Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A New Tornado - Republican Spin Lands in Kansas

Chris Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, wrote an "As I See It" column on Bush's legacy for the September 11, 2007, Kansas City Star. While using material from Karl Rove's National Review article titled "The Long View", and heaven knows what other publications, without attribution, he may have included personal observations. Regardless of his sources, his comments warrant reply. Upon reading Morgan's lead sentence, which featured a prepositional phrase without a leading preposition in the predicate, I decided that close reading of his essay would be needed to understand his message.

In the first paragraph, following the incomplete sentence, Morgan states that history's judgement of Bush is an important debate, with consideration of Bush's deeds and accomplishments during both terms being equally important. What Morgan omits as also important to the debate are Bush's misdeeds and failures, and the beneficial or deleterious effects of his deeds, misdeeds, accomplishments and failures. History's judgement will not be based on a one-sided evaluation. Morgan claims that history, rightly or wrongly, will judge Bush largely on our success or failure in Afghanistan and Iraq. Morgan's characterization of the weight given the outcomes of Bush's military ventures as a decider of his legacy seems on target. His insinuation that history's judgement may not be fair to Bush is an unwarranted disclaimer of its validity and is an veiled attempt to preempt history's judgement with his own.

Morgan labels as significant Bush's policy pronouncement to preemptively attack terrorists or their enablers, and even claims that the policy should have been put in effect after the World Trade Center attack in 1993. Morgan describes the changes as an "…aggressive campaign against terrorists, vowing to hunt them down and [to] punish … sponsors of terrorism overseas." This isn't a new policy, it is merely a more intense reaction to a horrific terrorist act that woke us all up to the depth of hatred that fundamentalist Islamists, operating as al-Qaida, have for the West. The formulator of this reaction wasn't George Bush, rather it was Osama bin Laden. The sole pursuit of this policy in our foreign relations has damaged our reputation abroad, while focusing our attention on the use of military force rather than meeting the challenges of the 21st Century by applying economic, political and diplomatic means to fight Islamic extremism. If I were a Bush Republican, I'd be careful with what credit I took for policies that can just as easily misfire.

I take issue with every claim of leadership that Morgan makes for Bush from African AIDs relief to 'modernizing' prescription drug benefits, but space is lacking for a wholesale refutation of his claims. However, three audacious claims are worth exposing: first, that Bush led the economy from recession; second, that Bush returned the rule of law back to the courts; and third, that Bush has effectively confronted Islamic terrorism.

Let's be clear, the economy was never in recession and Presidents have little, if any, impact on the performance of the capitalistic, free-trade economy that we enjoy. It's still a fact that the rule of law has always been the purpose of the courts. It never left. What's more, everyone is responsible for upholding the rule of law, including the Executive Office of the President, Congress, and the Federal bureaucracy. How well has George Bush fared in this regard? The lack of an Islamic terrorist attack on American soil proves nothing about our relative safety today. Actually, because Bush confronted Islamic terrorism with military strength, little has been done to defuse it or develop a comprehensive plan to counter its divisive effects.

I don't expect any better from a hard-liner like Morgan. Actually, Bush alone doesn't deserve all the blame for the sad state of affairs that exists in our nation today. The blame is shared by the Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, the Bush appointees, members of Congress who support Bush and his minions and plain old citizens who believe the crap being spewed out by Republican operatives and hangers-on.

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