W
Winfield Hill
Guest
My favorite part: "The Bushies campaign pitch follows their usual backward
logic: Because we have failed to make you safe in three years, you should
reelect us to make you safer in the next four years."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/opinion/31dowd.html?
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=Opinion&OID=62531
---
MAUREEN DOWD - October 28, 2004 - WASHINGTON -
Some people thought the October surprise would be the President producing
Osama.
Instead, it was Osama producing yet another video taunting the President
and lecturing America.
After bin Ladens pre-election commentary from his anchor desk at a secure,
undisclosed location, many TV chatterers and Republicans postulated that
the evildoers campaign intrusion would help the President.
OBL, they said, might reelect W.
They follow the Bush strategists reasoning that since President Bush rates
higher than John Kerry on fighting terror, anytime Americans get rattled
about Iraq and al-Qaeda, its a plus for the President. And Republicans can
keep claiming that al-Qaeda wants the weak Democrat elected, even as some
intelligence experts suggest the terrorists prefer that the belligerent
Mr. Bush stay in power because he has been a boon to jihadist recruiting,
with his disastrous occupation of Iraq and his true believer, us-versus-them,
my-Christian-Gods-directing-my-foreign-policy vibe.
The Bushies campaign pitch follows their usual backward logic: Because
we have failed to make you safe, you should reelect us to make you safer.
Because we havent caught Osama in three years, you need us to catch Osama
in the next four years. Because we didnt bother to secure explosives in
Iraq, you can count on us to make sure those explosives arent used against
you.
Youd think that seeing Osama looking fit as a fiddle and ready for hate
would spark anger at the Bush administrations cynical diversion of the war
on al-Qaeda to the war on Saddam. Its absurd that were mired in Iraq
an invasion the demented Vice President praised on Friday for its
brilliance while the 9/11 mastermind nonchalantly pops up anytime he
wants. For some, it seemed cartoonish, with Osama as Road Runner beeping
by Wile E. Bush as Dick Cheney and Rummy run the Acme/Halliburton explosives
companynow under FBI investigation for its no-bid contracts on anvils, axle
grease (guaranteed slippery) and dehydrated boulders (just add water).
Osama slouched onto TV bragging about pulling off the 9/11 attacks just
after the President strutted onto TV in New Hampshire with 9/11 families,
bragging that al-Qaeda leaders know we are on their trail.
Maybe bin Laden hasnt gotten the word. Maybe W. should get off the trail
and get on Osamas tail.
W. was clinging to his inane mantra that if we fight the terrorists over
there, we dont have to fight them here, even as bin Laden was back on TV
threatening to come here. The President still avoided using Osamas name
on Friday, part of the concerted effort to downgrade him and merge him with
Iraqi insurgents.
The White House reaction to the disclosures about the vanished explosives
in Iraq was typical. Though its clear the treasures and terrors of Iraq
from viruses to ammunition to artifactswere being looted and loaded into
donkey carts and pickups because we had insufficient troops to secure the
country, Bush officials devoted the vast resources of the government to
trying to undermine the facts to protect the President.
The Pentagon mobilized to debunk the bunker story with a tortured press
conference and a satellite photo of trucks that proved about as much as
Colin Powells prewar drawings of two trailers that were supposed to be
mobile biological weapons labs.
Republicans insinuated that it was a plot by foreign internationalists to
help the foreigner-loving, internationalist Kerry, a UN leak from the camp
of Mohamed ElBaradei to hurt the administration that had scorned the UN as
a weak sister.
In their ruthless determination to put Mr. Bushs political future ahead of
our future safety, the White House and House Republicans last week thwarted
the enactment of recommendations of the 9/11 commission they never wanted
in the first place.
While pretending to be serious about getting a bill on reorganizing
intelligence agencies before the election, the White House never forced
congressional Republicans to come to an agreement. So the advice from the
panel that spent 19 months studying how the government could shore up
intelligence so there wouldnt be another 9/11 may be squandered, even
though Dick Cheneys favorite warning to scare voters away from Mr. Kerry
is that we might someday face terrorists in the middle of one of our cities
with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us, including
a nuclear bomb.
Wow. I feel safer. Dont you?
