The New York Times reports that GOP candidates will – these last days of the campaign – focus on the economy. Their main message will be that the unemployment rate has dropped due to the tax cuts. There is, in my opinion, one major problem: the economy is not the main issue these US elections: it’s Iraq. The Bush administration has messed up everything about Iraq, it was only able to do so, because it had the support from a GOP-ruled Congress. Republican strategists should have (perhaps they did of course) advised Bush to get rid of, at least, Rumsfeld: that would have sent a message that the US President is aware that the allied forces are failing in Iraq and that something has to change. One can focus on the economy as much as one pleases, but as long as Americans (and others) are constantly confronted with images from an Iraq torn by sectarian violence, as long as American soldiers are dying due to how the Bush administration refuses to learn from its mistakes and refuses to accept reality, as long as more information is getting out about how Bush et al. (mis)handled the war and continue to mishandle it and now that even the military is turning against Rumsfeld (and thus Bush – because Bush support his Secretary of Defense at just about all cost)… it is all useless.
One cannot help but think that it is not just Bush who is in denial: it is the entire GOP.
Anyway, Bush immediately used the good news about the unemployment:
“If the Democrats’ election predictions are as good as their economic predictions, we’re going to have a good day on November the seventh,� Mr. Bush said, drawing a long cheer from a crowd in Joplin, Mo., where he was campaigning for Senator Jim Talent, who is in a close race.
“The facts are in,� Mr. Bush said at another campaign stop on Friday. “The tax cuts have led to a strong and growing economy, and this morning, we got more proof of that.�
Yeah, very good. So what you’re planning on doing with Iraq?
Cheney has the answers:
“Full speed ahead,� Mr. Cheney said in an interview with ABC News that was taped for broadcast Sunday, two days before the election.
“It may not be popular with the public,� he continued. “It doesn’t matter in the sense that we have to continue the mission and do what we think is right. And that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re not running for office.�
Although battle plans always change in times of war, the vice president said, “I think, again, we’ve got the basic strategy right.�
And that is where you are wrong Mr. Cheney: you do not have the basic strategy right. You are messing it up. A country is falling into chaos because of your idiotic devotion to a failing ‘strategy’ and a refusal to face the reality of the situation.
More:
“I’m going to tell you something point-blank,� Mr. Bush said. “If I didn’t think we could win, I’d get our troops out.�
Separately, two former Pentagon advisers who were closely identified with the argument for invasion, Richard N. Perle and Ken Adelman, told Vanity Fair magazine that they would not have supported the invasion if they had known how “incompetently� the administration would manage it. Both have previously criticized the administration’s conduct of the war.
Well, that’s just great. What is he waiting for? Devine intervention?
The only intervention he can expect is a relatively tremendous loss for the GOP the coming elections.
UPDATE
H/t to the Snark, an interesting video:
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.