‘It is absolutely essential that we stay the course’

July 21, 2006

Dick Cheney politicizing national security — it’s so predictable, you could almost set your watch to it.

Vice President [tag]Dick Cheney[/tag] on Friday pointed to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as fresh evidence of the ongoing battle against terrorism that underscores the need to keep President Bush’s Republican allies in control of Congress.

“This conflict is a long way from over,” Cheney said at a fundraising appearance for a GOP congressional candidate. “It’s going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we [tag]stay the course[/tag].”

Truth be told, I’m delighted Cheney put it that way. If someone likes the way things are going in the world, by all means, “stay the course.” The more-of-the-same party wants voters to know that if you stick with the GOP, you’ll get more of the status quo. As it turns out, I completely agree. Indeed, I want as many voters as possible to hear this exact message.

To borrow a line from Jennifer Crider, Iraq is a mess, Osama bin Laden is still free, the Iranians are going nuclear, and the Middle East is exploding — that’s the Republican definition of progress in the region? That’s the “course” on which Dick Cheney wants to stay?

I hear what you’re saying , CB, but the average joker won’t hear it that way. This stuff willfrighten people, and regardless of who is causing it (the Republicans), the Democrats have yet to demonstrate to the masses that they can keep us safe.

I realize the reality is completely at odds with the current narrative, but that’s the fact.

  • “that’s the Republican definition of progress in the region?” – CB

    They have a Government in Afghanistan that will let them build a pipeline from the ex-Soviet republics to the Indian Ocean or the Black Sea and avoid going through Russia. Isn’t that enough of an accomplishment?

  • In the past, I’ve said “give ’em what they want,” thinking the American people would become fed up with the Republicans. I overestimated the American people.

  • “It is absolutely essential that we stay the course.”
    Combine that with:
    “We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to over here.
    And:
    There have been no terrorist attacks on U.S. soil since 9-11.”

    And I’m afraid that makes a very convincing case for voting Republican for a number of voters. That’s especially true when Republicans succeed in making the consequence of our “war” invisible and keep the vast majority of Americans from having to make personal and material sacrifices.

    One way to counteract that argument would be to show voters there are American victims in the “War on Terror.” Like say, showing flag-covered caskets coming home from Iraq …

  • This conflict is a long way from over

    I’m afraid at this point, he’s right. The Admin has stayed the course…and the course was set for an all out World War on Islam. I didn’t want to believe it for a long time now, but I’m more convinced than ever. Look at Somalia and Ethiopia today… the religious conflicts keep on coming.

    They must believe if they can eliminate fundamental Islamists in the Mid-East, they can control the world supply of oil….

  • “Iraq is a mess, Osama bin Laden is still free, the Iranians are going nuclear, and the Middle East is exploding…

    and…

    global warming is being ignored.

    So….

    STAY THE COURSE SHEEPLE…
    STAY THE COURSE…

    BAAA…..
    BAAA….

    Four legs good…
    Two legs bad…

    Four legs good…
    Two legs bad…

    Four legs good…
    Two legs bad…

    STAY THE COURSE SHEEPLE…
    STAY THE COURSE…

    BAAA…..
    BAAA….

    [Aside:

    Nut’in but the hive mentality here… which is to say: Halliburton Dick realizes his base’s brains have a wattage similar to ants. Thus he is trying to stir up the colony into a voting rage… ’cause… Dick can feel it! All his decisions and policies are slip-sliding away. In other words: The Dick and George show is over… but that won’t stop Old Curl Lip from gouging and mauling as he swirls down the drain. Beware everyone: A rabid dying animal is the most dangerous one!]

  • “This conflict is a long way from over” (today)

    vs

    “I think they’re in the last throes, if you will” (June 20th 2005)

    I think Cheney has ZERO credibility with 80% of America. THAT’s the only thing we need to say about Cheney. Anyone who stands with him, same deal.

