To paraphrase that master communicator, Ronald Reagan, here we go again.
This week, in fine Rip Van Winkle style, President Bush emerged from his apparent slumber and announced that he does indeed have a plan to fight a war on terror. And he now urgently needs the Congress to vote and give him lots and lots of authority to deal with these bad guys. He might as well have said, "yes, I am a bad dude and I am mean and nasty and I beat up on terrorists and I know you wimpy democrats don't like it but that's just the way it is. Now, I double-dog-dare you to vote against giving me what I want."
It's déjà vu all over again.
Just as Mr. Bush did in the run up to the 2002 mid-term elections, he rushes in and asks congress to give him another blank check. Back in 2002, it was a blank check to invade Iraq. Reporting on this maneuver, The Los Angeles Times reports that "it was the first time the White House had publicly broached the politically sensitive subject of what they plan to do with Al Qaeda operatives..." Politically sensitive??? Aw, come on boys, this is a political Christmas present to the GOP. Frankly, no one gives a darn about the civil rights of terrorist. Whether they should or not. George Bush knows this, because ya' know, he is stupid but he's not stupid, if you know what I mean. And he and Karl Rove are nothing if not masterful at political sleight of hand. Witness the presser: George W. gives the bad guy a cute little nickname.... KSM -- oh too good! What better way to make this guy larger than life and made for info-tainment news! Of course, he is only building up the image the enemies he has in custody, not old Osama-what's-his-name who is still at large. A truly brilliant move, George. Kudos.
So what do the ever-nimble Dems in Congress do? They say "well, finally Mr. President". Oh Lord, is that really the best you can do????
George Bush has irreparably fouled up the war on terror by prosecuting his ill-conceived, ill-managed war in Iraq. Valuable time, resources, international cooperation and, most of all, lives have been lost. He created a haven for terrorist by creating chaos in Iraq -- we are now fighting "Al Qaeda in Iraq" -- something that never would had existed but for the ineptitude of George and the Gang. International cooperation, that was at its zenith in the days after 9/11, has vanished and been replaced by allies who cannot even stay in power in their own countries. In Afghanistan, the Taliban has made a resurgence. These are horrible, tragic circumstances that could have been avoided. These outcomes were not unknowable. They were not even unknown. Ask Al Gore. He set forth each and every horrendous consequence that would follow from invading Iraq back in September of 2002 just before the mid term elections. Few Democrats or members of the MSM listened. Are they listening now?