Truth is the First Casualty of Politics

That’s a paraphrase of an old saying of indeterminate origin about truth and war.

We’ll soon have an opportunity to observe the paraphrased adage in action. John McCain has established a Truth Squad in reaction to  comments by retired four-star general and Obama advocate, Wesley Clark. Below is one comment Clark made on an interview on Face the Nation yesterday. You can listen to the full interview on Youtube here. 

“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

Although awkwardly stated, Clark is correct, of course. No single act of an individual, whether a veteran or not, in and of itself, is a qualification for the Office of the President of the United States. I know some fine pilots, but I wouldn’t vote for them for president simply because they have the ability to fly an airplane.

But in the world of politics, accusations cannot remain unanswered. In an effort to counter Clark’s comments, John McCain has decided to operate on another old adage–the truth shall set ye free.

He has recruited Sen. John Warner, Col. Bud Day and Lt. Col. Orson Swindle for some truth telling. There may be more individuals in the squad, but I stopped reading when my eyes hit Orson Swindle.

I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Orson Swindle for about ten minutes in the privacy of my office before we walked next door where he spoke to a class in political science.

He was an affable and friendly guy and told me about growing up in Georgia under the tutelage of an aunt. Despite my moderate political opinions and his somewhat right of center conservative leanings, we had many points in common.

We were both veterans and both products of Southern culture. Moreover, he had a long history with the federal government in various appointed capacities. I was a low-level apparatchik, a pencil pusher in the Southern dialect of my own straight talking aunt. Both of us knew the system.

I was actually surprised when he accepted my invitation to speak. This was at the height of the lunacy about liberals ruining our colleges and destroying our youth, which I thought was oddly overstated, since almost every instructor of my acquaintance was moderate or conservative. The extreme liberals were confined to the the social sciences.

Still, the atmosphere of accusation and innuendo was so bad that the public relations apparatchik of one admiral went ballistic at my audacity when I asked if the admiral would speak on campus.

He (not the admiral who probably never saw my request) fired off a three page e-mail about how “he” wasn’t going to permit “his” admiral to appear on this pinko campus, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I should have retained the e-mail. It was a wonderful combination of the dead language of bureaucrats mixed with the colorful and earthy language of real people.

Anyway, Orson walked into my office on the appointed morning, accompanied by a bodyguard because he was running for political office as a Republican in a state where Republicans were as scarce as hen’s teeth on a Petaluma chicken ranch.

His first question was, “Where’s the men’s room?”

Well, after I led him to it, I returned to my office and chatted with his body guard for a minute or two, which was also an enjoyable experience because he was a boxing fan and so was I.

The upshot of Orson’s appearance before my class of ravenous, slobbering 19-year old radicals was a resounding success. The students were polite and attentive and Orson presented a well-reasoned case for his policies.

For balance, we had other candidates of other political persuasions on different days. Most also had good rapport with the students. The libertarian candidate, however, took an immediate dislike to me the moment she walked into my office and sat down for a pre-class chat. God knows why. Humans seem possessed of an underlying revulsion for some things. I was hers.

Mine? Well, it’s the swift-boating of reputations. Let’s see if John McCain and Orson Swindle permit themselves to swiftboat Obama. I hope not. Orson was too nice a guy for that sort of politics.

Technorati Tags: Wesley Clark,John McCain,Orson Swindle,Truth Squad

Nice, We want Nice

At least John McCain wants to be nice and he has invited Barrack to join him in a gentlemanly campaign to see which of the candidates can be the nicest.

That’s what John said anyway when he challenged Barack to ten town hall meetings between now and the Democratic Convention in August. No moderators, just two guys engaging in manly chit chat, may the best man win.

I admire John’s approach. He’s placed Barack on the defensive already and Barack hasn’t been the presumptive Democratic nominee long enough to grab a few winks.

In a broader sense McCain’s town hall “plan” is a tactic in a larger strategy to keep the Obama camp in a constant reactionary mode. It’s a doggoned good strategy, classic Rove. Will it work this time around? Who knows.

