In defense of 'political disharmony'
David Ignatius' latest piece argues, with the possiblity of another terrorist attack, we should all be more united. Behind who or what? Well, that’s the tricky part.
Ignatius describes what he believes would happen in the wake of another deadly assault.
Liberals would blame the Bush administration for making America a more vulnerable target. Didn’t the war in Iraq inflame Muslim terrorists around the world? Wouldn’t we have been safer today if we had focused on al-Qaeda in Afghanistan rather than embarking on a costly war that has sapped the military and CIA and added to America’s enemies? These arguments aren’t imaginary: We hear them every day, almost as rehearsals for the post-attack finger-pointing.
And how would conservatives respond? They would blame liberals, who, in their view, have weakened America’s anti-terrorism defenses. Couldn’t we have stopped the bombers if critics hadn’t exposed the National Security Agency’s secret wiretapping program? Wouldn’t aggressive CIA interrogation techniques have yielded more intelligence that might have prevented the tragedy? Didn’t congressional demands to withdraw from Iraq embolden the terrorists? I can hear the voices on talk radio and cable news right now.
But like most David Broder columns, Ignatius leaves out the important parts.
DUDE!!!!!!!
NEW EAGLE PICS UP AT MY BLOG TOO!!!
yanno americas icon..that bird.
Ignatius is correct.
And we don't need him to tell us the facts all support the one side.
The right need someone to tell them the facts all support the other side.
If that is his job lets raise his platform.
carpetbagger:
Unfortunately, unity has come to mean uniting behind the Decider or the Commander Guy. I'm not crazy about either choice.
and with all due respect to the america( my birth place/lived in too untill almost 8 yrs ago)
I have seen the american goverment take apart rights every yr based on the so called war on terror.
Lets not forget 911 happend on BUSHS watch, and that a memo was issued (august 2001)and bush didint deem it important.
Also, while we are it,, TIME mag carried a cover of the most 100 influencital ppl back in 2003, on that cover was the FBI whistle blower who proved that those warnings were in effect and the FBI knew about the incomming 911 attacks but thier boss DID nothing.
simply said,, ´´there wasint enough to warant a investigation´´
George tennet,, now claims hes the fall guy and he is! that slam dunk lying bastard knew damn well what course his bottom feeders boss´s wanted him to take and he did just that. and to this day he keeps his wittle medal the prez gave him .
Richard clark came forward in 2005 and admitted that ´´your goverment failed you,i failed you and for that iam sorry´´
colon powel now admitts that there was some ??? regarding his UN speech leading up to war, and to this day says he searved at the presidents pleasuer.
Then came abu graves,, the infamous prison pics and those of higher command were never formaly charged. One general knew what was going on and he met with rummy and was shitcanned on the spot later on. Oh and those charges of the prison abuse are far worse then imagined, as per say sermor AKA THE NEW YORKER time articule.
and now today,, we are supposed to believe that anyone or any´´ creature´´ still searving under the presidents pleasuer is really telling the truth?
They white house has become a global joke!!!!!!!!!! literally where i go ppl ask me,, why is bush still in office, when clinton did a bj? and your president did a fake war.
I tell them this,, first,, that bitch,, isint my president what so ever!! secondly thats how the republican party works, lie cheat hide and steal edvidence and cover thier asses etc.
thirdly,, we can only hope the new congress grows some damn balls and plays hardball right back.
yet sadly, they arent. If anything, they overlook massive crap and just roll thier eyes and have a tunnle vision of 2008 presidental elections.In the meantime,, We the ppl for the ppl is a laughing stock of the world and is the new congress as well.
so much for a 100 day promise.
thanks nancy pelosi and other newly elected members of congress that promised us alot and gave us,,,,,,,,,by way of comparison,, JACK SHIT!
I'll be glad to stand hand-in-hand with anyone — as soon as they agree with me! But really, can it be any other way when the choices at hand are almost diametrically opposite?
Until the end of time our government will be comprised of people who don't mind the Israeli AIPAC spies and those who do. Those who hate Muslims and those who don't. Xenophobes and warmongers. On and on. It's very sad. The Republicans did this to America. Bush and his lies and secrecy and fear mongering and Republican-only "Town Hall Meetings".
Tonight on the news there were 2 stories. One about some local white teenagers trying to blow up a church. Another about a random attack on a convenient store clerk because he "looked like a terrorist". In Dallas.
This is the world the Republicans created. Biblical wars and Israel, a land born of racism and hatred.
Can't get behind Bush again. Just can't do it.
Did it once. After 9/11. But as soon as I questioned his plans for Iraq, he called me a traitor and/or a coward.
Never again. He is not my president and never will be.
Nor will anyone be who enabled him. They are all my enemies.
Remember, though, in Newspeak, "we should be more united" means "everyone should obey Beloved Leader unquestioningly." Just like "support the troops" means "obey Beloved Leader's homicidally stupid policies unquestioningly." And "bipartisanship" means "both political parties agree to obey Beloved Leader unquestioningly." See a pattern here? I'm dead serious. All GOP talking points boil down to this one message -- shut your stinking serf mouth and OBEY.
Do the math - with 55% of eligible voters turning out in 2004, you can win the election with 28% of the electorate. So you play to your base and turn off the remaining 45% with negative campaigning that so alienates them that they declare a pox on both houses and refuse to participate in the process. Both parties do it this way, so they both base their campaigns on "divide and conquor" the American people. Divisiveness and disunity are the result of deliberate strategies, and you cannot fix the problem within the current electoral system.
So what's to do? I suggest two things: one, make voting mandatory, subject to a significant fine for failure (Australia does this) and two, add "none of the above (NOTA)" to ballot choices, and require that a candidate win by a majority, including counting of the NOTA voters, with runoffs where necessary.
