For over four years, the Bush Administration has been a joke. A cosmic, malign, preposterous, disastrous joke. But the fundamental question is: how do we fight a joke?
Iraq is the perfect example. The Iraq War has been a profound farce from the beginning. I'll only highlight a few of the punchlines; the jokes have been told so often.
Doctored intelligence... mushroom clouds... Chalabi... the Mission Accomplished flightsuit photo op... Abu Ghraib... the Iraqi Army... Halliburton... Fallujah...
All jokes. Jokes, meaning such patently ridiculous, such obvious lies and moral outrages, that it's impossible to take any defense of them seriously.
And yet. And yet. Real Americans are dying and being mutilated every day. Real Iraqis are suffering, brutally. Real American treasure and prestige have been squandered recklessly. All for the joke. And the defenders of the war-joke now barely stay in character anymore. Their primary mode right now is to mock the straight man, us, who are struck dumb with outrage.
Look at the right wing commentary online, listen to the punditry. They don't even care about the "democracy in the middle east" joke any more. They just want to bait "liberals" for "wanting America to fail." Period. And they defeat us every time because they can tell a good joke and not care how false and cruel and barbed it really is.
Iraq is just one example. The tax cuts are another. How else but a joke can you describe a policy so outrageous? Slashing taxes for the most garishly wealthy and then turning around and "balancing the budget" on the backs of the middle class and poor? An act that patently has nothing to do with deficit reduction and everything to do with a sick, cruel, sadistic joke. With sick, cruel, sadistic Republicans laughing in the audience, not caring that they may be next for the routine.
The metaphor of the joke is a real one. How many of you have been outflanked in real life (think back to college or high school) by a malicious yet funny trickster, who was clearly up to no good, had no one's interest at heart, yet was beloved for providing entertainment and comedy, while the more sensible (you?) were despised for restraining him?
Fighting the joke. Our deadly serious challenge.