NOTE: this blog is no longer active as of 12/07. New one: http://blog.kirchhof.com
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur.
Fri, 29 Oct 2004
Kerry And Iraq
If you are a supporter of the invasion of Iraq -- and, yes, there
are thoughtful people of this opinion -- then I strongly suggest that
you read Bradford
Plumer's article on why Kerry is the better choice at this place
and time. Kevin
Drum does a nice Cliff Notes summary of this excellent and
dispassionate article:
Plumer acknowledges up front that (a) Iraq is a mess and there
aren't very many good options left at this point, and (b) Kerry is
highly unlikely to have much success at "internationalizing" the
occupation. I agree on both points. Starting from that realistic
assessment, though, he argues that Kerry has several modest but
important advantages over Bush that could make all the difference
between success and failure in Iraq:
First and foremost, he's almost certain to be more
competent than Bush, who is unwilling to hold people to account or fire
them for incompetence. Kerry's advisors, people like Richard Holbrooke,
are fundamentally more grounded than Bush's in facts rather than
ideology.
Kerry has a better understanding than Bush of how to
deal with the Iraq's various ethnic and political factions. "You can't
impose [democracy] on people. You have to bring them to it. You have to
invite them to it. You have to nurture the process." It's a lower key
approach, but it's more likely to lead to genuine democracy than Bush's.
Although internationalizing the occupation itself is
probably a nonstarter, Kerry can make considerable progress by
internationalizing the reconstruction in ways that Bush is
unwilling to consider. And if there's any chance at all of getting
foreign troops into Iraq, it's going to take UN auspices to do it.
Kerry is far more likely to get this than Bush.
The Bush administration has been obsessed with
economic privatization to the exclusion of practical, short-term job
creation strategies. Military commanders, by contrast, understand the
necessity of simply creating jobs as quickly as possible. Kerry will
listen to them.
Both Iran and the Kurdish north are problems that
Bush has almost completely ignored. These are both painfully difficult
situations to deal with, but Kerry's willingness to try diplomacy holds
out at least a hope of making progress on these fronts.
I do disagree with both on one point. I think that Kerry will have
much more success than the current punditry zeitgeist seems to expect
in internationalizing the effort. For two reasons. One, there is a lot
of money to be made, and an enormous amount of trade in the future in
building infrastructure and restoring the Iraqi consumer society. The
world sees this clearly. And two, most of the world is eager to show
their solidarity with the American People once we depose King George
II and regain our sanity. I think that we'll be viewed as a good
friend who went through a serious crisis and lost their head, like
your buddy who went on a week-long bender after his Dad died.
Nations are, in the final run, a lot like people. Madness comes and
goes. If this nation has the horse sense to evict the current occupant
of the White House, I think that the wonkery mongers will be surprised
at the depth of the well of goodwill that still exists out there. We
are not alone in this world. But that goodwill is now flatly denied
our country -- and would continue to be -- with Little Caesar at the
helm.
I strongly urge my hawkish and/or conservative friends to set aside
their cement ideology, turn off Rush and Fox, and to think -- really
think -- about the good of their nation in the next four days. If you
examine the whole of the quilt, rather than pieces of the patchwork, I
believe that you may well join me in voting to change our national
leadership.
It's been a hell of a bender. Time to clean up.
Posted at 10:13 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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More On Voter Supression
Over at New Donkey, there's a good article. Here are some excerpts:
The latest political news from Ohio is important and instructive. A
federal judge in Columbus blocked Republican efforts to force county
election boards to review tens of thousands of new voter
registrations. Before the ink was dry on the judge's order, the Ohio
GOP's top lawyer said the action meant the GOP would challenge such
voters at the polls on November 2. "We wanted to have all these
questions resolved this week," said attorney Mark Weaver. "Now they
won't be resolved until Tuesday, when all of these people are trying
to vote. It can't help but create chaos, longer lines and
frustration."
In other words, the GOP is using the demise of one prong of its voter
supression strategy to pre-justify the other. And I wouldn't be
surprised if that's exactly the way they planned it. Now they can can
get their "volunteers" out to "create chaos, longer lines and
frustration" in minority polling places and sadly say that an
"activist judge" who didn't care about voter fraud left them no
choice. It's going to get worse, too: mark my words, when Democrats,
civil rights attorneys, and voters themselves get visibly angry about
this gambit, the GOPers will start whining about "potential violence"
at the polls, and even pretend their goons are being intimidated and
harassed. If nothing else, it will give them an excuse to go to court
to contest Ohio's outcome if the state goes for Kerry.
[...]
He goes on to analyze classic Rove techniques. Very informative, and worth a read. Also worth your attention: this, and a good piece over at Tapped.
Got your cameras ready, brethren and sistren?
Oh, yeah, earlier today yesterday I said below
that the GOP was deploying 3400 "poll watchers" in Ohio. That is
incorrect. They're deploying 8000 in Ohio, and paying them $100.00
each.
Posted at 09:02 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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Whatever It Takes
From Salon,
we learn that the new Bush/Cheney ad is a collection of photoshop-esque
fakery. Here's a frame, with the telling areas highlighted:
The ad title?
"Whatever It Takes."
Posted at 01:29 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink]
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