Guess Which Candidate Our Enemies Want to Lose in 2004?

Newhouse News Service ^ | Feb. 11, 2004 | JAMES LILEKS

[Luis Gonzalez]

Let's just be blunt: The North Koreans would love to see John Kerry win the election. The mullahs of Iran would love it. The Syrian Ba'athists would sigh with relief. Every enemy of America would take great satisfaction if the electorate rejects the Bush doctrine and scuttles back to hide under the U.N. Security Council's table. It's a hard question, but the right one: Which candidate does our enemy want to lose? George W. Bush.

And some conservatives will be happy to help, it seems.

Woe and gloom have befallen some on the right. Bush has failed to act according to The Reagan Ideal.

The actual Reagan may have issued an amnesty for illegals, but the Ideal Reagan would have done no such thing. So unless Bush packs freight cars full of gardeners and dishwashers and dumps them off at the Mexican border, some voters will just sit this one out.

The Ideal Reagan would have eliminated the National Endowment for the Arts; the actual Reagan proposed a $1 million increase in his final budget. But Bush increased NEA funding -- perhaps an attempt to placate people who wouldn't vote for him if he showed up in performance with Karen Finley and a can of Hershey's syrup. So angry conservatives might just sit this one out.

And if a Democrat takes office, and the Michael Moores and Rob Reiners and Martin Sheens crowd the airwaves on Nov. 3 to shout their howls of vindication? If the inevitable renaissance of Iraq happens on Kerry's watch, and the economy truly picks up steam in the first few years before the business cycle and Kerry's tax hikes kick in? If emboldened Islamist terrorists smell blood and strike again? Fine. Maybe the next Republican president will do everything they want.

Oh, sure, Bush is fine on the foreign affairs stuff, and yes, there's a partial-birth abortion law, and the tax cuts were nice, and come to think of it, Sept. 11 wasn't followed by blow after blow after blow, for some reason. The nation endures, at least at press time. But that's hardly enough. Where's that bill requiring 60-foot Ten Commandments monuments in every capitol rotunda? Let Kerry win. Teach the GOP a lesson, it will.

So both sides have elements that seem unserious about the defining issue of the day: the war. But the right's malcontents snipe from humid redoubts of Internet message boards. The left's biggest spokesmen are parading their delusions.

No less than Al Gore has practically accused the president of treason. In a Feb. 8 speech in Tennessee, Gore went on an alarming rant, performed almost in an arr-matey pirate voice. "He betrayed this country!" Gore bellowed. "He played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place."

We've been manipulated into a state of fear, Gore shouted. Really. Which administration spent most of 1998 warning us about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, only to launch some missiles and walk away? Gore saw all the intel on WMDs. Gore was part of an administration that pushed for regime change because it viewed Saddam, correctly, as a danger to the region and to America. Does Gore think we don't remember everything Democrats said about Saddam and WMDs, when they felt responsible for the nation?

As for that state of fear, well, anyone out there feel afraid of Saddam today? Didn't think so.

Gore should give this speech at the convention. Why not? Why not stand up and give vent to all the poisons hatching in the muck? Why not tell America that Bush lied about everything, that he took the country to war for reasons he knew would be discredited, just so Halliburton could make another buck or two? It's what they seem to believe, after all. The delusions of their fringe have become articles of faith for the mainstream. Bush was AWOL! Bush knew! Bush lied! Bush never flosses! Skull and Bones! Plastic turkey!

At least we'll have a clear choice in November. Bush is serious about the war. The Democrats are serious about the war against Bush

[dirtboy]

Thanks for the ping. Yep, King Jong Il would rather break kimchee with John Kerry any day of the week.

[Republic]

Absolutely! And your pic is fabulous! Wanna get that baby for my front yard!!!!

[visualops]

BTTT

[No!]

I like that one...
good stuff!

[No!]

I read his stuff everyday.. The man can WRITE! Here (click the Bleat)

[visualops]

If Ketchup Boy picks the next six SCOTUS Justices, the country is toast.

BUMP FOR TRUTH

[Howlin]

Goodness....where ARE all the Bush haters for THIS thread?

[BARLF]

BTTT

[wjcsux]

We can forget about keeping our tax cuts or guns, too.

[visualops]

A while back I made a comment about 2nd amendment rights should people like Hillary ever get elected- and the same goes for Kerry. I was warned at the time- I can only imagine it was the wording of it made it sound like I was gonna go out and get a gun and do something wacky. I just think one should exercise those rights before they get taken away. I also think this country would be taking a dangerous nosedive regarding national defense. If we end up having some sort of "Islamofascist Dawn", I wanna be prepared.

[Mo1]

Thinking of how they can twist this article around to their liking?

[PhilDragoo]

abcdefghiBUMP FOR BUSH

[BOBTHENAILER]

The North Koreans would love to see John Kerry win the election. The mullahs of Iran would love it. The Syrian Ba'athists would sigh with relief. Every enemy of America would take great satisfaction if the electorate rejects the Bush doctrine and scuttles back to hide under the U.N. Security Council's table. It's a hard question, but the right one: Which candidate does our enemy want to lose? George W. Bush.

Kerry supporters all.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Tamzee]

Oh my... Georgio is quite handsome... and what stunning taste in Presidents he has :-)

Could we save his picture and sic him on the trolls that need kitty zotting??? :-)

[Tamzee]

The column is a brilliant one and thanks so much for posting the thread.

In addition, your post with all the "bad-guy pics" all rooting for Dubya to lose is equally brilliant.

[MeekOneGOP]

[Luis Gonzalez]

Here's an odd one.

The picture of Fidel Castro is missing this morning from my compilation of "bad guys" on post #18.

I got the picture by doing a Google Image Search.

I didn't pay attention to the fact that the picture was pulled from a Cuban government website.

They pulled it.

I think that FR may have received a visit from someone in the Cuban government.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Question:What do these people all have in common?

Answer: They want Bush to lose.

Do you?

[MeekOneGOP]

I can see Castro in your #18 now. Bottom middle pic. It's a facial shot of him.

The server may have been down at the time you saw it?

Weird things with the 'Net all the time it seems ...