Posted on 08/08/2003 2:13:33 PM PDT by KeyLargo
The Newsroom Iconoclast
Does the Left hate George Bush more than it hates murder?
Sunday, August 3, 2003
http://www.starnewspapers.com/star/spedit/col/03-co11.htm
By Michael J. Bowers Star columnist
The campaign by the angry Left in America and Europe to discredit our victory in Iraq has crossed a line. It's not legitimate criticism anymore; it's toxic waste.
These people hate President Bush more than they hate Qusai, the Saddam son who liked to watch political prisoners get fed alive into a wood chipper.
They hate Bush more than they hate Odai, the Saddam son who punished a woman who had spurned him by covering her with honey and feeding her to two starving Doberman pinschers.
And they hate Bush more than they hate Saddam himself, a man who not so long ago machine-gunned thousands of people at a trench in a town called Hilla in exactly the same way that the Nazis once machine-gunned thousands of people at a ravine in Ukraine called Babi Yar.
Am I overstating the case? Listen to what one of their number recently wrote at Democratic Underground, a popular Web site on the Left:
"Doesn't a part of you wish that Queasy and Duh-day were alive? I'll admit they're scum and rightfully so, but anything that lands as even more humiliation on W's grotesque shriveled face is that much the better.
"It's sad, really, that as despicable as they are, Saddam's family seems to be the lesser of two evils when you compare them to the wretched little (expletive) occupying the White House and destroying America in the process."
I know, this guy's an isolated nut, right? His view doesn't represent that of those who sincerely love their country but also sincerely believe that the war was wrong. Right?
Maybe. But sometimes it's hard for me to tell the difference.
For instance, consider what the Reuters news service recently did to a story turned in by a free-lancer in West Virginia named Deanna Wren. This was her lead:
"ELIZABETH — In this small county seat with just 995 residents, the girl everyone calls Jessi is a true heroine — even if reports vary about Pfc. Jessica Lynch and her ordeal in Iraq."
But apparently an impartial and unbiased editor at Reuters decided the story needed to make a stronger statement. And so this was the result:
"Jessica Lynch, the wounded Army private whose ordeal in Iraq was hyped into a media fiction of U.S. heroism, was set for an emotional homecoming on Tuesday. … Media critics say the TV cameras will not show the return of an injured soldier so much as a reality-TV drama co-produced by U.S. government propaganda and credulous reporters."
And now, following the phony scandal about the "looted museum" and the phony scandal about the "missing WMDs," we have the phony scandal about the "16 words."
In his last State of the Union address, Bush said, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
It turns out Bush may have unknowingly overstated the case. And so the administration apologized. That should have been the end of the story. But the Democrats won't let go. They have created a frenzy of bad-mouthing. They're calling Bush a liar who prosecuted the war on false pretenses, as if the only reason we went to war was that Saddam had been shopping for uranium.
Leading the denigrators is presidential candidate Richard Gephardt, the congressman from Missouri. He said our military is now a "global vigilante" that is "cracking heads but unwilling to address the real causes of terror."
He summed it up like this: "I believe George Bush has left us less safe and less secure than we were four years ago."
Talk to others on the Left and you get the same kind of nonsense:
Massachusetts U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Bush "misled every one of us" and "lied to me personally."
New York U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton said: "I think there should be an independent investigation. I've called for it. How credible are these claims? What else do we need to find out about other claims?"
The Democrats at Time magazine ran the cover: "Untruth & Consequences."
Florida U.S. Sen. Bob Graham suggested Bush be impeached.
And the chairman of the Democratic National Committee taunted: "He's going down."
The smear campaign has been successful. Bush has lost points in his approval rating, and 47 percent of the people think he stretched the truth in the State of the Union address. It's conceivable that the fuming will eventually bring him down, just as it did his father in 1992. That would be farce repeated, but it's standard operating procedure for the Democrats.
The most shameful effect of the campaign is that it hurts the morale of our troops, which in turn threatens the future of the people of Iraq.
Indiana U.S. Rep. Mike Pence recently talked to a wounded sergeant at the Bethesda, Md., military hospital who is concerned that the incessant criticism will force us to withdraw.
According to Pence, the sergeant "looked me in the eye, with tubes coming out, and he simply said, 'Congressman, the only thing I worry about is that we will pull out early and we will not finish the job and it will mean all of the sacrifices we made over there were for nothing.' "
As you may have heard, the plain-speaking conservative Ann Coulter has titled her latest book "Treason." In it, she argues that partisan Democrats consistently root against their own country.
Recently, she added: "Liberals don't care what is going on over there" in Iraq. "They want us to lose, they want our opponents to triumph and they want Bush out of the White House."
Mass murder at Hilla? Aw, who cares.
No wonder the Left hates her. She has them pegged perfectly.
Michael Bowers is a copy editor for The Star. He can be reached by e-mail at mbowers@starnewspapers.com.
What a great post. Thanks
It's true. The left denies it, but they're lying.
It's just like when they say they oppose the war but support the troops. Bullcrap.
Gosh, I wish they'd stop giving Clinton ideas. He's weird enough about women.
I wonder if they exchanged emails.
Let me answer it thusly:
Is the Pope Catholic?
Is Alec Baldwin an ***-hole?
Is Richard Simmons gay?
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