[lbo-talk] Re New Economist Poll: Bad News For Bush

Nathan Newman nathanne at nathannewman.org
Fri Sep 10 07:29:30 PDT 2004


----- Original Message ----- From: "Jon Johanning" <jjohanning at igc.org>

On Sep 10, 2004, at 7:08 AM, Nathan Newman wrote:
> Many people on this list seem to want everything on their agenda or
> they'll
> reject it all.

-That may be true of some, but I'm willing to compromise. I just think -that Kerry ought to frankly say that he was wrong to vote for the -authorization of force, and is now admitting his mistake. -After all, he did say the other day that it is "the wrong war at the -wrong time in the wrong place." Isn't that tantamount to an admission -that he had made a mistake? So why not just say so? Or is he talking -out of both sides of his face? -His stated position on the war may be technically non-contradictory, -but it's so complex that it confuses the heck out of even his -supporters and spokespersons. I think he should simplify it to a -forthright anti-war position and let the chips fall where they may.

The problem is that Kerry doesn't support the forthright anti-war position and he would be a flip-flopper if he now changed his position. The irony is that because Kerry has consistently held to a single position-- while the facts have changed (ie. Bush turns out to have lied about WMDs, Bush failed to recruit allies, etc.)-- he is accused of inconsistency.

But what is so complicated about saying that Hussein could and should have been ousted from power, but Bush screwed it up by not exhausting non-military means and, when he went to war, screwing up its execution?

-- Nathan Newman



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list