Over the past few days, the White House has turned on the Good Leak Machine, doling out tidbits of the upcoming, and long-delayed, unveiling of Bush’s New, New, New, New (actually, we’ve lost count) Iraq Strategy, while likely warming up the Bad Leak Machine, ready to pounce on anyone who speaks against it.
We have Mr. Democracy (excepting, of course, when it comes to adhering to his own country’s constitution) simultaneously trying to pre-sell Congress on the plans, as his official spokesperson, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, is telling reporters;
All the good Republican soldiers were making their Sunday Morning march across the television, supporting the administration’s forthcoming “surge”, all with pained faces, telling of the untold horrors that will befall Iraq - and us - if we don’t undertake the administration’s forthcoming surge, but not bothering to differentiate from the untold horrors currently taking place, under the banner of the previous “surges undertaken to secure the peace in Iraq.
Many pundits are referring to Bush and his
The Garlic prefers to remain with its Marx Brothers label, Bush forging ahead with his “Hello, I Must Be Going” policy.
Instead of pulling a Homeland Security Terror Alert of some obscure, not vetted, threat that gets the media all riled up, with talking heads piling up in the corridors, the White House Iraq Group is showing some spunk, filling the headlines with some fresh pelts, and calling on Osama’s gang to come out and take another bow on the War On Terrorism stage (see, just a hint, that’s all they need to place). Something for the “Commander-In-Chief” to hang his hat on during the speech - and pin the escalation of troop on and how desperately they are needed.
And what the big Dubya is doing is really the oldest trick in the Presidential bag of tricks.
When in doubt, send the Marines.
In fact, under a different administration, some 42-years ago, and under not-so dissimilar circumstances, Tom Lehrer, a college math professor turned singer/songwriter/satirist, captured it with his witty, sly tune “Send The Marines”.
When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve,
Who is it that always intervenes?
U.N. and O.A.S.,
They have their place, I guess,
But first send the Marines!
We'll send them all we've got,
John Wayne and Randolph Scott,
Remember those exciting fighting scenes?
To the shores of
But not to Mississippoli,
What do we do? We send the Marines!
For might makes right,
And till they've seen the light,
They've got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
'Till somebody we like can be elected.
Members of the corps
All hate the thought of war,
They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means.
Stop calling it aggression,
O we hate that expression.
We only want the world to know
That we support the status quo.
They love us everywhere we go,
So when in doubt,
Send the Marines!
So, when Bush gets cued tomorrow evening, to look into the camera and begin is lying spin once again, know that, and especially after all this time, that it isn’t the wisdom of great thinking that gives birth to his “surge”, it’s the old stand-by of putting more boots on the ground.
Democracy at the end of a gun barrel.
Oh yeah, and start humming Lehrer’s tune.
Links
Clip of Send the Marines (Intro)
Longer Clip of Send the Marines
Our Court-Appointed President, with his legacy stuck in the sandtrap of Iraq, will be flailing away tomorrow evening with his speech on his new strategy, or as it known to most of the rest of the universe, his continued denial of being immersed in a quagmire
