A Tragedy of Errors

This just in . . . last week an agency of the Defense Department issued a report. It provided an update on the war in Iraq. The report referred to the conflict in Iraq as a “civil war.”

In a related matter a spokesperson for the Pentagon said that another Defense Department agency is about to issue a statement that . . . check this out . . . “rejects the theory that the world is flat.”


March Madness

This week many in America are happily consumed with a basketball tournament and what is often called March Madness. The literal among us are perhaps too quick to remind too many that the tournament often ends in April. Anyway, an all too familiar form of madness revisited the Democratic presidential hopefuls.

General Pace, the person in charge of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had a much-discussed conversation with the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune this week. He said, “I believe homosexual acts between individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts. Saying that gays should serve openly in the military says to me that we, by policy, would be condoning what I believe is immoral activity.”

So it seemed that General Pace was going to be the runaway winner of the idiot-of-the week award.

Until the Democrats got into the mix.

Both Little-Miss-Cautious Hilary and Gimme-a-big-smile-Obama were asked to respond to the General’s comments. Senator Clinton said, “I’ll leave that to others to determine.” Obama’s comments were equally bland.

For an entire day both fumbled and bumbled as if they were trying to imitate the milquetoast qualities of Gore and Kerry at the same time.

The Democrats, after all theses years, after two failed presidential campaigns, are still making comments that make it appear as if their spine has left them.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is fifteen years old. This is now a post Will and Grace America. Many think that the “don’t ask don’t tell policy” will not last long if a Democrat is elected president. Young voters simply do not have the paranoia about gays that other generations had. And they are right. A list of gays who helped the US win wars would embarrass even the most self-righteous homophobe. I’ll stop at three stories.

Before the United States was the United States, Baron Von Stuben transformed the Continental Army into a disciplined and effective fighting force.

He was gay.

During World War II General Eisenhower ordered his secretary, WAC sergeant Johnnie Phelps, to create a list of the names of all the lesbians in her battalion. She responded, "I'll make your list, but you've got to know that when you get the list back, my name's going to be first." Eisenhower decided he did not need the list. He decided not to take actions against gays.

US Marine Eric Alva was the first US service member to be injured in the Iraq war. He is gay.

Joke of the Week

This week the story of the week is best summed up by the joke of the week—courtesy of Jon Daily of The Daily Show.

“Good news for the Bush Administration, just one week after the outrageous Walter Reed Medical Center Scandal. That story is gone—off the front page, way back now in Marmaduke Country.

“There’s a new kid in town and his name is Outrageous-Fired-Federal-Prosecutor’s-Attorney-General’s scandal. Yes in one week it’s been revealed that the Administration screwed over wounded vets, the most revered people in America, and lawyers, the most reviled people in America.

“Proving, They’ve got range.”

Escalation

Escalation is a strange thing. We usually use the term to refer to military action. But it is a mainstay of politics.

Monday we were welcomed by the wonderful story coming from the lips of General Pace. Tuesday there was more bad news out of the Justice Department and the firing of the US attorneys.

The Bush Administration, proving they are not completely incompetent then pulled out a chestnut they no doubt had been keeping in the wings for a while. They released the news that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was behind most of the ugly things Al Queda has been up to in the last years. This included the 9/11 attack, the death of journalist Daniel Pearl, and a host of other incidents.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed has been in US custody for more than three years. No doubt releasing this information late Tuesday was intended to knock the stories about Mr. Gonzales’ troubles into the hinterlands.

It didn’t work that way.

Gonzales had stated that he did not recall knowing all that much about the firings of the Republican US attorneys.

E-mails released this week showed he knew a great deal about the firings. And that story had enough traction to mow down the Jolly Green Giant and all his buddies.

Hot Potato

US attorney’s are fired all the time. But they are fired only rarely during mid-term. These attorney’s were fired in December, after the Bush Administration knew that the Democrats would control the House and the Senate. Six of them had positive performance reports. Some were prosecuting or had prosecuted Republicans.

No one would complain if a US attorney were fired during a change of administration. Few would complain if a US attorney were fired to give a job to someone to repay a political debt. But to fire US attorneys at mid-term, because they were taking actions against Republicans—well if such charges are provable, the Bush Administration has a hot potato the size of Texas in its lap.

Credit and Blame

Three months ago, Congressman and uber Democratic activist Rahm Emanuel was harping about this story—and few responded. Cleary he was right and all those who ignored it were wrong. And credit should be given to bloggers who helped keep the story alive.

The really bad news for the Bush Administration is that Democrats clearly are willing to let this fire burn for a while. They can subpoena Gonzales. They can supbeona Rove. They even can supboena Harriet Meirs who has left the Bush Administration. The President can’t do much to prevent Gonzales and those who work for him from being subpoenaed and testifying under oath. But Bush can play hardball about people from his staff appearing under oath.

To most whatever it is that the Bush Administration is doing will not pass any smell test. Clearly the evidence may be read to suggest that the Bush Administration has something to hide.

Today

Gonzales and his charges in the Justice Department look like bozos for pursuing the firings when they knew it had the potential to provoke some heat in a House and a Senate dominated by Democrats. Gonzales and his staff look even more foolish when news surfaces as it did this week that Gonzales’ chief of staff warned them to "Prepare to Withstand Political Upheaval."

Down the Road

There are a host of possibilities.

The Democrats have to savor this one: what the Republicans are trying to cover up is so bad that it warrants all the heat they are now taking.

This is possible, but not likely.

At this point the story seems to be about competence. The Democrats seem certain to go on subpoena driven fishing expedition to determine if there is something deeper and darker that will be revealed. They probably relish the idea that a story like this could dominate the headlines for weeks.

And as one week of bad news seques into another for the Bush Administration, the Democrats have to love their chances in 2008.

But to think this way would be a horrible mistake for the Democrats.

No matter how badly the Bush Administration bungles the war in Iraq and domestic matters, if the Democratic front runners continue to bumble the way Senators Clinton and Obama did last week, Americans will rightly turn away from Democrats again.

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Too Serious A Matter provides intelligent, provocative, and often funny commentary about the often convoluted intersections of politics, strategy, and history. The title of the blog comes from De Gaulle’s comment, “I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.”