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Collective loss of memory about how the war against Iraq was engineered ? That is the thought that comes to mind as the Republican contenders rant about specter of terrorists, rogue nations, and nuclear bombs. Bloviating, strutting like pouter pigeons. Remember "Bring them on"? The vice president, who took four deferments (or was it five) during the Vietnam war, never stopped talking about the threats. That has become his raison d'erte. October 29th issue of The New Yorker has a great cover by Richard McGuire.

Happy Halloween
Richard McGuire ©The New Yorker, October 29, 2007

President Bush got us into Iraq by successfully spreading fear. Republican candidates hope to milk that cow again in 2008.

Paul Krugman in The NY Times:
  • In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration adopted fear-mongering as a political strategy. Instead of treating the attack as what it was — an atrocity committed by a fundamentally weak, though ruthless adversary — the administration portrayed America as a nation under threat from every direction.
  • Most Americans have now regained their balance. But the Republican base, which lapped up the administration’s rhetoric about the axis of evil and the war on terror, remains infected by the fear the Bushies stirred up — perhaps because fear of terrorists maps so easily into the base’s older fears, including fear of dark-skinned people in general.
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We are aware of the price being paid for our folly. And yet, except for Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, Republicans vying for nomination are pro-war copy cats. They like the war in Iraq and they stand ready to start another.

Democratic front-runners are united in condemning the war. Senator Hillary Clinton, however, had voted in 2002 in support of the Iraq war resolution. Her attempts to justify her action are unconvincing.