A Huge Right-Spinning Tornado

[stevedeshazer]

by Fred Barnes (you've been warned)

LET'S BE CRASS and assess the politics of the capture of Saddam Hussein. No one is boosted more than President Bush, the beneficiary of so much good news this fall (surging economy, 10,000 Dow, Medicare drug benefit). For him, only one more thing has to fall into place to assure re-election. That's a sharp turn for the better in the twilight war against the Baathist diehards and their motley allies in the Sunni triangle of Iraq. The grabbing of Saddam, a pathetic, cowardly Saddam, could lead to exactly that--but not necessarily. A turning point was declared when Saddam's sons were killed last July, only to be followed by an increase in the terrorist attacks on American troops and Iraqis.

The big loser is Howard Dean--potentially. Dean has embarked on an image-altering effort so he'll be seen as a centrist on foreign affairs. In interviews with the Washington Post and New York Times, he insisted the differences between himself and Bush are not great, mainly about style, not substance. He offered this amazing statement to the Times: "It's all about nuance." In truth, there's rarely been a presidential candidate with a less nuanced approach to foreign affairs.

<snip>

Contrary to convention wisdom, Dean is vulnerable on the war issue even among Democrats, though probably not among a majority of Democrats. But you don't need a majority to win a caucus or a primary. A plurality will do just fine. The only chance of halting the Dean juggernaut is through confronting the candidate frontally. Kerry, too, indicated he might be ready to do this. Unlike Lieberman and Gephardt, however, Kerry is less credible because he waffled on the war after initially voting for the congressional resolution authorizing the president to invade Iraq.

All the Democratic candidates passed up the opportunity to advocate debt relief for Iraq. We're talking about some $120 billion in debts amassed by Saddam. Why not demand that France, Germany, and Russia forgive the debts and give the Iraqi government that takes over next year a running start? After all, the new government won't be able to pay the debts anyway. They've left the debt relief issue to Bush. Not smart.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/506glbyf.asp

Spin, baby!

[Scott Lee]

1. B-b-b-but I thought the rightwing media WANTED Howard Dean?

Someone help me here. I'm so confuuuuuused.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. not anymore

he has the potencial of unseating king george

[DemBones DemBones]

4. The media HAS promoted Howard Dean all along and Barnes is

just having some fun tearing him down now. Notice that he's not exactly building another Dem up in the article.

The media promotes Dean because they're Bush supporters (or their corporate bosses are) and they see Dean as easy for Bush to beat while at the same time seeing Dean as corporate-friendly enough that they'd come out okay if by some fluke he actually won the White House.

Your confusion is due to your allegiance to a Rockefeller Republican running as a Democrat.

The media continue to portray Dean as a liberal and since a lot of Americans are very poorly informed, they will easily accept Dean's defeat by Bush as "proof" that Americans reject liberal politics for conservative politics. The GOP can take that as a mandate to make a hard right on social policy as well as fiscal policy. In other words, if you think things are bad now, just wait.

If 2004 is meant to be the defeat of liberalism, I hope we at least run a liberal candidate, one who can make clear to the voters what they are going to lose.
Dean is a fiscal conservative who is not socially liberal enough to think people's needs are more important than the holy grail of a balanced budget. We need to run a Dem who knows the importance of Medicare and Social Security to people who won't be inheriting millions.

[dansolo]

5. So I take it you dislike Paul Simon as well

Paul Simon was probably one of the most liberal Senators of the past 20 years, and yet he was also a strong advocate of a balanced budget amendment. That isn't bad company to keep.

[goodhue]

3. barnes blows

bring our troops home now!
http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/