GOP + WOT = WTF?!?

[NanceGreggs]

GOP + WOT = WTF?
By Nancy Greggs

While I realize that not every single person in the country is Mensa material, you’d think that good old common sense would rear its head on occasion. But apparently that’s not the case with those still supporting Bush and his agenda – which, I suspect, is a lot smaller group than the MSM would have us believe.

Honest to God, if there actually were that many incredibly stupid people among us, the wheels would have fallen off this country long before now.

It’s hard to choose a favorite, but of all the GOP phrases that get trotted out on a regular basis, I’ve got to go with: “Winning the War on Terror”.

Of course, no one ever asks the obvious question: Exactly how will this war be WON? When do we declare V-WOT day? Will there be a parade?

Needless to say, the BSers (that stands for Bush Supporters as opposed to what they are willing to swallow) seem to believe this is an achievable goal, despite all facts to the contrary. Kill one alleged terrorist, you’ve just created a dozen more. Kill one innocent civilian in Iraq or Afghanistan, and you’ve now successfully recruited their family members, neighbors, co-workers, and friends into the ever-growing anti-American fan club.

And yet the BSers don’t have the intellect to reason that one out. Obviously they’re all waiting for that photo on the front page of their local paper, a US Marine standing beside a man’s corpse, accompanied by the headline: “LAST TERRORIST IN THE ENTIRE WORLD FINALLY DEAD!!!”

But when you look at the other crap the BSers have adopted as gospel truth, you truly understand how stupid people can be.

The most glaring example in recent time was the so-called ‘foiled’ plot to blow up airliners en route from the UK to the States, unquestionably the most ridiculous story to hit the media since the image of Jesus miraculously appeared in a grilled cheese sandwich.

You see, these BSers actually believe that a dozen or so Middle Eastern men were about to book last-minute tickets on international flights, in the height of tourist season, all departing at roughly the same time on the same day, armed with explosive chemicals and without passports.

But this kind of stupidity has run rampant among the BSers from day one of the Bush regime, and their suspension of belief knows no bounds.

They honestly still believe that lil’ Georgie is going to get Bin Laden, going to ‘hunt him down, smoke him out, captured dead or alive’ – yes, the same Georgie who still can’t find the Plame leaker in his own administration.

For my money, the most laughable concept adhered to by these true believers is the idea that their fearless leader is keeping them safe from terrorists who hate us for our freedoms. It never occurs to them that taking away our freedoms – via the Patriot Act, wire-tapping, spying on citizens, etc. – would seem contrary to that entire concept. If Bush told them that burning down their own houses is the only way to keep them safe from burglars, they’d be lined up at Wal*Mart right now, buying matches and gasoline.

The Republicans are still chanting their tiresome little mantra about their tough stance on national security, and their ability to stand up to our nation’s enemies. I guess the BSers don’t notice that those same tough-as-nails Republicans can’t even stand up to their own president, no less a horde of evil-doers bent on the country’s destruction.

But this rhetoric is lapped up by the more intellectually-challenged among us, despite the fact that on this issue, the GOP have gone beyond beating a dead horse and are now attempting to milk a dead cow.

No one could deny that among the BSers, the Fundamentalist Christians are the most gullible. They hear Bush talk about amending the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage – and that’s pretty much ALL they hear. They haven’t noticed that after six years in office, that amendment has yet to materialize. Maybe that’s why they’re all praying for the Rapture, so once they’re all in heaven, they can discuss the fact that he would have done what he’d promised if only the good Lord’s scheduling of the End Times hadn’t inconveniently intervened.

The Fundies have no problem with the fact that their born-again president has broken every Thou-Shalt-Not on the Top Ten list; as long as he’s talking the talk, walking the walk shouldn’t be too closely scrutinized.

No, you just can’t input any logical data into the BSer brain. They’re like computers, and their tubes have been clogged for years. The most you can expect from a download is a bunch of Limbaugh talking points, and if you ask them to explain how any of that crap makes sense, all systems go into failure mode faster than Rumsfeld can come up with yet another reason (subject to change without notice) for being in Iraq.

