Intellectual laziness and the 'al Qaeda' shorthand
By Steve Benen Sunday Apr 20, 2008 7:30amAbout a year ago, it became painfully obvious that the president started lying about al Qaeda in Iraq as part of a cynical approach to bolstering support for the war. While that was hardly unexpected, the more noticeable problem was that the media started playing along with the White House’s scheme, and began characterizing everyone who commits an act of violence in Iraq as an al Qaeda terrorist.
The New York Times’ public editor, Clark Hoyt, eventually tackled the subject head on in a terrific column; the paper took steps to make amends; and news outlets have generally been more responsible about not equating all Iraqi violence with AQI.
Now, if only John McCain had been paying attention at the time.
As he campaigns with the weight of a deeply unpopular war on his shoulders, Senator John McCain of Arizona frequently uses the shorthand “Al Qaeda” to describe the enemy in Iraq in pressing to stay the course in the war there.
“Al Qaeda is on the run, but they’re not defeated” is his standard line on how things are going in Iraq. When chiding the Democrats for wanting to withdraw troops, he has been known to warn that “Al Qaeda will then have won.” In an attack this winter on Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic front-runner, Mr. McCain went further, warning that if American forces withdrew, Al Qaeda would be “taking a country.”
Critics say that in framing the war that way at rallies or in sound bites, Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is oversimplifying the hydra-headed nature of the insurgency in Iraq in a way that exploits the emotions that have been aroused by the name “Al Qaeda” since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Well, yes, critics do say that, but only because it’s true.
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Until we understand that John "THE REPUBLICAN" McCain is a politically ignorant as his buddy George "I READ A BOOK" Bush, we will continue to be surprised by his misstatements.
Allow me to attach a few nicknames which will assist in understanding our situation:
John "Run Forrest" McCain
John "Dumb As A Stump" McCain
John "Early Onset" McCain
John "THE REPUBLICAN" McCain
John "Cheap Labor" McCain
John "Dubya's Clone" McCain
John "Losing Braincells" McCain
John "Nobody's Home" McCain
John "Hides His Own Easter Eggs" McCain
John "NoBrainer" McCain
It's sad to say, but this nation has been dumbed down (or maybe it's always been this dumb) to the point that simple divisions are required to get a message across.
It's like people want all their answers packaged so that every seven minutes, a dramatic crescendo is reached, with 2 1/2 minutes of calm, relaxing messages, assuring the people that there's SOME product out there that will solve all their imagined problems.
About a year ago??? Try 4 years ago....
Big Dick Cheney @ 1:
You left out "John 'Next President' McCain"
And I suggest this with no enthusiasm.
What? Are you saying Republicans would lie to keep their illegal war going on and on and on? That sounds like a load of horse-feathers to me...the Republicans are right and true and never do anything bad or criminal...I mean, just because a new one of them are going to prison each week doesn't mean their doing anything that would be even remotely against the law.
All snarkyness aside, the Republicans have lied to us to get us into the war and they of course will lie and lie and lie to keep us there!
Dahgrostabphri @ 5:
And they'll continue blaming anyone who isn't a republican for anything that goes wrong - that is when they can't help but address that something has gone wrong.
Must be a typo, it should read:
“Al Qaeda is in Washington, but they’ll be defeated”
McCain's not "dumbing down" the issue - he's deliberately blurring the issue to link the Iraq War to the real Al Qaeda (and also to Iran) through this "tagline." He is not "too stupid" to understand the difference, he's too cynical and evil to care.
What WAR? I see no war. I see an occupation, though.
Has anyone seen anything at all on the MSM about the NYTimes article that broke over the weekend about the ten generals bush sent out to the media to Lie to make the admin look better?
Or did they cover it with Pope scatologies.
Medford Tim @ 3:
More like since 9/11. That makes it a little over 6 years.
Al Qaeda in Iran
Al Qaeda in Afghanistan
Al Qaeda in Jordan
Al Qaeda in Lebanon
Al Qaeda in Gaza
Al Qaeda in Indonesia
Al Qaeda under your bed
Al Qaeda in your closet
Al Qaeda in your fridge eating your ice cream
Al Qaeda in your computer infecting your hard drive
Al Qaeda in your bathroom clogging your toilet
I like John Forrestal Gump McCain myself.
I tried to tell a knuckledragger about the nuances in Iraq.
He said "What the fuck is the difference, they're all towel heads anyway".
We'll get nowhere with them types.
The republican robots will do ANYTHING to "save" Georgie Bush, their Party and defend their votes. They've placed the GOP above God, above America, above truth but below their Preachers and their gun shop.
This is treason of the highest order that even the Reagans and their "ME" generations (who it would have virtually killed to do ANYTHING for someone else in their lifetimes) would be appalled at.
When America is in it's last days, someone give the CEOs a coup de grace to the back of their necks in case none of us here are alive to see it and do it ourselves.
RickinSF @ 4:
John “Hides His Own Easter Eggs” and can't find them McCain.
