New American Dark Ages
Bush still master of debating game – The Times of India
The biggest danger for Bush is no doubt his own syntactical slip-ups and factual vagueness. Several times during a press conference with Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi on Thursday, he referred to the “Afghan army” when he meant “Iraqi”. He confused terrorists Abu Nidal and Abu Abbas and even spoke of the “Soviet dinar” as the currency in Saddam’s Iraq.
Economist.com | America and Iraq
Is Iraq part of the war on terror? Yes, says Mr Bush. At the Republican convention, he asked: “Do I forget the lessons of September 11th and take the word of a madman, or do I take action to defend our country?” No, says Mr Kerry: the war is a distraction from al-Qaeda and has created the very terrorist havens that the administration claimed to be acting to destroy.
On this question, voters are undecided. The number of those who think Saddam and al-Qaeda were linked has fallen; just over half now say the war has not reduced the chance of a new terrorist assault on America; but roughly equal numbers think the Iraq campaign has strengthened and weakened the war on terror.
Duybya wasted money, time and other resources on Iraq and abandoned the pursuit of Osama bin Laden. In the process, he turned created a breeding ground for terrorists. Every Iraq killed has a family ready to kill — and die — in revenge. Bush’s actions were unbelievably, unforgivably irresponsible. mjh
Economist.com The comeback Kerry
“Mismanagement”� certainly offers a less thrilling rallying call. … But in this particular case, it surely offers Mr Kerry a better line of attack.
First, it is a far less contentious charge to prove. By any reasonable standard, the White House has a mind-boggling record of incompetence in Iraq, from the lack of post-war planning to the disgrace of Abu Ghraib. Mr Kerry can tap into the sense that Mr Bush is out of touch with what is happening on the ground, especially in Iraq’s no-go areas. The more Mr Bush repeats his mantra about the march of liberty, the more he risks sounding like a Texan version of “Comical Ali”, the Iraqi propaganda minister who declared that the infidel dogs were in retreat even as American troops rolled into Baghdad.
Second, Mr Kerry can broaden the theme of mismanagement. Look, he can argue, the same idealistic incompetence that has dogged the Iraq war can be seen throughout the administration’s policies: witness, for instance, its fiscal recklessness in cutting taxes while increasing spending.
Lastly, focusing on mismanagement allows Mr Kerry indirectly to deal with one of his biggest handicaps — the likeability gap. Most Americans have a soft spot for Mr Bush (and recoil from assertions that he deceived them into an unnecessary war). But many also have a sneaking worry about his competence. Is the amiable frat boy really a match for our dangerous times? Or is he being manipulated by ideological zealots? If Mr Kerry can use Iraq to reinforce doubts about Mr Bush’s competence, then he has a chance of pulling off a Reagan; but like Hubert Humphrey, he does not have much time.
News-Leader.com | True Ozarks | Bush: Economy stronger By Deb Riechmann
President Bush told Missouri voters Monday that new unemployment figures suggest “the economy is strong and getting stronger” ….
[U]nless 900,000 jobs are created in the next two months, Bush will be the first president since Herbert Hoover to lose jobs under his watch.
ECRI – Economic Cycle Research Institute
DodgeGlobe.com:Chalt: Cement sack, yes, but with concrete ideas By Jonathan Chalt
If [Kerry] can’t run a campaign, the argument goes, he would never have been able to run the White House.
That sounds reasonable enough unless you consider the fact that George W. Bush is a highly competent campaigner but a flaming disaster of a president. And it is exactly those things that make him so ruthlessly effective on the stump – centralized authority, party discipline, total disregard for the truth – that have created a hermetically sealed petri dish in which bad policies come to life and are carried out unchallenged. …
[A] president who struggles to enact decent policies is surely better than one who easily enacts awful policies.
War is peace SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
As U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said prior to Bush’s address, “Those who seek to bestow legitimacy must themselves embody it, and those who invoke international law must themselves submit to it.”
Despite Bush’s invasion of Iraq in what Annan now calls an illegal war, the president said yesterday that U.N. members must “do more” to help in Iraq.
“Each of us alone can only do so much,” Bush said. “Together we can accomplish so much more.”
For a president who waged pre-emptive war in Iraq in defiance of the United Nations, citing now disproved weapons threats and now discredited terrorist connections, it seems a lesson learned too late.