These sheeple are unwavering in their belief that their president and his administration are the smartest guys in the room, even though none of them anticipated that planes could be used as missiles, or that there’d be an insurgency in Iraq. As for the fact that if the levees broke in a hurricane, water might actually find its way into New Orleans – come on, people, who could possibly have seen that coming?

And now we have a president who still garners the worship of his do-gooder, Jesus-loving, Bible-thumpin’ constituents when he says provisions prohibiting torture are murky and vague, and need to be reassessed or completely done way with. Of course, it never occurs to the BSers that if we were going to dispense with every document the Idiot-in-Chief doesn’t understand, all we’d be left with is The Pet Goat and a handful of Henry cartoons.

It never crosses the mind of a BSer that instead of re-interpreting traditional guidelines (which, by the way, failed to baffle every other administration), maybe it makes more sense to just get a smarter president.

And we all know who the BSers are. They’re the Keyboard Warriors who still live in Mom’s basement, screaming (IN CAPS) about how everybody else should be joining up and fighting the evil menace in the Middle East. They’re the ‘few good men’ who listen to O’Reilly every day, waiting for the signal to take up arms and join the Culture Warrior the minute he decides to lead them to victory in Iraq. They’re the religious zealots who never make the connection between filling the collection plate with money they can’t afford and Falwell’s multi-million dollar lifestyle.

More than ever, I’m confident that the Democrats will prevail in the upcoming elections, because people want their country back-on-track; they want what they once had that’s been stolen out from under them by the Republicans and their policies.

As for the BSers, while I don’t ignore their potential impact in November, I take comfort in the fact that most of them are just too damned stupid to find their way to the polls.

[JeffR]

1. It just doesn't get better than this

Kicked & recommended. Not that it needs to be; it'll be all over the internets within 48 hours!

[babylonsister]

9. Your graphic is powerful, JeffR! Great job! nt

[JeffR]

11. Thanks so much!

The Halliburton one didn't go over well, so I was racking my brains for something new.:argh:

[liberal N proud]

2. Exactly how will this war be WON? - Excellent question

One that every American should be asking and every Democrat running for office right now should be asking.

How in the hell will we know when we have won the war on terra?

I think I can guess... When the #1, #2, #3 and #4 terrorist are in jail
#1. George W. Bu$h (no 1 only because his name is on the office)
#2. Dick Cheney (the true no 1 terrorist)
#3. Donny Rumsfeld
#4. Kindasleazy
Then the war will end.

[JeffR]

4. Darned good guess

though I have to point out that we've been told for 5 years that any terrorist organization has a #1, and everybody else is #2. At least when they're apprehended.

[kenfrequed]

26. Ok

I prefer sticking to the point with Rice. Let's not denigrate her sexually here. It has a bad feeling to it.

She is a liar. That cannot ever be doubted. She is a corporate criminal that has been a party to murder. I am fairly certain of that.

However you shouldn't single her out amidst the others for special denigration unless yoru going to hit them all four of em with it. (which I wouldn't mind)

[Imagevision]

39. Exactly how will this war be WON? - Similar to the way Viet Nam was won...

Peace with honor, question remains, will we age 7-10 more years before we see this happen?
Will some of our kids now ages 9-11 be sacrificed for Operation Iraqi Freedom?

[peacetalksforall]

3. Well stated. All true. Dire straits. K and R. nt

[Auntie Bush]

5. Thanks Nancy, The trolls needed that!

I'd like to send it to my Rethug relatives...but they would accuse me of insinuating they were stupid!


:kick: and recommended.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Never insinuate. You overrate their comprehension skills.

People like that need to be told flat-out that they're stupid. Otherwise they will never know.

[EVDebs]

25. BTW, the acronym for The War On Terror isn't WOT, now is it ? nt

TWOT is just too graphic for the GOP.

[Jackpine Radical]

34. I thought the proper phrase was The War AGAINST Terror. (nt)

[EVDebs]

41. You say TWAT, I say TWOT, either way it's pretty disgusting !

GOPers used to be pretty good salesmen; if they're trying to "sell" the public on this war they've really screwed up, as Gen Zinni once said.

