The timing couldn't have been better. Fahrenheit 9/11 had spentthe weekend breaking box office records, earning $21.9 million withits staunch anti-Bush message. The morning talk shows were ready toeither roast or reward Michael Moore's rousing defeat of censorshipand to predict it's affect on the November election.
But the Bush Administration had other plans. The early hand-overof power to a new Iraqi government stole the spotlight to becomethe biggest story of the week.
To liberals, the timing is suspicious, and a little more thanconvenient.
After all, when President Bill Clinton ordered a missile strikeon Sudan in 1998, conservatives were quick to call it a "wag thedog" diversion from Monicagate. Now that the shoe is on the otherfoot, look for conservatives to support the White House assertionthat the two-day pull up was designed to thwart insurgent plans todisrupt the official June 30 turnover.
To them, the thought that Moore's little film was worthy of timeat the White House drawing board is wholly ridiculous. I don't knowwho to believe anymore, and I'm no conspiracy wonk, but I putnothing past the PR monster that slithers around inside theBeltway.
Regardless the timing or motivation, the early hand-over is goodfor Bush. Progress is progress, and we're moving forward, howeversymbolically.
It will likely be months before we see a marked change in Iraq.Further attacks promised by cautioned Bush supporters can now bepainted as Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence. Small advancements can be spunas major signs of improvement. And Chief American Administrator L.Paul Bremer III is home now to brush the dust from his Florsheimsand get some rest before cranking out a nonfiction bestseller intime for Christmas.
Even conservative estimates have a majority of our troops stillon Iraqi soil for the next 18 months. The economy here at homecontinues to pick up steam, and John Kerry will announce a runningmate in the coming weeks. If the Bush/Kerry horse race continues tobe close, we're looking at a pretty interesting November.
Speaking of elections, the Iraqi people will be holding theirown come January. I'm sure they wouldn't mind some good oldAmerican advice in that area.
Who can we get for the new Iraqi election delegation? Karl Rovecould help them add or subtract people from voter rolls. JesseJackson could organize a trip to Guantanamo Bay to register thedetainees. And Katherine Harris could teach them to countvotes.
But what election would be complete without a thousand or so oldclunky voting machines. We may have trouble coming up with those.Wait, didn't Florida have some old machines it didn't need anymore?They should work fine. Heck, we just used them four years ago.