When we get right down to it, however, John’s invitation was merely a lead-in to the meat of his speech this morning.

The short talk that he gave before an audience of mostly veterans  was almost exclusively an attack on Barack for his naivete in wishing to withdraw American forces from Iraq and sit down with America’s enemies.

Between now and the general election in November, we will hear the same theme over and over. Repetition is a proven Rovian tactic.

Put that together with the Rovian move to mount a direct assault on the opponent’s strongest suit, and John may be on to something. In the case at hand, change from the old, failed policies of the Bush era  is Barack’s brand.

John very astutely jumped on the change bandwagon this morning by noting that change is good if it is the right kind of change.  John strongly suggested that his change is good, Barack’s  is bad. Can we handle six more months of change without an extended vacation to Tierra del Fuego?

One thing we’ve got to admire about John Boy. At the risk of appearing sexist and ageist, he has an active  set of cojones for a 71-year old guy.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,John McCain

Retention isn’t a Political Plus

In politics, never remember your own debacles. Concentrate on recalling the debacles of those you don’t like.

This old adage that I just now created out of thin air as I started typing, is nowhere more evident than in the words of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Speaking about the recent typhoon in Burma, Gates accused the ruling military junta of criminal neglect for blocking international aid to the victims of the recent cyclone that devastated Burma

Yes, he’s correct.

But I wonder how we might characterize our own federal government’s pathetic non-response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Now, FEMA has decided to boot Katrina victims from the trailers it eventually provided once the federal bureaucrats had wound their way through a thicket of red tape that the president could easily have ordered them to ignore had he chosen. I mean, if you can tell the Congress to take a hike with a Signing Statement or two or three or a hundred, what’s a bureaucratic rule now and then?

In the meantime, John McWayne continues his drumbeat about Barack’s naivete about Iraq, Iran, Cuba, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, while somehow relegating the total naivete of the entire neocon universe to the shadows of their mind as they proudly proclaimed “Mission accomplished,” forgetting what the hell the “mission” was and is, if a mission ever existed.

Before the general election in November, we are going to hear a lot more about Barack’s naivete. Forget Bush’s Blunders.

Technorati Tags: Hurricane Katrine,Burma,McCain,Obama,Robert Gates,FEMA

Losing is a Disease

“The mind is a strange thing, men.

We must begin by asking it…
…What is losing?

Losing is a disease…
…as contagious as polio.

Losing is a disease…
…as contagious as syphilis.

Losing is a disease…
…as contagious as bubonic plague…

… attacking one…
… but infecting all.

But curable.”

The preceding is a snatch of dialog from the movie The Natural.

The manager of a losing baseball team calls in a hypnotist to cure the team’s “disease.”

This snippet came to mind as I thought about the presidential election.

The Democrats are in their classic losers’ campaign mode…reacting to Republican attacks with no response but a whimper now and then.

And John McCain is only in semi-attack mode. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. War is the sum total of his platform, and he already has Barack reacting at every turn.

The latest McCain assault has convinced Barack that he needs to visit Iraq and get his information about the war “on the ground” instead of from the institutional media.

Only fools believe this, but apparently the Democratic Party is loaded wit fools. Look for Barack to land in Baghdad one of these days, have a meal or two with the troops, listen to some briefings by Petraeus and his staff, walk around a safe-zone surrounded by photogs and armored marines, hop on his plane, and return.

Will he have gathered any “facts” from his experience? Yes, he will be sated by facts spoon-fed to him by the few people he actually meets.

This is a prime example of reactionary political campaigning. While engaged in this meaningless activity, Barack and the Democratic Party will be diverted from the real problems of this country, problems like the economy, skyrocketing fuel prices, and a collapsing housing market.

Instead of reacting as usual, Barack ought to invite McCain to accompany him on a walking tour through the slums of Washington, D.C., slums within a stone’s throw of the White House and the “People’s House,” where high-level pols enjoy cheap neals and and a slew of other perks unavailable to most of the veterans McCain refuses to be lectured about.

