AS,
Our little tête à tête here is a perfect ringer for the conversation that occurred this week on "Left, Right and Center".
kcrw.com
Your position is most akin to that of the host, Matt Miller, and my position is exactly that of Robert Scheer.
My passion is that the U.S. has lost all credibility in the world. The scoundrels in the White House are devoid of integrity.
Miller believes this on domestic issues, but incongruously expresses gratitude that Saddam Hussein has been removed and not much regret that Bush had to lie us into the war. Miller is a centrist, and apparently so are you. But the trouble I have with adopting the sort of centrist views I hear being expressed is that there is a profound moral ambivalence that I find extremely corrosive to civil society. There is such a thing as right and wrong. The way I see it, Hussein was wrong, Bush was wrong and two wrongs do appear to make the Right. But not a decent society.
Of course David Frum, the representative of the Right has plenty of imitators on this thread. I absolutely marvel at the man's ability to so consistently lie about nearly everything. But, that's the Right for you... <g>
I note your pragmatism, and find it understandable, but not commendable. It strikes me it is more Republican-lite than I can be comfortable with. My calculus is that there is a large segment of the public who voted against Al Gore in 2000 because they were convinced that Clinton was a slimy liar. I believe these people can be convinced that Bush is even more of a liar and dishonorable man than Clinton ever dreamed of being. Attacking Bush is a winning strategy, IMO.
Being mealy-mouthed and hedging his bets will not do Mr. Kerry the good he hopes. Of course, using surrogates is a wonderful and time honored practice. However Mr. Kerry does it, teaching the American electorate about the criminal nature of the Bush Administration ought to be the goal.
Ciao! |
