The Moose frets that the once proud elephant is transforming into a wimpy girly man in the final days of the campaign.
Panicked by the prospect of losing power, Republicans are whining and kvetching like yentas after a bad game of bridge. The have even pulled out that old chestnut from Bush I - "Annoy the Media, Re-Elect Bush". The Terminator is arriving on the campaign trail in just the nick of time to provide some much needed testosterone to the G.O.P.
What has knocked the President and the G.O.P. off balance? It all started when the Qaqaa hit the fan about the missing munitions. Kerry pounced on the allegations that the explosives disappeared after the beginning of the war. The G.O.P. countered that they vanished before the war. And Bush suggested that Kerry was criticizing the troops.
No, Mr. President he was attacking you and your cronies. It is a neat trick by the President - every time his Administration is criticized on the handling of the war, he responds that the Democrats are disparaging the soldiers. But then again, how could the paragons of perfection in this Administration ever make an error!
The Moose Intelligence Services cannot determine whether the weapons were missing before or after the invasion. But, what he does know beyond any shred of doubt is that the Administration (yes the Administration and not the troops) consistently failed to heed warnings about the need for more troops to secure Iraq. The dump at Qaqaa has resonance because it has become a metaphor for the overall chaos in Iraq.
Just note this story in today's New York Times about the chaos in Ramadi, "RAMADI, Iraq, Oct. 21 - The American military and the interim Iraqi government are quickly losing control of this provincial capital, which is larger and strategically more important than its sister city of Falluja, say local officials, clerics, tribal sheiks and officers with the United States Marines."
But, what really has got the G.O.P's dander up is that the press is actually reporting on the situation on the ground in Iraq. The press was a virtual lap-dog for the Administration leading up to the war, and for four years the Bush Administration has stiff-armed the fourth estate.
Now, the Bushies are paying the price, and it hurts so bad.
-- | 
Email
this post
