Republicans have won since 2002 by capitalizing on fear of terrorism. By spreading the false belief that Republicans are stronger on terrorism, and successfully covering up their many failures which have placed the country in greater danger, Republicans have taken control of Congress and reelected a President who was neither ethically or intellectually up to the job. Republicans should have paid more attention to their first President (who certainly would never be a Republican today) who said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”
The Washington Post shows how the Republicans are no longer succeeding in fooling the people with regards to their record on terrorism. Republicans are attempting to capitalize on the recent court decision against Bush’s warrantless wiretap program (as they ignore the fact that liberals object to the failure to follow the law, no necessarily the wiretaps themselves). The Washington Post cites a recent Pew Research Center poll which shows changing attitudes with regards to terrorism:
- “There is no consensus that Republicans are better on terrorism than the Democrats, as once was clearly the case,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
- A Pew Research Center poll released Thursday found “no evidence that terrorism is weighing heavily on voters — just 2 percent cite that as the issue they most want to hear candidates discuss, far fewer than the number mentioning education, gas prices, or health care.” The center continued: “And while roughly a third of Americans (35 percent) say they are very concerned that if Democrats gain control of Congress, they will weaken terrorist defenses, even more (46 percent) express great concern that Republicans will involve the U.S. in too many overseas military missions if the GOP keeps its congressional majorities.”
Republicans previously obtained support for their disastrous handling of Iraq by claiming it was part of the war on terrorism. Even this argument is now back firing as people see the failures in Iraq as a Republican failure on fighting terrorism:
- Republicans have done such a good job framing the invasion of Iraq as part of a “war on terror” that bad news from Baghdad is casting doubts on the anti-terrorism effort, Kohut said. Republican voters, meanwhile, are split on whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq, the poll found.
People wake up! While you are wasting precious time fighting each party (democratic and republican) and trying to prove who is ‘better’… a real threat to world order is getting bigger and bigger by the minute. There are REAL enemies out there with real weapons real hatred and real willingness to kill us all and spread islamic law by force throughout the world. You should be focusing TOGETHER in controling this WORLD CANCER instead of fighting internally between your parties…
Joe, speaking only for myself, the fight between the American political parties is a fight about how to RESPOND to the people who have a very real desire to kill as many Americans as they can.
As an American, I have a responsibility to see and educate myself about the threat– and to choose what I think is the best response to the threat.
Everything, and I mean every single thing the Bush misAdministration has done to counter this threat has been a choice I– and millions of others– would NOT have made.
“Not in my name” isn’t just a phrase for many of us. And until there is action that I can begin to claim, I will continue to provide my point of view, which is quite, quite at odds with the Bush misAdministration’s point of view.
For me, it isn’t as narrow as an egotistical point of view of “who is better,” but what is the BETTER course of action.
“There is another way to look at this” = a willingness to see from another vantage point or another point of view.
Joe,
The blame for this situation falls 100% on the Republicans. After 9/11 it looked like a time when both parties could work together. Instead the Republicans decided to play politics with terrorism instead of taking real action.
Similarly we had an umprecidented degree of support internationally, but Bush destroyed out standing in the world. Not only has he undermined the moral authority of the United States, but he has harmed democracy movements around the world who are fighting for democracy in authoritarian countries.
It would be great if we could all work together, but the reality is that we have no chance to wage a meaningful fight against those who support terrorism until the Republicans are removed from office. The Republicans will keep us in a perpetual war in order to push their own agenda.
The MYTH that Republicans can defend this country better than anyone else EXPLODED and died along with the passengers on the planes that hit the world trade center and the pentagon on Sept 11, 2001.
Unfortunately that’s when the myth began. The Republicans have been very successful in covering up the ways in which they messed up prior to 9/11 and escaping blame for their negligence which made 9/11 possible.
The other day we were chating here about weather Bush is an idiot or not. I chimed in about his addiction problems. Ron noted that Bush is politically quite astute and quoted, I par phrase, that always let your opponents underestimate you as it is strategically powerful.
I still hold about Bush’s’ pathology, but I also completely agree w/ you Ron on his shrewdness. At the same time in my clearer moments I remember that in the big scheme of things he is probably just a puppet to greater forces (corporate). Piece by piece this administration and their hoard of zombies both in and out of Washington have dismantled some of the most important govt agencies which have resulted in horrific debacles like the response to Katrina along the Gulf coast and of course the complete disaster in Iraq. Then of course there is the Medicare prescription drug plan reform….. as you know I could go on and on.
So scream that the government is awful and a waist, dismantle the most important agencies, take us to war or wait for the next disaster, the government completely drops the ball of course, then scream – see, see Mr. and Mrs. American your government sucks! See we told you. Private corporations are SO much better! And so slowly but surely the corporation’s take our tax money and weaken out democratically elected government.
Chaos is good, chaos works really well for this crowd. Contrived chaos that is.
As for Bush being incopetent….. our believing that would seem to play right into their hands. Is he personally out of control? probably. But HE doesn’t mater really because his masters aren’t.
Marcus,
Are you thinking of anohher site or someone else’s comment? I didn’t say that (about letting opponents underestimate him). I did differentiate between diferent skills. He does have good political skills, but does not have the intelligence to be President.
Medicare was a smart move in terms of what Bush wanted to accomplish. His goal was to reward the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, and undermine Medicare long term. Bush was successful (although fortunatley even the Republicans in Congress watered down some of his efforts to use the act to destroy Medicare).
It is not a simple matter of Bush serving masters. He is The Decider after all. He ultimately makes the decisions, but he is duped by far right beliefs and has a mind set that what is good for big business is good for the economy. With his lack of intellecutal curiosity, and making decisions based upon religion (both fundamentalist Christianity and far right ideology) rather than reason, he serves the cause on his own.
Hmm maybe I did read that underestimate statement somewhere else, sorry thought you brought it up here.
As for every thing else I guess I have a decidedly darker view of him and his crowd then you! lol
still don’t buy his alleged religious conviction….