The weekend news cycle continues, and so does the impact of the GOP video unveiled Friday which labels the Democrats as the party of "Retreat & Defeat". I posted about it
yesterday, with a link to the video.
As I expected, it is achieveing its purpose which is to put the Democrats on the defensive and and shift the focus away from Bush Co. and the GOP. George Stephanopolus led off with a short clip from it and came back to it later; Fox was all over it of course, and the other Sunday talking head shows were also visiting that territory. From the way things are shaping up, it is clear what the intended effect is.
(more below the fold)
The video is painting Dean, Pelosi, Kerry, and the entire Democratic party as seriously and deliberately undermining the U.S. in the Global War on Terror. It ends by pointing out our soldiers and our enemies are watching.
This is another chapter in the continuing "Democrats are weak on Defense, Democrats Hate America, Democrats hate the troops, Democrats want Terrorists to win" meme. Pundits, reporters, commentators are seizing on Democrat disarray (Thanks Lieberman) and asking why the Democrats can't seem to come up with a unified strategy on Iraq.
Interestingly enough, Murtha was not mentioned at all in the video. He appeared on Face the Nation and did a very credible job presenting his views and getting a respectful hearing. For the moment Murtha appears to be fireproof - because the GOP overplayed their hand when they initially attacked him.
The limited channel flipping I did elsewhere was not encouraging; I didn't see any really strong Democratic responses. I certainly hope there were some. I caught a little of Madelaine Albright on Meet The Press, and she appeared to be unable to say that invading Iraq was a mistake. Not good, not after Russert brought up Clinton's declaration that Saddam was a threat to the world and the U.S. supported regime change. Albright tried to point out that Clinton's policy of containment worked and worked well, but I have the feeling it got lost in the exchange.
The other big topic seemed to be everyone everywhere (with a few notable exceptions) trying to explain why torture works and why the U.S. needs to be able to do it.
Sigh.
It's clear that the GOP is pursuing a two pronged strategy here with the Retreat & Defeat campaign. The first goal is to discredit the Democrats entirely, shut them up, and paint them as traitors-weak on defense-etc.
The second is longer term. It's inevitable that the U.S. is going to have to start pulling out of Iraq; we can't afford it, and the military can't keep it up much longer. The GOP is going to declare it a success despite the natterings of the Dems - and if and when things go south, try to avoid talking about the glorious vision of a Jeffersonian Democracy they promised way back at the start of the adventure and instead blame how it turns out on Democratic partisan obstructionism and defeatism - much like the same way the history of the Vietnam war has been revised.
This video is already laying the foundations for this lie. It will be the height of outrage if the GOP and BushCo get away with this after A) ignoring warnings about Al Qaida pre 9-11, B) Invading Afghanistan and then letting Bin Laden slip away, C) Invading Iraq and trashing it while D) turning it into a center of sectarian strife, civil unrest, and a breeding ground for terrorists. And of course, it will all be the fault of the Democrats.
This needs to be rooted out before it can get too firmly planted in the national state of unconsciousness. Here's some talking points to start hitting back.
- If we pull out of Iraq, the terrorists will have won. Rejoinder: We didn't go into Iraq to fight terrorists, we were told we had to go in and take out Saddam. If we are fighting terrorists there now, it's because the people running the war - George W. Bush and Company - screwed up badly from day one, and have been scrambling ever since.
- The Democrats voted for the War. Rejoinder: Almost true. They voted to allow the President to use force in the face of an imminent threat. There turned out to be no WMDs, no terrorist connection, and lots of suspiciously bad intelligence aimed at stampeding the U.S. into war.
- The Democrats are going to lose the war. Rejoinder: How? The Republicans have been in charge since day one, planning for the war, executing it, and the occupation that followed. The Democrats have had zero input - except for those willing to rubber-stamp the White House plans. This is Bushs' war and no one elses'.
- Retreat is not an option. Rejoinder: "Staying the Course" is not a plan. It's sheer hypocrisy to attack the Democrats for talking about bringing the troops home while even Rumsfeld is saying we should be able to start drawing down the troops and 'success' is always around the corner.
- The Democrats have no plan for victory in Iraq. Rejoinder: The GOP has 'plans' - so where's the victory?
- The U.S. has no choice but to stay the course. Rejoinder: For how long? Every week we stay, we spend not quite a billion dollars of our money in a country with oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia to prop things up.* Isn't it long past time to ask when the Iraqis are going to get off our dime and start doing it for themselves?
So much for talking points. It would be nice to see some Democratic counter-blows landing. It's about time in the news cycle for that. Some messages along the lines suggested above would be a starting point. I'd love to see a video which would place video clips of BushCo people talking points (ie: Mission Accomplished) above two lines: the rising number of casualties, and the rising number of dollars we've spent on this misadventure since day one. Call it "The Cost of Staying the Course."
Talk this up, post suggestions, come up with ways to put the GOP types back on the defensive, write letters to the editor, etc. - and recommend this please.
