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Instead, it's become just a standard foreign policy tool for this country, and in many places, the preferred one - the first resort, not the last.
-- GlennGreenwald
While I agree with others who have discussed the motives behind Iraq (money, oil, chaos, etc.), I'm fascinated by the rank and file uber-Bush supporters. Of course there are the fundamentalist Evangelicals, but then there's another group. I've been listening to them in coffee shops in my conservative area, reading their comments on blogs (which I know aren't necessarily representative), listening to when they call into radio shows, seeing their e-mails to O'Reilly (my gym just loves Fox News!), and something has become abundantly clear, and it's something you, Glenn have said many times about the power structure and media:
They simply want perpetual war. Because they see Bush as the man who has brought them and can continue to bring them perpetual war, there is nothing he can do, whether related to foreign policy or anything else, that will make their support waiver. And they will rationalize his actions and incompetence forever to protect him. That's why all the double standards exist - because they see Bush as the only one who can take care of business. So, they believe he's entitled to special treatment.
On the other side, they see Democrats (and Move On, liberals, moderate Republicans, the 70% of the country who doesn't support the war, etc.) as an impediment to their lust for perpetual war. So, they hate them, and will say and do anything, no matter how dishonest, to smear them.
The reason I entitled my post "Captain Obvious," is that it was sort of a "duh" moment for me. Haven't people been telling me this all along? But, I think I was looking for a more complex answer, and I'm not sure there is one. I think we just live in a country with millions of people who love war above all else. Maybe I ignored it because it's, frankly, frightening.
