Monday, December 15, 2003.<\/b> The Army’s capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ultimately is bad politically for King George II. Better explain why.<\/p>\n
Yes, it looks good: George W. Bush was right. Saddam went down like a coward not a martyr. The post-war skirmishes that have been ridiculously costly in GI’s lives will die down quickly. Yes, George appears a hero. He saw a dictator and brought him down.<\/p>\n
But there are dictators all over the world, and many that the U.S. government uses, even supports in one way or another, that George II is not taking down. But Where’s Waldo? Waldo bin Laden, that is. Terrorism has little to do with Iraq. And where’s the economy back home? The recession is only over numerically.<\/p>\n
The Second Iraq War gave Democrats a target on Bush, true. The longer Saddam held out — or if his bones, presuming his death, never were found — the more vulnerable Bush would seem. But this is a single aspect. It absorbs the perceptions of other problems, like terrorism first then overall foreign policy and certainly overall domestic policy.<\/p>\n
With Saddam caught alive and by the U.S. not bounty hunters, Iraq will get that government built by Washington. Iraq news will move inside from the front page or from top to the fourth story in on TV. This will cause the newscasts, including the talk spinners, to focus on the rest of Bush’s leadership. Rivals’ comments about Osama bin Laden or the alleged economic recovery will now get more notice. Not good for Bush’s re-election. Surely the Democrats see this and are planning to capitalize on it; I bet the Clintons spotted it instantly. -30-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2003 Ben S. Pollock Monday, December 15, 2003. The Army’s capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein ultimately is bad politically for King George II. Better explain why. Yes, it looks good: George W. Bush was right. Saddam went down like a coward not a martyr. The post-war skirmishes that have been ridiculously costly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-spin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":280,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2007\/02\/doubt-benefits-govs\/","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":0},"title":"Doubt Benefits Govs","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Briefly: The president said, most recently in this morning's news conference, that Iran -- officially or unofficially, maybe its government is behind it, knows about it, or knows-no-thing -- is behind some weaponry used against U.S forces in Iraq. You know, Iran's sometime rival, sometime enemy Iraq. Now we wait\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":766,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/12\/friendly-fire\/","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":1},"title":"Friendly Fire","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The shoe bomber, that is the shoe thrower, launched his attack 13 days ago, Dec. 14, and the story still has news legs. It should be ignored but the \"attention must be paid\" (A. Miller), then it might go away. The success of the attack by Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2004\/08\/kerrys-gonna-win\/","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":2},"title":"Kerry’s gonna win","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"August 6, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2004 Ben S. Pollock Friday, Aug. 6, 2004: After conducting all the research that's necessary -- licked my right index finger and held it up -- I finally can make a prediction on the presidential race: Kerry will win in a landslide. I know the polls still show neck-and-neck,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/05\/koran-in-a-barrel\/","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":3},"title":"Koran in a barrel","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"May 22, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, May 22, 2005. So ... if the International Red Cross says some Americans in some way desecrated the Koran in front of Iraqis, Afghans or other Muslims (with comparable incidents already reported months ago as part of the Abu Ghraib initial and follow-up reports\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2316,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/11\/war-paths\/","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":4},"title":"War Paths","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Sometimes you have to stop and think. Often thinking and writing looks like loafing. As Steinbeck wrote: \u201cI write many thousands of words a day and some of them go on paper.\u201d It can take quite a while. Visiting Washington's Vietnam Veterans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Life Lessons","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/life-lessons\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Abe and Ben. Ben Pollock mini-tripod photo","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Abe-and-Ben-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3111,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/09\/hill-of-beans\/","url_meta":{"origin":37,"position":5},"title":"Hill of Beans","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"And I feel like a beetle on its backAnd there's no way for me to get upLove'll get you like a case of anthraxAnd that's something I don't want to catch-- Gang of Four, \"(Love Like) Anthrax,\" 1978 Copyright 2011 Ben S. 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