As I listened to the president yesterday, I was stunned not by what I heard, but what I have never heard: reality.
This president has proven quite adept at creating mythical strawmen and beating it into submission.
Here is the president speaking about 9/11:
As the horror of that morning grows more distant, there is a tendency to believe that the threat is receding and this war is coming to a close. That feeling is natural and comforting — and wrong.
And non-existent. I don’t know a single person who has claimed the war on terror is coming to a close. But the president needs to look tough — when compared to something weaker than he. So he attacks non-existent opposing constructs.
Now, I certainly don’t expect the president to engage his political enemies head on, because he could not win an honest debate on his merits. There are none.
So, as usual, the election season is upon us and the president pulls out his tough-guy bravado with the hope that we easily scared Americans will just shut up and let him continue to “make us safer(sic).” The attitude is a pathetic tactic this administration has pulled time and time again.
So it goes without saying, while you listen to the president blather on this fall in a sad attempt to paint his political enemies as more incompetent than he is, remember the dreadful post-war planning in Iraq. Remember that there was plenty of dissent in all levels of government about the WMD evidence and whether or not it was worth invading. Remember that the military planners for the war wanted substantially more troops for the invasion. Remember Mission Accomplished and the 2500 troops who have died and the 15,000 troops who have been injured since that day.
Remember this day last year, when you saw hundreds of thousands of people abandoned by the federal government because “the paperwork hadn’t gone through” for National Guard
Remember more than 1 year ago when Dick Cheney told you the Iraq insurgency was in its “last throes.” Remember that Don Rumsfeld then explained that “last throes” meant 12 years. Remember that a few days ago, Rumsfeld compared anyone who questions his incompetence to Nazis. Remember that Cheney refers to those who talk about his administration’s incompetence as “al-Qaeda types.”
Remember that this administration has ignored, redacted, or denied scientific research whenever that research questions the political, religious, business beliefs of the administration or its fanatical base.
Remember these things, there are 4 more speeches to listen to.
rob