A vote for peace

As we ponder the theatrical "implications" of last night's VP debate - and collectively worry about the tumbling economy and our individual abilities to just stay afloat - it's necessary to remember the big-ticket item at the top of the Republican legacy. You know, that unprecedented, unjustified, unforgivable jaunt down Baghdad way. The very thing that defines the word "American" to a majority of the world.

So I turn this afternoon to blogger tristero at Hullabaloo, who, in the midst of a well-deserved critique of The New Yorker, sums it all up for me...

Regardless, I cannot let the following slide without comment:

There is still disagreement about the wisdom of overthrowing Saddam Hussein and his horrific regime...

Sorry, Mr. and Ms. New Yorker, but among people with working brains and souls, there is no - zero, zip, nada - disagreement. It was a screaming yellow bonkers idea. More importantly, it was an insane idea back in '02 and it was still irredeemably crazy in '03 when you shamefully endorsed it.

And no, I won't forget about it. And no, I won't get over it. Ever.

But look, I know my unrelenting anger at liberal hawks doesn't matter in the slightest. It is the dead that matter, and the mutilated, and the tortured. And they are all that matter.

So, dammit, the least the New Yorker could do is not try to finesse things. Not "over 4000" American troops as the New Yorker so roundly puts it, but close to 4200 troops have died because of this insane war, a war enabled by the support of folks like The New Yorker's editor, not to mention the silence of most of the rest of the liberals/moderates cowering in the interstices of the Bush-licking mass media. And not "tens of thousands" Iraqis, but nearly 100,000 confirmed pointless Iraqi deaths, and if you think that's even close to the real total you're being unreasonably optimistic. And let's not forget: While Bush had a few foolish partners in all this murderous stupidity, the blame is all America's.

It was unimaginable, unspeakable back in '03? Nonsense. It was easily imagined and many spoke up. In fact, the great majority of the world foresaw this awful tragedy, including millions upon millions of sensible Americans, including - to his everlasting credit - Barack Obama.

This election is about many things. As I'm fond of reminding everyone around me, it is, at its very core, a battle for the soul of America. It is about the kind of image we wish to establish in this new millennium.

But November 4th is overridingly about one thing which eclipses health-care and energy independence and creating jobs and women's rights and whatever issue du jour is grabbing the full attention of our impotent 4th Estate. It is about war and the consequences of a national policy built upon war as the 1st solution to all the world's ills.

A vote for John McCain is a vote for war. A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for peace. It's really that simple, kids.

I know which way I'm leaning...