CROOKED TALK LOCAL

In 1919, right after World War 1, Adolf Hitler was given his first political job: he was to speak on behalf of German ultra nationalists to a group of recently decommissioned soldiers. He had to explain and recast Germany’s crushing defeat, surrender and dismemberment. As brilliantly depicted in Where Ghosts Walked Munich’s Road to the Third Reich by David Clay Large, “Hitler’s job was to turn these men,
many of whom had become radicalized, into good patriots. He went about this task by giving them new targets for their anger. Rather than the former Kaiser and his generals, they should learn to hate the ‘November criminals’ who in (1918) had ‘stabbed the German army in the back.’”
An echo of that came with John McCain’s statements last week. “Democrats who deny our soldiers the means to prevent an American defeat, have chosen another road.

Get ready. McCain and the political operatives who love to mobilize “the base” may see the fiasco in Iraq as the next wedge issue, even more powerful than…gay marriage. The liars, incompetents, spin doctors and cynical political manipulators who got us into the devastating military failure known as Iraq, will now do as Hitler did --blame someone else for the defeat. Of course this is like blaming the tow truck operator for the multi-car pile up, but hey it’s been lies and denial from the start, so why stop now? The political and military failure in Iraq is substantial. The wishful thinking that was behind the way-too-low troop levels needed for
reconstruction and occupation has been reported and analyzed by dozens of books.

It’s unfortunate that the Wall Street Journal, so brilliant at documenting and collecting Clinton administration policy and personal failures, doesn’t issue one of their slip-covered encyclopedic sets of books on the Iraq war follies. But no, the aristocracy that runs this land is short of mirrors and doesn’t like the reflection that emanates from them. When Time Magazine’s cover story uncovers the lie that we have a credible fighting force, it’s a sure sign that rational patriots in the media don’t buy into administration spin.

There will be no mea culpa from the failure of the “surge” to pacify Baghdad. This week’s Green Zone cafeteria and key bridge bombing have removed all doubt. The insurgents are everywhere. Counter intuitively, by announcing the Baghdad surge, the insurgents were probably able to marshal more resources for the mother of all humiliations.

The Democrats may be best advised to fight political cynicism with even more cynicism. Rather than challenge, confront and use political capital against this delusional administration’s conduct of the war, perhaps they should just sit back and watch the train wreck. If John McCain, in the eleventh hour of a failed war policy, is going to blame the inevitable Saigon embassy style green zone helicopter evacuation on the Democrats, perhaps it’s time to deal with these Republican cynics in a more appropriate fashion. That would be the policy of juice stewing. Just let the Republicans run the war, just pass every bill they want, support every troop increase, every “surge” they ask for. Just sit by when each extended tour by fatigued, overtaxed weekend warriors gets even further extended. Memo to Democrats: Say nothing. Sound bite tip: The President is the Commander in Chief. He has not asked for our advice. Therefore, we will offer none.

When it’s over, when Bush and his cabal of incompetents and deniers are finished with the war, we will feel its effect upon the families of the killed, the numerous wounded, the economy and our national soul. When we are shown to be incompetent, untrustworthy and delusional, it is possible that the future election fortunes of the Republicans will be like that of the South after the civil war…a hundred years of being shut out of office, just for being Republicans. Nancy Pelosi should take lessons from a political strategist far older and perhaps wiser than Machiavelli, Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism. He preached the doctrine of Wu Wei, loosely translated as ‘do nothing; go with the flow; don’t exhaust yourself in useless opposition.’

This may be necessary because we live in a culture that does not want the truth and, has a political process where both parties can invest large sums for the telling of lies. If blaming the looming Iraq defeat on the Democrats becomes a plank of the GOP, the Democrats would be wise to take heed now. Remember, the newspaper writers and editorialists of Munich could not believe that anyone would follow the false path of blame the Nazi’s put out to mobilize the masses. The thoughtful knew the war’s failure was due to the German high command’s rigidity and wishful thinking. Looking for enemies at home is an old tradition for humiliated armies and their leaders.

McCain, with his derailed, overturned and busted up “straight talk express,” is angry. He has every right to be. He should be. However, some real straight talk from McCain would contain the words ‘equitable sacrifice,’ as in hedge fund associates go to war along with nineteen year olds from the Ozarks by reintroducing the draft, and ‘new taxes’, as in it’s no longer an emergency budget item, but a known cost. That would be ‘straight talk express,’ straight to the defeat of his presidential nomination.

The shining beacon on the hill of freedom and strength is shrouded in a fog of lies. However, if the only way out is even more lies, our Republic will be shaken to its foundations. It’s time for someone to rise above party line politics and give us the statesmanship we need to restore truth and competence to their rightful place, as the only policy worthy of America.