Dowd: The Red Zone

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L

Thu, 04 Nov 2004 05:18:24 -0800

Subject:Dowd: The Red Zone

 

 

 

 

<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/opinion/04dowd.html?hp>

 

The Red Zone

By MAUREEN DOWD

 

Published: November 4, 2004

 

WASHINGTON

 

With the Democratic Party splattered at his feet in little blue puddles,

John Kerry told the crushed crowd at Faneuil Hall in Boston about his

concession call to President Bush.

 

" We had a good conversation, " the senator said. " And we talked about the

danger of division in our country and the need, the desperate need, for

unity, for finding the common ground, coming together. Today I hope that

we can begin the healing. "

 

Democrat: Heal thyself.

 

W. doesn't see division as a danger. He sees it as a wingman.

 

The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines

of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to

heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.

 

W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq - drawing a

devoted flock of evangelicals, or " values voters, " as they call

themselves, to the polls by opposing abortion, suffocating stem cell

research and supporting a constitutional amendment against gay marriage.

 

Mr. Bush, whose administration drummed up fake evidence to trick us into

war with Iraq, sticking our troops in an immoral position with no exit

strategy, won on " moral issues. "

 

The president says he's " humbled " and wants to reach out to the whole

country. What humbug. The Bushes are always gracious until they don't

get their way. If W. didn't reach out after the last election, which he

barely grabbed, why would he reach out now that he has what Dick Cheney

calls a " broad, nationwide victory " ?

 

While Mr. Bush was making his little speech about reaching out,

Republicans said they had " the green light " to pursue their conservative

agenda, like drilling in Alaska's wilderness and rewriting the tax code.

 

" He'll be a lot more aggressive in Iraq now, " one Bush insider predicts.

" He'll raze Falluja if he has to. He feels that the election results

endorsed his version of the war. " Never mind that the more insurgents

American troops kill, the more they create.

 

Just listen to Dick (Oh, lordy, is this cuckoo clock still vice

president?) Cheney, introducing the Man for his victory speech: " This

has been a consequential presidency which has revitalized our economy

and reasserted a confident American role in the world. " Well, it has

revitalized the Halliburton segment of the economy, anyhow. And

" confident " is not the first word that comes to mind for the foreign

policy of a country that has alienated everyone except Fiji.

 

Vice continued, " Now we move forward to serve and to guard the country

we love. " Only Dick Cheney can make " to serve and to guard " sound like

" to rape and to pillage. "

 

He's creating the sort of " democracy " he likes. One party controls all

power in the country. One network serves as state TV. One nation

dominates the world as a hyperpower. One firm controls contracts in Iraq.

 

Just as Zell Miller was so over the top at the G.O.P. convention that he

made Mr. Cheney seem reasonable, so several new members of Congress will

make W. seem moderate.

 

Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma, has advocated the death

penalty for doctors who perform abortions and warned that " the gay

agenda " would undermine the country. He also characterized his race as a

choice between " good and evil " and said he had heard there was " rampant

lesbianism " in Oklahoma schools.

 

Jim DeMint, the new senator from South Carolina, said during his

campaign that he supported a state G.O.P. platform plank banning gays

from teaching in public schools. He explained, " I would have given the

same answer when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living

with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third-grade children. "

 

John Thune, who toppled Tom Daschle, is an anti-abortion Christian

conservative - or " servant leader, " as he was hailed in a campaign ad -

who supports constitutional amendments banning flag burning and gay

marriage.

 

Seeing the exit polls, the Democrats immediately started talking about

values and religion. Their sudden passion for wooing Southern white

Christian soldiers may put a crimp in Hillary's 2008 campaign (nothing

but a wooden stake would stop it). Meanwhile, the blue puddle is

comforting itself with the expectation that this loony bunch will

fatally overreach, just as Newt Gingrich did in the 90's.

 

But with this crowd, it's hard to imagine what would constitute

overreaching.

 

Invading France?

--

 

 

 

 

" The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost

duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation.

It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our

nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation

of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national

life. "

Adolph Hitler, My New World Order,

Proclamation to the German Nation

at Berlin, February 1, 1933