Blast will reverberate in campaign - MSNBC

[BadGimp]

Blast will reverberate in campaign

2004 election is a referendum on decision to go to war

Troops search through rubble at the United Nations headquarters after Tuesday's attack. Will such images come to symbolize a turning point in America's support for the war in Iraq?

ANALYSIS
By Howard Fineman
SPECIAL TO MSNBC.COM

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 — Mark the day: The blast that rocked the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad was more than a massacre of innocents. It also was a tipping point in American politics.

NOW WE KNOW for certain that the 2004 election will be, virtually to the exclusion of anything else, a referendum on President Bush’s decision to go Iraq — and a debate over whether doing so made us safer, or put us in greater danger, in the war on global terrorism.
For the White House, this is a case of “be careful what you wish for.” As was made clear on the deck of the Abe Lincoln, they want to run Bush for re-election as the Man in the Flight Suit. But now it’s not clear whether that garment was a coronation robe or a straitjacket.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/955004.asp?0na=x23354R6-
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I say Bring It On!

Gov Howard Dean illustrating the size of George Bush's brain...

[xchrom]

1. bring it on indeed

what keeps george safe is the public not wishing to get the same shit on themselves that we know is all over george: i.e. shame, murder of innocents, and hardship for many, many people.
george took us all there.
the public will have to swallow a bitter pill -- and so far there has been reluctance for that kind of soul searching.

[Cha]

2. Hey BadGimp!

I can't believe someone like fineman is writing this stuff!

It's weird to have them wondering about if it is a straightjacket or not!

It was a way bad idea for the photo op on the flight deck and I'm so sorry about the UN bombing! I curse bush every freakin' day!

We all tried to tell the World on Feb 15, 2003 about going into Iraq but we were called a "focus group". :grr:

[Sagan]

3. No, no.. it's Fineman alright... look

*snip*

But the Democrats will have to answer questions of their own. Are they for putting more American troops in? (John McCain, the Democrats’ de facto secretary of defense, is for doing so.) Do they want a bigger role for the brave but still politically discredited U.N.? Do they want simply to pull out of Iraq altogether? And, if not, why aren’t they backing the president instead of taking political potshots at the beleaguered leader of the free world?

*snip*

[maha]

4. RE the Dean picture

The size of his brain or the size of his weenie?

[KoKo]

5. Hysterical Fineman report....where he worries about support for Israel....

it just doesn't "cut it" for me.......because I know where Fineman comes from.....but that he sees changes need to be made is a sign he might just do a little "stitch" to the Dem side.

Hysterical is what I see in this report. Forget the I/P question DU'ers for a few moments......this is about OUR SURVIVAL!

[Cocoa]

6. yeah, howard, the war was going swell until now

And yeah, right, the most job losses since Hoover is going to have NO impact on the 2004 election. :eyes:

[lanlady]

7. for once I agree with Fineman

I think yesterday's events will be a turning point.

A conservative, fairly reactionary acquaintance of mine said that if we're not out of Iraq by the end of this year, Bush will lose, even if the economy picks up.