--
Thanks,
- Win
(email: use hill_at_rowland-dotties-org for now)
logic: Because we have failed to make you safe in three years, you should
reelect us to make you safer in the next four years."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/opinion/31dowd.html?
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=Opinion&OID=62531
---
MAUREEN DOWD - October 28, 2004 - WASHINGTON -
Some people thought the October surprise would be the President producing
Osama.
Instead, it was Osama producing yet another video taunting the President
and lecturing America.
After bin Ladens pre-election commentary from his anchor desk at a secure,
undisclosed location, many TV chatterers and Republicans postulated that
the evildoers campaign intrusion would help the President.
OBL, they said, might reelect W.
They follow the Bush strategists reasoning that since President Bush rates
higher than John Kerry on fighting terror, anytime Americans get rattled
about Iraq and al-Qaeda, its a plus for the President. And Republicans can
keep claiming that al-Qaeda wants the weak Democrat elected, even as some
intelligence experts suggest the terrorists prefer that the belligerent
Mr. Bush stay in power because he has been a boon to jihadist recruiting,
with his disastrous occupation of Iraq and his true believer, us-versus-them,
my-Christian-Gods-directing-my-foreign-policy vibe.
The Bushies campaign pitch follows their usual backward logic: Because
we have failed to make you safe, you should reelect us to make you safer.
Because we havent caught Osama in three years, you need us to catch Osama
in the next four years. Because we didnt bother to secure explosives in
Iraq, you can count on us to make sure those explosives arent used against
you.
Youd think that seeing Osama looking fit as a fiddle and ready for hate
would spark anger at the Bush administrations cynical diversion of the war
on al-Qaeda to the war on Saddam. Its absurd that were mired in Iraq
an invasion the demented Vice President praised on Friday for its
brilliance while the 9/11 mastermind nonchalantly pops up anytime he
wants. For some, it seemed cartoonish, with Osama as Road Runner beeping
by Wile E. Bush as Dick Cheney and Rummy run the Acme/Halliburton explosives
companynow under FBI investigation for its no-bid contracts on anvils, axle
grease (guaranteed slippery) and dehydrated boulders (just add water).
Osama slouched onto TV bragging about pulling off the 9/11 attacks just
after the President strutted onto TV in New Hampshire with 9/11 families,
bragging that al-Qaeda leaders know we are on their trail.
Maybe bin Laden hasnt gotten the word. Maybe W. should get off the trail
and get on Osamas tail.
W. was clinging to his inane mantra that if we fight the terrorists over
there, we dont have to fight them here, even as bin Laden was back on TV
threatening to come here. The President still avoided using Osamas name
on Friday, part of the concerted effort to downgrade him and merge him with
Iraqi insurgents.
The White House reaction to the disclosures about the vanished explosives
in Iraq was typical. Though its clear the treasures and terrors of Iraq
from viruses to ammunition to artifactswere being looted and loaded into
donkey carts and pickups because we had insufficient troops to secure the
country, Bush officials devoted the vast resources of the government to
trying to undermine the facts to protect the President.
The Pentagon mobilized to debunk the bunker story with a tortured press
conference and a satellite photo of trucks that proved about as much as
Colin Powells prewar drawings of two trailers that were supposed to be
mobile biological weapons labs.
Republicans insinuated that it was a plot by foreign internationalists to
help the foreigner-loving, internationalist Kerry, a UN leak from the camp
of Mohamed ElBaradei to hurt the administration that had scorned the UN as
a weak sister.
In their ruthless determination to put Mr. Bushs political future ahead of
our future safety, the White House and House Republicans last week thwarted
the enactment of recommendations of the 9/11 commission they never wanted
in the first place.
While pretending to be serious about getting a bill on reorganizing
intelligence agencies before the election, the White House never forced
congressional Republicans to come to an agreement. So the advice from the
panel that spent 19 months studying how the government could shore up
intelligence so there wouldnt be another 9/11 may be squandered, even
though Dick Cheneys favorite warning to scare voters away from Mr. Kerry
is that we might someday face terrorists in the middle of one of our cities
with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us, including
a nuclear bomb.
Wow. I feel safer. Dont you?
--
Thanks,
- Win
(email: use hill_at_rowland-dotties-org for now)
480)460-2350 | |