In a nutshell

George W. Bush:
“This deal wouldn’t go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America.”

Every once in a while a politician says something he didn’t mean to say, and which summarizes for the voters everything they hate, or could be brought to hate, about that politician and his party. For Al Gore, it was “no controlling legal authority.” For John Kerry, it was “I voted for it before I voted against it.” For Bill Clinton, it was “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”

Now George W. Bush has given us a gift:

“This deal wouldn’t go forward if we were concerned about the security for the United States of America.”

That’s right, of course. But lots of things would be different if the Bush Administration were actually concerned about national security, as opposed to winning votes by appealing to fear.

Now the question is whether the Democrats, and Blue Blogistan, have the energy and the organization to make this a gift that keeps on giving, by repeating Bush’s words until the whole country has heard them, which is to say long after we’re all bored to death by them. That’s the job right-wing talk radio does, for which there’s no comparable capacity on our side of the struggle.

Of course, that shouldn’t keep us from also referring to the Beloved Leader as George Dubaiya Bush or nominating him for the Dubaious Achievement Awards.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com