Not an issue this time around.
We are at war
"We are at war"
No kidding? Well lets just forget about the last line of defense then.
Just saying it simply is not one of the major issues in this election. No real reason to spend any energy one way or another on it.
Heck, we are going against 2 Senators who voted against providing weapons to troops they sent to Afganistan in Iraq! These two have fundamental moral problems.
We are at war
Whoa, not so fast there...
They're trying to MAKE it THE issue -- but very deviously.
And I would NOT be surprised if GWB slips right into the trap, given his... well, let's just say I am braced for disappointment.
The past couple of days the rats have been building to a crescendo, demanding that Bush call Congress in to special session, to implement the stuff he said he'd implement from the recent 9/11 hearings -- the NEW new new anti-terror tsar -- the one to tsar it up over the existing anti-terror tsar (that'd be Tom Ridge, of course), as called for by "the commission".)
The Johns, of course, are lapping it all up. Bush says "I'll do that!" to try to -- once again (argh!) show how compliant Republicans are, and how willing the GOP is to compromise at the drop of a hat.
After all, The Johns said that Bush should do it, so, he's gonna do it. He'll show them, by golly!
But oops, the Johns are laughing their arsen off, and replying, "Too little, too late! He should have done it sooner! We would have, if we had been in office! Har har har etc."
So, they now demand that Bush recall Congress for an emergency session, to get his "too little, too late" Anti-terror-tsar-tsar annointed double-plus-unslow, like NOW, daddy!
Ah, the beauty of their trap. ("Beauty" from their perspective, natch.)
Think about it.
Bushie is in a very poor position to refuse their kind suggestion, given 1) the recent hubbub about terror alerts and so forth, and 2) his sudden call for quickly installing the new new new anti-terror tsar-tsar.
So, I will NOT be surprised if he "decides on his own" (koff koff) to call Congress into special session "to get this ONE task taken care of, NOW NOW NOW!"
So WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE AWB, you ask me?
I'm glad you asked.
What it has to do with the AWB is called "everything" -- because if GWB lets them maneuver him into calling a "special session of congress", it will have NOTHING to do with "terror" or a "terror tsar-tsar". Nothing at all.
And, it will have everything to do with renewing the AWB.
IF he calls Congress back into session, you can bet your bottom dollar that an AWB extention amendment will be hastily nailed onto the backside of the NEW NEW anti-terror tsar-tsar annoitment appointment bill.
And Bushie will sign it. Period.
He won't dare NOT sign it.
Look at what he'll be facing if he even thinks of NOT signing it:
1. The humiliation of being taunted for having his FIRST VETO EVER being a veto of the NEW NEW anti-terror tsar-tsar annointment that he so desperately needs that he called a special session of Congress to appoint!
2. The "well-earned" title of "Liar!", after he backs down on his promise to "sign the AWB extention if it comes to my desk."
3. The pressure from all the "conservatives" who are currently whoring themselves on the yakathon shows, saying how even though they "support the second amendment", of COURSE they don't want to see "assault weapons on the street", and "no one NEEDS these to go hunting" blah blah blah. I wish I'd hit the [RECORD] button for the grease-combed Mitt Romney the other day as he waxed nauseant with precisely those (#3) points, as what's his name cornered him on the Hannity show (in Colmbs place).
Nice work, Mittsie. First, you let your blackrobes emasculate your exectutive branch (as they emasculate the concept of "marriage" and "family"), and then next thing ya know, there you are on the tube, eviscerating the Second Amendment.
Golly, where would we be without such stanuch conservatives in office?
But, I digress.
My point is, the AWB renewal is far from dead.
The rats are working HARD on getting it renewed. They are pushing it like mad with every soundbite they can grab, they've got pretty much every "conservative" (with tube-time, at least) agreeing with them on the "NEED" for renewal, and, they're angling for a special session of congress -- and frankly, I think Dubya is just... um, susceptible enough to their wiles to get snookered on it.
Let's hold off on the celebration for just a l'il while yet, OK?
If there's one thing that's worse than losing, it's having your victory celebration interrupted to find out that you lost.
end_rant