Abu Ghraib -- Damaging to Bush?
by JohnHuang2
I've got to be honest, folks. The images I saw flashing on the TV screen last week were not pretty. These pictures speak of humiliation and torture -- of abusive treatment, no doubt about it. The pictures were graphic, horrific. The gruesome, repulsive photos were incriminating evidence of hideous torture, of humiliation.
And please don't give me this malarkey that you don't see proof of torture and humiliation in these pictures. What pictures? The pictures of John Kerry's face after Friday's sizzling jobs report. You didn't see him? He looked terribly humiliated -- tortured by a booming economy after banking on gloom and doom this Election Season. The embattled Kerry campaign, rocked by revelations of rapid economic growth, felt demoralized and abused by Friday's blow-out numbers.
In a humiliating blow to Kerry, the Labor Dept. reported that employers had added 288,000 payroll jobs in April, on top of 337,000 new jobs in March (revised up from the 308,000 initially reported). The faster-than-expected hiring in April left the Kerry campaign stripped down naked with embarrassment. For Kerry, the report was tantamount to torture.
Even more humiliating for Kerry, who promised 10 million new jobs for butlers, cooks, yacht polishers and limo drivers if he gets in the White House, the April jobless rate slipped to 5.6 percent from March's 5.7 percent.
With such broadcast images of economic growth further undermining the Kerry campaign's struggle for legitimacy and becoming recruiting tools for the Bush camp, Kerry aides feel a profound sense of abuse and humiliation as well -- a feeling of powerlessness, of diminished self-esteem, of rage and anger. Just like Kerry.
More damaging still, economic growth appears widespread, not limited to isolated instances but part of a broader systemic pattern. This isn't the work of a few loose cannons, as Kerry claims. Will he keep his job as Democrat standard-bearer? The graphic images depicting a booming economy spell an uncertain future for Kerry, already muddling through, facing growing doubts from fellow Democrats who fear he just can't warm anybody or anything up (except his foot -- when deeply inserted in mouth, which is frequent). Party leaders don't think he has a clear plan for winning as doubts grow whether going to war against Bush about the war was the right decision.
Economists warn Kerry that more damaging images of economic growth are yet to come. More -- much more -- is going to come out before November. The impact of those images on the Kerry camp could be disastrous, further humiliating an already badly demoralized campaign. The pictures of economic health could damage Kerry's credibility for years.
Yet, political observers say a booming economy won't help Bush's chances much in the fall. That pocketbook issues no longer really matter to voters. That the over-riding issue for voters this November will be treatment of captured terrorists by some U.S. soldiers in two cell blocks at a prison near Baghdad. That mistreatment of terrorist inmates, denied teddy bears and hot chocolate, ranks at the top of voter concerns, as long as Bush does a good job with jobs and the economy. (Oh, yeah -- these prisoner abuse issues always predominate when the economy is booming). Who cares that the economy is sizzling, jobs are coming back, the market is booming?! Abdul the terrorist was stripped naked and his feelings hurt. (It's naked buttocks in Baghdad, not the economy, stupid! BushCo must go!)
(Experts fear some of these terrorists, emotionally scared for life from being strip searched, will become perpetrators themselves, strip searching others rather than blowing others up. Many terrorists, overwhelmed by post-Abu Ghraib stress disorder, will never trust the Great Satan again. Not after this!)
AP reporter Terence Hunt called Abu Ghraib "one of the darkest weeks of (the Bush) administration." It was the darkest week since the last Darkest Week two weeks ago in Fallujah, which was the Darkest Week since the Woodward book, which was the Darkest Week since Bush's prime-time presser, which was the Darkest Week since the 9/11 hearings, which was the Darkest Week since Dick Clarke's book, which was the...
In Abu Ghraib, "President Bush saw America's reputation sullied, the U.S. effort in Iraq damaged and his own campaign for re-election clouded," writes Hunt, the AP reporter.
So clouded was Bush's own campaign for re-election, Bush clouded himself into a 5-point lead over Kerry, 51%-46%, in 16 battleground states which decide the winner in November. That's according to the latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll of likely voters, published Monday. In a "hypothetical matchup" nationally, says USA Today, "Kerry fell 2 points" after one of the Darkest Weeks in the Bush Presidency, when Abu Ghraib broke, which AP says clouded Bush's own campaign for re-election. (Kerry dropped from 49% to 47%; Bush held steady at 48%). A poll by the Christian Science Monitor out this week shows much the same thing -- Clouded Bush extending a 4-point lead (44%-40%) in April to a 5-point lead (46%-41%) in May. (Nader gets 5 percent in this poll of 823 registered voters, conducted May 2-8). Kerry, who says Bush is unfit to serve a second term because he -- Kerry -- served in Vietnam and Bush didn't, is spending $25 million airing campaign spots disclosing that he served in Vietnam. (I told you he'd eventually mention Vietnam). The ads also highlight Kerry's record in Vietnam. The ads do not highlight Kerry's record in Washington.
