Thursday, November 09, 2006
FROM SCRYING TO CRYING
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BWEST OF BWANA
AN OCCASIONAL BREAKFAST WITH BWANA FEATURE
November 9, 2006
FROM SCRYING TO CRYING:
When I wrote The Worst Day Of The Year on October 17, obviously I was not writing from the Republican perspective, else I’d have waited until yesterday.
Well, what happened? I mean, why did the election turn out this way? Here are some statements for you to consider:
1. “I believe Iraq had a lot to do with the election, but I believe there's other factors as well.”
2. “And in terms of the election, no question, Iraq had something to do with it.”
3. ‘The amazing thing about this election, and what surprised me somewhat, which goes to show I should not try punditry, is that this economy's strong. And, a lot of times, off years are decided by the economy.”
4. “And yet, you know, obviously there was a different feel out there for the electorate. The economy – the good news in the economy was overwhelmed by the toughness of this fight and toughness of the war.”
5. “You know, again, I think when you really look close at the results – first of all, there's a lot of close elections. No question Iraq had an impact.”
6. “And my only point to you is I'm sure Iraq had something to do with the voters' mind, but so did a very strong turnout mechanism in those two important states. (New York and Pennsylvania)”
7. “I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there.”
If you have not guessed by now, all 7 statements were made by President Bush yesterday in the space of less than one hour during his post-election press conference.
The most charitable thing one can say is that he finally gets it. Surely, Rumsfeld’s resignation tells us at least that much. The President said that he and Rumsfeld “after a series of thoughtful conversations … agreed that the timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon.”
However, his comments about surprise at the results suggest that it took this "thumpin'" as he labeled it to produce reality sweats.
The big question for me now is whether the Democrats get it. Will they operate under the assumption that the American people are going to greet them as liberators who have come in and cast off the yoke of arrogance, stupidity, and incompetence that has marked this Administration’s implementation of its foreign and domestic policy? Or will they get down to real business? After all, it was the promising of righting the ship of state - more than junking the drunken skipper of the SS Valdez - that got them here. Or was it?
This is of concern because all one needs to do is hearken back to Vice President Cheney’s scrying back on March 16, 2003 when he gazed into a fuzzy crystal ball or perhaps a peloid pool of water and had this exchange with Tim Russert on Meet the Press:
VP CHENEY: Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.
MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?
VP CHENEY: Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who’s a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he’s written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately, and is a part of the democratic opposition and resistance. The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.
Now, if we get into a significant battle in Baghdad, I think it would be under circumstances in which the security forces around Saddam Hussein, the special Republican Guard, and the special security organization, several thousand strong, that in effect are the close-in defenders of the regime, they might, in fact, try to put up such a struggle. I think the regular army will not. My guess is even significant elements of the Republican Guard are likely as well to want to avoid conflict with the U.S. forces, and are likely to step aside.
Now that Cheney’s scrying has led to crying, one has to ask if the Democrats will think they have license to investigate how things went awry, to pry into every facet of decision-making, leave the legislative well dry, or will they say we have many problems to address so we should get together and try? If not, any Democratic scry who thinks, as the Republicans did, that you can take the American electorate for granted will have a good cry.
Cheerz...Bwana
__________________________________________________________________________________
BWEST OF BWANA
AN OCCASIONAL BREAKFAST WITH BWANA FEATURE
November 9, 2006
FROM SCRYING TO CRYING:
When I wrote The Worst Day Of The Year on October 17, obviously I was not writing from the Republican perspective, else I’d have waited until yesterday.
Well, what happened? I mean, why did the election turn out this way? Here are some statements for you to consider:
1. “I believe Iraq had a lot to do with the election, but I believe there's other factors as well.”
2. “And in terms of the election, no question, Iraq had something to do with it.”
3. ‘The amazing thing about this election, and what surprised me somewhat, which goes to show I should not try punditry, is that this economy's strong. And, a lot of times, off years are decided by the economy.”
4. “And yet, you know, obviously there was a different feel out there for the electorate. The economy – the good news in the economy was overwhelmed by the toughness of this fight and toughness of the war.”
5. “You know, again, I think when you really look close at the results – first of all, there's a lot of close elections. No question Iraq had an impact.”
6. “And my only point to you is I'm sure Iraq had something to do with the voters' mind, but so did a very strong turnout mechanism in those two important states. (New York and Pennsylvania)”
7. “I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there.”
If you have not guessed by now, all 7 statements were made by President Bush yesterday in the space of less than one hour during his post-election press conference.
The most charitable thing one can say is that he finally gets it. Surely, Rumsfeld’s resignation tells us at least that much. The President said that he and Rumsfeld “after a series of thoughtful conversations … agreed that the timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon.”
However, his comments about surprise at the results suggest that it took this "thumpin'" as he labeled it to produce reality sweats.
The big question for me now is whether the Democrats get it. Will they operate under the assumption that the American people are going to greet them as liberators who have come in and cast off the yoke of arrogance, stupidity, and incompetence that has marked this Administration’s implementation of its foreign and domestic policy? Or will they get down to real business? After all, it was the promising of righting the ship of state - more than junking the drunken skipper of the SS Valdez - that got them here. Or was it?
This is of concern because all one needs to do is hearken back to Vice President Cheney’s scrying back on March 16, 2003 when he gazed into a fuzzy crystal ball or perhaps a peloid pool of water and had this exchange with Tim Russert on Meet the Press:
VP CHENEY: Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.
MR. RUSSERT: If your analysis is not correct, and we’re not treated as liberators, but as conquerors, and the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant American casualties?
VP CHENEY: Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do believe that we will be greeted as liberators. I’ve talked with a lot of Iraqis in the last several months myself, had them to the White House. The president and I have met with them, various groups and individuals, people who have devoted their lives from the outside to trying to change things inside Iraq. And like Kanan Makiya who’s a professor at Brandeis, but an Iraqi, he’s written great books about the subject, knows the country intimately, and is a part of the democratic opposition and resistance. The read we get on the people of Iraq is there is no question but what they want to the get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we come to do that.
Now, if we get into a significant battle in Baghdad, I think it would be under circumstances in which the security forces around Saddam Hussein, the special Republican Guard, and the special security organization, several thousand strong, that in effect are the close-in defenders of the regime, they might, in fact, try to put up such a struggle. I think the regular army will not. My guess is even significant elements of the Republican Guard are likely as well to want to avoid conflict with the U.S. forces, and are likely to step aside.
Now that Cheney’s scrying has led to crying, one has to ask if the Democrats will think they have license to investigate how things went awry, to pry into every facet of decision-making, leave the legislative well dry, or will they say we have many problems to address so we should get together and try? If not, any Democratic scry who thinks, as the Republicans did, that you can take the American electorate for granted will have a good cry.
Cheerz...Bwana
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