Legal Commentary

How The Media And The Left Blogs Are Allowing McCain To Escape The Bush's Third Term Label

By Big Tent Democrat

Eric Boehlert writes:

CNN.com announced last week that among McCain's top political priorities for the Republican convention was his "need to make it clear that his first term will not be Bush's third term." . . . [I]f McCain did pull off the great escape, it was only thanks to the press and the way eager journalists pitched in to erase Bush from the political picture.

Boehlert tactfully ignores the main reason Bush went off the radar - Sarah Palin. While it is true that the Media went after Palin, with the loud cheers of the Left blogs in the background, the cost of this obsession is obvious now - George W. Bush became the forgotten man. To the detriment of Obama and Democrats. More . .

Consider the much cited post from the excellent James Fallows on Palin and the Bush Doctrine. While most are using it to attack Palin, I think the most important part of Fallows' post is this:

The other was Gibson's own minor mis-statement. American foreign policy has long recognized the concept of preemptive action: if you know somebody is just about to attack you, there's no debate about the legitimacy of acting first. (This is like "shooting in self-defense.") The more controversial part of The Bush Doctrine was the idea of preventive war: acting before a threat had fully emerged, on the theory that waiting until it was fully evident would mean acting too late.

. . . Sarah Palin did not know this issue, or any part of it. The view she actually expressed -- an endorsement of "preemptive" action -- was fine on its own merits. But it is not the stated doctrine of the Bush Administration, it is not the policy her running mate has endorsed, and it is not the concept under which her own son is going off to Iraq.

(Emphasis supplied.) This is a perfect opportunity to reintroduce the fact that John McCain is running for George W. Bush's Third Term. But no one in the Media or the Left blogs, other than Matt Yglesias and myself, have focused on the fact that Palin in fact contradicted the Bush/McCain Doctrine.

This constitutes, in my estimation, political obtuseness.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 12, 2008 (boomark / email).