Although my constitution is not nearly hearty enough to browse the Free Republic, LGF, or RedState blogs, I do read conservative columnists, because it's important to know the enemy, even if their perspective sometimes makes you feel like you're flashing back to the Brown Acid.
My local paper rotates Jonah Goldberg, Cal Thomas, and Kathleen Parker as their conservative selections. Ms. Parker actually often comes off as a human being, and on some topics appears to be a social libertarian. But as often, she’s just a lame apologist and shill for Americon business as usual.
Today's column was titled On Bush Time following an interview she did with Dubya, and Parker tries to paint him as sincere and visionary. But what most infuriated me was the following:
His greatest critics are, of course, those who want to take his place in the Oval Office. Bush won't entertain hypotheticals about who that might be but says he's trying to make the next president's job easier by making the tough decisions now. "That's why it's very important for me to remind the American people that we've got to support these military commanders, support their decisions. ... I think anybody who's president will understand the strategic consequences of failure in Iraq."
He also said that anyone who believes we're not in a war against extremists and radicals will "learn differently when they get in there and hear the intelligence I hear."
(Emphasis mine)
If there's anything that makes me want to reach out and smack a conservative, it's their insistence that "You Liberals don't understand that there are people out there who want to kill us," and that every military operation is "a War." Forget the "They hate us for our freedoms" nonsense. Forget their dangerous ignorance of history, that we too often have created the monsters that bite us in the ass. WE don't understand what a dangerous world this is!!
Gods Above and Below, that accusation gets under my skin!! Not only do they truly have no honest historical perspective, they really believe that patriotic support of national security is a matter of behaving like lemmings. It’s no wonder they are so wedded to TheoCons: from their point of view, there is only One Way, handed down from on high: Bush’s Way! They can’t discuss strategy – we might "tip the enemy off" to our strategy. And it’s working... just give it "more time." Trust the experts; deny the Lies; pay no attention to the Man behind the Curtain!
Parker continues:
What does George W. Bush see when he looks out that window? A big picture and a time in a distant future.
I suggested to him that he has acquired a sense of time shared by our enemies. Radical Islamists have said that Americans have watches, but that true believers have time. To successfully defeat such an enemy, one needs to think as the enemy does, to see time from the perspective of real stars rather than rising political ones....
That's a tough concept for a drive-thru nation accustomed to insta-everything and gratification at the tap of a button. Five years at war in Iraq is an eternity for impatient Americans, but it's a blink of a camel's eye if you're set on destroying the Great Satan.
Again: there is only one correct solution, the one that GWB has chosen: the Eternal War Between Good and Evil. And, of course, we’re the good guys. When we do evil, it’s unfortunate, and regrettable, and unavoidable. But, let’s listen to the Good News!
No, we Liberals have no "big picture" or long view. Perish forbid national policy should make Most Favoured Trade Status dependent on quaint niceties like universal literacy or women’s rights – the Saudis surely won’t care for that! Don’t sell our armaments or "intelligence" training to monarchies and dictatorships that oppress and torture their people? Well, someone else will do it if we don’t, and we won’t make our just profit! Develop sustainable energy sources to free us from petroleum bondage? Yeah, yeah, when the time comes, Americon Ingenuity will save the day!
So War is the way to go, with heavy equipment and fortified bases, and massive troop movements with targets on the soldier’s backs. Although... where are the borders, who are the soldiers, what is their name, rank, and serial number? Isn’t "War" rather pre-9/11? Isn’t flexibility and precision the wave of the future?
Despite our sophisticated techno-weaponry, we’re still following an Industrial Age strategy of brute force. Sure, if you hit a thousand Muslims in the Middle East in the head with a sledge hammer, you may get a few insurgents. But you’re going to make matters worse, committing injustice, and sowing the seeds of resentment for the future.
Ms. Parker concludes:
Bush said getting bin Laden is still important, but warned that his death won't end "extremist views" or the al-Qaeda threat. Only free societies will.
This is surely true. The question is whether Americans have the patience for such a long journey.
Although the NeoCons would surely disagree with this characterization of their efforts, free societies cannot be imposed at the point of a gun, especially when their citizen’s pockets are being picked. You do not save villages by destroying them. You do not make a wasteland and call it peace.
Yes, Kathleen, free societies can be nurtured, justice sought, civilized restraint secured. The journey is a long one. There are many strategies that can be employed to achieve them, many roads that might be taken.
But this yahoo president didn’t even bother to try the one lined with good intentions. He went for the one lined with gold