No Fair! Terrorists Wage Illegitimate War

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Tuesday November 09, 2004 · 5:57 PM PST

2004/11/09 · 17:57

As you all probably know, a judge decided yesterday that Guantanamo Bay prisoners may be "prisoners of war" under the Geneva Conventions, requiring greater legal protection that that currently afforded by the Bush Administration.

When reading the NYT over lunch today on the ruling, I choked on this little morsel on the front page. It is the official response of a Department of Justice spokesperson:

"By conferring protected legal status under the Geneva Conventions on members of Al Qaeda, the judge has put terrorism on the same legal footing as legitimate methods of waging war."

Apparently, when it comes to what sort of warfare is legitimate, the Bush Administration has a very strong moral code. Conventional warfare cannot be demeaned by elevating terrorism alongside it.

Whatever the legal merits of the Justice Department's position, that quote inspired the satirical article below: Read More

How the Fundies Can Deliver Us from Evil

genny

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Monday November 08, 2004 · 7:18 PM PST

2004/11/08 · 19:18

There has been much written about why Kerry lost, and what that means for strategy and tactics going forward. In my mind, why Kerry lost, on one hand, and what the Dems should claim is the reason Kerry lost are potentially separate concerns.

Although Kerry lost for a variety of reasons, it certainly seems that the "war on terrorism" (or, as Bush would have it, the "war on terror") is at last as important, and probably more so, as the categorically ambiguous "moral values." Raw exit poll numbers from one survey aside, (erroneous) perceptions of Bush and Kerry on terrorism moved the votes more than the values question.

So, if foreign policy/terrorism are again a staple of the next election cycle (which is certainly likely), I think an important lesson we take going forward is that we must have a candidate whom voters trust on national security in his/her own right, and as against the Republican opposition.

But I'd suggest we put that lesson in our back pocket, and enthusiastically embrace the meme that Bush won because of "moral value" southern evangelicals.
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