Thom Hartmann: Edwards Next Potential FDR, Obama Next JFK
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jb-powell/thom-hartmann-edwards-ne_b_76369.htmlPosted December 11, 2007 | 07:33 PM (EST)
JB Powell interviews Air America dj Thom Hartmann, who has a new book out about American political discourse called Cracking the Code. This interview is published on Pop and Politics as well as HuffPost's OffTheBus.JBP: You say that after 9-11, George W. Bush was able to get even liberals to buy into the conservative story. Do you believe it's still a powerful enough narrative to bring another Republican into the White House?
TH: Yes I think it's possible. Particularly if we don't have Democrats stand up and say, "I'm not afraid anymore." I'm still waiting for a Democrat to stand up like Franklin Roosevelt did and say, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself and we will not be frightened."
Other countries have been through
. England had the IRA blowing up London for thirty years. A bomb went off on Downing Street that almost killed Margaret Thatcher. The British government didn't say, 'We need to do away with civil rights and habeas corpus.' No. The British said, 'We are not afraid. We are not fearful wimps. We will deal with this, we will conquer this, and in the meantime, we're going to go about our lives.' The same thing with Spain and the Basque separatists. The same thing with Germany and the Baader-Meinhof Gang. The same thing with Italy and the Red Brigades, who kidnapped Aldo Moro, the former prime minister, and killed him! And still the Italians didn't say, 'We need to throw constitution into the waste basket.' No, they said, 'We're not afraid, damn it!'
In 2006, we saw Dick Cheney and the President get up and say, basically, 'If you vote for Democrats, you're risking a terrorist attack.' I expect a lot worse in the upcoming 2008 election. Do you?
Absolutely. And probably in terms of world events. The Republicans are going to do everything they can, in my opinion, to increase our vulnerability to a terrorist attack. There's considerable evidence that before the 2001 attack, whether it was intentional or not, nobody was paying attention and everybody was asleep at the switch. George Bush had over fifty different warnings that 9-11 was coming, including the famous memo (Presidential Daily Briefing) that was delivered in August.
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