Iraq is to Vietnam as Dubya is to WTF!?!?

Just as effective democracy assumes and requires the consent of the governed, so does an effective analogy assume and require a common set of beliefs and experiences among its intended audience. This week, George W. Bush finally made the analogous connection he has so vehemently avoided between Iraq and Vietnam. But, as he has done with Biblical interpretation and the English language, the boy has badly mangled the meaning.

On August 22, Bush used his speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars to yet again to "reframe" the Iraq debate. How long can you "reframe" something before you realize that the problem is your crappy art and not the choice of a speckled mahogany vs. fluted sterling silver enclosure? Answer: at least four years.

After rehashing freedom-loving, fascist-hating arguments previously applied to American mid-century intervention in Europe, Shrubya used Microsoft Word's search-and-replace feature to tell the story with Asians. That's when he broke out the surprise Vietnam analogy.

However, it was neither the well-understood Vietnam-as-quagmire nor the equally-applicable Vietnam-as-conflict-he-avoided that the president relied upon. No, Bush rested his latest justification on Vietnam-as-lost-because-we-didn't -stay-long-enough. Yeah, that was just the problem. Think about it. Had we stayed longer, we could have killed every last person in Vietnam and won the damn thing, but those perpetual back-stabbers in Washington again failed to support the troops.

Bush's strategery in this case, as with global warming, evolution and other facts, depends on creating doubt. He said things like:

1. "Now, I know some people doubt the universal appeal of liberty, or worry that the Middle East isn't ready for it."

2. "Others believe that America's presence is destabilizing, and that if the United States would just leave a place like Iraq those who kill our troops or target civilians would no longer threaten us."

3. "Here at home, some can argue our withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but the terrorists see things differently."

4. "Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got into the Vietnam War and how we left."

No, there isn't. This is a complex literary device known as "bullshit," which is employed all too often by people who don't know what they're talking about. I, too, can invoke the tree hugging, ape-descending, freedom-hating "some" and "others" to create a "legitimate" debate where none legitimately exists. Watch me work my magic:

1. Some can argue that babies come from a magical stork that shoves the fetus into a woman's body moments before birth then teleports back to its home in the trash can where Oscar the Grouch lives.

2. Others believe that babies are always inside of women, remote controlling them like that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles villain, Krang, the talking, fluid-dripping, pink brain that installed himself inside an ogre's abdomen in order to defeat our turtle heroes.

3. There is a legitimate debate about how a woman becomes pregnant.

For Bush to sell the Iraq war by using America's most shameful military expedition of the 20th century shows just how desperate he is. He's not just drinking the Kool-Aid, he's freebasing the powder.

Follow Baratunde Thurston on Twitter: www.twitter.com/baratunde

Comments

[SaviourMachine]

Well done,well said.

Desperate.
That was my first thought.He's desperate.
He's avoided the comparison up until now.But he and the cabal are running out of ways to spin the robbery,rape,torture and murder.They're desperate to keep everyone in a rabbid fearful foaming of the mouth so Iraq can procceed uncontested while whipping up support to attack Iran.

I was young while Vietnam raged on and knew nothing of the machinations of politics.Then,unlike now, we had real journalism.The coverage on the nightly news was horrifying and I knew instinctively it was wrong.The images were gruesome,gritty and as raw as it gets.And there were body bags,and flag draped coffins.

If only we had that kind of coverage the average american people,who sleep while walking,would be outraged enough to rise and end this madness.But it's so sterilized,so prepackaged like processed food.No muss no fuss.

Hopefully there are many who remember even more than or at the very least as much as I and don't buy this revisionist version of Vietnam.Sickening to hear him say "we" should have stayed in Vietnam when he and the vp never served and don't even trouble themselves honoring those that have died for their sociopathic greed by attending a funeral.

I had to pull the car over and let out a primal scream when I heard that.

Thank you again for your post.

P.S. My favorite; He's not just drinking the Kool-Aid,he's freebasing the powder.

[mae692]

I, too, was young during Vietnam, supposedly the biggest trauma in the nation's recent history. With Bush making this analogy you'd expect to see a historian or two discussing Vietnam (before, during and after), maybe a Vietnamese general even. Instead I see the same old pundits, who know a whole lot about very little.

