by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Oct. 15, 2006
All Rights Reserved.

aking down the Republican Party, the White House continues its unrelenting propaganda battle, hoping to salvage GOP fortunes in the midyear election. Five years after Sept. 11, the glacial pace of public awareness appears to be moving against the White House, pounding the same talking points about Iraq. Since Cruise Missiles hit Baghdad March 20, 2003, the White House has made more excuses than a Coney Island fortuneteller. Forget weapons of mass destruction, liberating Iraq or democratizing the Middle East. That's old news. Today's excuse for “staying the course” is far more grandiose: The U.S. has embarked on a battle to save civilization. With the number of dead U.S. soldiers equaling casualties on Sept. 11, the public is finally wising up. “The hopes of the civilized world ride with us,” Vice President Dick Cheney preached to the choir at a campaign stop.

      Cheney knows the stakes riding on the midyear election. Losing congress would be catastrophic to President George W. Bush. Bush refuses to admit the Iraq war is a lost cause. White House officials haven't leveled with the public that big changes are in the works. Co-chairing a special Iraq task force, former Secretary of State and key Bush advisor James A. Baker III hinted about big changes after November 7. Baker indicated he's not planning to “stay the course.” It's doubtful that the White House plans to label Baker an appeaser for urging a new direction. Unlike Baker, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), a well-known Iraq war critic, has been demonized by the White House for not rubber stamping Bush's Iraq policy. Baker reached the same conclusions as Hagel and former Marine and Pentagon hawk Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), calling for a responsible exit strategy.

      Bush and Cheney have so politicized the Iraq war that no one can trust White House talking points. Panic hit GOP circles, especially after Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fl.) stole the headlines with his Internet sex scandal. Things didn't bode well for the GOP after House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Tx.) was forced out for money laundering. When lobbyist Jack Abramoff went down, it didn't help GOP fortunes, dragging down Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) for accepting bribes, and, more recently, former Bush political chief and current the Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, standing accused of accepting U-2 rock concert tickets. Whether Mehlman can tap-dance out of this one is anyone's guess. Like radioactivity, the cumulative bad news hurts the GOP heading into Nov. 7. Bush and Cheney keep reading the same script hoping to skate by on Election Day.

      Bush's loyal evangelical base overlooks the mess as long as the White House opposes abortion, gay marriage and embryonic stem cells. Moderate Republicans, independents and cross over Democrats are now questioning the wisdom of the Iraq war and how it relates to Sept. 11 and the war on terror. “We can't tolerate a new terrorist state in the heart of the Middle East, with large oil reserves that could be used to fund radical ambitions, or used to inflict economic damage on the West,” Bush said, warning skeptics that losing Iraq would have catastrophic consequences on U.S. national security. While Sunnis battle Shiites, the White House is quick to dispute the idea that Iraq has plunged into civil war, making the U.S. mission impossible. Bush and Cheney call Iraq's spiraling violence “sectarian strife,” knowing that admitting to civil war would decimate the Iraq policy.

      Bush has promised that as “Iraqis stand up, the U.S. will stand down,” asking for patience to ramp up Iraq's military and security forces. While Iraq's U.S.-backed government wants a unified country, recent polls indicate the 60%-70% of Iraqis oppose the presence of U.S. forces and believe its OK to attack U.S. troops. That's at odds with White House reports that the vast majority of the Iraqi people support Bush's pro-democracy reforms. Election Day promises to be a referendum on Iraq, where growing numbers of voters see only failure in the president's policy. “We're in the ideological struggle of the 20th century,” Bush told a political rally of evangelicals. “It's a struggle between good and evil,” staging the battle in biblical proportions. Evangelical Christians buy Bush's rhetoric but the vast majority have grown skeptical of policies seen as counterproductive.

      Sooner or later the White House anticipated that voters would eventually wise up. Repetitive talking points don't reverse the damage done by cumulative bad new on Iraq and elsewhere. Growing numbers see the daily, weekly and monthly carnage, now reflecting the big lie that the Iraq campaign is doing well. Most common sense voters won't be buffaloed by slick public relations more concerned about Nov. 7 than winning the war. U.S. Sen. John Warner (R-Vir.) said Iraq was “drifting sideways.” In reality, it's spiraling downward. Washington Post managing editor and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward, author of a new book titled “State of Denial,” accused the White House of deliberately camouflaging the real truth in Iraq. Opponents of Bush's Iraq policy are gaining ground heading into Nov. 7. On Election Day, voters will get to speak out.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

©1999-2005 Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.
(310) 204-8300
All Rights Reserved.