Reply #11: Joseph at Cannonfire

[whometense]

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/02/of-leaks-and-ports-and-national.html

Most of you already get this, but this issue with Dubai Ports World is just more evidence of how little the Bush administration really cares about national security and their dirty little war on terror (cf., Kerry made secured ports a campaign issue), except as propaganda sound-bites. The Bush/Rove focus is on PR, creating an image, manipulating opinions of US citizens (well, everyone, really), propaganda, all directed toward getting and staying in power. If a piece of information could conceivably help their image or agenda in some way, they will not hesitate to use it however they see fit. The most heinous case in point is of course the exposure of a counterspy in Pakistan during the 2004 Presidential election campaign in order to prove to the world (of voters) that they were actually DOING something to protect us.

And this one as well:

I think it's possible for Dems to eschew their natural tendency toward self-flagellation without lapsing into conservative bombast and arrogance. A middle ground does exist; a healthy soul learns how to question himself without attacking himself.

And that's why, if the party fails to recapture one or both Houses in 2006, I will not blame Kerry or Gore or Dean or any of the others on Milbank's "precriminalization" list. I will recognise whatever faults our spokesmen may have, but I will not fixate on those failings. If we lose, I will blame the brainwashed Jesusmaniacs. I will blame the conservative media machine. I will blame digitized vote-burglars. I will blame the long-predicted staged "terrorist" strike on our soil.