On NPR they asked an old general if the comparison was accurate. He started to answer and the host interrupted him with 'We've only got 20 seconds." No wonder Americans know more about Meerkat Manor than they do about Vietnam.

[rabun666]

Merkat Manor is reality and a lot more interesting than the MSM.

[libdemannie]

This guy is GOOD !!! Thanks.

[tonyinstpete]

all this is true about the very worst president in US history, but shame, shame, shame on Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Harry Reid et. al. for not more directly taking on GW Bush as soon as the Democrats took control of Congress.

They already knew what a swashbuckling, irrational, intellectual nothing he was and they turned their back on our country. In fact, we still have fifteen months of this midadministration.

[oafishcad]

I think you got it exactly right. He just blathers lies and half truths with his confident "I'm the best damn cheerleader on this campus" attitude in front of unthinking hand picked audiences who fear being thought unpatriotic, because the republicans will call you that if you disagree. Let's all rewrite history. Maybe we can write that Bush was never elected. OOps, bad example.

[rustyaustin]

I think it was Faulkner who wrote, the past isn't dead, it isn't even past. There's been a thousand wars, there will be a thousand more, and every one a racket.

[seawolf77]

Some people might say that we lost the Vietnam War. I disagree. What is losing. Losing is surrendering. The United States of America never surrendered in Vietnam. And we never will surrender as long as I'm President. Cheers!!! Hoots and Haws!!! Some people might say that America gave up in Vietanm...that we lost our nerve. I completely disagree. America stood down and the Vietnamese stood up. History has shown this. Vietnam is a free and prosperous country today becasue we were there long enough for them to stand up... just like we will be in Iraq long enough until the Iraq poeple stand up. Cheers!!!! Some people might say Iraq is lost. I disagree with this kind of thinking... it's defeatist. Iraq is where Vietnam was in 1968... and we will stick it out until Iraq has their 1975 ... and leave the country with honor like we did in Vietnam . Cheers!!!!!

[WmC]

Our Decider is concerned about our "credibility" problem with terrorists? What gang members refer to as our "rep"?

How about our credibility problem with the rest of the world, instead?

[joebaggadonuts]

How about his credibility with us?

[BeamMeUpScotty]

A man who refused to fight and defend his country in Vietnam, tells its veterans 58,000 was not enough. A man whose last two years of service in the National Guard probably were not served has the gall to say to those who sacrificed their lives they did not give enough.

I am speechless.

[HamletsMill]

This was my reaction exactly.

He told them they did not die enough.

Unbelievable.

The Shrub Boy should read Gerald Nicosia's heart breaking history of the Vietnam Veteran's movement "Home To War".

Every American citizen should be required to read it before going into a voting booth. Or at least the chapters on Agent Orange.

[eplatypusunum]

Even better, I understand the Star Wars double trilogy was a big hit with the neocon and smarmycons (Enron set up many of their farcical shit funds with names drawn from those films). And guess what? They saw themselves as the Rebel side. Luke and Han and all that. The noble ones.
Hahahahahahaha! Cheney practically IS Emperor Palpatine, or at least Lord Voldemort (Thanks, Steven Colbert).
Beyond unbelievable. We're in a strange new place, folks. Or maybe a very old one.

epu

[dadadata]

>

A spoiled little boy of 60-something years. Man? Not.

[NotGuilty]

Its time for new dance partners.

[charmingone]

Good old George has gone and jumped the shark.

[oafishcad]

Dick Cheney is the shark.

[JimHinCO]

Great article. :) Thanks!

[wotcanisay]

In response to a question on Countdown with Keith Olbermann,

Craig Crawford of Congressional Quarterly said, " The president is not fond of gray areas any more than he is about to be admitting mistakes or saying he was sorry."

Apart from "gray areas" he is also a little short on the "gray matter".

[thirteen13]

What ever he has left is pickled in alcohol and cocain.

The only thing Bush knows about Vietnam came out of a whiskey bottle and cocain up his nose.

