From the right: Wag the dog. Please!

I hate to say this about anyone, but NY Post columnist John Podhoretz is an asshole. To what do we owe this ad hominem attack? In his latest column, Podhoretz urges the president to invade Iraq in order to boost his numbers and improve GOP chances in November.

You're in some domestic political trouble, Mr. President. You need to change the subject. You have the biggest subject-changer of all at your disposal. Use it.

Even if Iraq is unable to kill a single soldier or airman, Americans will still die. Fatal accidents are common in the military, and such accidents are obviously more common when waging war (just ask the Canadians).

For this columnist to callously condemn Americans to certain death in order to boost the president's political fortunes is nothing short of barbaric. Podhoretz claims he is being practical, Machiavellian. No he's not. He's being a coward. It's easy enough to send others to their death. But I don't see Ann Coulter, the editorial board of the National Review, Robert Novak or Podhoretz volunteering to serve in the vanguard of any such invasion.

Realistically speaking, Podhoretz's suggestions don't have a chance in hell in passing. As I've argued before, any such invasion is currently politically and logistically impossible. However, the column does betray two things:

1. The right is panicking about the corporate scandals and their effect on the mid-term and 2004 elections; and

2. there is nothing "compassionate" about an ideology that would trade lives for political gain.

Posted July 17, 2002 11:44 AM | Comments (3)