The Rambo Coalition (as Bush equates his bombast with patriotism)

[papau]

the attacks against John Kerry's Vietnam record are even nastier than predicted, because Kerry's "life story challenges Mr. Bush's attempts to confuse tough-guy poses with heroism, and bombast with patriotism,"

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/24/opinion/24krugman.html

OP-ED COLUMNIST
The Rambo Coalition
By PAUL KRUGMAN

lmost a year ago, on the second anniversary of 9/11, I predicted "an ugly, bitter campaign - probably the nastiest of modern American history." The reasons I gave then still apply. President Bush has no positive achievements to run on. Yet his inner circle cannot afford to see him lose: if he does, the shroud of secrecy will be lifted, and the public will learn the truth about cooked intelligence, profiteering, politicization of homeland security and more.

But recent attacks on John Kerry have surpassed even my expectations. There's no mystery why. Mr. Kerry isn't just a Democrat who might win: his life story challenges Mr. Bush's attempts to confuse tough-guy poses with heroism, and bombast with patriotism.

One of the wonders of recent American politics has been the ability of Mr. Bush and his supporters to wrap their partisanship in the flag. Through innuendo and direct attacks by surrogates, men who assiduously avoided service in Vietnam, like Dick Cheney (five deferments), John Ashcroft (seven deferments) and George Bush (a comfy spot in the National Guard, and a mysterious gap in his records), have questioned the patriotism of men who risked their lives and suffered for their country: John McCain, Max Cleland and now John Kerry.

How have they been able to get away with it? The answer is that we have been living in what Roger Ebert calls "an age of Rambo patriotism." As the carnage and moral ambiguities of Vietnam faded from memory, many started to believe in the comforting clichés of action movies, in which the tough-talking hero is always virtuous and the hand-wringing types who see complexities and urge the hero to think before acting are always wrong, if not villains.<snip>

[Old and In the Way]

1. As always, Krugman nails it.

"Yet his inner circle cannot afford to see him lose: if he does, the shroud of secrecy will be lifted, and the public will learn the truth about cooked intelligence, profiteering, politicization of homeland security and more."

When Kerry was exposing BCCI corruption, George was getting a $25MM loan from these same crooks to prop up his failing business venture. Bush is so compromised, we should be wondering how his relationships may be negatively influencing our national security.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=644861

[Moderator]

2. Locking as duplicate........please continue discussion here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x69395