"Maureen Dowd and Bagdad Bob"
Posted by Paul Walfield
Throwing chum on the water while fishing is a way of attracting something you want. You toss all kinds of things that you figure are yummy to your target and if it brings them in, you use it over and over again. Sometimes you have to change the bait, till you find the right stuff. Sometimes the stuff you used to use successfully in the past stops working and you need to try something new.
The left is running out of stuff and the Democrats and liberal pundits are starting to stink from the leftover chum.
Take a look at Maureen Dowd of the New York Times as an example of a liberal pundit, journalist, and spokesperson for the left. In an April 9 column for the Times entitled, ''Dances with Wolfowitz,'' Ms. Dowd wants everyone to see the ''neo-cons'' as warmongers, yet she explains that the win in Iraq is a ''truly historic event.'' She wants everyone to see Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (who agrees with his boss like a good employee) as not only pulling the strings in the Defense Department, but as "Wolfowitz of Arabia" enjoying blood and killing. While at the same time she quotes Mr. Wolfowitz as saying just the opposite and not calling for military action. She wrote: ''Mr. Wolfowitz, however, played the diplomat on Sunday, gliding past Tim Russert's probing on whether the neo-cons' dreams of other campaigns in Syria, Iran, and North Korea would come true. Pressed, he said: 'There's got to be change in Syria as well.' ''
Where else but in the liberal's hate-filled mind do the employees make strategy? Where else but in the contemptible machinations of the left do underlings control their bosses actions, deeds, determinations, and policy?
For the liberals, and for Maureen, the war in Iraq is not one of liberation, it is not a war to end Saddam's weapons of mass destruction, and it is not a war to keep America safe. Rather, it is a strengthening of the Republican Party; it is a source of pride and a surge in patriotism for Americans. It is the dreaded nightmare of all liberals. It is America not just maintaining its superpower status, but it is its increase.
For the liberals, it's damage control time and they will use any chum--any sound bite--that attracts.
Maureen's April 14, 2003, contribution to the New York Times, ''The Hootie Doctrine,'' explains that how a president of the United States plays golf is a window into his real character, even more so than his actions as president. According to Maureen, her friend wrote a book about it, so it must be true.
Maureen claims that President Bush is a chauvinist. Bush is, in fact, causing the surge in patriotism, nationalism, and pride in being an American. That is deplorable to a multi-culturist, and to leftists who believe in the U.N. as the world government and final arbiter to what is best for America. Howard Taft was the ''fattest presidential golfer,'' and President Bush reveals his true feelings about women by telling his father, George Sr., ''Don't trip on your skirt as you hit the next one, Betsy!'' For Maureen, anything is fair game that can be used to demean and to belittle the Republican that they see as enemy number one. For the left, using invective, stereotypes, and worse is OK. Leftist believe that you are not to do as they do, just
as they say.
The New York Times used scare tactics to sway Americans into believing a war in Iraq would unleash untold horrors on the people of the United States. After the war started, the Times declared that the war plan was in shambles, and our military was facing defeat at the hands of the mighty Iraqis. When it became apparent that America had won handily, and without genocidal results, America is portrayed by the left as ''imposing'' democracy, an ''occupying'' force, or once again facing a ''quagmire.'' For the left, no amount of negatives is too many. No reality cannot be overcome by the use of sound bites and slogans. The left simply has no shame, and is so hell bent on regaining power, nothing that can be said, no matter how absurd, which is not used.
We were all amused by the Iraqi minister of information, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf, aka "Baghdad Bob" when he would give his daily briefings. Even with thick black smoke rising behind him, Baghdad Bob would declare ''There are no American infidels in Baghdad, never.'' And then there was his statement in case anyone noticed American tanks heading toward the center of Baghdad: ''They're coming to surrender or be burned in their tanks.'' There was the priceless report: ''We have them surrounded in their tanks.''
Finally, there is the statement by the Iraqi minister that summed up the silliness of it all: "Lying is forbidden in Iraq. President Saddam Hussein will tolerate nothing but truthfulness as he is a man of great honor and integrity. Everyone is encouraged to speak freely of the truths evidenced in their eyes and hearts." And the topper by the Iraqi: ''We are in control. They are in a state of hysteria. Losers, they think that by killing civilians and trying to distort the feelings of the people they will win. I think they will not win, those bastards.''
In other words, he wants everyone not to pay any attention to the tanks and A-10's flying overhead; the evil American and British imperialists have been defeated. In other words, the left, Maureen Dowd, and the Iraqi information minister, ''Baghdad Bob,'' have a lot in common.
---------------------------------------------------------------------Paul Walfield is a freelance writer and California attorney. He can be contacted at paul.walfield@cox.net
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