[Jackpine Radical]

43. You sat TWOT, I say TWAT...

Let's call the whole thing off.

[BattyDem]

6. Every time I think that you can't possibly get any better ...

you do. I love your writing! :toast:

K & R B-)

[babylonsister]

7. Nancy, I'm wearing out my recommend button with you!

I have no doubt that the dubious 30% will love the blivet til kingdom come, but I do believe people are waking up, those that haven't gulped the kool-aid. You have itemized the dumbness of the 30% beautifully!
And that phrase 'gone beyond beating a dead horse to attempting to milk a dead cow' is just too moo-ving!
Now, can we say "mooo"-ve over and let the rest of the country try to get it and us back on track?
:patriot: :hi: :thumbsup:

[Mythsaje]

8. "Winning" the "War on Terror"

is a lot like fighting the mythical hydra with a garden hoe. Sure, we can chop a head off here and there, but two more grow back to replace it and then we're in worse shape than we were before.

These numbskulls can't figure out one basic fact about military engagements. To beat an enemy in a "war," one must, first, be able to recognize the enemy from civilians that look exactly like they do, and, second, be able to take and hold territory that belongs to said enemy. Since the enemy in THIS "war" happens to look like just about any other Middle Eastern citizen, and calls no particularly plot of land "home," how, exactly, are we to determine whether we're winning or losing? There's no point in holding ground if it doesn't gain you any advantages. We're not 'cutting their supply line' or putting them on the defensive by trying to put out a thousand brushfires in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, the only thing this strategy is accomplishing is spreading our strength far too thinly to do us any good.

It's pretty obvious that the cheerleading section is more or less completely ignorant of strategy and tactics, and is willing to take them at face value when they say they know what they're doing.

They deride liberals for wanting to pursue terrorism as a law enforcement matter, when, if one pays attention, has actually been the ONLY method of combatting it that has ever been proven to work.

They say ignorance is bliss, but, near as I can tell, the ignorance of those who support these ridiculous policies hasn't made them any happier.

Go figure.

[ddeclue]

10. It's called "war on an abstract noun"...

Take your pick:

War on Terror
War on Drugs
War on Poverty
War on AIDS
etc....

Victory is notoriously hard to define in these types of wars and even harder to achieve. The more nebulous the abstract noun the harder it is to achieve victory. There is a better chance of ending the war on poverty and the war on aids than there is for drugs or terror which are far more vague.

A war on "terror" can't be won because there simply is no way to determine when you've killed the last "terrorist". It is Orwell's perpetual war against the other.

If we properly declared war on say "Al Qaeda" or "Hezbollah" or something like that, then it would be much easier to define victory but then I don't believe that the Bush administration wants a victory - the previous Bush administration had a victory over communism, Panama, and Iraq but lost the re-election anyways because the voters are notorious for having a "but what have you done for me lately" mindset and fired H.W. anyways over a poor economy and a poor response to Hurricane Andrew.

What W has apparently learned from daddy H.W.'s experience is that he wants to have an indefinite war rather than a victory.

What W has failed to learn from Truman, LBJ, or Nixon however, is that while voters are fickle about victories that the voters respond very poorly to prolonged wars without victory.

Both Truman and H.W. suffered the wrath of voters in 1946 and 1992 over the economy, even though they were both victorious "war" Presidents. Truman, Johnson, and Nixon in turn were excoriated for their failures to win in Korea and Vietnam.

Starting a third war with Iran will not be rewarded by the voters nor appreciated by an overstretched military that can't really handle the current missions of Iraq, Afghanistan, and handling domestic disasters like Katrina. In fact it is quite clearly a military disaster waiting to happen. And of course, because "terror" is an abstract noun, Iran will be conflated with "terror" just as "Iraq" was previously.

This is specifically why the Founders charged Congress with the duty and the power of declarations of war and forbade it to the President because they did want an adventurous militaristic "King" but rather a "President" who would only go to war reluctantly as the commander but not as the initiator.

