Posted on 04/09/2004 1:20:38 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Where does one draw the line between legitimate political criticism and defeatism during time of war? If there is a line, it is blurring rapidly.
Criticism of the Bush administration has reached a fever pitch – no criticism is too unfair, no accusation too vague, no innuendo too outrageous. And anyone who attempts to straighten the record is automatically attacked as a "right-wing partisan" – as if Bush were the embodiment of the "right wing."
You'd certainly get an argument about that from the right wing, who think Bush is too far to the left.
Some of the attacks are as contradictory in nature as they are dishonest. Like, "Bush lied to start an Iraq war so he could steal Iraqi oil." This followed by John Kerry's current charge of the this week, "Bush is responsible for higher oil prices because he treated the Saudis with kid gloves."
If it was wrong for Bush to clobber Saddam to steal his oil, then how can it be right for Kerry to advocate clobbering the Saudis to keep oil prices low?
I was intrigued by the uproar generated last month when the Bush campaign released a campaign ad that contained a two-second snippet of Ground Zero. The entire country (according to the press coverage) was repulsed to the point of regurgitation by "Bush's shameless politicization of the 9-11 catastrophe."
On the other hand, the 9-11 Commission's mission of determining what went wrong and how to prevent future attacks was turned into a partisan free-for-all about which administration bore the greatest blame. Richard Clarke came forward to advance his view that Bush did nothing to prevent the attacks, especially when compared to "the tireless efforts of the Clinton administration."
Since the Bush administration had less than seven months – on the heels of a truncated transition period – whereas the Clinton administration had eight years, it wasn't too surprising that the commission degenerated into a partisan finger-pointing session.
What was surprising, however, were Democratic charges that "it was the Bush people who politicized the tragedy for political gain." And they said so with straight faces.
In any case, what was supposed to be a bipartisan investigation aimed at plugging future holes in the system is no more. We now have and irresistible vortex into which actual information is sucked in, spun and regurgitated as partisan propaganda.
Nobody's minds will be changed. Those who blamed Bush before will blame Bush still. Those who blamed Clinton before will blame Clinton still. And nobody will come away blaming al-Qaida or Osama bin Laden.
As in the case of Saddam Hussein, the war was deployed as a political weapon against the Bush administration before the first shots were fired. John Kerry had already begun flip-flopping to his current position that he voted for the war, but was against the conflict.
But the war in Iraq isn't being waged to provide interesting political theater. These are real Americans, engaged in real combat and shedding real blood, while the politicians at home tell them they are dying for Iraqi oil, instead of for Iraqi freedom.
What must be even more disconcerting to our troops is Kerry's promise that, if elected, he would send them to die for Saudi oil, instead.
Politics is one thing, but when politicians like Ted Kennedy tell the country that Iraq is George Bush's Vietnam, he is also telling the troops in Iraq that they are fighting for a losing cause. Winning the White House by talking down the war in Iraq and talking down the economy might be smart politics, but it doesn't make it right.
In the mean time, the essential point is being lost: We are in a war that threatens our survival. We are fighting against a globally dispersed enemy that is inspired by its religion to fanatical acts of terrorism. This enemy is hidden in our midst. He will gladly give his life to kill as many of us as possible.
This is what needs to be the focus of both of our political parties.
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