NSA Illegal Wiretapping was in place BEFORE 9/11 and did not stop it because intercepted phone calls announcing the attacks were not TRANSLATED. Bush promoted the person who ran that program to head the CIA.
Torture of al-Liddy produced Baloney about WMD in Iraq.
Congress demanded our Army catch bin Laden. Bush withdrew from Afghanistan and redeployed to Iraq without permission, literally funneling money and resources to his own project.
Ignatius, terrorist acts have increased seven fold since America's invasion and occupation of Iraq.
At least Ignatius seems to realize the Republicans will cry out for more fascism (and blame liberals for lack of more fascism) & blame the lack of a true authoritarian state for the attacks.
He also leaves out the fact that Bush/Cheney will, more than likely, declare martial law if another 9/11 happens before Jan. 20, 2009.
Of course, our army is so depleted now due to the Iraq debacle there is no way Bush/Cheney could invade the country that didn't attack us.
Just as the neo-con, New World Order sociopaths of our government pulled off 9/11, OK City, and dozens of other horrific murders they will come up with something to benefit all their cronies...the World Bank, IMF, and the rest of the scum. This isn't and has never been about political ideologies. They use the Heglian Dialetic meaning they are always in the center, manipulating both sides.
The terrorists are in DC on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Jeez, six years and 40 percent of the sheeple still think Iraq and Saddam were envolved. What the hell does it take to wake people up? It's one thing to talk in philosophical Orwellian metaphors but it is a nightmare that tears at my being to be living it.
I wonder why Bush doesn't think about Usama Bin Laden anymore?
Possibly a deal was made, as in, 'we let you escape from
Tora Bora and you hold off until we give the word'. Just like
once upon a time in Iran when they released the hostages
just after Reagan took office.
Read about the new anthrax theories and the FBI over at Daily Cos?
We really don't need Bin Laden.
Bullwinkle @ 9:
I feel like I'm on a runaway train. I anticipate a big attack on our soil. I can only hope it comes after Bush is out of office. If it happens before he's out I can imagine he'll try to complete the make-over of our nation into a Nazi nightmare. Dog help us.
One thing that has always bothered me about 9/11. A couple days earlier there were any number of stadiums full those dam americans. Were they just big hearted or low goal setters?
We don't all need to agree. We just all need to get along.
That means realizing that everyone else has the same rights you do and respecting them.
I think that is where people become confused: They mistake acceptance for agreement. Dissent can be healthy. You don't need to agree with your spouse, just respect him. You don't need to agree with your worker, but you need to respect her. People are all the same in that they want happiness, but not all in agreement as to what happiness means.
An attack is inevitable ; to believe any country is 100% infallible , is foolish.
But to constantly present it as some type of dark cloud hanging over all of us , is quite weak..........
The Conservatives convenietly forget that Dick Cheney was tasked to head a terrorism task force before 9/11 and never took it seriously. Thats because Cheney was too busy holding secret meetings with executives in the energy industry. One of Cheney's other first priorities was to reverse Clinton's rules protecting the environment for the benefit of Cheney's friends and constituents in the West.
George Tenet (one of the few who was kept onboard from the Clinton Administration) tried to meet with Rice on the Al Qaida threat and was rebuffed several times. At the time a Missile Defense Plan was her top priority.
Also, and this is very, very important. Bush completely ignored Clintons last few pleas to get talks going in the Middle East during Clinton's last month in office. The Conservatives blame Clinton for all the pardons in the last days of his Administration but refuse to give Clinton any credit for desperately trying to get talks going again in the Middle East. When Bush took office he completely ignored the Middle East. Any progress Clinton made was put to a halt.
Bush completely dropped the ball on the Middle East and the Al Qaida threat. At the time I recall asking myself why the hell is he ignoring the Middle East. Little did I know they already had plans underway before 9/11 even happened, thanks to the PNAC.
I also recall Bush repeatedly saying how bad the economy was when he took office. Now, I don't recall alot of complaints about the econonomy during Clinton's last few weeks but as soon as he left office Bush was already putting fears into American's about the bad economy.
The conservatives thrive on fear. If there are no monsters they make them up to cause fear and get the public to rally behind them. Instead of using 9/11 to ask what went wrong, they instead used it as a platform to spread their PNAC conservative agenda, to spread fear and use it as an excuse to increase their power.
This should be the premise for the Legacy of the Bush Administration. One word: Fear.
In the event of another "terroorist" attack, I would more likely not blame the bush junta for making the country more vulnerable; I would instead blame them for conducting the attack.
why don't we stop pretending the "attack" was perped by an enemy and get to the trials? It is sad that there are so many people willing to ignore what have become a very clear pattern of these folks in power to start an endless war.
If you don't think that the shooter and rummy gang were a part of this from the planning stages , then you need to reevaluate your cognitive abilities.
shooter is an agent of a foreign power. he is the agent of the foreign power that benefitted the most from the 9/11 paranoia. he is an agent of opec, and thus saudi arabia. the people that are accused of doing the attacks are mostly saudi.
is anyone really stupid enough not to believe they crafted all of this for their world takeover? I must close now, as I realize that no amount of discussion helps the mentally retarded among us understand that the members of the government work for who pays them. they get a little under 200K per year from their paycheck. they take much more than that to sell their votes to the highest bidder.
good luck my fellow americans, hope you all survive the anarchy as we revisit democracy
A person, I am a buddhist too and am familiar with the 'respect' concept. Ya can't walk around like little R2D2's and respect those whose concept of happiness is vicious treatment of others.
it'll be a full blown revolution after the 'martial law' declaration. count on it. and we'll
hang the lot of them, count on that too!
Comments are closed on this entry