Today in NYT: Two Tied-in News Stories

1) “In Campaign Ads for Democrats, Bush Is the Star” 2) “Iraq Stumbling in Bid to Purge Its Rogue Police” Quote from Article No. 1: “Democrats said using advertisements involving Mr. Bush was almost an obvious thing to do, given his lack of popularity, and reflects the effort by many in the party to turn this election into a national referendum on Mr. Bush. At a minimum, millions are being spent by the Democrats on ads featuring Mr. Bush.” However, the NYT says, “The strategy has risks…Glen Bolger, a Republican pollster, said that the constant attacks on Mr. Bush appeared to be accomplishing something Republicans had been unable to do: riling up Republican base voters.” RNC Chairman, Ken Mehlman, using his patented rebuttal technique of fast-talking in hopes that no one notices his errors, said that the Republicans’ own experience in politics suggested that running against someone who is not on the ballot is challenging. “The last time this kind of morph ad was tried was in ’98.” Mehlman said, “when we tried to nationalize the races against Clinton and it didn’t work.” It almost seems unnecessary to point out that the GOP plan to mobilize the election against Clinton in 1998 didn’t work because Clinton was an intelligent, informed and likeable president. And he had not lied the nation into war Quote from Article No. 2: “The ministry (headed by Iraq Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki) recently discovered that more than 1,200 policemen and other employees had been convicted years ago of murder, rape and other violent crimes, said a Western diplomat who has close contact with the ministry. Some were even on death row. Few have been fired. “A senior American commander said that of the 27 paramilitary police battalions, ‘we think 5 or 6 battalions probably have leaders that have led that part of the organization in a way that is either criminal or sectarian or both.’” The article went on to state. “death squads in uniforms could be responsible for the recent surge in sectarian violence, with at least 165 bodies found across Baghdad since Wednesday.” This is the “freedom and democracy” that the Bush administration decided to sell as the reason for starting the war in Iraq when Saddam having WMD’s was proven false. The news coming out of Iraq is so bad that the Bush Administration has switched from using the Iraq war as a selling point in the upcoming elections to using terrorism as a selling point. And it is clear that this switch to terrorism has included terrorizing Americans by secretly wiretapping us and by using fear as a political ploy. The “Republican base voters” that Glen Bolger refers to are the knee-jerk neocons and lock-step born-agains who applaud with equal vigor when the Prez says he wants Osama bin Laden “dead or alive”, and when he says, “I truly am not that concerned about him (Osama bin Laden)”. This base is shrinking daily. Of course the Dems are using Bush in their campaign ads. When the idiot says things like "as long as I am president, we're not leaving Iraq" (August 21 press briefing) it would be a ridiculous loss of opportunity not to use Bush against the Republicans. But Bush is doing his level best to bring down the Republican Party himself, as we can see from the news coming out of Iraq and the White House campaign to allow all nations to torture war captives. Which, of course, would enable all nations to torture captured American soldiers. This morning, on George Steph’s This Week show on ABC, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said that one reason he is against the Bush administration’s plan to rewrite the Geneva Convention rules is that it would mean the US “will lose the high ground” as regards the esteem the US is held in around the world for its moral and ethical standards. And that’s the problem with John McCain as a wanna-be president. He actually believes that the US has the high ground. WE DO NOT HAVE THE HIGH GROUND. When George W. Bush became President in 2000 and ushered in a regime of fascists, the US lost the high ground. And it will be a very long time, maybe forever, until we get it back. One thing is for dead certain. John McCain would not give the high ground back to the United States. He’s a smiling, soft-spoken, man who appears reasonable and likeable. Unfortunately, John McCain is a neocon warmonger who agrees with the Bush administration on almost all issues that negatively affect Americans.