Kos On Iran

[NATO AIR]

Oh shit. Seriously, this guy is the most popular, influential force in Democratic politics? That represents a good 40-50% of the country on a given day?

I mean, there were serious issues with the Bush Administration's handling of both the runup to the war and then the aftermath of the war. A lot of needless deception, a lot of bad conduct. A lot of just total ineptness. But does that excuse this?

Jesus, they really are on the other side.

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_01_08_atrios_archive.html#113726243140279477

How It Goes


Winter/Spring - The clone army of foreign policy "experts" from conservative foreign policy outfits nobody ever heard of before suddenly appear on all the cable news programs all the time, frowning furiously and expressing concerns about the "grave threat" that Iran poses. Never before heard of Iranian exile group members start appearing regularly, talking about their role in the nuclear program and talking up Iran's human rights violations.

Spring/Summer - "Liberal hawks" point out that all serious people understand the serious threat posed by serious Iran, and while they acknowledge grudgingly that the Bush administration has fucked up everything it touches, they stress, and I mean stress, that we really must support the Bush administration's serious efforts to deal with the serious problem and that criticisms of such serious approaches to a serious problem are highly irresponsible and come only from irrational very unserious Bush haters who would rather live in Iran than the U.S.

Late Summer - Rumsfeld denies having an Iran war plan "on his desk." He refuses to answer if he has one "in his file cabinet." Andy Card explains that you don't roll out new product until after labor day.

Early Fall - Bush suddenly demands Congress give him the authority to attack Iran to ensure they "disarm." Some Democrats have the temerity to ask "with what army?" Marshall Wittman and Peter Beinart explain that courageous Democrats will have the courageous courage to be serious and to confront the "grave threat" with seriousness and vote to send other peoples' kids off to war, otherwise they'll be seen as highly unserious on national security. Neither enlists.

Late October - Despite the fact that all but 30 Democrats vote for the resolution, Republicans run a national ad campaign telling voters that Democrats are objectively pro-Ahmadinejad. Glenn Reynolds muses, sadly, that Democrats aren't just anti-war, but "on the other side." Nick Kristof writes that liberals must support the war due to Ahmadinejad's opposition to gay rights in Iran.

Election Day - Democrats lose 5 seats in the Senate, 30 in the House. Marshall Wittman blames it on the "pro-Iranian caucus."

The Day After Election Day - Miraculously we never hear another word about the grave Iranian threat. Peter Beinart writes a book about how serious Democrats must support the liberation of Venezuela and Bolivia.

-Atrios 12:57 PM

 

[rtwngAvngr]

Yes. They are. America is the evil empire that must be stopped. This is what higher education teaches them. I don't know if I'll send my kids to college unless this changes.

 

[theim]

Yes. They are. America is the evil empire that must be stopped. This is what higher education teaches them. I don't know if I'll send my kids to college unless this changes.

Just teach them about the BS and how to sheild against it whilst keeping a low profile. I survived college in the People's Republic, anyone can.

 

[Avatar4321]

Does the fact that Iran may have nuclear weapons soon worry anyone else? It sure as heck worries me. Despite the obvious threat they would pose I am almost amazed at the liberal response.

All during the lead up to the Iraq invasion the liberals were going on about how we should be focusing on Iran since they were the real threat. Now that we are focused on Iran, there are liberals screaming that Iran isn't a threat. In fact that they need nuclear weapons.

Holy crap has the world gone mad?

 

[trobinett]

Avatar asks the question:

Holy crap has the world gone mad?

Not totally, but there are times........