Node Of Evil - Fair And Balanced Reporting

Friday, July 30, 2004

 
We're Running Away, and We're Not Coming Back


That's the new Bush campaign slogan. Well, not really, it's more like "we've turned a corner, and we're not turning back", but if I were them I'd not come back after the powerhouse week of speakers at the Democratic National Convention. My favorites included Clinton, Obama, and Teresa Heinz-Kerry. John Kerry said all sorts of things that needed to be said, and did so in a way that didn't sound shrill or out of touch. With respect to the "war on terrorism", he deviates from the Bush administration is several key areas. First, his standard of evidence for launching a war will be much higher. He didn't articulate an enemies list [you mean a shopping list -ed] like Bush did with his "Axis of Evil" speech. Instead, he made simple, positive statements about fighting terrorism. Unlike Bush, he didn't emphasise the idea of taking the fight to the terrorists. This was somewhat implied, I suppose, by his pledge for more special forces troops. However, the brunt of his attack was on the lack of funding for security measures in the U.S. This is a glaring oversight that the Bush administration can't simply wish away. We have the numbers, and the numbers show that local law enforcement and public safety units are underfunded and that the Feds aren't providing them with the money they were promised. Kerry also came right out and said that the U.S. needed to a.) gain energy independence so that b.) folks like the Saudi royal family won't have so much clout in shaping U.S. policy. It remains to be seen whether or not this can be accomplished, but I say the fact that a presidential candidate said it, in public at his nomination speech, is a step in the right direction.

We have some interesting things coming in the next couple of months. For starters, Seymour Hersh is writing a book about the Abu-Ghraib scandal. I've lost count of all the different investigations going on, but there are 94 cases of abuse in the millitary prison system (that we know about, anyway). There's a number of investigations into mismanagement of money by the CPA in Iraq. The Plame scandal is still up in the air. These are just the investigations I can remember off the top of my head, I'm sure there's a bunch I'm leaving out. Oh, we can't forget the interesting case of Sibel Edmunds which continues to not die, the most recent development being the conclusion of a Justice Department investigation (I think it was the DOJ) which found that she was fired, in part, for speaking out against the FBI.

In short, if I were President Bush I'd start running away. Now.

Andrew 10:19 AM : |

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