Bush, upon hearing the news that Pervez Musharraf had suspended the constitution and dismissed any judges who opposed him, reported sucked in a big breath of manure-laden Crawford air and said "Whell, Hell! That's STRATEGERY! Why didn't I thaink of that??"
Seriously though, I'm beginning to lose any vestigal remnants of nationalism I've ever developed in my 31 years. I was able to buy that we didn't support a democratically elected government in Gaza because the people who won the election were bona-fide, registered, copyrighted and patented terrorists. I was beginning to wonder how in the hell fair application of the Bush doctrine was being denied for Turkey, who are sick of PPK atacks by the man who told the world we'd go after terrorists anywhere they existed - and then THIS!!
This is where the right wing ideology breaks down completely. Right wing dogma is based on the presupposition that there is absolute right and absolute wrong. Moral relativism is viewed as a back-door attack on Christian theology. If you say that there is no absolute right or absolute wrong, then you are denying the basic underpinning of the Christian right's claim that their arbitrating issues based on a "higher" source. Any time an educated "nuanced" person attempts to paint a shade of gray on a complicated issue that has more facets than "good guys and bad guys", he or she is immediately attacked as a moral relativist and dismissed by the right. If that person dares to suggest that the US is ever anything other than the guy in the white hat, or hints that we may be less than an agent of good, they are immediately beset by cries of unpatriotic sedition.
Enter Bush's new little Pakistani nightmare.
- We don't want Islamic extremists to get nukes.
- Pakistan has nukes
- We can't have the Islamic extremists win control in Pakistan
- Musharraf "plays ball" with us
- Musharraf is a ruthless anti-democratic dictator
- We are the good guys...we support democracy.
- If we oppose Musharraf and he falls, we cede point #1.
Gee, anyone start to see a few shades of gray developing here? Now, are Pakistan and the US the new "Axis of Dictatorship?" I thought we were the good guys, who help little kittens down out of trees, fight for truth justice, and free elections, and brush & floss three times a day. Now, my Limbaugh quoting right wingnut colleagues at work are busy tripping all over themselves in an attempt to explain how there isn't always a clear cut answer to "tough" situations, and how sometimes the right of the US to survive trumps playing "fair". Oh? REALLY now? Do I detect a teenie weenie hint of moral relativism in that argument? Getting a wee dark tint to that big white 10 gallon cowboy hat?