Bush to Kim: Thank You!
by Tom Engelhardt
Just when it couldn't get worse.
The one thing the Bush administration and the Republicans have
excelled in these past years is conquering the media heights -- air,
print,
and face time -- when it was crucial. In the last two weeks, with Iraq in
near meltdown, American casualties soaring (32 dead in the first 9 days of
October and figures on the wounded going sky-high), Iraqi police poisoned
by
the hundreds, assassinations the norm, and ****ites as well as Sunnis
fighting with the U.S. military, the Foley scandal suddenly succeeded in
sucking all the air out of the media environment. The President and Vice
President continued to travel the country doing their normal dirt, but it
was as if they had been silenced.
In the meantime, the Bush Bump in the polls, which barely lasted out
September, looks to be turning back into a Bush freefall. (The newest
Newsweek poll has presidential approval back at a dismal 33%.) In fact, as
the mid-term elections approach, all poll figures are trending Democratic.
For the first time in what seems decades, Americans find the Democrats
more
"trustworthy" than Republicans on everything, even "moral values" and
"defense against terrorism" (so both the latest Wa****ngton Post poll and
the
Newsweek one tell us).
So just when the President and his Party seem sunk, who rides to the
rescue? Kim Jong Il. Okay, okay, the Democrats are going to argue that a
North Korean nuclear test is but more evidence that Bush's policies were a
hopeless caricature of a catastrophe. But that may not matter. It's just
the
sort of argument that generally goes on the inside pages for the news (and
political) junkies. What may matter most is that, for the first time in
ten
days, the Foley scandal is, however briefly, off the front pages and the
President is front page and center being "presidential." The New York
Times
lead headline is: "Bush Rebukes North Korea." The Wa****ngton Post: "U.S.
Urges Sanctions on North Korea."
Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza put it this way in the Post: "GOP
officials are urging [Republican] lawmakers to focus exclusively on local
issues and leave it to party leaders to mitigate the Foley controversy by
accusing Democrats of trying to politicize it. At the same time, the White
House plans to amplify national security issues, especially the threat of
terrorism, after North Korea's re****ted nuclear test, in hopes of ****fting
the debate away from casualties and controversy during the final month of
the campaign."
Strange isn't it how the Evil Ones have a way of riding to the
rescue
of the Bush administration. It's worth remembering that George W. Bush's
presidency was langui****ng and he was under attack by worried members of
his
own party on September 10, 2001. And have we all forgotten the way Osama
bin
Laden providentially video just on the eve of the 2004 presidential
election, providing Bush with a poster-boy-of-terror moment. Now, the
unlovely Kim has exploded his mini-nuke. Maybe it won't prove "just in
time," but you can't blame the Axis of Evil One for giving it the old
Pyongyang U. try.
Copyright © 2006 The Nation
###
|
