Hitchens' End

Christopher Hitchens should devote on entire column to just Dean's bizarre reaction to Saddam's capture, which exactly corresponded to his campaign's nosedive. What in the world caused that?

It should be a no-brainer for a presidential candidate to say "That's great news! I'm so proud of our armed forces. Now let's get back to building a great America for them!" or something, even if you understand that the capture was not going to solve all the problems of Iraq.

Worse for Dean, Saddam's capture signaled to the rest of the Demo field that it was OK to start nudging the Bush administration more on foreign policy. With the bad guy in hand, recall that the Bushies had successfully morphed Osama into Saddam, it was no longer aid-and-comfort stuff to question the White House's conduct of the War on Terror. The effect was that Dean lost the monopoly on foreign criticism only to start saying stuff that made him sound like a foreign policy loony.

With that, I think, Dean crossed the magic "electability" threshold for many Demo voters, that and John Kerry's botox kicked in. Ballgame.

Comments

[You've Got Monarchy]

"Voters act on perception, and this statement ran contrary to voters perceptions."

From the link:
The Iowa Poll shows 54 percent of likely caucus participants agree with Dean. Thirty-one percent say the United States is safer because of Saddam's capture.

[Gene Berkman]

Rick Barton is correct that Kerry beat Dean (and Gebhardt) in Iowa because of the tax cut issue - Dean & Gebhardt called for repeal of all of the Bush tax cuts, Kerry said the middle class needs tax relief.

It was impolitic for Dean to say that America was not safer because Hussein had been captured. But right after the capture, the terror alert level was raised. So, stupid as his comment was from a political point of view, it is hard to argue with the facts.

[Nobody's Friend]

Hitch has a very large head.

[Steve in CO]

Hitchens would be fun (maybe) to get drunk with, but his bootlicking the PNAC crowd for liberating Iraqis might get tiresome -- especially given the eventual descent into chaotic civil war that is in store for the Iraqi citizenry. Hitchens having been there should know that is inevitable.

It is a bit funny how a former left winger pretends via realpolitik to now be a right winger, when it comes to humanitarian intervention and an armed struggle against religious fanatics. He's still left wing, but likes the idea of bombing Islamists; kind of schizophrenic, all about supporting the state as long as the ends justify the means... Ironic that he is such a cynic yet is incredibly optimistic at the same time. Could be the booze.

?

[Rick Barton]

I remember being delighted that the Dean campaign nosedive in Iowa was caused by the other Dems attacking Dean's advocacy of repealing tax cuts.

[joe]

Maybe Dean meant that depriving the Iraqi resistance of Saddam's strategic and tactical leadership would make them MORE effective. A fairly plausible statement.

[considering anarchy]

According to the link, Dean merely said that America is not any safer with Saddam in custody. How is that loony foreign policy?

[david]

The entire world -- to varying degrees -- is safer with Hussein in confinement.

Duh.

[considering monarchy]

"According to the link, Dean merely said that America is not any safer with Saddam in custody. How is that loony foreign policy?"

Voters act on perception, and this statement ran contrary to voters perceptions.

[bigbigslacker]

Kerry may be a bit out of touch with the common man as well, given it is his assesment the war on terror is "primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation". Many might find those thoughts on fighting terror to be a little too September 10th for their liking.

[joe]

considering, even many of us who agreed with Dean on the question of Saddam's capture, and on the question of whether this war was a good idea, found his response stupid and tone deaf. It is a good thing for a prick like Hussein to face justice. Even if you disagree with the cost of bringing him to justice, that price has been paid, so let's at least get something for it.

Firefighters pull a baby out of a burning house safely. Reporter sticks a mike in your face and asks, "What do you think?" Dean's answer "What about all the other fires that are going to occur this year?" Woo-hoo.

[Angelike]

I believe that his first response was to take a day off from attacking Bush in order to applaud the hard work done by the troops. He then, after a respectful amount of time (I think it was a day and a half), went back with his attacks. But you can check his blog -- the first day was all about praising the troops. It wasn't that tone deaf -- reporters just like to make things sound more exciting than they are. And, obviously, we like to pick up these stupid things and run with them.