In the Gallup poll, Kerry now trails Clouded Bush nationally, 47%-45%, with Nader getting 5%. That said, it's obvious Abu Ghraib has taken a very heavy toll. On Kerry.
And the Abu Ghraib story -- a real tear-jerker about the abuse of detained monsters -- gets worser and worser for Kerry. Democrats accuse the Pentagon of cover-up. The Abu Ghraib cover-up goes so deep, the only ones who knew about Abu Ghraib since January were NBC/ABC/CBS/CNN/MSNBC/FOX. The details were secretly published on CNN's homepage 5 months ago, as part of the cover-up. We all found out about Abu Ghraib because the Pentagon, in its effort to cover it up, uncovered it. And made it public in a press release -- secretly. The perpetrators are being rewarded with criminal prosecution and court martials.
Regardless, say Democrats, because of these atrocities at Abu Ghraib, America needs John Kerry, who served atrocities in Vietnam, because his atrocities are better than these atrocities. Yes, Kerry cut off ears, cut off heads, randomly shot civilians, but Kerry knew where to draw the line -- no panties on the heads of terrorist prisoners. (The pictures showed naked prisoners stacked into pyramids, fasten to leashes; the shocking images looked like something straight out of Barney Franks' place). No, Kerry would never humiliate prisoners. Just like al-Qaeda would never humiliate prisoners: al-Qaeda beheads prisoners. As they did with Nick Berg on Tuesday, vowing more beheadings in revenge for mistreatment of al-Qaeda comrades at Abu Ghraib. (Democrats insist there are no al-Qaeda links to Iraq). A high-ranking al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who lives in Iraq, ordered or personally carried out the assassination. (Democrats insist there is no al-Qaeda in Iraq). The beheading was videotaped and posted on a radical Religion of Peace site which acts as a clearinghouse for al-Qaeda.
The video showed five masked men, one of them reading a statement urging other Religion Of Peaceniks to avenge the gruesome barbarism of placing panties on the heads of captured terrorists at Abu Ghraib. Nick Berg, clad in an orange jumpsuit, was shown sitting bound on a plastic chair in front of his captors.
The al-Qaeda statement called Bush the "dog of the Christians," warning the President to "anticipate what will harm you . . . You and your soldiers will regret the day you stepped foot in Iraq." (Democrats insist there are no al-Qaeda links to Iraq).
After the statement was read, the masked men then pin Berg to the floor, chanting "Allahu Akbar!" or "God is Great." As Berg screams, one of his captors puts a large knife to his neck, slowly, painfully slicing Berg's head off. The butcher then lifts and dangles the severed head in front of the camera, shouting "Allah Akbar!"
(Democrats still demand the head of Donald Rumsfeld).
Word of the beheading reached Capitol Hill as Capitol Hill probed fraternity pranks by a few U.S. prison guards on the people who behead Americans like Nick Berg. Some lawmakers said this beheading proves they were right -- that mistreatment of Abu Ghraib monsters would radicalize people who were already radical. (Yeah, we Americans were really popular with al-Qaeda until this prisoner abuse thing broke). CNN/MSNBC/FOX have been airing pictures of Abu Ghraib prison abuse for two weeks non-stop, saying the images are too awful not to air. Even if the images inflame opinion, the public has a right to know. CNN/MSNBC/FOX have not been airing pictures of the beheading, saying the images are too awful to air -- the images would only inflame opinion. The public has no right to know.
May I make a suggestion? Berg's butchers reportedly made an offer -- swap Berg for Abu Ghraib prisoners. The offer deserves a response -- let's not just shrug it off. I say next time, we execute 50 al-Qaeda convicts for every U.S. hostage they hold. If they refuse, we execute 75 al-Qaeda convicts for every U.S. hostage they hold. They'll get the hint sooner or later.
Nope -- as I was saying, neither Kerry nor al-Qaeda would ever dare humiliate prisoners.
Here's something else Kerry will never do: Win this November.
Anyway, that's...
My two cents.. "JohnHuang2"
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