Decision ‘08

It Never Ceases To Amaze Me…

…that there are those on the left who think Christopher Hitchens is some sort of Bush Administration apologist simply because he supported the Iraq War (like most of the Democrats in Congress, and not a few Democratic presidential candidates, lest we forget). Let that supposition be forever laid to rest:

How do I dislike President George Bush? Let me count the ways. Most of them have to do with his contented assumption that ‘faith’ is, in and of itself, a virtue. This self-satisfied mentality helps explain almost everything, from the smug expression on his face to the way in which, as governor of Texas, he signed all those death warrants without losing a second’s composure.

It explains the way in which he embraced ex-KGB goon Vladimir Putin, citing as the basis of a beautiful relationship the fact that Putin was wearing a crucifix. (Has Putin been seen wearing that crucifix before or since? Did his advisers tell him that the President of the United States was that easy a pushover?)

It also explains the unforgivable intervention that Bush made into the private life of the Schiavo family: leaving his Texas ranch to try and keep ‘alive’ a woman whose autopsy showed that her brain had melted to below flatline a long time before. Here is a man who believes the ‘jury’ is still ‘out’ on whether we evolved as a species, who regards stem cell research as something profane, who affects the odd belief that Islam is ‘a religion of peace’.However that may be, I always agreed with him on one secular question, that the regime of Saddam Hussein was long overdue for removal. I know some critics of the Iraq intervention attribute this policy, too, to religious motives (ranging from messianic, born-again Christian piety to the activity of a surreptitious Jewish/Zionist cabal: take your pick).

In this real-world argument, there is a very strong temptation for opponents of the war to invoke the lessons of Vietnam. I must have written thousands of words attempting to show that there is absolutely no analogy between the two conflicts.

Then, addressing the convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars last week, the President came thundering down the pike to announce that a defeat in Iraq would be - guess what? - another Vietnam. As my hand smacks my brow, and as I ask myself not for the first time if Mr Bush suffers from some sort of political death wish, I quickly restate the reasons why he is wrong to join with his most venomous and ignorant critics in making this case.

Well, he did say he disliked the President, rather than hated him, so I guess he is a patsy, after all…Hitchens then goes on to list 13 reasons why Iraq is NOT Vietnam redux. Despite his overindulgence yet again in his atheist fetish, I suggest you read on…even if you disagree, you have to marvel at the man’s erudition…

4 Responses to “It Never Ceases To Amaze Me…”

1 Fargus Says:
August 28th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Does somebody who’s religious and talks about God all the time display an overindulgence in their Jesus fetish?
2 Mark Says:
August 28th, 2007 at 7:39 pm
Fargus, if they insert God into every conversation, regardless of topic, then yeah, that’s fair to say…and Hitchens, God bless him (no pun intended) has a habit lately of doing that with his atheism…it’s got him on the bestseller list, but it’s a bit old now…
3 Fargus Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 8:32 am
I guess in the rest of his columns, the ones you link all the time, he’s overindulging his war fetish, huh?
4 Stan Peterson Says:
September 8th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Even real genius has blind spots. Isaacc Newton may have developed his Theory of Gravity and created the Calculus, but he also indulged in Astrology and Mysticism.

Mr. Hitchens is erudiite, and lets his brainpower leads him to conclusions that Party line leftists would never entertain; but simply is daffy and has a particular blindspot against religion. He see only the warts and ignores its civilizing aspects.

George Washington or the founding dathers, and contrarily Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson who may not have been deists, have had no problem seeing thsoe benefits, as well.

I suspect every family has an eccentric old uncle who every one humors on certain things. They think he is daft, but still love him…