Saturday, October 23, 2004
Dances with Wolves
Wolves as a metaphor for terrorism?
Bush used untruths, misleading statements and outright lies about the war in Iraq. And got away with it.
So, he's doing it again in attacks on John Kerry.
He told us repeatedly there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He said us Iraq had a fleet of unmanned aircraft "for missions targeting the United States". "Iraq" he claimed "has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases..."
False. False. False.
Those are just the bald faced lies. Then there's also a barrage of insinuations, misleading statements, phony intelligence, dubious science.
Who would believe this guy?
How could anyone possibly want him as President?
The Republicans have so filled the heads of Americans with fiction that 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD or a major program for developing them.
75% of Bush supporters believe Iraq was involved with Al Qaeda. 55% assume that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission.
Wrong, wrong wrong.
Take those beliefs, mix them with some footage of prowling wolves, and what do you get? An American public terrified of wolves with nuclear arms who will eat their babies.
When Cheney said that if Kerry was elected it would put the United States at risk of another terrorist attack, most commentators were appalled. But repetition breeds insensibility.
Kerry, on the other hand, suffers from an apparent overdose of sincerity. He stuck by his support of the president's Iraq attack, he won't stick to his prepared scripts.
Two men, a President who is inarticulate and impatient, unable to grasp complex issues, but who is tightly managed to appear resolute and powerful. The contender: articulate, extraordinarily principled, and capable, who burbles extemporaneously and can't seem to get enough traction.
Wolves are an apt metaphor, but not in the way the ads would intend.
Wolves in sheep's clothing. Foxes guarding the henhouse.
A village unprepared when the real wolf showed up.
In every possible way Bush has failed to perceive or confront the real threats that face us.
He ignored the warnings about Al Queda leading up to 9/11. He attacked the wrong country. He failed to stop the looting in Iraq, failed to restore the infrastructure, disbanded the army, was unprepared for insurgency. He's been diffident on homeland security, waffled on implementing the 9/11 commission's recommendations, and allowed the automatic weapons ban to expire.
This is the guy who says he'll make you safe?
On the other hand...
A real life action movie story that the press isn't telling you is how John Kerry went after a criminal network of CIA supported financiers who were funneling money to narco-traffickers, terrorists, and Osama Bin Laden. With ties to, who else? The Bush administration.
The Case That Kerry Cracked.
Yeats warned us when evil spirals "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".
Some of the best do have passionate intensity. Others are just well organized, well read, and well prepared.
Bush used untruths, misleading statements and outright lies about the war in Iraq. And got away with it.
So, he's doing it again in attacks on John Kerry.
He told us repeatedly there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He said us Iraq had a fleet of unmanned aircraft "for missions targeting the United States". "Iraq" he claimed "has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases..."
False. False. False.
Those are just the bald faced lies. Then there's also a barrage of insinuations, misleading statements, phony intelligence, dubious science.
Who would believe this guy?
How could anyone possibly want him as President?
The Republicans have so filled the heads of Americans with fiction that 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD or a major program for developing them.
75% of Bush supporters believe Iraq was involved with Al Qaeda. 55% assume that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission.
Wrong, wrong wrong.
Take those beliefs, mix them with some footage of prowling wolves, and what do you get? An American public terrified of wolves with nuclear arms who will eat their babies.
When Cheney said that if Kerry was elected it would put the United States at risk of another terrorist attack, most commentators were appalled. But repetition breeds insensibility.
Kerry, on the other hand, suffers from an apparent overdose of sincerity. He stuck by his support of the president's Iraq attack, he won't stick to his prepared scripts.
Two men, a President who is inarticulate and impatient, unable to grasp complex issues, but who is tightly managed to appear resolute and powerful. The contender: articulate, extraordinarily principled, and capable, who burbles extemporaneously and can't seem to get enough traction.
Wolves are an apt metaphor, but not in the way the ads would intend.
Wolves in sheep's clothing. Foxes guarding the henhouse.
A village unprepared when the real wolf showed up.
In every possible way Bush has failed to perceive or confront the real threats that face us.
He ignored the warnings about Al Queda leading up to 9/11. He attacked the wrong country. He failed to stop the looting in Iraq, failed to restore the infrastructure, disbanded the army, was unprepared for insurgency. He's been diffident on homeland security, waffled on implementing the 9/11 commission's recommendations, and allowed the automatic weapons ban to expire.
This is the guy who says he'll make you safe?
On the other hand...
A real life action movie story that the press isn't telling you is how John Kerry went after a criminal network of CIA supported financiers who were funneling money to narco-traffickers, terrorists, and Osama Bin Laden. With ties to, who else? The Bush administration.
The Case That Kerry Cracked.
Yeats warned us when evil spirals "The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity".
Some of the best do have passionate intensity. Others are just well organized, well read, and well prepared.
