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Two of Bush's Favorite Spins

Submitted by Ken Watts on Wed, 08/01/2007 - 17:53

I heard Bush's press conference from Camp David the other day, and I was amazed how completely he confined his remarks to two basic spins:

  1. The "Bad Guys" spin.

    The war in Iraq is about ideologues "who want to kill us". There are several things wrong with this spin, First, it implies that the occupation is mainly a line of defense against Al Qaeda, when it never has been. We went into Iraq to overthrow the government, on the excuse that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We're there now because of a civil war—the aftermath of our invasion. The Al Qaeda in Iraq is not the same Al Qaeda that was behind 9/11, and is not particularly interested in killing us, so far. Secondly, it implies that Al Qaeda are ideologues in contrast to us—that they want to spread a certain philosophy and way of life (true), but that our present administration does not (false). Thirdly, it implies that their primary motivation, like the primary motivation of a bad guy in a melodrama, is destroying us. In fact, they have political agenda's, and would be quite happy to reach them in any way they can. Terrorism is the means, not the end. The real purpose of Bush's rhetoric is, simply, to conflate Iraq with Al Qaeda, and Al Qaeda with a cartoon "bad guy" so that he can trigger knee-jerk fear among his base, and keep them from thinking clearly.

  2. The "Good Guys" spin.

    We are only over there to help the Iraqis. We have no interest in their oil, or whether it comes under the control of western oil companies. We have no interest in permanent bases there. We have no interest in telling them how to run their government, or maintaining a U.S. presence in the middle east. We certainly aren't the kind of people who would torture them, or kill them by the thousands, or guard the oil, while allowing their national treasures to be looted. The idea is that we would cross half the world, invade (illegally) a tiny nation, and run our own country into debt, just because we're nice. If they're the "Bad Guys", then we're the sheriff, whose teeth gleam in the sun with every smile.

Together they provide a picture designed to oversimplify the situation and keep his base from thinking about the real problems we face.

Fortunately, with every day that passes, fewer and fewer belong to that group.