Thursday, June 23, 2005

Pay No Attention To That Spinner Behind The Curtain

It seems Karl Rove has decided to step out from behind his spin control room and dip his fingers in the placid waters of political discourse. Offering a "theraputic" view to New York conservatives about the differences in technique in dealing with the threat of terrorism. Or actual terrorism as the case may be.

Rove asserts that democrats made a mistake after 9/11. Meaning, the dems didn't want to fight the terrorist, rather they wanted to "indict" and offer "therapy" to our attackers. This notion conveniently leaves out, (convenient for conservatives) the vote in congress authorizing the president to take any action necessary to punish our attackers. This vote was unanimous in the Senate, and near unanimous, save one vote, in the House. Of course, the facts are never convenient things for conservatives like Rove who decide for themselves what the reality is, then act.

Rove's seemingly blunt phrasing, is actually more deft manuvering. A political high wire act that couldn't be trusted to others. Certainly not the president himself, who can't seem to remember where he left that pair of pants containing all his political capital. Not Cheney, who's growling pronouncements on Fox News about the "weakening insurgency" in Iraq, leave more and more people scratching their heads. No, this was a mission for the spinmiester himself.

The object it seems is simple. The groundwork for the mid-terms next year has to be laid now. Iraq is not going away, nor is it getting better. Despite all the spin in the world, more and more Americans are realizing this fact everyday. So Rove has to continue to "sell" the war in Iraq as a part of a the larger war on terror. Much the same way he has. It's just that now, the press is not quite as compliant. The message is more muddled. Before the election last year, or really since 9/11, it wasn't necessary to attack democrats outright because the lies were working.

Most of the people who voted for Bush in November, believed the following:
1. That Iraq had played a role in the planning and implementation of the attacks on 9/11.

2. That Iraq had weapons of mass destruction in 2003 when we invaded, and he plannned to use them on us.

Both of these are well documented lies, although even today its easy to find people that still believe them. So Rove has to reinforce this notion with voters. Mainly to shore up the republican base. And to send a sort of coded message. In the wake of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo everyone in the world can see what kind of justice we mete out. To the red state faithful, Rove is saying, "we treat those fuckers worse than the dems would any day." This message is loud and clear to the rest of the world as well. Can the religious extremist who hate us, hate us even more? Are moderate muslims being swayed to jihad by our actions? The president says "bring 'em on!"
Cheney says, "fuck 'em!" Karl Rove says, "The war on terror will continue for the forseable future." And he and the neo cons are doing everything they can to ensure that it will.

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