Jay Tea of Wizbang decides to cover ass for his side, what with Bin Laden still on the loose and America still under the threat of terrorism thanks to the actions of one George W. Bush.
I can see that argument. There’s a part of me (the liberal, emotional, vindictive, touchy-feely part of me) even sympathizes with it. I want to see his ugly, bearded head on one of the spikes on the White House fence. But my intellect dismisses it as a non-issue.
Osama Bin Laden is not THE enemy. He is not who we declared war against. He is not the be-all and end-all of our foes, and even if he were to surrender today, that would not put an end to the struggle.
He did everything but write “Ignorance is strength”. Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network declared war on America and killed 3,000 people. Our nation is still under threat from Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, moreso now because our capacity to respond or prevent an Al Qaeda attack is severely hampered by the fact that our troops are “building democracy” and getting killed in Iraq every day.
But hey, I should be a conservative so I can pretend all that never happened and I can make sorry ass excuses for the ineptitude of a president and his apologists.
Osama is actually a really great guy. Not an enemy at all. In ten years, Jay Tea, producer for Fox, will be pitching the Osama Bin Laden Oliver North Hour. Jenna and Not Jenna will be their first guests.
Wait, so first they rail on Howard Dean about wanting evidence, now they’re saying he’s not the enemy?
I’m confused.
Jay Tea, you tell me not to worry about Bin Laden — have you forgotten?
They’re still playing Darryl Worley’s 2003 war justification on the country radio stations up here in Montana. Every time I hear it, it sounds more and more like he’s singing to the Bush Administration and its apologists, not the strawman war opponents Worley originally targeted.
nudnik, I don’t think anyone believes that. But for someone to just say that we shouldn’t even worry about bin Laden is just unconscionable.
It’s like if you were in the construction industry and you lost your boss’ air nailer. Then you say to him, “It’s not about the nail gun! We need to find the nails! Screw the $500 nail gun, we need to dig around in the dirt looking for the cheap nails!”
To say bin Laden is important, then later say he’s not important just because we can’t find him is reprehensible.
Do you really believe that if bin Laden was caught or killed tomorrow that terrorism would stop? That killing him would make the Islamofascist ideology simply stop? Its no wonder the left isn’t trusted on national security issues; you guys still have no clue what is going on.
No, but justice for the 3,000 killed on 9-11 would be a good start.
Instead of starting elective wars that serve as a recruiting tool for extremists, we could show that engaging in attacks on the U.S. leads to swift, certain consequences.
Right after 9-11, we heard all about it from the President and his supporters: dead or alive, smoke ‘em out, the people who knocked down these buildings will hear from us. Blah, blah, blah. We’ve heard all about how the Clinton administration didn’t do enough before the attack to stop bin Laden while the Bush administration has done nothing at all after.
If you seriously think that bin Laden is no longer a threat to U.Sl interests, nudnik, you’re the one who has no idea what’s going on.
Yet somehow, Saddam Hussein embodied all the qualities OBL didn’t?
What a world!
You guys are butchering this. Jay argues that OBL is merely part of the problem- not THE problem- and that we must face and fight the entire problem. He never says we should not worry about OBL, but rather we need to worry about the larger threat, of which OBL is one (large) part. Actually, he makes an excellent intellectual point – but maybe theres no interest in thinking about it rationally.
Dugger
In World War II, FDR and the Office of War Information took pains to remind Hollywood that, when it wrote it’s patriotic scripts, not to put too much individual emphasis on Hitler, Hirohito or Mussolini as the cause and reason for the war. The OWI wanted to emphasize that the fight was against Fascism and Imperialism, that is, an ideology, not a set of individuals. It was part and parcel of the larger message to the country that the war was going to be long and demand great sacrifice of the entire nation. The government did not want anyone to think that it would be as easy as taking out Hitler. As far as propaganda goes the approach makes sense.
What’s interesting about our current situation is that Bush, very early on, made it all about Osama Bin Laden. Then, when catching him proved difficult, his administration learned their lesson and shifted gears to emphasize the wider “war on terror.” What’s so ridiculous is they turned around and did the same thing with Hussein. Invading Iraq was all about regime change which meant only one thing in the rhetoric leading up the war: Sadaam Hussein was the key to everything. Catch Hussein and Iraqis would greet us with rose petals. Once again, the administration has had to learn the hard way that their own rhetoric is their worst enemy when it comes to American support for their endeavors. And they look like idiots having to change their tone to meet reality.
Jay Tea is an idiot and even in making a good point he does it to carry water for Bush as if the administration was always keeping the public’s eyes focussed on the big picture. Particularly in the case of Iraq, this administration engaged in its own cult of personality, propping up Hussein to sell it’s war. Then when it all went to shit they started back peddling. Ultimately, it all comes back to this administrations inability or unwillingness to ask average Americans to sacrifice their own blood and treasure to fight a long, difficult and highly complex conflict. The Bush administration needs its individualized bad guys to sell it’s fucked up, unrealistic policies.
[...] e bar, USA! And congratulations to Mark Noonan and Jon Kyl, inaugural members (along with Jay Tea of Wizbang) in the highly respected Tinkerbell Caucus. Offici [...]
Frameone,
Is that why you left Wizbang in favor of this echo chamber?
Frameone makes an excellent point and clearly understands his/her history. This incompetent administration is about moving the goalposts to the point where the game is no longer distinguishable.
Brandon, of course, is pretty funny. In that chickenhawk-way. Being a KISS groupie is probably much easier than signing up for actual military service.
I stopped posting at Wizbang because Paul had a nervous breakdown on me.