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Don’t Cast Those “Dispersions” At Me

Other parts of the world, and some here – and I’m not casting dispersion, I’m just giving you a sense – I’m telling you what’s on my mind. I am in disbelief that people don’t take these people seriously, as if they’re some kind of incompetent, and/or isolated people. They’re plenty competent, they’re plenty tough, […]

Other parts of the world, and some here – and I’m not casting dispersion, I’m just giving you a sense – I’m telling you what’s on my mind. I am in disbelief that people don’t take these people seriously, as if they’re some kind of incompetent, and/or isolated people. They’re plenty competent, they’re plenty tough, and they’re plenty ambitious. ~George W. Bush

Perhaps there are people who don’t take “these people” (presumably he is referring to jihadis) very seriously.  I don’t know what other way you can take them but seriously.  It seems to me that few informed people take the danger of jihadi terrorism lightly.  This is another in a long string of Mr. Bush’s efforts to define his opposition according to some cardboard cut-out of the ridiculous appeaser who will do anything to avoid a fight.  In his addresses in the last two years, he has warned about appeasers and “isolationists,” even though no one advocates negotiating with jihadis and no one of any prominence, certainly, holds anything like an “isolationist” foreign policy view (never mind for the moment that most people who have historically been called “isolationists” weren’t really true isolationists, either, and that the term is a nonsensical bit of propaganda).  He can handily rebuke appeasement and isolationism and pretend that he has dealt his domestic critics powerful rhetorical blows, all the while ignoring what they actually say and what they actually recommend.  Now the new one is that opponents of his policy do not take the jihadis seriously, as if we were the ones who thought there would be no resistance after the Iraq invasion and as if we were the ones who didn’t expect the rise of terrorism in occupied Iraq.  We don’t take them seriously, because Mr. Bush has determined that we cannot possibly take them seriously and disagree with his policies at the same time.  He may be casting aspersions at us, but fortunately he’s not casting dispersion at anyone, for which we are all undoubtedly grateful.

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