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07.03 Notice for Extension of Unemployment Insurance Benefits
07.02 A Cost-Saving Way to Travel: Rent a House
Ref. : Letters to the editor
06.30 An Open Letter to Barack Obama
07.17 Corporate Media Blackouts Continue as Iran War Looms and Impeachment Moves Ahead
07.17 The Pentagon and the Hunt for Black Gold
07.16 Washington Post's McCain-Friendly Poll
07.15 You Can’t Tell a Magazine by Its Cover Or A Candidate by His Rhetoric
07.09 The Forgotten: Somalia's American-Made Road to Perdition
07.03 Press distorts Clark’s comments
06.30 Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter'
06.27 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part II)
06.25 Robert McChesney's The Political Economy of Media (Part I)
06.20 Remembering Russert
07.18 Making Americans Unsafe
07.18 I Was a Victim of the Government’s Absurd and Over-Hyped War on Terror
07.15 Thinking About Safety
07.15 The High Cost of Bush's Iraq Gambit
07.11 McCain's Nomination - A Possible September Surprise?
07.07 Is Barack Obama Patriotic? Is Any Politician?
07.07 Obama's FISA Statement is a Mess (Just like his Stand on Faith-based Programs)
07.07 Campaign Notes: Of Flip-Flops and Fly-Bys
07.07 Supreme Court, Inc.: Supremely Pro-Business
07.03 The Real Meaning of the Fourth of July
07.03 Three Amigos: Bush, McCain, Obama Draw a Blood-Red Line on Iran
07.02 Rep. Ron Paul Assails Congress's "Virtual Iran War Resolution
07.02 How Ignorant Are We?
06.28 Primary Season Over, Barack Channels Hillary
06.27 Senate Overwhelmingly Approves Bill to Fund Iraq War Until Mid-2009
06.27 Defending the President as Tyrant
06.25 Critical Malfunction: Misreading Gore Vidal
06.23 Campaign Finance Reform Has Failed
06.23 Thinking About Flip-Flops
06.23 Heat Waves: Burning Off the Fog of the FISA Fiasco
06.23 Alarm over 'Unfair' Campaign Money
06.23 The Supreme Court, Habeas, John Yoo and Murdoch's Wall Street Journal
06.20 Keeping America Safe from Child "Terrorists"
06.20 SuperCorridor Defeat? Don't Bet On It
07.19 'Justifying' Torture: Two Big Lies
07.18 Torture As Official US Policy
07.16 Bush Asserts Exec Privilege; Blocks DOJ From Releasing CIA Leak Documents
07.16 Impeachment Hearings: A Win is a Win
07.15 Torture for the Torturers
07.14 Imperial Wizards: The Nangarhar Massacre and U.S. Plans for Central Asia
07.12 Kucinich Pushes on Impeachment
07.11 Disorderly Conduct: Subverting the Bipartisan Paradigm on Iraq
07.10 Mukasey: Bush's New 'Mr. Cover-up'
07.09 Legitimizing Permanent Occupation of Iraq
07.08 Buchanan, MacDonogh, Pilger Books Explode Illusion Of American Exceptionalism
07.07 Bush-Cheney Crony Got Iraq Oil Deal
07.07 Keeping Count (When Ours Goes Down, Theirs Goes Up)
07.02 Iraq Oil Deals Fulfill Cheney's Goals
07.02 Bush's 'Wonderland' Logic
06.30 Operation Horse's Head: U.S. Raid Sends Message on Iraq "Agreement"
06.30 Invisible Hand: Washington Role in Iraq Oil Deal Revealed
06.27 It Was Oil, All Along
06.27 Big Dog, Little Tail: The American Elite Resolves on War With Iran
06.26 A Totally Lawless Regime
06.23 Top Dems Hand Bush Key Victories
06.23 Democrats Legalize Bush's Crimes
06.20 Torturegate: Truth, But No Consequences
06.20 Bomb Iran? What's to Stop Us?
07.11 Running on Empty
07.10 A Work Force Betrayed
07.08 Paul Krugman and Blindness About the War and the Economy
07.07 Thinking About Turnarounds
06.30 Thinking about Dependence
06.26 Health-Care Crisis Endangers Economy
07.17 Renunciation and Escalation: Conflicting Tides in the Terror War
07.16 Maliki's 'Timetable' Shakes Iraq Debate
07.16 Drought and Israeli Policy Threaten West Bank Water Security
07.14 Enabling Tyranny—Brigitte Bardot And Other Victims
07.14 Duce Bags: Italy Leads Fascist Revanche in Western Democracies
COMMENTARY:
Don’t Mention the War
| War in Iraq | Immigration | President Bush | Political Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republicans | 41 (18%) | 54 (23%) | 39 (17%) | 49 (21%) |
| Democrats | 47 (23%) | 32 (15%) | 31 (15%) | 107 (52%) |
| Totals | 88 (20%) | 86 (20%) | 70 (16%) | 156 (36%) |
Although Republican Members are less likely to mention the War in Iraq than their Democratic counterparts, neither party delegation appears intent on highlighting the war. That doesn’t mean they are unwilling to mention foreign affairs. Numerous references to Sudan and the crisis in Darfur can be found on the web pages of the Democrats while Republicans favor Dubai and Mexico. Most of the countries on the planet are mentioned by at least one Republican: although Iraq doesn’t merit a mention from Tennessee Rep. John J. Duncan, Scotland does. To be sure, there are numerous immediate references to Veterans, and several mouse clicks into many of the official web sites old press releases about Iraq can be found, but it’s all too obvious that many Members are ready to move on even while more American soldiers become casualties every day.
Immigration doesn’t feature heavily as an issue either. Less than one-fifth of Republican and only one-sixth of Democratic web sites mention the issue on the first page. This is clearly not an issue that works well for all Republicans. The most obvious difference is that the web sites of Democrats are more likely to include a translation to Spanish button than those of Republicans. Of course, a few House Republicans are staking out strong positions on Immigration. Read Texas Republican John Culberson’s web page and you might wonder whether the United States, or at least Texas, was at war with Mexico.
Roughly the same frequency distribution exists for references to Pres. George W. Bush, with little more than one-fifth of Republican and one-sixth of Democratic web sites mentioning him on the first page. House Republicans are keeping their distance from a Republican president unable to arrest the decline in his poll numbers.
Just as many House Democrats once felt it necessary to disguise their party affiliation, now many House Republicans have begun to mimic those across the aisle. Connecticut Rep. Nancy L. Johnson‘s web site provides the best example. Not only has her web page been sanitized of all references to the Republican Party but it mentions an award received from the Sierra Club and a photo of Rep. Johnson and former Pres. Bill Clinton smiling at one another. When Republicans lose their majority in the House of Representatives in 2006 or 2008 Rep. Johnson and several others like her may be ready to increase the Democratic majority by switching parties.
Not mentioning the war is clearly insufficient for four out of five House Republicans. They have also decided to distance themselves from the Republican Party as the incumbent party of government voters will punish for Iraq, Katrina and other disasters. What all this suggests is a new shape to American politics in 2006 and afterward, with Democratic candidates running for office as a team against the execrable performance of the second Bush administration and its tame Republican Congresses. Unfortunately, what it doesn’t promise is any political accounting for the War in Iraq. Silence on this issue leaves Americans with an unacceptable collective burden of repressed material. Who is responsible for marching the United States into a war that it didn’t need to fight? Who will be held responsible? The only way to answer these questions is to talk about the war itself.
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This story was published on May 31, 2006.
