Rewriting history

[WearyOne]

Webdiary columnist Kerryn Higgs writes from New York in a follow up to The irises and Patrick Fitzgerald.

How curious that President Bush and his Vice-President - or their minders - elected to deal with their ever-more-hapless poll situation by accusing the rest of us, and especially the Democrats, of "rewriting history". Projection perhaps? The administration's "truth" campaign started on Remembrance Day, 11 November (though it's known here as Veterans Day). The Washington Post's Richard Cohen caught the irony as well as anyone:

"'It is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began,' the president said. Yes, sir, but it is even more deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how history was rewritten in the first place."

It was soon evident that the President's attack strategy was not working; polls taken since Veterans Day have seen Bush's popularity continue its decline. By Monday 21 November, Bush had softened his words while Cheney had delivered a rehash of the original flawed case for war. Both suddenly professed a love for robust debate and a democratic passion for the right to dissent. Both narrowed the range of the unacceptable and "reprehensible" to those accusing them of intentional distortion of intelligence.

This meant that dissent such as Vietnam war hero John Murtha's call for the troops to come home has been deemed allowable, but suggestions that the Bush people cooked the intelligence are still out of bounds. This distinction seems unlikely to benefit Bush, since, according to the NBC/WSJ poll taken in early November 57% of Americans already believe Bush "deliberately misled people to make the case for war".

What is clear now is that, with over 2,100 US troops dead, 15,000 injured and no end in sight, the war has lost its appeal in America and support for the President is bleeding from all sides. Republican backing for Bush has dropped about 10% in the year since the 2004 election and people without party alliance (known here as independents) have deserted Bush in droves. Democrats who think Bush is doing all right have virtually disappeared.

Since Murtha's impassioned plea for a quick end to the occupation, the administration has begun talking up prospects for partial withdrawal, but the plan has been heavily dependent on Iraqis taking over the immense security challenge.

http://margokingston.typepad.com/harry_version_2/2005/12/rewriting_histo.html#more

[cliss]

1. A Chinese proverb:

"May you live in interesting times". We live in the most maddeningly interesting times.

Thanks for posting. Good article.