Quote of the Day

Blogger 'Digby' in a new post: Why Do They Hate Us So Much?-

"Aside from protesting the sheer irrationality of the invasion of Iraq and the extreme measures undertaken under the presidents wartime powers, one of the main liberal arguments has been this practical observation that crude thuggish behavior was counterproductive --- that our strength lay in our technological mystique, our open society that would not succumb to threats and our ability to get allies to support us and work with us globally to shut down these terrorist operations. That argument has been given hardly a moment of consideration --- helped mightily by the news media in the early days who were determined to play well-coiffed soldiers in the reality TV show called the GWOT.

The right has managed to dominate with an internally inconsistent argument that says in order to preserve our civilized values we must do unspeakable, uncivilized things, even to innocent people. (The constitution isn't a suicide pact!) And the great thing about it is that if we were to suffer another terrorist attack, it wouldn't disprove this thesis, it would make the case for redoubling it. (tristero takes this on, here, in case you missed it.)

The facts are that our actions have made more enemies, have made our allies mistrust us and have opened the door to the idea that because we are behaving like an unpredictable rogue superpower, the world needs other military powers to challenge us. The more this happens, the more the rightwing nuts insist that we should be tougher and stronger and meaner so that we can put these naysayers in their place. This taken to its logical ends is catastrophe for America."

^
What he said.

He's especially right on one point- no matter what happens, they will use current events (such as today's news of a foiled attack on NYC tunnels) to justify/rejustify their belief in this system of preemptive war and pseudo-monarchical executive power. If we get attacked again... that will mean that the President needs even more power and even more latitude to torture and wage war at will. It will in no way constitute a failure of his policies, but rather a reinforcement of them. Conversely, if we continue to avoid a future attack... that will prove that President Bush's methods were successful and he should be given more power and latitude. It will in no way indicate the success of good ol'-fashioned police work from federal agencies.

That's infallible logic in the cult of Bush.

[Related reading on my last point:
Media to GOP: Heads you win, tails you ... win (Media Matters)]