U.S. Said to Seek Execution for 6 in Sept. 11 Case

(Read about judicial horror story in today’s New York Times.)

Over the last few weeks I have become rather deflated. The ascendancy of McCain has not been a surprise, though the speed with which both George Bush And Karl Rove have flocked to his side is.

I’m sure they have an understanding. A McCain presidency would be too busy dragging us into a pre-emptive world war (with the wrong countries, no doubt) to worry about bringing any of the multitude of Bush administration crimes to justice. (Which is what the Republican leadership fears most from a victory by Sen. Clinton.)

Whoever the Dems nominate are likely to face an increasingly chaotic picture in the middle-east and Persia. I would not be surprised if the current administration exploits the speedboat incident in the Gulf of Hormuz to launch a “retaliatory” strike against Iran, timed to best suit the presidential campaign season. Should Sen. Obama be the Democratic favorite this “incident” and the bolstering of Sen. McCain as a great military leader (even though he was captured) will serve to rapidly erase Sen. Obama’s lead down to Mike Dukakis territory.

For the Bushes, and their wing of the Republican party (see war profiteers) there is no such thing as foreign policy, only foreign actions that can be used to political effect at home. We saw this clearly in 2002 when the administration dropped the Use of Force Authorization on Congress just days before the 2002 election).

For the Bushes, the making of war is not a foreign policy decision, but an economic one. It is a means of draining the treasury to reward cronies, while stimulating the economy through war spending in order to disguise the extent of the theft.

Any Democrat who thinks 2008 is going to be about bread and butter issues is kidding themselves. The GOP is going to ensure that National Security is on all the front pages – it’s the only thing they have. Remember Bush’s 2004 slogan? “Steady leadership in a time of change” ?

For the past few years, I have hoped that we would finally begin to uproot this cancer at the heart of our political system, the banana Republicans who thrive on corruption, patronage and demagoguery – the Republicans who wage war – not because they have any clear idea of what they want to achieve – but because their base likes the idea of torturing and killing heathens and there’s money to be made, too!

In the immortal words of former RNC head Ken Mehlman, “Anything worth doing is worth doing for profit”.

Have the Democrats even thought about a counter strategy to this tactic?

I thought not.

 

To see where a candidate stands on an issue, visit Issue 2008