The voluntary military is ripe for abuse. Not so with a military draft. If there was a military draft starting 9/12/01, we the people would be more effective with opposition to the war mongering rich and powerful.

What would you do if you were drafted to be sent off to Iraq?

[SanDollar]

Yes, and if we leave Iraq, Al Queda will follow us home, like the Communists followed us home from Viet Nam.

[oafishcad]

If a Terrorist follows me home, can I keep him?

[BamaRainbow]

Well, only if he's got big sad eyes and wags his tail incessantly. Otherwise, you have to take him to the pound.

[JessWonderin]

Can they run a mower?

[lunaoscura]

It's a real shame when you have to give a course in logic just to begin to refute the things that come out of this administration's maw. That and the lost time it takes to pull your head back together after it explodes due to too many synapses rushing to insert logic into the overwhelming flood of distortions he spews. The layers of lies upon which Bushspeak utters his simple-minded dribble is painfully evident and leaves one wondering where they can possibly start to assert some sanity and insert reasoning powers which follow the rules of logic. It's war against thinking. It's an assault of pablum on the brain. It's catapulting mindlessness. It's the shock and awe tale told by an idiot.

[HamletsMill]

"It's war against thinking. It's an assault of pablum on the brain. It's catapulting mindlessness. It's the shock and awe tale told by an idiot."
-lunaoscura

Very well said! You have but into words exactly what I was thinking when I read Bush's presentation at the VFW. I will not dignify it by calling it a "speech" in the generally accepted meaning of the word in the English language.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/washington/w23policytext.html

This is breathtakingly incoherent thought to anyone who lived through that period of history. This presentation is simply not true as to the historical facts. Truly this Administration has degraded language and the communication of clear and concise truthful and accurate thought to a level never before witnessed in a supposedly educated nation.

It is all incessant propaganda.

How many more months are left until he is gone?

Can Yale take his degree back? Is that possible? Can that be done?

[oafishcad]

Whenever Bush is on TV I have to turn it off or change the channel. Otherwise I find myself literally screaming at the screen. My own reasoning powers disappear when I see him. I have never known such frustration as seeing our own President without the capacity to think logically.

[SeriousBlack]

Well said--exactly how I feel. Bush thinks he will be "understood" 50 years from now. The only thing that will be understood 50 years from now is that the United States had a sociopathic imbecile as President from 2000 - 2008. Historians will be scratching their heads in astonishment as they review his speeches and all the available digital video of him, breaking out the George W. Bush archives whenever they feel like having a good laugh.

[joebaggadonuts]

If we don't succeed in getting rid of this Administration, there may not be historians in another 50 years.

[readyforchange]

I have to admit, I was a little surprised when Junior brought up the 'V' word. But then I remembered I'm living in a surreal world where white is black, down is up, etc. Word manipulation is a cornerstone of this administration's legacy (Patriot Act, No Child Left Behind, ad nauseum).

It is a little puzzling that he would open this pandora's box. This guy has no shame.

[oafishcad]

Maybe he thinks everyone else who lived through the Viet Nam era is as brain fried as he is, and won't remember.

[Halsey]

W has a very bad case of selective memory and re-writing history. He "forgets" that Viet Nam was a mistake to INVADE...and it was done, primarily, under democratic presidents..so lots of blame to go around.

One has to wonder as W's choice to actually invoke a shameful past..is he saying HE will SACRIFICE over 50,000 young men? THAT"S what people should jump on..ask him "are you willing to let another 46,000 american soldiers die?

[eplatypusunum]

I am torn between believing Bush and his cabal of merry hatchetmen are simply so callous, greedy and, well, evil, that they'd look at the problems facing us in the world -- this war, bad global relations, energy woes, climate change, species and habitat loss, collapsing fisheries -- and proceed as they have. Or are they, like, from another universe? I mean, up is down and all that. Maybe rain was dry back on their home world.
More likely just avarice and a sense of entitlement. Lords of the jungle, as God intended, etc.
At this point my disbelief is only outweighed by my disgust and anger.

epu

[400poundnudist]

"At this point my disbelief is only outweighed by my disgust and anger."
Very well-said eplatypusunum. I couldn't agree more.