[Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Op-Ed Columnist: The Red Zone

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Op-Ed Columnist: The Red Zone

November 4, 2004
 By MAUREEN DOWD 



 

WASHINGTON 

With the Democratic Party splattered at his feet in little
blue puddles, John Kerry told the crushed crowd at Faneuil
Hall in Boston about his concession call to President Bush.


"We had a good conversation," the senator said. "And we
talked about the danger of division in our country and the
need, the desperate need, for unity, for finding the common
ground, coming together. Today I hope that we can begin the
healing." 

Democrat: Heal thyself. 

W. doesn't see division as a danger. He sees it as a
wingman. 

The president got re-elected by dividing the country along
fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious
rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any
riffraff who disagree to heel. 

W. ran a jihad in America so he can fight one in Iraq -
drawing a devoted flock of evangelicals, or "values
voters," as they call themselves, to the polls by opposing
abortion, suffocating stem cell research and supporting a
constitutional amendment against gay marriage. 

Mr. Bush, whose administration drummed up fake evidence to
trick us into war with Iraq, sticking our troops in an
immoral position with no exit strategy, won on "moral
issues." 

The president says he's "humbled" and wants to reach out to
the whole country. What humbug. The Bushes are always
gracious until they don't get their way. If W. didn't reach
out after the last election, which he barely grabbed, why
would he reach out now that he has what Dick Cheney calls a
"broad, nationwide victory"? 

While Mr. Bush was making his little speech about reaching
out, Republicans said they had "the green light" to pursue
their conservative agenda, like drilling in Alaska's
wilderness and rewriting the tax code. 

"He'll be a lot more aggressive in Iraq now," one Bush
insider predicts. "He'll raze Falluja if he has to. He
feels that the election results endorsed his version of the
war." Never mind that the more insurgents American troops
kill, the more they create. 

Just listen to Dick (Oh, lordy, is this cuckoo clock still
vice president?) Cheney, introducing the Man for his
victory speech: "This has been a consequential presidency
which has revitalized our economy and reasserted a
confident American role in the world." Well, it has
revitalized the Halliburton segment of the economy, anyhow.
And "confident" is not the first word that comes to mind
for the foreign policy of a country that has alienated
everyone except Fiji. 

Vice continued, "Now we move forward to serve and to guard
the country we love." Only Dick Cheney can make "to serve
and to guard" sound like "to rape and to pillage." 

He's creating the sort of "democracy" he likes. One party
controls all power in the country. One network serves as
state TV. One nation dominates the world as a hyperpower.
One firm controls contracts in Iraq. 

Just as Zell Miller was so over the top at the G.O.P.
convention that he made Mr. Cheney seem reasonable, so
several new members of Congress will make W. seem moderate.


Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma, has advocated
the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and
warned that "the gay agenda" would undermine the country.
He also characterized his race as a choice between "good
and evil" and said he had heard there was "rampant
lesbianism" in Oklahoma schools. 

Jim DeMint, the new senator from South Carolina, said
during his campaign that he supported a state G.O.P.
platform plank banning gays from teaching in public
schools. He explained, "I would have given the same answer
when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living
with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third-grade
children." 

John Thune, who toppled Tom Daschle, is an anti-abortion
Christian conservative - or "servant leader," as he was
hailed in a campaign ad - who supports constitutional
amendments banning flag burning and gay marriage. 

Seeing the exit polls, the Democrats immediately started
talking about values and religion. Their sudden passion for
wooing Southern white Christian soldiers may put a crimp in
Hillary's 2008 campaign (nothing but a wooden stake would
stop it). Meanwhile, the blue puddle is comforting itself
with the expectation that this loony bunch will fatally
overreach, just as Newt Gingrich did in the 90's. 

But with this crowd, it's hard to imagine what would
constitute overreaching. 

Invading France? 

E-mail: liberties at nytimes.com


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/opinion/04dowd.html?ex=1100571755&ei=1&en=7422d1d63a6fe22a


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