Dennis Byrne is a Chicago-area writer whose commentaries often appear in the Monday Chicago Tribune (along with Charles Krauthammer). The two of them comprise a rightwing Frick and Frack that provide one more reason to hate Mondays. I rarely read them, but couldn't resist the title of Byrne's commentary this morning:
Scary thought: Al Gore could be in chargeDennis Byrne, a Chicago-area writer and consultant
Published June 4, 2007
If Al Gore had been president ...President Al Gore today asked the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution of "concern" over the nuclear arms race between Iran and Iraq. "Both countries are perilously close to possessing nuclear weapons," Gore said at a White House press conference.
"Nuclear warfare between these two historic enemies would be a tragedy for everyone."President Gore requested the resolution after the countries' two dictators, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, renewed threats of annihilation against each other over disputed Persian Gulf territory. Two decades ago, the two nations fought a prolonged war involving the use of chemical weapons over dominance of the strategically important gulf region, and both nations years ago dropped any pretense that their nuclear programs had peaceful purposes.
Gore said former President Jimmy Carter, who now is Gore's UN ambassador, would present new, softer language than what's contained in the 14 previously rejected resolutions proposed by the United States. Gore indicated that the resolution would drop a U.S. request for a multinational summit of Middle East nations and instead seek mediation by the International Anger Management Institute.
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said in response, "Great, just what we need, another futile request for a feeble declaration from an international body incapable of agreeing on the time of day. Ever since 9/11, the Gore administration's toothless foreign policy has led to more attacks by Islamic terrorists, killing thousands more Americans on our own soil and worsening the sectarian violence in the Middle East.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0604byrnejun04,0,7272382.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed">Read the rest of this BS if you can stomach it
The reason I'm posting this crap is because I felt compelled to fire off an LTTE (below):
The real world apparently does not provide enough ammunition for Dennis Byrne to use against Al Gore, so he has written a rightwing fantasy account of what (in the mind of Dennis Byrne) would have happened during the last 6 years if the Supreme Court had selected Al Gore instead of GW Bush after the 2000 presidential election.
It is perfectly understandable why Dennis Byrne would rather not write about the real-world disasters of the Bush presidency, which are worse than the fictional scenario he attributes to Mr. Gore. What is not so understandable is why the Tribune would publish such tripe. By all means, let's have well-written logical commentaries from both the left and the right that advance the national debate. Unfortunately, Mr. Byrne's piece is just another assault on reason.