http://www.tompaine.com/articles/neutralizing_the_flipflop_charge.php
Robert L. Borosage, Co-Director, Campaign for America's Future Last night, Americans finally got a glimpse of reality. The truth about the growing debacle in Iraq got some exposure-as did George Bush's continued, impatient and scornful denial of that reality. Bush "stayed on message," repeating his memorized attack lines over and over, but he couldn't hide the inescapable reality: Iraq is a catastrophe and the president offers only more of the same. Bush had every advantage going into the debate. As a wartime president, he could hide behind the sacrifice of the soldiers. His attack dogs had bloodied John Kerry badly over the past weeks. Worried about a stature gap, his negotiators had even insured that TV would mask the difference in their height. But Kerry's strong performance put the reality about Iraq before the American people. Everything the president told us about the war in Iraq turned out to be false. Hussein wasn't a threat. He had no weapons of mass destruction. He wasn't connected to September 11 or al Qaeda. We weren't greeted as heroes. The president had no plan for the occupation. The troops were exposed without proper forces, equipment or training. The debacle distracted from the pursuit of bin Laden and provided al Qaeda with recruits from across the world. It has cost us dearly in lives and lucre. It has left America more isolated, less admired and less safe. And the debate revealed that the president is still in denial, abrupt and uncomfortable when faced with the truth. He still paints Saddam-who before the war was a delusional dictator, his weapons dismantled, his army in tatters, his country in shambles, his mind distracted by novels and fantasy-as a threat. He still denies the worsening catastrophe on the ground in Iraq. He still ignores the basic failures on security at home. The structured formats of presidential debates usually make for bad acting and hokey pre-baked gestures. But last night, reality impinged. And the country saw a president who misled us into a horror-and offers only more of the same. With every grimace, every repeat of pat attack lines, President Bush reinforced John Kerry's argument that we need a new president who can face reality and struggle with what are now horrible choices to change our course. _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
