Lately, the conservative talk show hosts on cable "news" have been comparing Osama bin Laden to Democrats. For an unbelievable clip of these neo-McCarthyites, go to this link at Media Matters. Well, two can play at this game.
Osama bin Laden wanted to oust Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq because he was a secular leader -- in other words, he wanted regime change in Iraq. The other world leader calling for regime change in Iraq: George W. Bush.
Osama bin Laden predicted disaster for America if it invaded Iraq. George H. W. Bush, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft and Dick Cheney, when he was Secretary of Defense for Bush Senior, all predicted disaster for America if we invaded Iraq.
Osama bin Laden said President Clinton's immoral acts in the White House brought shame upon America. So did every Republican leader in the country.
Osama bin Laden believes that there should be no separation between religion and the government. And so does Tom DeLay.
And I challenge you to pass this Osama bin Laden-Pat Robertson-Jerry Falwell quiz. It's nearly impossible to tell their quotes apart.
Saying your political opponents are helping the enemies of the state -- whether they are communists or terrorists -- is the oldest trick in the book. It's a pathetic and desperate debating tactic. This infantile argument is easily countered -- as every third grader knows -- with the clever retort: "So are you!"
This debating ploy is the equivalent of: Hitler liked art. You like art. So you must be a Nazi.
Chris Matthews says Michael Moore and Osama bin Laden sound similar because they both warn of American war profiteers. Dwight Eisenhower also warned of the military industrial complex in America. Is he now retroactively a terrorist?
Harry Truman started a commission to investigate war profiteers during World War II. Truman, clearly a terrorist sympathizer.
It sounds like the refrain of the neo-McCarthyites is: "Do you now or have you ever agreed with a terrorist?"
This heinous new Republican talking point not only insults Democratic leaders, but it is also gravely offensive to a majority of Americans who share their point of view.
Just about every poll in the country now shows a majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was a mistake and that we should withdraw as soon as practical. Are they all terrorists? Is this what we have come to?
Senator Joe McCarthy understood that you could intimidate your political opponents if you accused them of being traitors to this country and being in league with our enemies. But he also came to understand that this cheap political parlor trick only lasts so long. And history is not kind to its purveyors.