Midterm Election Mistakes Redux

I’ve been supportive of John Kerry’s need to find an acceptable strategy for dealing with this mess in Iraq. The fact is that until we wean ourselves from our childish dependence on gas guzzling penis-mobiles, we are probably not going to be able to simply leave Iraq now that we have totally destabilized the region with Bush’s “call” to free the Iraqi’s from their lives. I do think that with a different president we might be able to summon up some sort of legitimate multinational commmitment to pour money and manpower into the country and at least make a serious attempt to help the Iraqi people create a decent political system. I don’t know if it will work, but I do know that it hasn’t been tried and it needs to be. Like it or not — and I don’t — unless we clean up this mess, the national security and economic ramifications are much more severe than I think people are willing to admit.

But, I also think Kerry’s framing and delivery of this message is just terrible. The choice in this is not between “cutting and running” and “staying the course” or between being “thoughtful” and “thoughtless.” It is between being honest and dishonest, persuasive and bullying, succeeding and failing. Kerry needs to sharpen his words and punch up his energy. This tepid me-tooism will not work. Having said that, I do think that Kerry is substantially right on the issue of Iraq.

On the other hand, this is simply mystifying:

“I think that could be a positive step,” the Massachusetts senator said, approving of the Bush-Sharon action regarding both refugees and Israel’s borders. “What’s important obviously is the security of the state of Israel, and that’s what the prime minister and the president, I think, are trying to address.”

I guess things just aren’t hot enough in the mideast right now.

Honestly, you can’t get any more cravenly chickenshit than this. Not only is it a monumental change in American foreign policy, it is a blatant domestic political maneuver at exactly the wrong moment.

There is a possibility that the action by Bush could further aggravate the situation in Iraq, just as Israel’s killing of a prominent Palestinian militant set off rioting in Iraq several weeks ago. Independent pollster John Zogby, who has surveyed extensively in the Arab world, said: “This is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of the peace process as far as Arabs are concerned.” He said his polling indicates the Palestinian cause is among the top three issues for 90 percent of Arabs in all Arab countries he has surveyed. “It’s not even a political issue, it’s a bloodstream issue,” Zogby said

[…]

“This will make it that much harder for John Kerry to win Florida,” said a Republican aide on Capitol Hill who refused to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. Associates said Bush’s strategists believe that even small inroads into the Jewish vote could mean the difference between winning and losing Florida, and several Republicans believe the announcement could further inhibit Kerry’s fundraising in the Jewish community.

For one thing, for Kerry to agree that the Florida Jews — most of whom are retired New Yorkers — will vote for Bush because of this is to completely insult them. They aren’t drooling idiots like so many of the GOP’s blind followers. They have enough sophistication to understand the complexity of this situation, no matter how much they may yearn for Israel’s safety and security.

And they, of all people, have a mighty motivation to oust Junior from the oval office. He and his followers have been calling them idiots for the last three years for not being able to decipher Teresa LaPore’s ballot hieroglyphics. They wouldn’t vote for Bush if Kerry soul-kissed Yassar Arafat on Saturday night Live.

I suppose that it is possible Kerry genuinely believes that jettisoning any hope of getting rid of the settlements or even a symbolic right of return is a good idea. If so, then we have serious problems because he apparently believes that the best way to negotiate is to take all of your negotiating cards off the table. Regardless of where you hope the process wil eventually lead, this is not good. Bush got rolled and Kerry threw his arms around his neck and rolled with him.

I am honestly stumped by this. If Kerry plans to win the election by endorsing all of Bush’s insane foreign policy pronouncements then it’s lost before it’s begun. I don’t demand that he abandon all pretense of moderation or that he embrace some sort of isolationism. I wouldn’t support that much less do I think it would win the election. I do however expect him to at least object to the Bush administration’s crazy, fucked up neocon wetdreams that are likely to get a lot of people — including Americans — killed.

If this really is all about fundraising then I think Billmon has it right:

It strikes me that bin Laden has been going about this all wrong. If he’d just started his own PAC, and spread enough money around, he probably could have gotten Congress to vote to blow up the World Trade Center.