Catching up on political issues and current events. Please send your comments to rjcmp1@yahoo.com

Wednesday, August 13, 2003

Kerry Bites the Big One
I'll venture a prediction. The Philly Cheese Steak incident is either (a) the end of John Kerry's bid for the Presidency or (b) the proof that, even if this event doesn't finish him off, he can never be President. What has kept Kerry in the race -- the ONLY thing that keeps him in the race -- is that he looks presidential. But his gravitas -- to use an old favorite term from 2000 -- has always been razor-thin (if not a complete illusion). The cheese steak gaffe (that's the term that would be applied if a Republican were involved) broke through the veneer, and showed how easily Kerry can be turned into a joke. So even if he survives this one, it's only a matter of time before he stumbles again and can't get up.

Tuesday, August 12, 2003

Iraq – The Facts Are Irrelevant
"Bush Lied – and Our Soldiers Died” – that’s the latest Democratic refrain. For people who are always demanding a “smoking gun,” the claim seems pretty sketchy, and even so, nobody’s saying that the battle in Iraq wasn’t worth fighting. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. If one thing was absolutely predictable in December 2000, from the moment Bush was clearly going to be President, it was that Democrats would accuse him of lying. Iraq just happens to be the subject.

Democrats have to accuse Bush of lying – because they have to believe that Republicans are no better than they are. Everybody knows that Clinton lied. Democrats have to believe that Bush lies, too – and, of course, Bush lies about important things, not just about sex! Bush was elected on a promise to “restore dignity to the Presidency.” Oh, how that must stick in the craw of Clinton supporters! So Bush was destined to lie – in the eyes of Democrats and their friends in the press.

What’s truly remarkable is this: Just as it was utterly predictable that Bush would be accused of lying, it was certain that Democrats would try to attach a scandal to him, to establish his moral equivalency with (or inferiority to) the Clinton Administration. Yet, after nearly three years and lots of attempts – Enron, Halliburton, Harken Energy, Cheney’s energy task force, etc., etc. – there is no scandal. (And, no, it’s not because right-wingers have taken over the press and scared poor little CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, NPR, New York Times, Washington Post, Time, and Newsweek into covering up Bush’s crimes.)

Monday, August 11, 2003

Saddam Dead or Alive

Would it be better if Saddam Hussein is captured, or killed? A death that involves destroying the body beyond recognition might be the worst outcome, since fanatical followers in the Middle East will never be convinced of his demise, and eager skeptics here at home will never shut up. That’s why it was necessary to display the bodies of Uday and Qusay. (And who knows about Osama?) Otherwise, however, one can only say that Saddam’s death would be the best outcome. Imagine the circus that will ensue if Saddam is captured. Victor Davis Hanson's comments today in National Review Online, on the West's fastidious hand-wringing about Uday and Qusay, suggest what we might expect if Papa is in U.S. custody:

Saddam will immediately receive coveted victim status. We’ll hear endless criticism of U.S. treatment of the prisoner, appeals to (someone’s interpretation of) international law, and demands for UN intervention.

Cable stations will begin touting the latest “trial of the century.” Saddam will be assumed to have the Constitutional rights of a U.S. citizen. Defense attorneys will parade before the cameras with “expert” views that he cannot be proven guilty of anything beyond a reasonable doubt.

Saddam will benefit from favorable contrasts to (fill in the blank) John Ashcroft, Donald Rumsfeld, George Bush – or whoever is railroading his conviction. The President’s political opponents will look to Saddam to contradict Bush’s rationale for going to war – and the more he does, the more credibility he’ll have with the press corps.

Saddam’s capture will be explained in purely political terms – as a tactic in President Bush’s reelection campaign.
In all this, it will be almost impossible to focus attention in the press on the crimes Saddam has committed against his people and the world – oops, I mean the crimes he is alleged to have committed.