Sacrificing For Junior
by digby
If I didn’t know better, I’d have to think that Bush is trying to tank John McCain’s campaign before it even gets started. First he adopts the wildly unpopular McCain Doctrine of escalation and now he’s going to use McCain’s favorite empty stump line to try to sell it:
The BBC was told by a senior administration source that the speech setting out changes in Mr Bush’s Iraq policy is likely to come in the middle of next week.
Its central theme will be sacrifice.
St. John loooves to talk about sacrifice. Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice. He’s been saying stuff like this for years:
The costs of this war have been high, especially for the over 2000 Americans, and their families, who have paid the ultimate price. But liberating Iraq was in our strategic and moral interests, and we must honor their sacrifice by seeing this mission through to victory.
and this:
We all have an obligation to play our part in defending our ideals. Not all of us will be soldiers. Not all of us will find the courage to race into the burning tower as others flee. But God grants us all the privilege of having our character and patriotism tested. All of us have the duty and occasion to sacrifice something of ourselves so that the civilization we are so blessed to be a part of, that so many have sacrificed so much for, will prevail against all challenges and threats, and endure long beyond our brief time on this earth…The sacrifices entailed in our defense will not be borne equally. They never are. But we all have a moral obligation to do what we can to ensure our country remains worthy of the greater sacrifices that will be made by others.
and this:
War means sacrifice, and this war is no different. As our brave soldiers battle in Iraq and Afghanistan, they leave their families behind, risking their lives each day in our name. We ask them to fight for us, to imperil life and limb, to serve our nation with honor. Our fighting men and women endure great sacrifices for America, and so it is reasonable to ask what sacrifices other Americans are making.
The answer does not always satisfy. Our wars are national conflicts; we are all Americans and we are all in this together. But why then is it so easy for the rest of us – those who aren’t soldiers or their family members – to go about our lives as normal?
It is not for lack of opportunity to do otherwise. While our soldiers are fighting and dying, every American on the homefront can do something, however big or small, to support our national effort.
At this time of sacrifice it is more important than ever to join as fellow Americans in a national cause greater than the sum of our everyday routines.
It’s his mantra, and during the time when everyone felt they were doing their patriotic duty by flying as many flags on their cars as possible, it probably would have been inspirational. Sadly, that time passed some time ago, when Iraq was revealed as a strategic and moral cock-up of epic proportions. Now calls to sacrifice for this useless, meaningless meat-grinder are going to sound like somebody’s been sneaking into Laura’s prescription tranquilizers.
As much as I’m horrified to see Junior adopt the Mccain Doctrine of escalation, I’m very pleased to see him adopt his rhetoric of sacrifice. Everything Junior touches turns to garbage and he’s going to pull McCain into the rancid compost heap right along with him. I think it’s quite obvious that Americans have decided they’ve sacrificed quite enough for the honor of the neocon codpiece.
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