Bush Attacks Greeneland
Chris Kelly
Sat Aug 25, 6:07 PM ET
Some say the best way to win a debate is to invent a straw man on the other side, and then refute the crazy things they never said. I say those people are wrong.
The problem isn’t using the occasional fictitious opponent in an argument; the problem is that’s all President Bush ever does. They’re his one great rhetorical “go to.” Right after lies.
You could waste a lot of time, after a typical Bush speech, trying to find the imaginary people who believe the things he strongly doesn’t. The liberals who loved Saddam Hussein, the racists who don’t like “No Child Left Behind,” the Democrats who said the answer to 9/11 was therapy, the women who wish there were more late term abortions.
Where does the President meet these people?
He says “some say” a lot, for a guy who brags that he never listens to anyone.
That’s why I was reluctant to get on the bandwagon of dumping on this week’s presidential address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I thought it was a breakthrough. He finally named names. We finally found out who the “some” is in “some say.” Who hates America, doesn’t support the troops, won’t give the surge time to work, emboldens our enemies, makes our allies question our resolve, and stands in the way of freedom abroad and strong families at home:
It’s English novelist Graham Greene (1904-1991).
(Oh, and we also found out, once and for all, why we’re in Iraq: To fight the Khmer Rouge.) [more]