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Let the Mean Season Begin
CNSNews.com ^ | May 17, 2002 | Scott Hogenson

Posted on 05/18/2002 8:08:29 AM PDT by Jean S

Democrats are drooling with delight at the prospect of having finally forged a lose-lose wedge to use against President Bush.

This wedge, of course, exploits the controversy swirling around apparently leaked intelligence data that Bush and others in and out of his administration had warnings of possible terrorist hijackings prior to Sept. 11.

The politics of this wedge are simple and bring the Democratic Party pretty much back to the strategy it undertook in the summer of 2000; to try and portray George W. Bush as a dim bulb.

One side of this wedge is the premise that Bush knew about the Sept. 11 attacks and did nothing to prevent them. It's a ludicrous premise by any standard, and Democrats don't really expect the American people to believe their president is evil enough to have actually allowed or facilitated such horror, save for those few, poor souls that comprise the Left Wing Tin Foil Hat Fringe.

That leaves the president's detractors with the other side of the wedge, which is what they intend to use politically for the next 30 months; that Bush and his administration were inept or ignorant or inexperienced or incapable of using available intelligence data in such a manner as to prevent the hijacking and use of four American airliners as human-guided missiles.

Because most Americans have no clue as to the myriad considerations involving intelligence data and its use, I expect the Democrats to enjoy a measure of success in the opening gambits of this political game.

The usual suspects on the Democratic side of the aisle will be able to pummel Bush because he was not a good enough guesser to have prevented the Sept. 11 attacks; that Bush was ineffective in making the airlines more receptive to the numerous terrorist warnings they received from the Federal Aviation Administration prior to Sept. 11; that Bush is at fault for not convincing members of congressional intelligence committees to violate security protocol and inform their constituents about the risk of hijackings.

These are, of course, lame arguments that are advanced because many Americans don't read beyond the headlines and even fewer know the nature of national defense issues and the classified components of them.

The media will play a large role in perpetuating this amateurish version of 'connect the dots,' and will accept that role willingly and happily. Having a story with more facets than a finely cut diamond, the media can and will exploit every angle throughout the sluggish news cycles that will accompany the Dog Days of Summer.

It should be anticipated that much of the media coverage to follow will assume a 'we're merely scribes' approach. The other is the 'we're purveyors of truth' approach, which is most often employed when covering the Republican side of an issue.

In effect, many Democrats get a free ride by the mere scribes while many Republicans are scrutinized to within an inch of their lives by the truth purveyors.

The political challenge for the Bush administration must be met on several fronts, not the least of which is to change the nature of the debate as quickly as possible and there's no shortage of ways in which this can be effectively done.

As long as Democratic front men make dark insinuations by asking 'what did the president know and when did he know it,' Team Bush should raise the same questions about congressional Democrats with whom intelligence data were shared. When stewardship of sensitive information is used as a foil, the administration should remind the American people how national security may have been breached by the probable illegal disclosure of information in classified briefings.

In simplistic terms, the Bush administration cannot permit itself to be used as a political punching bag. Based on the early performance of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, we can be confident that this administration will continue to take credit for its good works and place blame where it belongs.

Blame. It's a tough word, but a critical part of much successful politics because most people will not be willing to change their opinion or, more importantly, their vote without a compelling reason. Blame provides the prerequisite impetus for such change among the people.

Make no mistake about it; the Democrats have taken off the gloves and are sharpening the knives. No matter how baseless the charge, how despicable the innuendo, how blatant the lie, the Democratic Party will shamelessly and remorselessly exploit the tragic events of Sept. 11 in an attempt to destroy Bush and his presidency.

This is no time for the Bush administration to play nice. The mean season has gotten off to an early start and the time to punch back is now.


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 911warning; bush

1 posted on 05/18/2002 8:08:29 AM PDT by Jean S
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To: JeanS
BUMP!
2 posted on 05/18/2002 8:15:49 AM PDT by isthisnickcool
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To: JeanS
The art of war
3 posted on 05/18/2002 8:16:40 AM PDT by TLBSHOW
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To: JeanS
Make no mistake about it; the Democrats have taken off the gloves and are sharpening the knives. No matter how baseless the charge, how despicable the innuendo, how blatant the lie, the Democratic Party will shamelessly and remorselessly exploit the tragic events of Sept. 11 in an attempt to destroy Bush and his presidency.

This is no time for the Bush administration to play nice. The mean season has gotten off to an early start and the time to punch back is now.

ARE YOU LISTENING, BUSHIES???

Time to GET BUSY!!!

