Friedman is Shrill

The Mustache of Understanding is bristling this morning:

Every time you hear Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney lash out against Mr. Kerry, I hope you will say to yourself, “They must think I’m stupid.” Because they surely do...

...Everyone says that Karl Rove is a genius. Yeah, right. So are cigarette companies. They get you to buy cigarettes even though we know they cause cancer. That is the kind of genius Karl Rove is. He is not a man who has designed a strategy to reunite our country around an agenda of renewal for the 21st century — to bring out the best in us. His “genius” is taking some irrelevant aside by John Kerry and twisting it to bring out the worst in us, so you will ignore the mess that the Bush team has visited on this country.

And Karl Rove has succeeded at that in the past because he was sure that he could sell just enough Bush cigarettes, even though people knew they caused cancer. Please, please, for our country’s health, prove him wrong this time.

Let Karl know that you’re not stupid. Let him know that you know that the most patriotic thing to do in this election is to vote against an administration that has — through sheer incompetence — brought us to a point in Iraq that was not inevitable but is now unwinnable.

Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq — and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate — it means our country has become a banana republic. It means our democracy is in tatters because it is so gerrymandered, so polluted by money, and so divided by professional political hacks that we can no longer hold the ruling party to account.

It means we’re as stupid as Karl thinks we are.

I, for one, don’t think we’re that stupid. Next Tuesday we’ll see.

And only "Seven Friedman Units (F.U.'s)" into this clusterfuck too! The phrase better late than never comes to mind, but considering his past actions, I'll refrain from passing judgment at this moment, when in regard to Friedman it would be more appropriate to pass gas. Having enabled, he seeks to disenable.

But I purposefully digress.

I've said this to myself many times in the last few days, and I do not recall whether I actually posted the thought -- but this election is not really about Democrat versus Republican.

No, it is about PUNISHMENT!

In a democracy, to the extent we allow ourselves to call us that anymore, when the governing party fucks up...and really what is more elemental than starting and then losing an unnecessary war?...YOU PUNISH THEM, by sending them a signal at the polls.

If you don't you are ratifying their actions, and guaranteeing politicians from both parties learn the lesson that starting wars is the guarantee of winning elections, nevermind actually executing them properly (or winning them).

The lesson has to be, don't start unnecessary wars, and don't fuck up wars. It is no more complex than that.