Monday, December 15, 2003
Bite Me
I have to confess that I have yet to read a lot about the capture of Saddam Hussein beyond a couple of Internet clicks, thanks to friends in town yesterday, the press of work, and a cold that has me hoping that on the third day, I will rise from the dead. But here are a couple of ill-informed thoughts that have crossed my mind so far.
First, in the long run, the capture is bad news for Howard Dean in that it gives his Democratic opponents (and George W. Bush) a powerful soundbite: "If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam would still be in power." Joe Lieberman launched it on Meet the Press yesterday, and will repeat it until Kingdom Come (as will right-wingers of all stripes, like NewsMax.com.) It's particularly ill-timed for Dean, coming the day after a vicious attack ad was launched in New Hampshire and South Carolina using images of Osama bin Laden to blast Dean's lack of foreign policy experience. In Slate, Will Saletan suggests that it's too early to determine how Saddam's capture will affect the race, and that predictions that Dean will be harmed or even finished by it are premature. A Washington Post poll notes this morning that Bush got only a one-point bounce in his approval rating yesterday, but his propaganda machine hasn't had much chance to roll yet. Between another East Coast snowstorm, the NFL season reaching a peak (and, as I know so well, millions of people down with colds and the flu), not everyone has had much chance to focus on the capture, so polling later this week will tell a better story.
The TV networks were in cheerleader mode yesterday--one of the talking heads on Headline News tried an ad-lib (which failed) about "sunshine breaking out all over the world on this Sunday morning," and even ESPN's Chris Berman talked about it being a great day for the world on NFL Prime Time last night. Last month in The Atlantic's D.C. Dispatch, William Powers noted the media's deep-down wish for success in Iraq, and analyzed its roots.
And finally, I am quite amused by reports that Saddam is being held in an "undisclosed location." Does this mean that instead of being in Argentina playing poker with Osama, Jimmy Hoffa, and Martin Bormann, he's now playing with Dick Cheney?
I have to confess that I have yet to read a lot about the capture of Saddam Hussein beyond a couple of Internet clicks, thanks to friends in town yesterday, the press of work, and a cold that has me hoping that on the third day, I will rise from the dead. But here are a couple of ill-informed thoughts that have crossed my mind so far.
First, in the long run, the capture is bad news for Howard Dean in that it gives his Democratic opponents (and George W. Bush) a powerful soundbite: "If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam would still be in power." Joe Lieberman launched it on Meet the Press yesterday, and will repeat it until Kingdom Come (as will right-wingers of all stripes, like NewsMax.com.) It's particularly ill-timed for Dean, coming the day after a vicious attack ad was launched in New Hampshire and South Carolina using images of Osama bin Laden to blast Dean's lack of foreign policy experience. In Slate, Will Saletan suggests that it's too early to determine how Saddam's capture will affect the race, and that predictions that Dean will be harmed or even finished by it are premature. A Washington Post poll notes this morning that Bush got only a one-point bounce in his approval rating yesterday, but his propaganda machine hasn't had much chance to roll yet. Between another East Coast snowstorm, the NFL season reaching a peak (and, as I know so well, millions of people down with colds and the flu), not everyone has had much chance to focus on the capture, so polling later this week will tell a better story.
The TV networks were in cheerleader mode yesterday--one of the talking heads on Headline News tried an ad-lib (which failed) about "sunshine breaking out all over the world on this Sunday morning," and even ESPN's Chris Berman talked about it being a great day for the world on NFL Prime Time last night. Last month in The Atlantic's D.C. Dispatch, William Powers noted the media's deep-down wish for success in Iraq, and analyzed its roots.
And finally, I am quite amused by reports that Saddam is being held in an "undisclosed location." Does this mean that instead of being in Argentina playing poker with Osama, Jimmy Hoffa, and Martin Bormann, he's now playing with Dick Cheney?
