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On Iraq, Bush losing war of the words

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Nobody uses pop culture as a springboard for political analysis quite like the New York Times’ Frank Rich. In today’s column, Rich compares President Bush’s Fort Bragg speech unfavorably to Steven Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds.” Both were intended to whip up fear in their audience… but only Spielberg succeeds.

Both Mr. Bush’s critics and loyalists at times misunderstand where his failure leaves America now. The left frets too much that the public just doesn’t get it – that it is bamboozled by the administration and won’t see the light until it digests the Downing Street memo. But even if they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for John Kerry, most Americans do get it. A majority of the country view the Iraq war as “not worth it” and going badly. They intuitively sense that as USA Today calculated on Friday, there have been more U.S. military deaths (roughly a third more) in the year since Iraq got its sovereignty than in the year before. Last week an ABC News/Washington Post survey also found that a majority now believe that the administration “intentionally misled” us into a war – or, in the words of the Downing Street memo, that the Bush administration “fixed” the intelligence to gin up the mission.

Meanwhile, the war’s die-hard supporters, now in the minority, keep clinging to the hope that some speech or Rovian stunt or happy political development in the furtherance of democratic Iraqi self-government can turn public opinion around. Dream on. The most illuminating of all the recent poll numbers was released by the Pew Research Center on June 13: the number of Americans who say that “people they know are becoming less involved emotionally” with news of the war has risen from 26 percent in May 2004 to 44 percent now. Like the war or not, Americans who do not have a relative or neighbor in the fight are simply tuning Iraq out.

The president has no one to blame but himself. The color-coded terror alerts, the repeated John Ashcroft press conferences announcing imminent Armageddon during election season, the endless exploitation of 9/11 have all taken their numbing toll. Fear itself is the emotional card Mr. Bush chose to overplay, and when he plays it now, he is the boy who cried wolf. That’s why a film director engaging in utter fantasy can arouse more anxiety about a possible attack on America than our actual commander in chief hitting us with the supposed truth.

Rich outline’s Bush’s failures — both in rhetoric and in policy — and concludes that the Republicans could be facing a tough mid-term election.

Iraq may not be Vietnam, but The Wall Street Journal reports that the current war’s unpopularity now matches the Gallup findings during the Vietnam tipping point, the summer of 1968. As the prospect of midterm elections pumps more and more genuine fear into the hearts of Republicans up for re-election, it’s the Bush presidency, not the insurgency, that will be in its last throes. Is the commander in chief so isolated in his bubble that he does not realize this? G.W.B., phone home.

Read the whole thing.

Comments

  1. 1

    As Churchill said, this is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning. The neocon pipedream is crumbling. It was, of course, doomed from the start because it was destined to destroy itself. When you lie about gravity, you see, gravity still works.

  3. 3

    As Churchill said, this is not the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning. The neocon pipedream is crumbling. It was, of course, doomed from the start because it was destined to destroy itself. When you lie about gravity, you see, gravity still works.

    Comment by Roger Rabbit— 7/3/05 @ 4:03 pm

    I dont know about the RR. There is still a lot of life left in the conservative movement. Only time will tell if it will end up in the “ash heap of history” as communism,socialism and the liberal great society movement.

  4. 4

    The neocon pipedream is crumbling. It was, of course, doomed from the start because it was destined to destroy itself. When you lie about gravity, you see, gravity still works.

    Comment by Roger Rabbit— 7/3/05 @ 4:03 pm

    I think the jury is still out on the conservative movement and what the ultimate destiny will be. We do know what the destiny of communism, socialism, fascism and liberalism are. They deserve to be in the “ash heap of history” as a former president would say. They are indeed destined for failure.

  10. 10

    4

    Iraq is losing 11.4 billion in oil revenue due to damage after the Iraq war? Are you suggesting that the Iraqi people benefited from oil revenue before the war started? Explain please. I am dying to know the truth.

