Taking Pride in the World's Scorn
Mark Davis, in a The Dallas Morning News op/ed piece, attempts to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Davis admits that large parts of the world will breathe a sigh of relief when George W. Bush leaves office. Davis says that Bush and the United States
"are despised from the cafés of Paris to the sidewalks of Berlin, from the coffee shops of Cairo to the market squares of Caracas, all because we have spent the years since 9/11 trying to reform the part of the world that wishes we were all dead."Rather than admit failure, Davis says Bush should take pride in this scorn. He hopes that a McCain presidency will lead to more hate heaped on us from around the world.
Mark Davis has it exactly backwards. The world does not wish Americans were all dead. Certainly, it did not immediately before and after 9/11. The United States received enormous sympathy from around the world after 9/11. But America's unilateral, cowboy foreign policy emphasizing pre-emptive war squandered that sympathy and drove the rest of the world away from us and towards the kind of attitude Davis imagines.
But there is one person who isn't happy to see Bush leave office. That's Osama bin Laden. Osama designed the 9/11 attack to lure America into a war in Afghanistan, that graveyard for imperial overreach from the British Empire to the Soviet Union. When Bush invaded Iraq as well, Osama's wildest dreams came true. Osama got Bush to do his bidding, toppling Osama's enemy Saddam Hussein. Bush's wars have been al Qaeda's greatest recruiting tool. Incidents of terror have risen throughout the world since Bush's invasion of Iraq.
Evidence of Osama's desire to see Bush remain in office came shortly before the 2004 election, when he released a videotape critical of Bush. Osama knows that the American electorate would predictably close ranks behind Bush and they did, electing him to a second term. Don't be surprised if Osama attempts to tilt the 2008 election towards John McCain by releasing another anti-Bush, anti-McCain videotape.
Mark Davis is a fool to think that America benefits by alienating the coffee shops and market squares of the world. That's Osama bin Laden strategic aim and Bush himself is handing Osama a victory. In the caves along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, the sound of cheering greets each Bush and McCain electoral victory. And, just maybe, a small smile of satisfaction greeted Mark Davis' latest foolishness.
Where in the World is Barack Obama?
Todd Gillman, on The Dallas Morning News Trail Blazers blog, has been looking at Barack Obama's upcoming calendar and makes this astute speculation...
"Visiting the troops plays well with many voters. Makes you wonder where Barack Obama will spend his July 4 weekend. No public events announced yet, and it's a perfect time to check off part of that to-do list, and sneak off to Iraq and Afghanistan.Nice call, Todd. If that's what happens...
Political Hit Piece in Richardson
Nathan Morgan uses innuendo and insinuation in a Pegasus News article about Richardson's Charles Eisemann, namesake for Richardson's performing arts center.
Morgan sprinkles his writing with "Rumors", "Inquiring people want to know," and "Hmmm" as if suggestions of wrongdoing are an adequate substitute for evidence. Morgan's logic is absurd, in one case charging Eisemann with reneging on a pledge of funding for the arts center, then saying "there is no evidence to the contrary" as if the burden of proof is on the Eisemann. Sorry, Morgan, it's your responsibility to present evidence of wrongdoing and you offer squat. Morgan claims that "members of the community" are outraged about this or are questioning that or are saying "we should chuck 'Eisemann' from the facade of the building." Morgan fails to name a single such member of the community. One gets the impression that Morgan is reporting what he sees when he looks in the mirror.
1 comment:
Sorry, Todd, it looks like your guess is wrong. Obama's campaign says the candidate is spending the Fourth in Butte, Montana. July 4 happens to be his daughter's birthday and a private family celebration is planned for the same location. It doesn't sound like Obama is going to be making a surprise, unannounced visit to troops in Afghanistan or Iraq.
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