Fear and Fury on the campaign trail

[rawstory]

Can't beat the comparison -- Dick Cheney vs. Spiro Agnew. Now THAT would be a debate...

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OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY
Fear and fury on the trail of the campaigns

By Kevin Miller
RAW STORY COLUMNIST

We're a month and a half removed from Groundhog Day, but it appears that the Bush strategy to discredit John Kerry on national security and foreign affairs now lies with Vice President Dick Cheney, who until recently was relegated to bunkers deep beneath the White House.

As Kerry's pounding on the failures of the Bush administration landed results in the polls, the long shadow of Cheney re-emerged-meaning we face eight more months of cold in this winter of political discontent.

Recently, Cheney attacked Kerry for reportedly claiming that the current "coalition" of countries in Iraq was "bribed and coerced" into committing troops to the coalition.

"If such dismissive terms are the vernacular of the golden age of diplomacy Senator Kerry promises," Cheney fumed, "we are left to wonder which nations would care to join any future coalition."

Cheney's comments reflect the precarious path facing the Bush administration in the wake of a faltering economy and the quagmire it created in Iraq. Attack Kerry, the administration seems to be saying, for insulting our new friends who supported us in Iraq.

But it was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, after all, who shattered NATO one year ago with his contemptuous characterization of France, Germany and others as "Old Europe," simply because they failed to see eye-to-eye with the administration on the war.

Over a period of days, if not hours, he and other Bush-men poisoned allegiances crafted generations ago. Rumsfeld's subsequent coronation of Spain and others as "New Europe" further insulted people across the continent, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. Membership to Club Iraq came with a one-way ticket to Baghdad and a boatload of bank notes, so demonizing Kerry for telling the truth about the arrangement is not without its own risks for the Bush administration.

The ramblings of Cheney and others serve to remind us all that, as Boston Globe columnist Robert Kuttner recently wrote, "mud tossed at Kerry might stick to Bush." Since "such dismissive terms" are the vernacular of the Bush administration — it's hard to see how Cheney and his Spiro Agnew-like attacks will win the day, or the election, for that matter.

[LynzM]

1. Pot calling the kettle black, to the nth degree. eom