Posted on 01/31/2004 1:13:23 PM PST by optimistically_conservative
In Massachusetts, Karl Rove has unearthed a weapon of mass distraction-related program activity.
You may recall that the state's Supreme Judicial Court issued a ruling in November legalizing gay marriage. That ruling allowed Rove, President Bush's political handler, to change the subject.
He didn't want to go into the presidential campaign talking about the issues that matter most in the life of the republic: the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the gargantuan (and growing) budget deficit, millions of lost jobs. He didn't want Bush to have to defend his decisions on the environment, his pandering to Big Business, his knee-jerk allegiance to the wealthy. On those issues, the president is vulnerable.
So Rove badly needed a distraction -- a sure-fire appeal to voters' baser instincts. And he found it with the Massachusetts ruling.
Now, Bush can run a campaign that whips up fear and hate, primal instincts that often overrun common sense. Gay marriage doesn't affect the household income of the average voter or his children's chances for getting into good colleges. It doesn't outsource jobs to India. And it doesn't contribute to the decline of heterosexual marriage. (We haven't needed any help with that.)
But it does stir the blood and cloud the judgment of many Americans, persuading them to vote for the candidate who pledges to protect them from it. At the very least, Bush believes his signal of support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage will inspire conservative Christians, whose legendary organizational skills could give him the margin of victory in November.
(In case Bush's gay-bashing isn't enough, the word is out to state Republicans to foment homophobia in time for the presidential election. In Georgia, for example, GOP legislators are leading a push for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, although there is already a state law enshrining that particular brand of intolerance. If the Legislature passes the proposal calling for an amendment, it will appear on the November general election ballot.)
The White House's gay-bashing strategy is a sign of its desperation. Bush had planned to campaign as the steadfast commander in chief, but he now finds that this approach invites suspicion -- if not derision.
David Kay has not only confirmed that there were probably no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (only weapons of mass destruction-related program activities), but, adding insult to injury, Kay has speculated that President Clinton ended Saddam Hussein's weapons-building capacity with surgical strikes in 1998. Rove doesn't want to call attention to that.
Besides, Bush's emphasis on a continuing threat is counterintuitive. Although he peppered his State of the Union speech with countless references to "war" and "terror," the president and his advisers frequently tell us that the country is safer now that Saddam is in custody. And didn't he stand on the deck of a carrier a few months ago to grandly parade in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner?
That leaves Rove with few tricks left. The Mars mission hasn't been mentioned since Bush's early January announcement, perhaps because polls showed Americans had little enthusiasm for it.
While the president's immigration reform proposal did garner a brief mention in the State of the Union address, that plan is not polling well, either. Though the proposal -- which calls for expanded guest worker visas -- has real merit, Bush is unlikely to burn precious political capital getting it passed. Steroids? Hardly a rallying cry.
The Massachusetts ruling came to Rove's rescue, allowing him to run a campaign that feeds on the nation's last broadly accepted prejudice. (All the more so if the Democratic nominee is Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry.) It is a stunning second act for a president whose first campaign claimed he was a uniter, not a divider.
But the sad thing is, a vicious campaign that plays on prejudice and fear could boomerang Bush right back into the White House. That's why politicians take the low road. It often leads to high places.
Funny, I thought white, Christian and male were still broadly accepted prejudices still used by Tucker.
Somehow it seems Tucker sounds more desperate than the Bush campaign, but then there has not been much of a campaign, has there?
It affects what children are taught about sexuality in school. The gay political agenda has already negatively affected youth in that they are experiementing with bisexuality in ways they never have before. Gay marriage will touch every part of society just as heterosexual marriage does. But there is one big fat difference: HETEROSEXUAL SEX IS NORMAL, GAY SEX IS NOT! Biology people. BIOLOGY! You can't change those facts. No amount of "But I want to.." will grow a penis on a woman. Nope. She still has to buy a fake one if she wants to form a "union" with another woman. And the union is as fake as the body part that joins them.
No I didn't. But I do tend to forget that there are some FReepers who have weak constitutions when it comes to reading liberal tripe.
And it's not only a political issue, our churches have let us down as well.
Translation: the issues that matter most in the life of Democrats.
the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq
red herring
the gargantuan (and growing) budget deficit
Listening to Democrats yammer about budget deficits ... priceless
, millions of lost jobs.
Like that's a president's fault.
He didn't want Bush to have to defend his decisions on the environment
Such as ...?
, his pandering to Big Business,
So cliche it doesn't deserve a response.
his knee-jerk allegiance to the wealthy.
Ah, the old class warfare card. A sure winner in Democrat circles.
On those issues, the president is vulnerable.
On every other issue, the Democrats are. And this is just wishful thinking anyway. Bush is barely "vulnerable" on any of these issues once the campaign starts.
So Rove badly needed a distraction -- a sure-fire appeal to voters' baser instincts. And he found it with the Massachusetts ruling.
Translation: the Democrats badly need issues they can win on -- a sure-fire appeal to their baser instincts (do they have any other?). And they think they've found them with the environment, Big Business, WMDs, jobs, blah blah blah.
Now, Bush can run a campaign that whips up fear and hate, primal instincts that often overrun common sense.
Translation: Now the Democrats can run a campaign that whips up fear and hate, primal instincts that often overrun common sense, a commodity notably in short supply in the Left's camp on its best day.
Gay marriage doesn't ... contribute to the decline of heterosexual marriage. (We haven't needed any help with that.)
No, you haven't.
But it does stir the blood and cloud the judgment of many Americans, persuading them to vote for the candidate who pledges to protect them from it.
Kind of like the environment, Big Business, WMDs, jobs, stir the blood and cloud the judgment of many Americans, persuading them to vote for loudmouth Democrats who are either guilty of all the same offenses or equally powerless to do anything about them.
For the sake of not making a bad situation worse, I hope she's right on this point, that Bush doesn't burn political capital trying to get his immigration proposal passed.
I actually think this is a meme for two reasons. Household surveys show that employment is higher. Spending and GDP is indicative of higher employment as well.
I thought the US Air Force and US Navy performed those surgical strikes?
Huh?
I do believe Cynthia is about to go on a jihad or at least issue a fatwa!
Being a New Yorker, I've spent 3+ learning to do that. Bush has been driving them nuts since the beginning, possibly worse than Clinton did to us.
At my old job, one woman was *so* upset by the 36-day re-re-re-re-re-re-recount that she threw her cigarette in my direction and started yelling at me "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"
It's been about 2 years since I've seen her, so I can only imagine just how unspooled she has become.
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