4 posted on 05/18/2002 8:19:13 AM PDT by mondonico
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To: JeanS
Advice to the Republicans, who are amateurs at the kind of nasty politics Democrats practise: 1. Tie Cynthia McKinney around the democrat leadership's neck - spin this as a McKinney initiative. 2. Show how McKinney takes Arab money. Check to see what other Democrats are receiving funds from Arab organizations. (So are some Republicans, but who cares.) 3. Insinuate through appropriate sources that Democrats are doing it to get Arab political contributions. 4. Talk about the dangers to the country of undermining the President in a time of war.
5 posted on 05/18/2002 8:27:53 AM PDT by thucydides
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To: All
This is such a well written "right on the money" story!! I hope everyone reads it, beyond the headlines (no pun intended)!! Thanks Scott!!
6 posted on 05/18/2002 8:49:06 AM PDT by cousair
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To: JeanS
"Because most Americans have no clue as to the myriad considerations involving intelligence data and its use, I expect the Democrats to enjoy a measure of success in the opening gambits of this political game."

He was right. Most Americans, both left AND right, have no clue...and many HAVE fallen for it. I hope all these positive articles and replies signal that Americans aren't falling for the latest ploy anymore.

7 posted on 05/18/2002 8:55:37 AM PDT by cake_crumb
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To: JeanS
I think most people know that Clinton, Daschle, Gephardt, Carville, etc... are a joke.


8 posted on 05/18/2002 9:37:55 AM PDT by Jack Bull
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To: JeanS
what they intend to use politically for the next 30 months; that Bush and his administration were inept or ignorant or inexperienced or incapable of using available intelligence data in such a manner as to prevent the hijacking and use of four American airliners as human-guided missiles.
The extreme form of this was prattled by a caller to Sean Hannity yesterday afternoon: the guy actually called for the president's resignation because 9/11 happened on his watch! There are several rebuttals to this "argument":
1. Bush's cabinet-level appointees are hardly lightweights;

2. On September 10 certain congressional Democrats knew pretty much what Bush knew;

3. Non-specific post-9/11 alerts have elicited "boy who cried wolf" derision;

4. Clinton underestimated and underreacted to bin Laden throughout his tenure in office; and the most accurate warning of Sept 11 (presumably) never got to Clinton, let alone Bush, because it was filtered out by Clinton's intelligence staff; and

5. If the standard is "it happenen on the president's watch" then Filegate is a far clearer case of nonfeasance than ever will be made about 9/11. In that case Clinton failed to prevent the illegitimate intrusion into 900 Republicans' security clearance files, failed even to apply criminal sanctions to Craig Livingstone, failed even to pretend to identify and censure the person who hired Livinstone. 900 counts of a crime--a politically motivated crime--for one count of which Chuck Colson spent a year in the slammer.


9 posted on 05/18/2002 9:49:34 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: JeanS
6. If the intelligence available to Bush was adequate to predict 9/11, exactly why did Attorney General Ashcroft (to whose Justice Department the FBI reports) take a commercial cross-country flight on that day??!

10 posted on 05/18/2002 10:21:23 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
The Justice Dept said yesterday that Ashcroft had been taking private flights, due to death threats directed towards him personally and not related to terrorist threats.
11 posted on 05/18/2002 10:24:28 AM PDT by Wild Irish Rogue
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To: Wild Irish Rogue
Come to think of it, that's right.
12 posted on 05/18/2002 10:34:04 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
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To: JeanS
Seems like the Democrats have really teed themselves up to me.
13 posted on 05/18/2002 11:01:01 AM PDT by WriteOn
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To: JeanS
This is no time for the Bush administration to play nice. The mean season has gotten off to an early start and the time to punch back is now.

The democrats, like bin Laden, expect a counter attack. Unfortunately, they think it's merely going to be a missile aimed at the DNC tent. Perhaps the democrats ought to go back and review the tactics during October and November of last year. It might just give them an inkling of what is in store for them. Bush has the military firmly at his back in the war, and the people at his back here at home.

Keep looking up Dashole, you may just be able to catch of glimpse of the people's version of the Daisy Cutter before it hits.

14 posted on 05/18/2002 12:19:26 PM PDT by McGavin999
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To: conservatism_IS_compassion
There are threads on Newsmax.com's forum calling for Bush to resign too. Of course, the liberal idiots on there probably don't know why he should, it just sounded good. They probably heard the guy calling into Hannity and decided, "hey yeah, far out!"
15 posted on 05/18/2002 10:39:25 PM PDT by ladyinred
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