♣Bangkok Bob♠ @ 10:
All Pope all the time. I haven't heard a word about the NYT story except in the Times and on the net. The news shows are too busy covering .......um, covering.....covering that the Pope has gone home.
American politics have been dumbed down to the level of a half hour sitcom. Every problem summarizes down into a catch phrase or sentence and every solution is achieved in half an hour and is instantly successful [as far as the audience is aware]. When the 28%ers hear "AQ is on the run" they believe it. To them the dems are just there to cause problems with the neat tidy little box that Iraq has been packaged in. Well as far as the shrub co. crime family tells them any way.
All the fear peddlers(Obama can't win!) who actually believe that McFraud can win at 72, bad tempered, ill health(physically and mentally), with his pitiful Bush war stance truly underestimate the American people who are totally through with this immoral occupation.
I think it's excellent that McCann will be our next president. When all the shite come tumbling down and it is already falling on our withered economy and ruined status in the world, the repubs will take all the heat. It really can't be fixed at this point and it's better to lay it firmly on the doorstep of the republic party rather than let Barack take the fall and get another 8 years of repubs immediately following. Best bet at this point is to plot your ticket out of the US asap while it's still possible to afford a flight using US dollars.
"Intellectually dishonest" is overly generous. I would call it, 'lying for political gain,' which is a much more accurate description.
Left&Left @ 17:
If I were a praying person, I would pray that you are right. I sure do hope you are.
MargeAggedon @ 16:
I had hoped that that 28% (the Moron factor) would have dwindled, but I guess it's a permanent part of the country now.
One of these days I'm going to make my decision
And act upon it while I still have volition
pissed off patricia @ 15:
Speaking of the Pope, thanks a lot your highness for not saying shit about the immoral genocidal occupation we are stage managing in Iraq.....asshole.
bob dobbs @ 18:
Good point
pissed off patricia @ 20:
Study after study shows that "hope" has more of a chance of succeeding that prayer. In fact, prayer has less of a chance of success than random chance. So hope away! :)
# 18 Bob
Absolutely, it seems like more people have to feel the sting before they'll wake up.
another 4 years might give us a couple of generations of liberal rule after that.
Otherwise it's just more of the same
bob dobbs @ 18:
Morbid curiousity makes me want McCain to win. And I've often thought the same thing about the dems taking the fall for all the right wing BS.
It will go something like this (any given issue):
"We were rebounding and had it under control until the dems took charge."
NPR had a feature on this morning about the risks of another 9-11 like attack involving crude nuclear weapons. I was wondering when the "Orange Alert" sirens would begin to sound off again, but I really didn't expect NPR to be the tool. They even went so far as to refer to the "Democrat Party" at one point. Most disappointing.
Bob sold me
McSame for pResident
Left&Left @ 17:
I would agree with you if it weren't for the fact that the shrub co. crime syndicate cheated both of the last two elections with almost no problem at all. mcstain isn't going to win the election but he will have the office handed to him much the same way shrub did.
Bank of America's profit drops 77 percent in first quarter
AP - 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
MargeAggedon @ 30:
But doesn't it bother you that he was even in close enough range for the election to be stolen? That worries me more than the theft itself. If we were even close to being a sane country, Bush would have been polling in the single digits.
Left&Left @ 23:
In WWII did the Vatican excommunicate all or any of the Fascists, or the Nazis, or speak out?
They DID excommunicate Joseph Goebbels, FOR MARRYING A PROTESTANT.
Well, we do have our standards after all.
bill @ 28:
This weekend I browsed through conservapedia.com........woohoo! Who said Conservatives have no sense of humor.
You should see the biased differences between the "Democrat" party and the Republican party.........those people should never be allowed to write childrens books.....scary shite!
RickinSF @ 4:
We will have to replace Hail to the chief with the Mr.Magoo theme song. Joe Lieberman could be Charely.
At the end John could yell"oh McCain...you've done it again"!
CafeenMan @ 32:
Corporate Media = Mind Control.
They are good at it.
Here's an analogy that even Mr. McCain might be able to grasp: If Democrats were to catalog all of the nasty things Republicans have done, or even just the Republicans in the Senate have done, and apply the label "McCain campaign" or "McCain supporters" to the result, then Johnny would have to answer for: pedophilia, adultery, draft-dodging, graft, corruption, etc. etc. etc.
McCain does, in fact, care about fine distinctions when it suits his purposes.
StevePam @ 35:
Or you could use the more familiar catch phrase from a clueless idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about "Heck of a job mccain! Heck of a job!"
al-Qaeda has replaced the devil in America. When I was a little girl grownups would tell me if I didn't do as I was told, the devil would get me. Now adults are telling adults if they don't do as they are told by the government, al-Qaeda will get them.
I'm shocked. Shocked I tell you. The next thing they will be saying is that Al Qaeda will take over the Iraqi oil and run the oil prices up to $110 a barrel.
Dahgrostabphri @ 5:
..exactly, if anyone need no other reason to NOT vote for John McCain it would be that he's a Republican. Simple. The GOP is the reason not to elect McCain.