The cure for losing doesn’t lie down the same old road. Winning requires a journey into the unknown, the road less traveled.

Maybe the Democrats could use a hypnotist.

Who Trades with Whom?

I notice that Cuba is on the front burner all of a sudden. I watched John Boy blasting Barack on television this morning because Barack says he will talk to Raul Castro. John wants to continue the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba for another 100 years.

John’s argument is interesting. He believes U.S. pressure on Cuba will result in “real” change for the “Cuban people.” Maybe. The future is unpredictable. The story is in the past. We’ve done our best to isolate Cuba since Castro came to power more than 40 years ago. So far, the strategy hasn’t seemed to work. I wonder why?

One reason may be because our embargo on trade with Cuba has been a complete and total failure. Other countries have filled any gap left by us as a result of the trade embargo act of 1996. But wait. There’s more.

The United States is Cuba’s seventh largest import partner.

Hola!

How can this be? Who knows. Maybe a total trade embargo doesn’t really mean “total.” Or, big money trumps “total” every time. Here’s the list of Cuba’s top export markets.

• Netherlands, 21.8%
• Canada, 21.6%
• China, 18.7%
• Spain, 5.9%

Hmmm. We aren’t buying anything from Cuba. But are we selling them anything? Let’s see. Here are Cuba’s top import partners:

• Venezuela, 25,6%
• China, 15.6%
• Spain, 9.8%
• Germany, 6.4%
• Canada, 5.6%
• Italy, 4.4%
• US, 4.3%
• Brazil, 4.2%

Hola! I wonder, exactly what the US doesn’t sell to Cuba to warrant a Number 7 spot on Cuba’s imports partners list?

I’d be willing to bet that that we enacted legislation in 2000 permitting exceptions to the “total” trade embargo.

I’d further bet that those exceptions were for “humanitarian” purposes, stuff like medical and agricultural products.

Heck, if it’s for humanitarian purposes, why don’t we show a little compassion and give the stuff to them?

Is it merely coincidence, a merging of the stars, that the medical and agricultural industries in the US are two if the most powerful lobbies in D.C. Hmmm.

Oh, well. At least we’re running a trade surplus with Cuba.

Where did I get all of this data? Why, from the CIA.

Say what, Bro?

Technorati Tags: Cuba,Trade,John McCain,Barack Obama,US Exports to Cuba

Power by Any Other Name…

First we had Hard Power. Then came Soft Power. Now, the Bush camp is in the beginning stages of developing a new theory. For lack of a more descriptive label at this time, I’ve decided to call it Flaccid Power.

If he becomes President, Barack Obama will be the first Commander in chief in our nation’s history to utilize Flaccid Power in foreign relations.

At least according to the Gospel of King George, who has begun to assert rather forcefully that Barack is an appeaser of tyrants and America’s enemies.

As a further appeal to the Hard Power crowd, Bush dropped back to 1939 and evoked the name of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain who negotiated a 1938 treaty with Hitler in which he conceded Hitler’s control over parts of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain’s action gave gave rise to charges of appeasement and in large part, he has been blamed for Hitler’s subsequent Holocaust.

Barack can expect an inceasing bombardment of charges in this vein, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bush Crowd eventually charges him with having personally launched the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

I am not certain, but I believe Barack is a wee mite too young for both the Holocaust and Pearl Harbor. But youth didn’t sway Republican operatives when they nosed around Bill Clinton’s kindergarten class.

What is Bush’s motivation for inserting himself into the presidential election? In my judgement, he is frightened of an Obama presidency. He and his minions have staked the Bush legacy on a single issue, the war in Iraq. If Barack approaches the matter from a different direction and succeeds in establishing a peaceful consensus among the warring groups in the Middle East, Bush will become an historical irrelevancy. His egotistical and grandiose nature demand that he be right at all costs.

