The Center Left Bites Back

The Morning Joe Rebuttal For December 1st, 2009


Observations:


1) The center left voted to go to Iraq. They voted that way in large part because previously trustable people Colin Powell, Condaleeza Rice, and Dick Cheney made strong points that there was an imminent threat. Leaving the results of that employed trust for another day, I think an attacked America felt a little relief that Dick Cheney was our Vice President in the time between September 11th, 2001 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. They voted that way in 2002, with independents helping shore up a Republican majority. They felt that our Buick Salesman in Chief George Bush was really an electable proxy for Dick Cheney to run the country. The center LEFT felt that way, and I was part of that.


The separation came on 3 fronts: Dick Cheney was discovered to have perpetrated a fraud to sell the war, Dick Cheney mismanaged the early Afghanistan campaign, and Dick Cheney mismanaged the aftermath of the Iraq invasion. At that point what you saw made you feel had: the enrichment of Halliburton while Americans were being killed due to administration failure, the further consolidation of power in the face of this failure by the person chiefly responsible for it, the continued presence of the missions chief target Osama Bin-Laden, and the creation of new enemies that indeed made the world a more dangerous place for Americans.


If Dick Cheney wants to write a book and defend his record, it’s a free country, but he should hurry, because with the passage of times lies get bigger, results get bigger, and denial becomes a worse and worse strategy. You could say that people on the left will always oppose anything the Bush administration did, but the country was fairly united in the aforementioned period, and the vitriol aimed at that group now is based mostly on a national sense of betrayal rather than party politics.


2) The center left felt fairly represented at the depth and complexity of debate concerning Afghanistan this morning. The use of three different experts, the recognition of 4 dimensions out of the available 5000, and the consensus that there is no silver bullet but a mission will unite the country on a path all seemed to be something a majority of Americans could rally upon.


Sometimes to rebut is to acknowledge, the Generals will get their surge, the ambassador has new power to effect leverage on the Karzai government, and the far left, while not getting a wind down, is getting a more resolute time line. What I would hope the show would measure in the coming days is the usefulness of the opposition reaction. It would be prudent for any populist to police third class political opportunism as it emerges on either side, and I can’t wait for the cast of Morning Joe to call out what’s inevitably going to come from the Michelle Bachman’s and Erick Erickson’s of the world.


That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.