The American people seemed to have some hunger for authenticity. Is there not some lesson in that?
Should not the Dems --being risk-averse, having had their clocked cleaned every time they've played cautiously-- come to the realization that their situation is one in which boldness is actually the safest course available?
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The Bushite Sacrifice of the Nation for their Own Advantage
So then there's the second question: If the Dems did decide to start speaking the truth boldly, how would they best go about it?
It was in in relation to that question that I posted --at www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=260 --some thoughts of my own and a long passage from an article by Peter Beinart of THE NEW REPUBLIC about how the Bushites choose to play politics (i.e. seek their own political advantage) over serving the national interest even on a matter so central and painful as the Iraq war.
If the American people understood just that one thing, I believe, the "Emperor Has No Clothes Moment" would have arrived. For the people who make such a big deal about protecting us, about supporting our troops, about the flag and patriotism, to reduce the chances to rescue some small piece of success out of their botched war in Iraq in order to seduce the American people into rejecting the "cowardly" Democrats and keeping all branches and houses of government in Republican hands-- exposing that little piece of reality completely strips away all the false claims of righteousness that these Bushites have used to fool a large proportion of our countrymen.
That's why I thought Beinart's article could be a useful tool-- as it acccepts the notion of an American goal of accomplishing some good for Iraq and of leaving with at least a degree of honor. But it also sees how the Bushites have betrayed those goals. It is unimportant to quarrel over those goals if that betrayal can be shown clearly to the American people.
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Dirty Politics as Part of the Larger Pattern
Perhaps the Democrats should talk to the American people about the dirty politics:
The Democrats could make the connections to show that it's not just the Democrats that pay a price for these lies, but that the American people are likewise victims of these deceptions and manipulations:
Should not the Dems --being risk-averse, having had their clocked cleaned every time they've played cautiously-- come to the realization that their situation is one in which boldness is actually the safest course available?
******************************************************************
The Bushite Sacrifice of the Nation for their Own Advantage
It was in in relation to that question that I posted --at www.nonesoblind.org/blog/?p=260 --some thoughts of my own and a long passage from an article by Peter Beinart of THE NEW REPUBLIC about how the Bushites choose to play politics (i.e. seek their own political advantage) over serving the national interest even on a matter so central and painful as the Iraq war.
If the American people understood just that one thing, I believe, the "Emperor Has No Clothes Moment" would have arrived. For the people who make such a big deal about protecting us, about supporting our troops, about the flag and patriotism, to reduce the chances to rescue some small piece of success out of their botched war in Iraq in order to seduce the American people into rejecting the "cowardly" Democrats and keeping all branches and houses of government in Republican hands-- exposing that little piece of reality completely strips away all the false claims of righteousness that these Bushites have used to fool a large proportion of our countrymen.
That's why I thought Beinart's article could be a useful tool-- as it acccepts the notion of an American goal of accomplishing some good for Iraq and of leaving with at least a degree of honor. But it also sees how the Bushites have betrayed those goals. It is unimportant to quarrel over those goals if that betrayal can be shown clearly to the American people.
***********************************************************************
Dirty Politics as Part of the Larger Pattern
Perhaps the Democrats should talk to the American people about the dirty politics:
The same folks that spread lies about John McCain, the Democrats could say, and then used the Swiftboating lies to smear a war hero, John Kerry; the same folks who four years ago played politics with the Homeland Security bill so they could wage a disgraceful campaign against another war hero, Max Cleland, making him out to be Osama bin Ladin's man-- those same liars are now playing politics with the war in Iraq, even at the cost of jeopardizing whether anything at all will be gained from all the sacrifices made by the young American men and women that this president chose to send into harm's way in Iraq.
The Democrats could make the connections to show that it's not just the Democrats that pay a price for these lies, but that the American people are likewise victims of these deceptions and manipulations:
It's not just us that they lie about, the Democrats could remind the American people. They lied to persuade Congress and the American people to support a war they wanted for reasons they kept hidden. They lied about weapons of mass destruction. They lied about uranium from Africa. They lied about the Saddam connection with 9/11.
The Bushites do not play by the rules. They cheat in elections, and we've paid the price. But they also spy on Americans without doing what the law and the Constitution require of them. They say that they're doing it to protect us, but there's no evidence they couldn't have done that within the law. So don't really know what they were doing. And with all the lies they've told, we ought to wonder what they're up to.
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