Barack may not make it all the way to the Oval Office, but in the world of xenophobic Hard Power proponents, nothing can be left to chance. Hard times are a-coming, Barack. Invoke your own version of Big Stick tactics against the Bushies. Avoid flaccidity.

 

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama,George Bush,Hard Power,Soft Power,Holocaust,Neville Chamberlain,Hitler

Can We Obliterate Politicians?

Hillary Clinton said she would “obliterate” Iran if Iran attacked Israel with a nuclear bomb, or words along those lines.

According to Dictionary.com, obliterate means “to remove or destroy all traces of; do away with; destroy completely.”

Let’s look at some of the real-world effects of Iran’s obliteration.

70,000,000 people dead
Let’s see, that includes men, women, children, fetuses in the womb, mentally and physically deficient individuals, and a host of Iranians who admire the U.S., not to mention visitors who happened to be in Iran when shock and awe occurs, along with anyone in Turkey standing too near its border with Iran. Now wouldn’t that be a kick in the head?

2.5 million barrels of oil a day removed from world markets
Officially, the U.S. doesn’t purchase oil from Iran, but the rest of the world certainly does. If that supply disappeared, the price of gasoline at the pump would soar, reaching stratospheric heights. Only the top millionaires will be able to afford a tank of gas. Or food. Remember Soylent Green?

Destruction, among others, of the economy of Japan
A strong ally of the U.S., Japan relies on Iran for a substantial portion of its oil purchases. You don’t imagine that it’s primary imports are Persian rugs, do you? Unless, of course, they’ve figured out a way to convert them to energy. Those Japanese are wily folk. They’re capable of anything. They destroyed the American automobile market by producing cars that actually didn’t collapse within the first month or so of purchase. Who woulda thunk of a crackpot idea like that?

Collapse of the world food market
Crops are fertilized with oil-based products. Without those aids to growth, crop yields per acre will fall dramatically, as crops require longer growing seasons to produce stunted versions of today’s robust varieties. Hark back to Soylent Green. Your next meal could be a Hillary Burger. Or, hopefully, a Bush Steak.

Collapse of the American economy
Suffice to say, when the leading economic powers of the world lose purchasing power, American exports will shrink with disastrous effects on American jobs, already decimated by the influx of foreign labor and the movement of American industries to cheap-labor countries. Oh, I forgot, America is a cheap-labor country, isn’t it?

Nuclear Retaliation
Iran’s location in the Middle East puts it in proximity to nuclear powers such as Pakistan, India, China, and Russia. Those countries may feel threatened by the U.S. and decide on their own version of preemption. Moreover, Iran is a Muslim country. The obliteration of 70,000,000 Muslims would certainly ignite a tinderbox of resentment with disastrous consequences for the U.S.

Hillary’s Rationale
Was Hillary serious when she uttered her rash statement on national television? Or was she merely resorting to the est school of political campaigning, the greatest, the biggest, the most superlative, the mother of all whatevahs, kick ass, obliterate?  Or was her intent to demonstrate that she can play with the best of the big boys and even beat them at their own testicular-engorged game? My missile is longer than yours, pal. Here, I’ll show you.

Naturally, she’ll garner a goodly number of votes in upcoming caucuses and primaries because of her statement. The United States is populated by a surplus of the “kill ‘em all” school of foreign policy. From the standpoint of sheer effective political tactics, she did good.

But…?

After thinking about this for awhile, I’m still trying to understand her rationale. Why would she claim that she will go to such extreme lengths? To the best of my knowledge, no other high-level politician of either party would publicly subscribe to a view of the world so outside the pale as to border on lunacy. Surely, it’s just a jest.

Apocalypse Now?
In the long run, cooler heads will prevail. My guess is that Hil’s strategists are searching for a spin to minimize any damages. More than likely, the parsers will appear in the light of day and say something like, “What she really meant was…”

All will be well, despite my dire predictions. Relax. It’s only politics, folks.

 

Technorati Tags: Iran,Obliterate,Hillary Clinton