Sitting at my desk over lunch yesterday, I was overcome by a profound personal epiphany -- one that still has me feeling one part dazed and one part intellectually liberated. It probably actually started Wednesday night with Olbermann's awe-inspiring smackdown of Donald Rumsfeld's "fascism" speech to the American Legion. But it crystallized as I read the words of Bush's speech yesterday in Salt Lake City.
Maybe I'm slow, but I can't for the life of me understand why this didn't hit me sooner: George Bush sees terrorists almost exactly as many of us see him -- as a threat to freedom, an obstacle to progress, a faction disinterested in any view but its own.
If you have a really good memory, you might recall a two-part diary I wrote last week -
Embrace the War: Not Playing in Peoria, or Anywhere Else, and my first daily chart-topper on the Jotter list (thanks to you),
Karl Rove, Marketing, and a Grave Miscalculation. Each diary dealt with the administration's ill-advised decision to defiantly defend the Iraq War as a strategy for victory in November. In the first diary, I offered a potential reason why BushCo may be going this route:
But there are "reasons" for doing it:
1. No other options are available
BushCo has known for weeks that they'd be recalling thousands of troops who were just starting to get their lives back in order - who thought they were done with Iraq. The civil war and the escalating "sectarian violence" and the civilian casualties and the loosening grip on Baghdad have, collectively, exposed an undermanned coalition. Knowing this involuntary recall would make news, the GOP had really no other choice except to publicly acknowledge that we're a long way from "done" in Iraq. Those of us anticipating an "October surprise" featuring U.S. troops returning home, en masse and in tears, kissing American soil and embracing loved ones after a job well done, would be either disappointed or emboldened, depending on your perspective.
That tells you exactly how bad the situation is in Iraq.
We now know this to be true. Our troop level today is at 140,000 - 13,000 more than just five weeks ago. In August, US troop fatalities were the third-highest in eight months. More US troops were wounded in Iraq last month than any month since last October, when we were "protecting elections." Fully 62% of Americans say we're less safe as a result of the Iraq War.
It's so bad in Iraq, that the military has issued a $20,000,000 request for proposal to any PR firm that can spin the situation into "good news."
So what's a White House to do? Sling fascist rhetoric - what else?
And in the course of listening to that rhetoric, my personal epiphany came into focus. George Bush sees terrorists as we see him.
Watch what happens when we take Dubya's own statements from the last couple of days, and simply switch out a single word:
Bush:
"That strategy starts with understanding this doctrine: One, you can't rationalize with these people; you cannot negotiate with these extremists, these terrorists, these people who are bound together by an ideology that is hateful."
Now, let's switch out a single word:
"That strategy starts with understanding this doctrine: One, you can't rationalize with these people; you cannot negotiate with these extremists, these Republicans, these people who are bound together by an ideology that is hateful."
Fun, huh? Let's go again. Bush:
"On the one side of this struggle are those who believe in freedom and moderation, the right of people to speak. And on the other side of this ideological struggle are those who are driven by tyranny and extremism, the right of a self-appointed few to impose their fanatical views over the rest of us."
No need to even switch any words on that one. That describes exactly how I feel about the fight against the Republican dictatorship.
This one's too easy. Bush:
"It's a tough war because the enemy will use any tactic to cause the Iraqis to split apart."
Becomes:
"It's a tough war because the Republicans will use any tactic to cause the United States to split apart."
Tactics like rigging elections, invading civil liberties, disregarding law, trampling on the constitution, and so forth.
Was he looking in the mirror when this spewed out of his month?
These are historic times in which we're living. This generation of ours is being challenged, and it's a tough challenge because we're facing an enemy that knows no bounds of decency, an enemy that uses tactics that are beyond our imagination to achieve certain objectives.
No bounds of decency, indeed. And they just keep getting better. George is even kind enough to summarize my view of the November election:
"The stakes are high. I believe the only way we can lose is if we leave before the job is done. That's what I believe.
It boggles the mind (mine, at least) to think that Bush's view of terrorism intersects seamlessly with my view of Bush. It's scary. And it makes me wonder who the bad guys really are.