Much like the Nazi dentist in "Marathon Man", asking "Is it safe?" while torturing Dustin Hoffman - Bush thinks if we torture people and attack them that somehow we can be safe.

The truth is that no one can ever truly be entirely "safe" - The Supreme Court famously once rule that "safe is not the equivalent of risk free." We will never be entirely free of risks - let's face it we all are going to die someday - nobody leaves here alive (not counting RaptureWingNuts..)

We can't be safe but we CAN be free if we recognize that we can't be safe and focus on being FREE instead. That's what the Founding Fathers knew and understood.

Let's face it - we are already much safer than our ancestors. The Founders had a very small military and were surrounded by Indians and the English in the West and North and Spainards and Indians in the South. Their entire coastline was exposed to attack from the any number of European powers with substantial navies. Yet they somehow managed to have the courage to make us free where our superpower President wants to take away our freedom in order to "protect" us.

We are the pre-eminent military and economic power on the planet. There has not been such an asymmetry of power since the Roman Empire. We are a nuclear superpower and a conventional one. We spend more than the next 27 countries on defense and intelligence and yet somehow we can't manage to be safe?

Someone needs to explain that one to me...

Someone needs to explain to me how the current situation is worse than:

1) The Civil War - 9/11 wouldn't even count as the 20th largest battle of the Civil War. 2% of the population died in it and many cities were destroyed. Yet somehow the Constitution managed to survive relatively unscathed.

2) World War II - At the outset of World War II, our Army wasn't even the 10th largest in the world and the enemies weren't pretend - they were real and had larger militaries than our own. We had no nuclear weapons and were in a desperate race to acquire them with a technologically superior Germany. About 291,000 Americans were killed in battle about 100 times the number who died on 9/11.

3) The Great Influenza - Killed over a half million Americans in 1919 and 24 million around the world. This is the closest thing in modern times to the Black Plagues that struck Europe in the Middle Ages.

4) World War I - Happened just before the Great Influenza and killed only 116,000 Americans by comparison. Yet this was still 40 times as many as died on 9/11.

5) The Great Depression - a world wide economic collapse that left 1/3 of Americans unemployed and financially ruined. In other countries such as Germany it lead to democracy being replaced by dictatorship.

6) The Cold War - while our country at the zenith of its military power during this period, we remained in a nuclear arms race for over 40 years with the Soviets and for most of that period remained 45 minutes (or less) from total nuclear annihilation. If we managed to expand our rights and freedoms dramatically under such a threat then why are we so willing to give it back for a rag-tag bunch like al Qaeda? They clearly are NOT the Soviets.

7) The Cuban Missile Crisis - Happened during the Cold War but was actually the closest we ever got to total annihilation yet we didn't become a dictatorship in response to it.

In short Bush and Company are selling Americans short on courage and cheapening our history.

In reality our biggest threats are of our own making: We eat too much, we eat poorly, we exercise too little, we smoke, we drink too much, we drink and drive, we drive wrecklessly, we kill each other with guns - we kill ourselves through poor lifestyle choices far more than anything al Qaeda did on 9/11. The top causes of death in this country are heart disease, stroke, and cancer followed closely by automobile accidents and gun deaths. Terrorism isn't even in the top 25 causes of death.

Let's get some perspective and stop being such cowards.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[JeffR]

12. Bravo!

Nice overview!

:toast:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. One of the Busheviks' greatest advantages is that

so many Americans don't know history, most likely because it was taught by the football coach, who sat reading Sports Illustrated while the students filled out boring worksheets, after which they pulled out their own magazines and read them. (Okay, my high school history class wasn't that bad, but my ninth grade civics class was!)

I called bullshit on the War on Terror the moment it was declared. I wish the Dems hadn't been such scared little sheep and had gone on every TV station and done the same.

[civildisoBDence]

15. Haven't you heard? They've combined the wars on poverty and drugs

Now it's one they can win: The War on Poor People Who Use Drugs.

Even our own spy agencies are now saying the invasion of Iraq has created more terrorists. All our brothers and sisters who have died or been maimed there did so for less than nothing.