  11. 11

    re prr 6: You mean you’ve been doing all this huffing and puffing and posturing about the DSM and you haven’t even read it!?!?!!!!!I don’t know why I’m still surprised by you guys. You have so little depth and you seem oblivious to the fact of it.

  12. 12

    Re 8: Haven’t you heard of trickle down economics? The Iraqis benefitted tremendously from building Saddam’s mansions and bunkers.

  13. 13

    prr @8,

    prr

    I posted on the Downing Street Memo way back on May 2, and in my post included a link to the text of memo. That you have apparently never read the DSM, I find quite amusing… considering that you were the first person to comment on my original post:

    Interesting post Goldy.

    I would say this holds about as much credibility as the investigation of your being a pedophile.

    So… you dismissed the credibility of the memo, without even reading it?

  14. 14

    Re 8: Haven’t you heard of trickle down economics? The Iraqis benefitted tremendously from building Saddam’s mansions and bunkers.

    Comment by Dr Quest— 7/3/05 @ 10:16 pm

    Yeah they didnt die. That is not what I am asking…. what did the Iraqi people get from the fruits of the labor from oil production under Sadam?

  15. 15

    @10, 14

    Nice attempt at obfuscation. Do you really want to highlight the fact that the Iraqis are no better off now than before the invasion? The real question, of course, is what happened to the neo-cons’ claims that the invasion/occupation/”regime change” would pay for itself from Iraqi oil production.

  16. 16

    prr, there is hope for you. You just need to turn of FOX news, Hannity, Savage, Limbaugh, etc… then start reading. Soon you will find yourself in the wonderful, and scary world of REALITY.

    It is tough, but I am sure you can do it!

    Godspeed!

  18. 18

    One reason Iraqis haven’t benefitted from their oil since the U.S. invasion is that $9 billion of Iraqi oil money in U.S. custody simply disappeared.

  19. 19

    “One reason Iraqis haven’t benefitted from their oil since the U.S. invasion is that $9 billion of Iraqi oil money in U.S. custody simply disappeared. ”

    Got some proof?

  20. 20

    Yes. The proof is on the front page of today’s Times. But it’s been around for quite some time. The MSM wasn’t quite finished with removing the mote from the UN’s eye. Now it’s time to remove the log from our own. That’s a Biblical reference, in case you didn’t know…..

  21. 21

    Dr Quest @ 20

    “Yes. The proof is on the front page of today’s Times.”

    Thanks, that’s all you need to say. I’ll take a look at it. Is there something intrinsically wrong with asking people to back up their assertions?

    “The MSM wasn’t quite finished with removing the mote from the UN’s eye. Now it’s time to remove the log from our own. That’s a Biblical reference, in case you didn’t know….. ”

    I’ve read the Bible, so I’m aware what you are paraphrasing, and this would only apply if I’d been making claims I can’t back up. Something I’ve not been doing.

  23. 23

    4 & 5

    There’s not much left of the conservative movement in this country, and what’s left of it is standing around scratching their heads and wondering how their movement and the Republican Party got hijacked by a fascist gang.

  24. 24

    RR @ 23

    A minor issue with your terminology: the conservative movement is exactly the gang of crypto-fascist christianists who have hijacked the Republican Party. David Neiwert @ Orcinus has explored in considerable detail the rise of what he terms “pseudo fascism” (because they take on all the surface trappings, the rhetorical and imagery devices, but haven’t yet organized wide-scale violence typical of true fascists) among the conservative movement, the exploitation of the conservative movement by the Cheney-style corporatists w/in the Republican party, the danger of that exploitation, and the resulting marginalization of true Conservatives. HTML links to the series can be found at Orcinus, or you can download the entire series in PDF format.

  25. 25

    Dr Quest @ 22

    Thanks for the eloquent rebuttal to my post.

    I read the analysis by David Wood in the Seattle Times. I could find on reference to the figure of $9 billion of Iraq oil money disappearing From this I can only conlcude this is just another baseless claim about Iraq from someone on the left.

