It is a truism that politicians, and least national politicians, are lying hypocritical bastards. So, I suppose, we shouldn't be surprised at the bullshit coming out of nearly all the presidential candidates. Nevertheless, it is more than I can stomach.
Take Iraq, for instance.
Most of the Republican candidates love the war. They won't fight it, of course; neither will their children, grandchildren, or any of their friends. But they love it, as long as their inferiors do the killing and dying.
The Democrats are trying to take a more nuanced approach. Most of them are against the war, sort of. Oh, most of them voted for it, but they were misinformed, you see. And anyway, we can't get out now! Why there would be slaughter! And, of course, the Iraqis would still control their own oil and what would poor Exxon do?
But about that vote they cast in favor of the war. It wasn't their fault. They were misinformed, they were lied to, who could have known?
Forget that the lies for going to war were transparent. The dimmest politician knew that the "moral" basis for attacking Iraq was the "right" of "preemptive war" – i.e. to bomb, burn, slaughter, to destroy anyone or anything we want to just because we can.
That is the morality of madmen or monsters — or US presidential candidates.
Posted by Deck at June 5, 2007 09:48 PM