Iraq is an unjust, unwinnable, unnecessary war. Thanks, all you stupid, cold-hearted BSers.

Newsprism

[NanceGreggs]

16. Hey, Doug D!

This is REALLY A GOOD PIECE!

May I suggest you re-post it as its own thread? "War on an Abstract Noun" is a brilliant title!

:toast:

[ddeclue]

23. Done - thanks! n/t

[ninkasi]

30. Excellent observations

given as a response to an excellent post. I am constantly discovering what talented people are members of DU, and those DUers keep me from feeling hopeless. As long as there are people like Nancy, and ddeclue, along with so many others, I will feel hope, and I will certainly not be afraid.
Thank you, all of you, who keep so many of us strong.

[DinahMoeHum]

14. "The War Against Terror"

acronym TWAT.

:evilgrin:

[unpossibles]

17. K & R! Great piece

sadly, I have a feeling that those who need to read it the most, will be the last to do so, and even slower to understand it.

Keep up the good work!

[Demeter]

19. I Want a Smarter, Nicer, Constitutional President!

also a pony. Okay, I'll forgo the pony.

[fuzzyball]

29. I will drink to that....

and I want a Vespa scooter instead of a pony

:toast:

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

20. K/R... You're on fire, Nancy!!

[livingonearth]

21. I am laughing my ass off here.

Wow, you are all making me laugh so hard...'milking a dead cow','praying for the Rapture, so once they’re all in heaven, they can discuss the fact that he would have done what he’d promised', 'war on an abstract noun', 'TWAT'. It's starting to hurt, but I love it.

[PigeonPoop]

22. I Wish

As usual, I am in total agreement with Nancy Greggs. Except one item.

I do not believe the democrats will win back the house or senate this November. I believe the retardicans will, again cheat to keep themselves in power.
Even if by some miracle, the spineless Dem's do win, nothing will change. There will be no impeachment, no war crime hearing, continued 'do-nothing' congress, as per usual.

Call me a pessimist, if you will, Dem's are the eunuchs of the repuglican party. This has been asserted, as recently as last week, by Pelosi deriding Hugo Chavez, who is 100 times the President that gwb is, over his remarks at the UN.
The fact that Kerry NEVER disputed the electing results.
The fact electronic voting machines are still in use.
Torture is perfectly acceptable.
People in Iraq are still dying, despite all evidence disputing EVERY REASON given for being there.
I could go on and on, but, I am certain everyone here knows what I am talking about.


I hope I'm wrong, I really do.

[GeorgeGist]

24. In the war OF terrorism...

all terrorists are winning; even the GOP.

[savemefromdumbya]

27. They are on a completely different wavelength

or maybe it's the way they have been brought up?

[Demeter]

35. We Called Them "Sheeple" For A Reason

All this symbolism of people of faith being sheep, with Christ as their shepherd, is so ground into the conforming minds, that thinking for themselves is impossible.

I heard on NPR today how Latinas are converting to Islam, because they don't get any respect, in this land of freedom (so-called). They feel betrayed by feminism and Western religion, so put themselves into a foreign culture to be "put up on a pedestal", giving up their hard-earned freedoms to be segregated and "protected" from men and the culture. That's a lousy reason to sell one's birthright, and the blood, sweat and tears of 200 years' of women's efforts. If there were a future in it, that would be one thing, but retreating into someone else's fantasy is not a risk-free plan. I think this is where the unions and public schools we used to enjoy are desperately needed.

[fuzzyball]

28. WOT will end the same way it did in India.....

You will have to take the trouble to read history of
India from the 8th century through the 17th century
to understand how the terror started and how it ended.
I possibly could not list it all here.

