What Kind of Moron Do They Think We Are?

Evidently, the answer is “first class.” Yet again, the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate are going through their “support the troops” charade – giving Cheney and Bush even more money than they’ve asked for for their wars, but with a “timeline” attached. It’s the Democrats’ version of the surge theory – since the maneuver hasn’t worked yet, try more of it. Wearily, I must repeat the obvious: the only way to “support the troops” is to bring them home (unconditionally); the only way to end Cheney’s and Bush’s wars is to defund them; and, while we’re at it, the best outcome that can emerge from the Iraq debacle would be an abject defeat, followed by an Iraq Syndrome – much like the Vietnam Syndrome Reagan and the first Bush inveighed against, only deeper and more enduring. [Of course, abject defeat is already a fact on the ground; the issue now is to face the fact squarely; not obscure it the way leading Democrats, and Republicans, are desperately trying to do.] It’s also obvious that, to keep Cheney and Bush from making the situation much worse in the the next fourteen months – by extending their perpetual “war on terror” into Iran -- they must be removed from office ASAP. I might add, again wearily (as I’ve said it many times before), that the best way to repair some of the harm Cheney and Bush have done would be to bring them to justice. But, for reasons I have also amply discussed,the Pelosiite leadership of the Democratic Party wants no truck with the obvious. They’d rather remain Cheney/Bush aiders and abettors, thinking that they can somehow mollify their “base” by continuing a charade that fools nobody, probably not even themselves.

Meanwhile, with another Democratic presidential candidates debate looming, the November 26 issue of The Nation, contains “endorsements” for each of the Democratic contenders. Was this a debating exercise? One would hope so, at least in some cases, because rejecting some of those candidates is a true no-brainer. But I fear that the authors took their endorsements seriously. If they did,, this would be yet another example of The Nation’s ecumenicism lapsing into political incoherence, if not downright silliness. The endorsements are worth reading nevertheless. Gore Vidal’s piece on Dennis Kucinich is a gem, and several of the others are good too – Bruce Shapiro on Christopher Dodd, Richard Kim on Mike Gravel, and, above all, Katherine Newman on John Edwards. Michael Eric Dyson makes a fairly lame case for Barack Obama and Rocky Anderson, the “radical” mayor of Salt Lake City, makes an even lamer case for Bill Richardson. Of course, Anderson didn’t have much to work with. The latest flurry of media interest in Obama notwithstanding, it’s looking increasingly like Dyson didn’t either. But what was John Nichols thinking in endorsing Joe Biden? Unless this really was a debating exercise, he should have his head examined because Biden is, if anything, even worse than Hillary Clinton – even more Clintonite. Which brings me back to the “what kind of morons…” question. If you really want to know, take a look (if you have the stomach for it) at what Ellen Chesler finds to say in support of the Hillary. Or maybe the real message of her piece is that the Democratic leadership is on to something: that many, indeed most, Democratic voters (according to the polls), genuinely are “first class.”