventure expeditiously in a way that preserves stability and American security. Remind the public that the President is after all the President of AMERICA after all, and that democracy cannot be forcibly midwifed. A stable mid-east however is in the interest of the nations that really matter though…….( Which is not the same as doing what is right for Iraq.)
Listen some more:
But more than any presidency in living memory, George W. Bush’s will be judged by a single problem — Iraq,where on May 30 the war will be twice as long as was U.S. involvement in World War I. Today the impotence of Iraq’s quasi-government is prompting ethnic recleansing: The government is too weak to prevent private groups from pursuing coercive reversals of Saddam Hussein’s various ethnic cleansings. And in the absence of law and order, Iraqis seek safety in sectarian clustering……….
Conditions in Iraq have worsened in the 94 days that have passed since
Iraq’s elections in December. And there still is no Iraqi government that can govern. By many measures conditions are worse than they were a year ago, when they were worse than they had been the year before.Three years ago the administration had a theory: Democratic institutions do not just spring from a hospitable culture, they can also create such a culture. That theory has been a casualty of the war that began three years ago today.
Yet still, the Democrats can not muster a credible opposition to a conflict and a President that 60% of Americans as a cross section, no longer support. Its enough to make one go in the corner and cry. Not that the Republicans got us here, but that the opposition just let them do it. That even now when Republicans are starting to abandon their President, these idiots still cannot get a consistent message across. I was reading a blog today that, like me echoed disgust that 42% of Americans actually believe the President should be censured, and STILL the democrats just stand and wimper. ( I’ve tried all night to find it again, wish I had bookmarked it). Its disgusting to say the least.
Even Democrats who make sense, can’t win. While all it takes in the Republican party is a Nice Rack and a horse……
Good grief…..and while we are on the subject of public displays, what’s wrong with Blogger and photo uploads?
GRRRRRRRRR!
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Update!- The blog I found that ripped the Democrats is called the Talent Show. Can’t say as I disagree with the authors assesments that the Dems are “whipped”.
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