[The Wizard]

31. Nance, you identified the reason.

Repubes are suffering from thought disorders compounded by loose associations. They have faith in George W. Christ. Thus, W's shoveling money into faith based government as prohibited by the Church/State wall as defined in the First Amendment is mind numbing to those in the reality based Universe.
The Repubes are a cult, nothing more and nothing less. Maybe they'll follow in the footsteps of the People's Temple or Heaven's Gate if civilization gets lucky. And that includes disowned relatives and former friends. Then there's the hope they can be cured by some products of the Fleet company.
How many rigged elections will it take for millions of angry citizens to get out in the streets and demand paper ballots, blue thumbs, transparent ballot collection boxes and a public accounting of those ballots? Maybe some election officials taking polygraphs might work. A fortunate lightning strike is also a possibility. It's time for a major effort to get local officials to declare an end to electronic voting and a return to free and fair elections on paper. If it's good enough for Iraq, it's good enough for us.
But who knows if the Democrats haven't figured out how to hack the machines and make Mississippi and Idaho blue.

[pwb]

32. democrats declare war on fear

declare to never elect cowardly little eggheads with little boy haircuts to represent them.

[kentuck]

33. BS = Bush Supporters

I like that! :)

[nealmhughes]

36. My friend Joe was busy the last 6 months preparing for his Ph.D. comps

and would not let me bring up a word of politics. Now he is working on his dissertation and meeting a lot of outside scholars, librarians, archivists, over lunch, coffee, etc. and told me he has begun to read the Guardian and listening to Amy Goodman on the radio. He said the tripping point for him was a report on electoral fraud and then immediately following the fact that deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan were approaching par to those on 11 September 2001 in NYC, Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon.

He has suddenly "found time" to analyze what is going on and doesn't like it. I told him it was never too early to join the train... It really bugs him that Kristol and Cohen have Ph.D.s but are too lazy to teach, he feels it is an abuse of the system to have put all that effort into their degrees and then use them as apologists for a "Louis Quatorze sort of debacle, that is really about to turn into a Louis Quinze debacle followed by the inevitable Louis Capet on the scaffold....in an amazingly short period of time."

I only smiled, but it was over the phone, so he couldn't see...

[jslsingleton]

37. The clever cure for "too damned stupid"

Nancy, you wrapped up with:

As for the BSers, while I don’t ignore their potential impact in November, I take comfort in the fact that most of them are just too damned stupid to find their way to the polls.

Alas, there's no comfort to be found in that.

The Republicans make sure their BSers are provided with absentee ballots to just mail in.

-- Raven. Say NO to Torture! Prosecute War Crimes!

[NanceGreggs]

38. Same dif ...

... too stupid to find a mailbox, and probably need a tutor to teach them how to affix a stamp to an envelope.

[PurityOfEssence]

40. The big question: why do you hate yourself?

Yes, you heard it here first.

If you're not a fundamentalist christian or a multi-millionaire, the Republicans are your sworn enemies. Even that's an overstatement; they're not going to help the fundamentalists unless it's for momentary tactical advantage.

That's the question that needs to be asked: why do you have such an inferiority complex that you suck up to the powerful out of a deluded hope that someday they'll let you be part of the club? It's beyond silly when you think of it; the whole point of cliques is to be exclusive and keep other people out.

The vaunted protestant work ethic plays into this beautifully, since the grovelling hope of having the big daddy finally approve of one will allow one to debase oneself in unbelievable ways.

To be a proper fundamentalist christian--or fundamentalist in many other religions--requires one to deeply hate one's base and animalistic nature. Hoping, praying, forcing oneself through denial of all fun and literally hurting oneself through fasts, flagellation and enduring boring church services are all expressions of self-hate, as if the big superthing will finally give one the acceptance and love that's been denied all this time.

To be a proper fundy, one has to hate one's very nature. It's beyond masochism, it's self-destruction writ large.

[Imagevision]

42. Saudis to boost oil production before election in effort to help Bush

NOTE: They did it once and now they're doing it again...
A top Saudi official has assured President Bush that his country will increase oil production to lower gas prices before November to help the president's re-election prospects, according to a broadcast report Sunday.

Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, discussing his new book on the run-up to the Iraq war on CBS' '60 Minutes,' said Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States and a long-time friend of the Bush family, has given the pledge that "certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."

http://money.cnn.com/2004/04/19/news/international/election_saudi/