  27. 27

    TJ @ 26

    I appreciate the link. I do agree that the U.S. could be doing a better job of getting basic services working. I’m not sure “disappeared” and “unaccounted for” are the same thing.

    I do agree with Bremer’s statement (from the article):

    “The IG auditors presume that the coalition could achieve a standard of budgetary transparency and execution that even peaceful Western nations would have trouble meeting within a year, especially in the midst of a war,” Bremer wrote.

  28. 28

    Frank Rich is incredible. He makes me feel so inadequate in my blog. I think his theatre background really makes a difference. He sees through the posturing that is the very basis of the Bush administration. It is really a shame that so many in the United States have written off the New York Times, because I think their editorialists are probably the best in the world. DavidT

  29. 29

    Frank Rich is incredible. He makes me feel so inadequate in my blog. I think his theatre background really makes a difference.

    I agree DT. He sure makes lies sound beautiful doesnt he.

  30. 30

    @ 29

    I’m sorry — what, exactly, did he say that was a lie? I’m really interested, because if anyone should know what is a lie it would be you.

  31. 31

    @ 30

    Nope doofus isn’t a liar because a liar knows what the truth is.

    Doofus is a bullshitter – a bullshitter doesn’t care what the truth is.

  32. 32

    Lie and Deny — the twin watch words of the right. If the facts are against you: Lie. If you’re caught lying: Deny. Never, ever, admit you’re wrong — that’s rule #1 of the right wingers.

  33. 33

    RUFUS@29:

    I completely agree with you that Rich’s laying out of the Bush administration’s lies is beautiful. Rufus, you’re absolutely right that the Bush administration has made lies seem so beautiful. Rufus, it’s good to see you making such a rational, cogent analysis of this.

  36. 36

    doofus @ 35

    He got the date wrong and jumped to a conclusion. He shouldn’t have done that. That’s something that Sharkansky does all the time whether he gets the facts straight or not.

    truth:

    # a fact that has been verified; “at last he knew the truth”; “the truth is the he didn’t want to do it”
    # conformity to reality or actuality; “they debated the truth of the proposition”; “the situation brought home to us the blunt truth of the military threat”; “he was famous for the truth of his portraits”; “he turned to religion in his search for eternal verities”
    # a true statement; “he told the truth”; “he thought of answering with the truth but he knew they wouldn’t believe it”
    # accuracy: the quality of nearness to the truth or the true value; “he was beginning to doubt the accuracy of his compass”; “the lawyer questioned the truth of my account”
    # United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883)

    I can read the dictionary like anyone else.

  37. 37

    Yeah–

    He was charging that the pentagon was trying to bury the story by coming out with it on a Friday… and your saying it was a small oversight that he got the date wrong? Hahahaha Oh man your a riot!!

  38. 38

    RUFUS@37:

    So now even YOU are accusing the Pentagon of trying to bury the story. Good to see you’re on the correct side on this one. (Hey, but could you slow down in your typing? You’re leaving out a lot of letters and words.)

  39. 39

    doofus @ 37

    Yeah, can you prove that it wasn’t a mistake?

    Government press officials always issue semi-embarrassing tidbits on Fridays. It’s done all the time. Rich having worked in the media has seen it done countless times. It’s an easy conclusion to jump to.

    Doofus, it fits your pattern – the election was close and didn’t come out your way so you conclude fraud. A guy you don’t agree with makes a mistake so you conclude he did it deliberately.

    You have zero cred with me.

  40. 40

    John

    Rich having worked in the media has seen it done countless times. It’s an easy conclusion to jump to.

    I agree with you there John. The liberal media jumps to a lot of conclusions . Most of them prove to be wrong like the memogate and newsweek being the most recent. It is funny how all these wrong conclusions are always negative toward the conservative. Do you think there is a pattern…. nah!!

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