Jewish World Review April 17, 2003 / 15 Nisan, 5763

Greg Crosby

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When They Hate You, They Hate You

http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | For all fair-minded Americans who have been holding their breath waiting for the left-wing naysayers to finally admit that they might have been wrong about the Iraq war and the motives for war by President Bush, you'd better all start breathing now -- because it ain't gonna happen.

Many democrats, members of the elite media, academia, and the Hollywood crowd don't really care WHY we went to war or WHAT Bush's motives might have been, or even what will happen to Iraq in the aftermath of war. None of that was ever really the point of their protests.

The main reason the left was AGAINST going to war was because President Bush was FOR it! It's just that simple. Think about it. Why were there no protests when President Clinton bombed the Middle East (without UN approval or a vote in congress)? Why were there no anti-war marches when President Clinton sent our troops to war in Bosnia and Kosovo (again without UN approval or a vote in congress)?

Simply put, the protesters didn't care because Clinton was the darling of the left and nothing he did was wrong in their eyes -- even suborning perjury, lying to the American people, using the Lincoln bedroom to collect money for the democratic party, selling atomic secrets to communist China, and committing acts of adultery with a young intern in the Oval Office on taxpayer time. He could do no wrong. He was their boy!

George W. Bush, on the other hand is definitely NOT their boy. He is the anti-Clinton. And because of that the left hate him. They hate him not so much for what he does but for what he isn't. He isn't Bill Clinton. He isn't Al Gore. And he most certainly isn't Ralph Nader.

But the left can't just come out and say, "We don't like Bush because he isn't Bill Clinton" -- that would sound stupid. And saying "We don't like Bush because he isn't Al Gore" sounds even more stupid. So the best thing for them to do is to demonize him. And that's just what they do. They started demonizing him before he was even nominated to run for president. Remember what they said about him back then?

"Who is George W. Bush, anyway? What do we know about him?"

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush is a one-term governor with no experience in politics who is running for president because his father was president and he has connections."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush is an ultra-right wing conservative who wants to keep minorities down."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush is a rich frat boy who just wants to party."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

But none of that demonization had any effect and Bush went on to receive the republican nomination for president. That, however, didn't stop the nasty mantra from the left. The insults, allegations, and scare tactics only intensified.

"George W. Bush is a puppet for the oil companies."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush is a puppet for big business."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush is a crazy born-again religious fundamentalist."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush is an isolationist."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush won't answer the question whether he ever used recreational drugs, so we must infer that he did."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush will repeal abortion rights which will plummet women's liberation back 100 years."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush doesn't understand foreign affairs. He doesn't know the names of all the leaders in the world."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush only served in the Air National Guard, not the REAL military."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"George W. Bush was arrested for drunk driving."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

After the election all hell broke loose when Gore refused to concede defeat. The Florida vote counting fiasco, which went on for two months but felt like two years, seemed to get uglier with each passing day. Votes were recounted and Bush won again. Votes were recounted again, and Bush still won again. Gore wouldn't budge, he kept his campaign promise to his constituents when he said "I will fight for you" and he fought the election results all the way. The Gore people demanding that hanging chads, bent chads, and dented chads be counted as votes for Gore. They even found people whose votes were cast for Bush, but now claimed that they were confused and really meant to vote for Gore! Amazing.

At last the United States Supreme Court stepped in and after hearing testimony from both sides found in Bush's favor. So did that stop the whining of the left? Did that end the demonization of George Bush? Are you kidding!

"Bush stole the election!"

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"Bush is an illegitimate president!"

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"His father bought off the Supreme Court!"

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"Bush will never be able to lead the country because America is divided."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

"Bush will never be able to get anything through congress because the senate and house are politically split."

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

Since then, there have been several independent recounts done in Florida, a couple of them headed by major liberal news media like the New York Times and Washington Post. In every single case, in every single possible scenario, the results came out in favor of George W. Bush. Did that stop the Bush bashing? Don't make me laugh. It only made the left hate Bush more.

The lousy economy was bush's fault (even though it began getting lousy during the last term of the Clinton administration).

Fraudulent business practices of big conglomerates like Enron and WorldCom were the fault of Bush (even though it was the exposure of fraud that happened with the Bush administration, while the prosperity of those big business crooks happened all through the Clinton administration).

Then came September 11, 2001 and President Bush rose to the occasion comforting us and rallying us, and giving us all the strength we so desperately needed as a nation. He made America proud with his actions and his speeches to the world. That is, most of America. The left just couldn't stop hating him. No matter what he did or didn't do, they tried to nail him either way.

"Where was he in those first few hours? Where is he hiding?"

"How much did he know ahead of time?"

"What did he do to cause this?"

"Why didn't he do more to keep this from happening?"

"What is he going to do to keep this from happening again?"

"He is using the war on terrorism as an excuse to rob Americans of their civil liberties."

"He isn't doing enough homeland security."

"He's racial profiling Arabs unfairly."

The perpetrators of 9-11 were identified rather quickly and found to be headquartered in Afghanistan. When the announcement was made that we were going after the terrorists in Afghanistan the Bush bashing continued, of course.

"Afghanistan is unconquerable. Look what happened to the Russians."

"Bush is going to kill innocent civilians."

"Bush is getting us embroiled in another Viet Nam Quagmire."

"Bush will be killing our sons and daughters."

"Bush will inflame the Arab street."

"Bush's action will result in an increase in terrorist actives in the United States."

" This incursion by Bush will result in more people hating us."

What happened, of course, was none of the above. In short order, we defeated the Taliban regime, effectively rid that country of al Qaeda, and established a pro-western leadership that will, hopefully, lead to something close to a democratic government someday.

And by the way, we also sent in tons of food and medical supplies for the Afghanis. That country's problems are not all solved, but the chances that that country will be training and supporting terrorism against us in the foreseeable future has been greatly reduced. And that's a good thing.

Then President Bush turned his attention to another hotbed for terrorism, Iraq. Guess what his haters said then...

"Iraq is unconquerable. Look at Saddam's Elite Republican Army."

"Bush is going to kill innocent civilians."

"Bush is getting us embroiled in another Vietnam Quagmire."

"Bush will be killing our sons and daughters."

"Bush will inflame the Arab street."

"Bush's action will result in an increase in terrorist activities in the United States."

" This incursion by Bush will result in more people hating us."

"What have they ever done to us?" (Quote by Susan Sarandon)

We went to war. In less than a month the Saddam dictatorship was gone. People in Iraq were free. Children in prison camps were let out. Torture chambers were exposed. Large cashes of munitions were found. Locals were being fed and cared for. Coalition forces were being hugged and kissed by Iraqis. And we eliminated another place for terrorism to breed and flourish. The total casualty count of our military was unbelievably low -- much lower then anyone would have predicted. The same can be said for Iraqi civilian casualties. By all measure it was a brilliantly executed war -- as clean as a war could be, if a war could be considered clean at all. None of the dire predictions of the left came to pass. So what are they saying about George W. Bush now?

"George W. Bush is a dummy."

Sometimes you just can't win ... no matter how many times you win.

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JWR contributor Greg Crosby, former creative head for Walt Disney publications, has written thousands of comics, hundreds of children's books, dozens of essays, and a letter to his congressman. A freelance writer in Southern California, you may contact him by clicking here.

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© 2001 Greg Crosby