Cynthia Tucker: What's scary is more Bush

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 2.15.04 | Cynthia Tucker

[mhking]

By the time NBC's Tim Russert finished interviewing President Bush last Sunday, viewers were either frightened or flabbergasted or both.

Frightened because Bush -- announcing himself a "war president" -- used variations of the words "war," "terror," "kill" and "danger" more than 70 times in an interview that lasted less than an hour. It prompted memories of Cold War school drills and hiding beneath the desk.

Flabbergasted because you may have thought you had been mysteriously transported into an episode of the "Outer Limits." Was it Dec. 8, 1941? Or April 18, 1961, the day after the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion? Perhaps Sept. 12, 2001?

Actually, Bush wants you emotionally stuck in the horrible aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The weeks following the atrocities saw the president transformed into a forceful commander in chief and brought him sky-high approval ratings. With his ratings now down to about 50 percent, he'd love to flytrap American voters in a 9/11 mind-set until November -- which, he thinks, would ensure his re-election.

But the strategy won't work. The president's fear-mongering merely created a strange discordance, since most Americans don't consider the war on terror the most important issue facing the country. A January poll by the Pew Center showed that only 37 percent view defense and security as the nation's most pressing concern. Thirty-five percent list the economy, while nearly 20 percent list other domestic issues as the most important. (The rest chose other issues or none.)

Barring another attack on U.S. soil, the presidential election won't be won or lost on the war on terror. Bush beats the war drum too late; for the past two years, he has spent precious little time enlisting the average American in the war effort.

Wars, after all, demand broad sacrifice; but the president has been reluctant to call upon an America coddled by "affluenza" to make any sacrifices. Indeed, a few weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the president suggested patriotic Americans return to their routines -- starting with a trip to the nearest shopping mall.

Instead of raising taxes to pay for soldiers and materiel, Bush pushed through a set of tax cuts that heavily favored the wealthy, meanwhile producing a budget deficit that threatens to make America the next Argentina. Instead of insisting that Americans reduce their dependence on foreign oil, the Bush administration went along with granting a tax exemption to small-business owners who buy the biggest and costliest SUVs. Instead of emphasizing the hardships that would accompany an invasion of Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney et al. made absurd predictions about American soldiers being greeted as liberators and an oil-rich nation that would pay for its own reconstruction.

And didn't they tell us we were safer with the capture of Saddam Hussein?

The simple truth is that the United States should be engaged in a grueling, long-term campaign against Islamist fanatics. But that sort of war would likely have entailed an invasion of Pakistan instead of the distraction of Iraq. Pakistan has done everything that Bush falsely claimed Iraq had done: it sheltered al-Qaida, and its scientists sold secrets and parts for making the mother of all WMD -- the nuclear bomb -- to North Korea, Libya and Iran. But a war against a nuclear power like Pakistan may have involved thousands of U.S. casualties. It would have been a real war.

Instead, Bush told us we'd stroll into Iraq, overthrow Saddam, implant democracy and watch it bloom throughout the region -- ultimately bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinians. In fact, the president still says that. (Yet, he continues to fertilize the soil with American blood.)

If there's a war on, shopping malls and SUV dealerships seem unlikely battle fronts.

[Viking2002]

I see that the AJC's own Molly Ivins is off her meds again.......

[expatguy]

This is the same nutcase that complained because the sniper (malvo) last year was black.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Democrat Foreign Strategy: INVADE PAKISTAN? Are these people retarded?

[Rummyfan]

At a party earlier this evening and I (mistakenly) started talking politics with some gentleman I had never met before. One question was what's the number one issue in the 2004 election.

I said

The War on Terror?

Taxes?

Judicial nominations?

Health care?

The economy?

No, no, no, no. The number one issue is corporate influence! I discretely moved away and grabbed another beer.

[He Rides A White Horse]

Perhaps Cynthia Tucker can ask these good people if it's a real war.

Witch.

[WOSG]

You are right to do what you do... I used to watch CNN Capital Gang... tonight I flipped to it. There was Meg Carlson and Al Hunt lying like rugs, spewing cr*p that offends me and insults my views and is demonstrably false nonsense to boot.


It took me just a few minutes to remember why I dont watch that show. Why engage in mental and emotional masochism?

"most of the news is nothing but spewings of total hatred for all things good in this country. the left has lost all rational reasoning,sense of decency,care for truth,and thier moral compass has broke."

