Purple Fingers Are Passe, "Fuck Iran" Buttons Are Back
OK, this is a totally banal observation and what the hell do I know, I'm a lowly capitalist pig in New York City, but if the NY Daily News can have a sports columnist comment on geopolitics and the New York Times can have a theatre critic comment on world affairs (talk about synergy!) then what the hell is stopping me?!?! Here goes. For many many moons now Bush has been a total failure because he didn't send enough troops. OK, now he is sending more troops, but that is no good apparently. At some point (and nobody told Bush) sending more troops became bad. It's like you can only have pitching in innings 1 through 5. After the fifth inning good pitching is BAD! TAKE THAT LUPICA!!
One thing I did like about Bush's speech, which was nowhere near as good as his many other excellent speeches (...someday, somebody will do a study as to why Bush's actual speeches were so fantastic but yet in toto he was a lousy communicator), was the bit about Iran and Syria. They're building bombs, hauling them to Iraq and blowing them up. It's going to stop, so says Bush. 'Bout bloody time. I have been way out ahead of the Iraq Study Group in saying we should be talking to Iran. And "You mess with the bull, you get the horns" is what we should have been saying. Granted that is not nuanced, high-sounding rhetoric, but that is the point. Nuance and a desire to elevate political relations beyond its core essence has been the source of problems and resultant misery throughout the ages. So here's hoping that we hear increasing reports of Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen turning up dead in Iraq, IED factories in Iran turning up daisy-cuttered, and truck convoys carrying men and materiel across the Iran-Iraq border mmmmmeeting with an acccccc...accident (I will buy a beer for anyone who names that movie reference).
Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole bloody strategy shift was designed with Iran in mind. I believe in the strategy of helping the fledgling Iraqi democracy, but even if it is a lost cause, you have to send a signal to Iran that messing around will not deter us but force us to get in the game more. Idealism is what we should strive for, but failing that and turning to realism, we have to be in Iran's kitchen. They understand nothing more. Iran has made their bed, even if a stable democratic Iraq is unworkable, more troops shows Iran that meddlesomeness will not be rewarded. "Walk softly and carry an amoured tank division, I always say." (That's an easy one, no beer for that one)
One thing I did like about Bush's speech, which was nowhere near as good as his many other excellent speeches (...someday, somebody will do a study as to why Bush's actual speeches were so fantastic but yet in toto he was a lousy communicator), was the bit about Iran and Syria. They're building bombs, hauling them to Iraq and blowing them up. It's going to stop, so says Bush. 'Bout bloody time. I have been way out ahead of the Iraq Study Group in saying we should be talking to Iran. And "You mess with the bull, you get the horns" is what we should have been saying. Granted that is not nuanced, high-sounding rhetoric, but that is the point. Nuance and a desire to elevate political relations beyond its core essence has been the source of problems and resultant misery throughout the ages. So here's hoping that we hear increasing reports of Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen turning up dead in Iraq, IED factories in Iran turning up daisy-cuttered, and truck convoys carrying men and materiel across the Iran-Iraq border mmmmmeeting with an acccccc...accident (I will buy a beer for anyone who names that movie reference).
Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole bloody strategy shift was designed with Iran in mind. I believe in the strategy of helping the fledgling Iraqi democracy, but even if it is a lost cause, you have to send a signal to Iran that messing around will not deter us but force us to get in the game more. Idealism is what we should strive for, but failing that and turning to realism, we have to be in Iran's kitchen. They understand nothing more. Iran has made their bed, even if a stable democratic Iraq is unworkable, more troops shows Iran that meddlesomeness will not be rewarded. "Walk softly and carry an amoured tank division, I always say." (That's an easy one, no beer for that one)
posted by Donny Baseball at 10:13 PM
4 Comments:
The gloves are off! Good for Bush.
TS-
I see you didn't take a stab at the movie quote. Not a film buff?
DB
Not really. As a form of entertainment, (to me) going to the movies is not as good compared to spending time with family, watching live sports and financial markets, reading news, and following the dynamics of politics, etc. Movies are the WWF of sports, everything is scripted and acted out to manipulate the emotion of the audience. A great tool for propaganda.
TS-
Actually, now that I think about it, 95% of all the movies I have seen were when I was a young man before I had a family and an adult life. I maybe see 2-3 movies a year now. So I guess I'm not a movie buff, but just a guy who used to fritter away his time on useless/mindless activities.
Bat-
I have heard that too and I agree that Bush stumbles when he tries to speak Washingtonese or how he thinks a President should speak. But when he speaks Texan, he's glib and fluid. I see that alot in this business, there are lots of guys who try to sound like Nobel-prize winning economists and they come off badly, but when they can just speak in Jersey or Brooklynese, they can sell snow to an eskimo.
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