To hear George W. Bush and the right-wing noise machine tell it, one might be under the impression that the Iraq War has turned from a disaster to a major success story in the past few months.
But make no mistake: the American people aren't buying this spin---and support for the Iraq War remains toxic for any candidate seeking the White House.
Barack Obama, one of the few candidates who has opposed the Iraq war from the beginning, rolled to victory in the Iowa caucuses. (Note that polls show that Iowa Democrats still consider the war in Iraq the top issue facing the country).
Obama's success shows that the American public simply isn't buying the White House's recent desperate spin of the Iraq War as a "success story." And it shows that candidates who don't distance themselves from the Iraq fiasco severely diminish their hopes for the White House.
It's this toxic association with the war which continues to haunt former Dem front-runner Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize the invasion and has never apologized for doing so.
In recent months, the mainstream media, including The New York Timeshas worked overtime, trying to depict a turn-around in the Iraq War.
But the American people clearly aren't buying it. Bush's approval ratings remain in the toilet. And although one can find plenty of fault with Obama's anti-war credentials, it was clearly enough to power his victory in Iowa over Clinton's mighty, well-funded campaign machine.
On the GOP side, the public's weariness with the Iraq fiasco is apparent as well. Ron Paul is clearly picking up steam and his campaign earnings this quarter amounted to an incredible $19.5 million, possibly the largest haul among GOP candidates. It's quite remarkable for for a candidate who is more sharply critical of the Iraq War than any other White House hopeful.
The creator of the progressive site, BeggarsCanBeChoosers.com, Marc McDonald is an award-winning journalist who worked for 15 years for several Texas newspapers, including the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, before he quit his day job and set up shop in cyberspace in 1995. McDonald's articles have appeared in a number of popular progressive Web sites, including OpEdNews.com, BuzzFlash.com, Crooks and Liars, Salon.com, Progressive Daily Beacon, The Neil Rogers Show and The Raw Story. McDonald's Web articles have also been featured and reviewed by various national and international media, including CNN Headline News, the BBC, the Washington Post, USA Today and many more.
I must say that Ron Paul looks good as a candidate. He's the most outspoken critic of, not only the Iraq War, but ALL U.S. military adventures. He'd end our foreign wars and even shut down all the bases we operate overseas. And as far as his domestic agenda goes, I think we Liberals would have less to fear than you might think. Paul may be for shutting down everything from Social Security to the EPA to the FDA...but frankly, he'd simply not get very far in doing this. I do think, though, he'd make some headway on shrinking the massive, bloated Pentagon budget.
by
SamM (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 4:38:55 PM
I don't want to pop your bubble, Mark, but I'm afraid we need to crank up our own voices in order to drown out the noise from the "Bush" spin.
Obama's 38% sounds great, until you read the number of votes...940. On the Republican side...warmonger Huck's 34% represents to 39,814 votes.
Now, that's scary!
Peace and Constitution promoter Ron Paul's 10% counts for 11,598 Votes, and taking 10% of an evangelical state like Iowa snowed by Huckabee's preacher ways...is encouraging.
But like Dr. Paul says...we've got a lot of work to do to get the message out.
by
GatorVol (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments)
on Friday, January 4, 2008 at 10:12:56 PM
