A Charles KRAUTHAMMER column, with the WashPost headline 'Make the Election About Iraq':
'The disconnect between what Democrats are saying about Iraq and what is actually happening there has reached grotesque proportions. ... It is a position so utterly untenable that John McCain must seize the opportunity and, contrary to conventional wisdom, make the Iraq war the central WINNING plank of his campaign.'
.....................
This is precisely the line Krauthammer and Niall Ferguson took during their accuracy bereft 'debate' with the arrogantly lazy and disorganized Susan Power and Richard Holbrooke: the surge is working, Democrats aren't mentioning our success, etc.
And as crazy as Krauthammer sounds (as usual), his idea might have an impact upon the election.
CNN, NPR, the NYT and practically every other major American media outlet have trumpeted that 'violence is down in Iraq.' Unsurprisingly, they tend to leave out the rest of the story, which includes balkanization, the bribery of combatants with money and arms to keep quiet, reduced US patrols and other temporary factors.
They also neglect to mention that US agreements with the so-called "awakening councils" (described in the US media as pro US militias) are starting to unravel because of ongoing American bombing sorties, house raids and civilian deaths. The Americans aren't holding up their end of the bargain (a difficult task, when you think you've signed an agreement with a sub-human 'haji').
Needless to say, many Americans don't know any of this -- Power and Holbrooke certainly seemed to be in the dark and they're award winning smarties who spice up their statements with "...at this juncture" and other official clever person phases . This lack of info, combined with the 'Surge is Working' misinformation program, might give McCain a boost.
We'll see.
Well informed or not, Americans may be too tired of the whole thing to be roused once more into the breach.
.d.