Republicans running on their anti-terror exploits are just plain nutty

[Omaha Steve]

Full article: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0707-28.htm

Published on Friday, July 7, 2006 by the Los Angeles Times
That's Their Big Gun?
Republicans running on their anti-terror exploits are just plain nutty.
by Rosa Brooks


According to the media, Republican strategists hope to make the fight against terrorism a "campaign cornerstone" in the run-up to the November elections.

Great idea! If these same strategists had been around in 1932 during the Depression, they'd probably have urged President Hoover to run for reelection on the strength of his economic policies.

Why would the Republicans want to make their record on fighting terrorism a campaign centerpiece? It's been almost five years since the 9/11 attacks, yet a recent bipartisan study found that 84% of the foreign policy experts surveyed disagreed with the president's often-repeated assertion that we're winning the war on terror. Iraq has become a magnet for the world's aspiring terrorists; in Afghanistan, the Taliban is resurgent and security is worsening; Osama bin Laden remains on the lam.

Unless I'm really missing something, the problem is not only that the GOP anti-terror strategy has been largely counterproductive. Much of the time, it also seems impressively unfettered by logic.

Of course, it could just be me. Maybe the strategy is actually devilishly sophisticated and not incoherent at all.

[Demeter]

1. Hence The Arrests of Young Male Blowhards In Miami and Abroad

who haven't done anything that any Limbaugh fan doesn't do: bitch, moan, piss, whine and make idle threats.

[MasonJar]

2. For one thing the polls show this is the only area where Bush is

still above 50%. Why is incomprehensible since he has done nothing for ports or for rails or etcs. But there you have it. Now we have a recent spat of little saves...undoubtedly planted (or at least planned) by the WH