Ira Smolensky
War, patriotism, and the killer
ÒBÓs
It must be getting
to be election season because Republicans are breaking out their tried and true
Òthe Democrats are wimpsÓ rhetoric.
Ken Mehlman, chair
of the Republican National Committee (RNC), is leading the charge. According to a recent USA Today report, Mehlman claimed
that if Democrats gain control of Congress they will dismantle crucial intelligence
tools in the war on terror and even launch an attempt to impeach the president.
ÒAmerica faces a
crucial question,Ó Mehlman told fellow Republicans at a summer meeting of the
RNC. ÒWill we elect leaders who
recognize weÕre at war and want to use every tool to win it, or politicians who
would surrender important tools we need to win?
ÒAs foreign
jihadists call into the United States, do we use (National Security Agency)
technology to stop sleeper cells before they hit us? Or do we surrender use of this technology, as Nancy Pelosi
(House Minority Leader) and Howard Dean (Democratic National Committee Chair)
would have us do?Ó
Actually, the whole
speech could be summed up with three of MehlmanÕs words: Òdo we surrender?Ó
ÒSurrender,Ó
according to Mehlman and other Republicans, is what Democrats are all about.
Of course, this
accusation is not quite fair. A
number of Republicans also have been critical of the Bush AdministrationÕs
complete and utter disregard for due process, with regard to surveillance as
well as the detainment of alleged terrorists. Then, too, the real ÒpoliticiansÓ (that is to say, demagogic
weasels) in this matter are Mehlman and his ilk, since polls show that a
majority of Americans are quite willing to take off the gloves and put on brass
knuckles to effectively fight terrorism.
Despite their
alleged wimpiness, Democrats did fight back. DNC spokesperson Karen Finney bravely asserted that, ÒThe
American people will not be fooled again . . . desperate ranting wonÕt change
the fact that Bush and his rubber-stamp Republicans are in deep trouble with
the American people who can see right through their trickery and spin.Ó
Maybe Finney is
right. Maybe she is thinking of
Abe LincolnÕs seemingly optimistic observation that, ÒYou may deceive all the
people part of the time, and some of the people all the time, but not all the
people all the time.Ó
I am not so
optimistic. Modern Republicans
know just how many people they have to deceive to make the 2006 election come
out in their favor, and they are going to spare no expense to get the job done.
This bothers
me. Lincoln and FDR would never have
exploited their war time duties for the gain of their political party. Yet George W. Bush and his minions have
done nothing but just that, shamefully juicing 9-11 for every vote it might
yield. As a native New Yorker, I
think this stinks.
So I would like to
help Democrats to fight back. And
I donÕt believe the best route to success is to simply hope that other issues
outweigh the war. Democrats must
hammer home the simple truth-- that they can fight the war on terror better than
the Republicans. Anybody could.
Blustering,
bullying, and blundering—the killer ÒBÓs should become the signature
phrase of the campaign, because this is just what the Republican war effort has
consisted of, with no real victories, no real increase in security, and at
least one massive error (the war in Iraq).
Driving home the
killer ÒBÓs effectively will not require saber-rattling. Indeed, to boast about bringing home
the heads of our enemies on a plate will just make Democrats look and sound
like the bunglers running the show now: what is needed is quiet strength, the
kind that leads to a just and lasting peace rather than perpetual war.