the GOP is starting the "stab in the back" defense [View All]

Kevin Baker's essay this month in Harper's put a name (for me) to the tactic the right is using now in Iraq. The left is being blamed for the war gone bad because we opposed it, supported the terrorists blah blah

Here's the opening paragraph (sorry, not online so no link):

Every state must have its enemies. Great powers must have especially monstrous foes. Above all, these foes must arise from within, for national pride does not admit that a great nation can be defeated by any outside force. That is why, though its origins are elsewhere, the stab in the back has become the sustaining myth of modern American nationalism. Since the end of World War II it has been the device by which the American right wing has both revitalized itself and repeatedly avoided responsibility for its own worst blunders. Indeed, the right has distilled the tale of betrayal into a formula: Advocate some momentarily popular but reckless policy. Deny culpability when that policy is exposed as disastrous. Blame the disaster on internal enemies who hate America. Repeat, always making sure to inscrease the number of internal enemies.

Listen to Rush:
This Haditha story, this Haditha incident, whatever, this is it folks, this is the final big push on behalf of the Democratic Party, the American left, and the Drive-By Media to destroy our effort to win the war in Iraq. That's what Haditha represents -- and they are going about it gleefully. They are ecstatic about it... Folks, let me just put it in graphic terms. It is going to be a gang rape. There is going to be a gang rape by the Democratic Party, the American left and the Drive-By Media, to finally take us out in the war against Iraq. Make no bones about it. - Rush Limbaugh
from a blog entry about the Baker article here:
http://mydd.com/story/2006/6/6/14213/48947

I remember when they did it in Vietnam. If it weren't for the peaceniks, they said, we would have won Vietnam. Of course, those of us who lived through it know differently but new generations might not.

Propaganda. Prepare your defenses.