  • “This conflict is a long way from over,” Cheney said at a fundraising appearance for a GOP congressional candidate. “It’s going to be a battle that will last for a very long time. It is absolutely essential that we stay the course.”

    Left unsaid is “because I haven’t had a chance to cash out my Haliburton Stock.”

  • The U.S. response to terrorism (invading Iraq) and Isreal’s response to Hezbollah attacks are both galvanizing Islamist organizations and bringing new enlistees to causes that would otherwise be marginalized by more reasonable responses. The Cheney mindset ensures that staying the course could last an eternity. Even voices from the right are looking for a horizon for the Mid-East problems. The reason we haven’t been attacked here is we have given groups like al Quaeda a battlefield where they can achieve a beachhead of control in Islamic areas whereas attacking the U.S. won’t lead to any similar control of land.

  • They need a fresh source of terror, and they are seizing this conflict with both hands. Unbelievably, Condi said that we don’t want a cease fire. The ‘logic’ is that a cease fire will only lead to future conflicts.

    They need angry Arabs to ‘protect us from’ for the midterms. They can’t use bin Laden anymore, because that raises too many questions of their competence. Fear is the only tool the Retaliban party has. War seems to be their only joy. These are some seriously sick people.

  • This is a well-orchestrated distraction from the fiasco in Iraq.

    One wonders if the administration’s evidence of Syrian and Iranian control of Hezzbollah is as “irrefutable”* as Colin Powell’s case before the UN.

    * The Washington Post’s assessment at the time–never retracted,

  • More of the same from Cheney and the NeoCons: Terror, 9/11, Fear…Terror, 9/11, Fear…Terror, 9/11, Fear…

    They’ve been selling the same old story since 9/11/01, which was their “new Pearl Harbor”, conveniently enough. Sadly, the amount of death and destruction to occur as a direct result of U.S. actions in Iraq has made the events of 9/11 seem almost trivial by comparison. They’ve shamed every American who believes that this country should be trying to do the RIGHT things here and around the world. I’m ashamed of them. All of us should be. But it is the inherent weakness and insecurity in many of us that they prey upon. Fear is, arguably, the most potent and mobilizing of human emotions. They know it. And they exploit it.

  • The Republican agenda is a long term experiment. They claim the end will be peace and prosperity for all. But, there will be a lot of war and poverty along the way. What they are really fighting against is not war and poverty, but the liberal approach to achieving peace and prosperity. While neither approach has brought long lasting peace and prosperity, the Republicans are united in their vision that the use of might to install democracies (or to weaken democracies we don’t like) coupled with free markets will get us to the noble end. But, very predictably, it is leading an unstable world toward greater instability. But, somewhere down this dark road the world will turn the corner and prove their vision to be the right course. Just stay with us, ride the train through this dark tunnel, there is no other choice, no other vision. Trust us with the controls. We embody the only viable future of the world. And through the right choice of words, we can put your mind at ease and make you feel safer, even if it ain’t so. And we can create our own reality and bring you in to that reality, even if it makes you less free and builds bigger walls around your mind prison while reminding you of your patriotic duty to support the defenders of the homeland.

  • Stay the Course is actually Reagan-speak (circa 1984.) As you would expect from Ronnie and Deaver, it’s a positive statement. It’s the positive reciprocal of the Rove-shreik: Democrats want to cut and run.

    The first time I heard ‘cut and run’ used in the Iraq context was actually by Carol Mosely-Braun during one of the cattle call debates in ’04 (Can anyone find it earlier?) Whatever it’s origin, it’s a classic Rove smear line and, as always, it may not mean what it sounds like.

    For instance…what exactly is being cut? A rug, a record, a fart? No, the missing words are:OUR LOSSES! The un-shaped accusation is that we want to cut our losses and leave, before we have to run. The people who chant the ‘cut and run’ mantra should be described as obviously not caring about our losses. (Of course, it’s easy not to care about our loses when you, your relatives and your pals are in no danger of actually doing any of the fighting – kind of like way back when in Viet Nam…)

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