blogging it real

Iraq is going to hell in a handbasket - are lefty/liberal folks supposed to feel good about this or not? On the one hand it deals a blow to neoconservative ideology, the Bush doctrine, and (presumably) Bush's chances of re-election. On the other, it means a whole lot more pain and misery for peoples who have already had more than their fair share. Well, either way, the good news is that things are looking up for Kerry, according to www.electoral-vote.com/

Meanwhile, in La-La Land (Occupation: 49.9% of the American public plus one Iraqi - the interim Prime Minister) everything is going along just merrily thanks. According to the NY Times, "Mr. Allawi struck an upbeat tone, pledging that elections would take place in his country as scheduled, and that the people of Iraq would never forget the sacrifices of Americans and others who he said were pacifying and rebuilding the country."

Now more than ever the Guardian website is the place to go for all your Iraq and US election news. Jonathan Freedland argues that the rest of the world should get a vote - something I picked up on a little while back. Sidney Blumenthal is insightful, pointing to the fact that if you're going to tell a lie, you might as well make it a big one. Perhaps something along the lines of "We have liberated the Iraqi people, the rule of law is being established, freedom is being realized, democracy will triumph, all is going well, thanks to me. By the way, those who think otherwise are the enemies of liberty, democracy, freedom and everything we hold dear." Being a Republican Party speech writer must be the easiest job in the world ... you just have to produce a series of platitudinous soundbites that bear no relation to reality.

Yamis is away, so we're a bit short-staffed here at bloggingitreal. Cheeky bugger puts honeymooning ahead of blogging!

Update: I just read a commentary by Bob Herbert at the NY Times. He has some interesting things to say, along very similar lines -

The president said he is personally optimistic and he delivered an upbeat assessment of conditions in Iraq to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. Iraq, he said, is well on its way to being "secure, democratic, federal and free."

If you spend more than a little time immersed in the world according to Karl Rove, you'll find that words lose even the remotest connection to reality. They become nothing more than tools designed to achieve political ends. So it's not easy to decipher what the president believes about Iraq.

This is scary. With Americans, Iraqis and others dying horribly in the long dark night of this American-led war, the world needs more from the president of the United States than the fool's gold of his empty utterances.

Those utterances are what might be known, in less polite circles, as utter bullshit.