They shoved Bush on us and the disaster that followed is, indirectly or directly, the GOP's fault. Their fault and all the people that voted for Bush. Buyer's remorse or
whatever but still all the decisions he's made, good or bad, are in a way their responsibility. As they put Bush there.
CafeenMan @ 27:
..excellent point as I've often thought this myself. If Obama does win they can easily step back with both hands up and state, "Hey, things were going swimmingly, and then the Dems took over. Guess now all that's happened is their fault." Yeah, I agree, that in a way it should be correct that McCain wins just so the GOP can clean up the mess that Bush has made, or continue, or even more likely, slide into the oblivion they so rightly deserve to be in. But that would mean the American people would go down that same metaphoric sinkhole with said GOP. Some would deserve to go, but many (like us thinking-sorts on here) would not.
So much for "knowing your enemy". Sounds like this administration only knows their goal. OIL.
When has this "war on terror" ever really focused on AQ?
OT... but I have to go to bed now. I found this nice little 'ditty' at YouTube, and only 79 people have watched it. It deserves a broader audience. A patriotic song (our style of patriotism, not bu$h's.) (I'm the only comment there, so I'm revealing my YouTube handle. See you there.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMSsm_B8iaE#b64g3zmNGrw
1984 @ 44:
We've always been at war with EastAsia
Is shorthand what they call a five minute hand-job?
Harkening back to a post last week of Johnie boy explaining his 100 year occupation, he explained that it was cool if Americans were not being killed. Nobody minds us in Germany, South Korea, or Kuwait. Johnie, anyone ever explain to you why Osama attacked us? He may have been lying but I doubt he'd go to the trouble. He may be a deranged killer but, I doubt he lied about the reason for al quedas' attacks being aimed at getting the USA out of Saudi Arabia.
Sorry if this was already pointed out, my box crashed while reading that story.
What a bright light Ms. Fadel is! Hope I see more from her! Thanks for posting this.
AQ has always had "boogeyman" status for this Administration. Right from the start the less than half-hearted Afghanistan romp that Richard Clarke criticized so strongly as slow, small and ineffective and allowed AQ leaders to escape, the evidence from reports that the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad had "received no strategic guidance from Washington on designing, carrying out, financing and monitoring a coordinated American strategy" from the Bush Admin to combat terrorism in Pakistan (where AQ leaders are supposed to be now), and Leila Fadel's commentary on Bill Moyers' Journal regarding the intensely tribal nature of the Iraqis meaning they find foreign groups like AQ (and the U.S.), which had no place in Iraq before the invasion, easy to reject. In fact the Bush Administration itself has claimed the truth of this as the means they achieved success in Anbar province. Actually, aside from the fact that support for AQ and most of the Sept 11 hijackers were drawn from Saudi Arabia (and assuming the lack of action against Saudi Arabia to be due to pragmatic, capitalistic concerns from the U.S. perspective), Bush himself admits he doesn't think much about AQ or OBL and OBL's "most wanted" profile with the FBI doesn't even list the World Trade Center attacks of Sept 11. In case people had forgotten, the Pakistanis got a pass from the Sept 11 Commission, who saw the $100k payment from the ISI to Sept 11 hijackers as "of little practical significance" and didn't require investigating. Consistent with this there is little pressure on Pakistan to deal with AQ now.
With so much evidence that AQ, particularly as McCain is phrasing it with regards to Iraq, is just a scare tactic, what is the real purpose? To hide the embarrassing truth of assessments prior to invasion that Iraq would descend into civil war if Saddam Hussein were deposed? Or perhaps to maintain that there are actually "terrorists" still to fight against in this "war on terror"?
Either way, Iraq still comes down to an excuse to have the largest, most expensive army in the world doing something. People always talk about the cost of the war, but I don't see the money going anywhere. It's being borrowed by the Government and circulated through the army and private contractors to other Americans and their businesses. Granted some is supposed to be spent on the hapless Iraqis, etc. though I can't image it to be even a double digit percentage after everyone takes their cut. I guess that's what you get when you elect the son of a Texas Oil Baron and the CEO of a defense contractor to your highest offices. I doubt McCain will be any different but the fact that he even has a chance in this election staggers me. Why Stephanopolous didn't slam some of those soft answers in his interview with McCain I don't know. How Guiliani can proclaim during GOP Presidential debates that the U.S. has the best health care system in the world without getting shot down by the facts is beyond my comprehension. In fact I can't recall a truly hostile interviewer interview any of the top Administration officials properly prepared with the facts to call these people out on their lies as they state them. Do people still believe criticism of those in power is unpatriotic or something? Certainly something desperately needs to be done about the media. They should be the ones leading the charge back towards liberty and balance, but instead the revelation that EVERY top official in the Administration sat together in the White House and sanctioned the use of torture gets practically buried.
It's a scam that Americans have been buying for far too long.
Bush is in bed with all these Arabs and they are making billions of dollars off of the American people hand over fist.
They want to keep the "war" going to increase the cost of fuel which in turn lines all of their pockets with billions of our tax dollars.
I say they all need to be executed.
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