RIGHT. So let's TURN IT OFF. CNN is irrelevent. So is ABC/CBS/NBC Nightly News.

[King Prout]

"I've come to the conclusion that Cynthia's just plain crazy."

geesh... took you a while.

[Criminal Number 18F]

I've come to the conclusion that Cynthia's just plain crazy.

Heh. A little more baroque than plain crazy. Barking mad, maybe.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[suzyq5558]

There are some brave and hardy souls here who watch for me and i do thank them.on the other hand every day that we abstain is loss of revenue for these socialist pravda news channels. so i agree TURN THEM ALL OFF!
you know i have not watched CNN since 1993. why? i thought to my self,nothing from there is balanced or unbiased,and i dont believe a word anyone of them say. i stopped watching the nightlys way back in the 80's.found the talk radio circut and i was hooked. never looked back to the BOOB tube for news and i havnt missed a thing.

[okie01]

Cynthia, dear, do you not understand that there are people who want to kill you? That you are a member in good standing of two "oppressed minorities" will make no difference to them.

Do not harbor the notion that, out of gratitude, liberal Democrats would somehow be excused from the slaughter, either.

And, as President, your noble John Effin' Kerry wouldn't lift an effin' finger to save your sorry butt. He'd be too busy saving his own. By selling you out.

Disgraceful. Simply disgraceful. The whole lot of media libs are hopeless, pathetic creatures -- lost in their own fantasy ideologies.

[Indie]

Cynthia Tucker is just plain ignorant, or a very bad propagandist.

[q_an_a]

someone mention to CT that it shopping malls, busses and coffee shops are where the bombs are going off all over the middle east. they used to go off in GI bars in Germany and Italy, but that ended with the fall of the wall. anyone think that time has stopped for the radical? they will attack a soft target and that is why we need a new mind set linked to 9-11.

PS. if the WTC had not been attacked, selling America on a Pentagon and Congress bombing would be much harder.

[Brian Allen]

<< I've come to the conclusion that Cynthia's just plain crazy. >>

I've always been of the opinion that you are one smart dude, Bro'.

And there you go again, reinforcin' my opinion!

Blessings -- Brian

[Brian Allen]

<< Perhaps Cynthia Tucker can ask these good people if it's a real war. >>

[Lunatic-left-wing] "Liberalism" is a psychosis.

And Tucker and her ilk are insanely-dangerous, morbid-envy motivated, pathological-hatred-engined, full-blown psychopathological-rage-driven psychotics.

[Vision]

I hope this was an editorial

[Montfort]

Thanks for the ping, mhking. You are the greatest!

From the article:

"But the strategy won't work. The president's fear-mongering merely created a strange discordance, since most Americans don't consider the war on terror the most important issue facing the country."

The reason the American people are not so concerned about terrorist attacks is precisely because the Bush administration and so many government workers at every level have been doing such a great job in prosecuting the war on terror.

Those controversial detentions in Gitmo and in the US probably saved a lot of Anerican lives by disrupting Islamofascist operations. Sure, we cannot prosecute many of those detained in the US, because it is hard to know which likely sleeper is a real sleeper until they blow themselves up and take out a thousand Americans with them.

The terrorists have not found it so easy to carry out attacks on US soil, so they hit soft targets in the Moslem world. They descend on Iraq, where they can try to kill armed US soldiers who actually have a chance to defend themselves and fight back. This is not good, but it is much better than terrorist attacks on US soil.

[dixierose]

The president's fear-mongering...

The Dems know a thing or two about fear-mongering. In fact, I believe they "invented" it.
Remember that the "Evil" Republicans will:
1: Take Social Security away from our senior citizens.
2: Starve our children (the school lunch program).
3: End Medicare.
4: They are "against" clean air and water.
and the list goes on and on.

[He Rides A White Horse]

And Tucker and her ilk are insanely-dangerous, morbid-envy motivated, pathological-hatred-engined, full-blown psychopathological-rage-driven psychotics.

Quite a mouthful...................but yes.

[Libertina]

Frightened because Bush -- announcing himself a "war president" -- used variations of the words "war," "terror," "kill" and "danger" more than 70 times in an interview that lasted less than an hour
Well duh! That's because Russert asked him the same war-related question 140 times! Good gad rats are stupid!

[Libertina]

LOL clever