Keep Your Eyes On the Lies: David Michael Green

[Demeter]

http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Regressive_Watch.html

Regressives have been apoplectic of late because of a plan for ending American involvement in Iraq that Congressman John Murtha has introduced in the House, with the support of Antiwar groups like Win Without War. The legislation simply demands that no troops be sent to Iraq unless they have been provided adequate training, equipment and rest since their last deployment.

That makes regressives go all nutty. Neocon Charles Krauthammer recently penned a column on this subject, which concludes thusly:

Slowly bleeding our forces by defunding what our commanders think they need to win (the House approach) or rewording the authorization of the use of force so that lawyers decide what operations are to be launched (the Senate approach) is no way to fight a war. It is no way to end a war. It is a way to complicate the war and make it inherently unwinnable – and to shirk the political responsibility for doing so.



What's Wrong With This Picture?

Sounds pretty sensible, right? Yes and no.

I agree with Krauthammer that this is not the optimal way to end the war, and even that it is somewhat "disingenuous", as he elsewhere writes in the column. He is also right to point out that the reason for this is that Democrats don't want to pay the political price for opposing or 'losing' the war. I agree with him that in a perfect world it would be better for Murtha to just do what he really is trying to achieve, and come right out and end the war, by defunding it if necessary....He doesn't tell us that they have been put in this lousy place because the regressive right created this abomination of a war, and is now escalating that disaster, thus lighting the fire the rest of us are left to put out.

He doesn't tell us that, from McCarthy to Nixon to Reagan to Bush, they and their minions have continually used national security as a political weapon to punish their political opponents. It worked all throughout the Cold War, and that fact partly explains the tragedy of Vietnam. Democrats have long known that the label of "soft on communism" was a career kiss of death. And it worked again after the Gulf War in 1990-91, and of course in the elections of 2002 and 2004. Of course Democrats have to be careful with this issue. Conservatives will cynically use war, peace, security and human lives as political weapons, as we've seen over and over again.

And what Krauthammer especially doesn't tell you is how these same folks have vastly abused the symbols of national security themselves, wrapping themselves in the flag at every opportunity, and doing just the opposite to their opponents. Whether it's landing the president on an aircraft carrier or claiming that war opponents are doing al Qaeda's billing (as Cheney said of Nancy Pelosi last week), they never fail to use national security as a tool to make themselves appear as patriots (without, of course, actually going to war when it's their turn), and their opponents (many of whom did go) as virtually treasonous.

Last week their big theme was that the Democrats in Congress should shut off funding if they oppose the war. This week it's attacking a bill which demands proper treatment of American troops.

What's really going on is fear and hostility at Democrats for finally learning the GOP way to play ball on national security. Republicans are being beat at their own game of abusing security issues for political gain, and they don't like it one bit. They especially don't like it because once you take away this issue, they have nothing whatsoever which is remotely popular to offer voters.

Desperately, the pot lashes out at the kettle for being black.

[Peace Patriot]

1. Rightwing Bushite corporations now control our vote counting system, and are

"counting" all the votes using electronic voting machines run on 'TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls. This could have something to do with the enormous discrepancy between what political pundits--even leftist ones--say is important, and what the American people believe and want. The war propaganda described in this article has not convinced the American people--at all. 74% now oppose the Iraq War and want it ended, and a whopping 84% oppose any U.S.participation in a widened Mideast war. 56% opposed the Iraq War way back at the beginning (Feb. '03). So SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE. The rightwing "vastly abusing the symbols of national security" and "wrapping themselves in the flag at every opportunity" have met with the withering disdain of the American people--who were so angry about it in 2006 that they outvoted the Bushite-controlled voting machines to try to get a decent Congress, and managed to get a half-decent one.

Political analysis that ignores who is counting the votes, and how they are counting them--especially this egregously fraudulent system of "black box" electronic voting, controlled by Bushite corporations--are leading us astray, as to strategy. It simply doesn't matter what Dick Cheney says, or what the rightwing blatherers say. What matters is their POWER to say it, and to force their policy on the rest of us, and if that power was illegitimately obtained--for which there is overwhelming evidence in the non-transparency of the vote counting system that kept Bush and Cheney in office--then what we need to be doing is addressing those non-transparent conditions, and insisting on open and aboveboard vote counting. Vote counting that everyone can see and understand. Vote counting that occurs in the PUBLIC venue.

See Common Dreams on the 2004 election: http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0302-21.htm

And these discussions:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x266153
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3142226

[tech3149]

2. Thanks for these DMG posts

I had not read him before but he makes good points that have a basis in logic and observation of reality. With a little effort , the concept could be distilled down to the 30 second sound bite that would work for corporate media.

[stellanoir]

3. Security. . .? Where the heck is the security of pissing off the entire world an indiscriminately

torturing innocents?

This truly sucks.