Cornered dogs

With recent polls showing an ever increasing possiblity that the GOP will lose one or both houses of congress this fall, it's not at all surprising that those most endangered by this shift are becoming a little desparate in their attempts to defend their indefensible behavior.

And at the top of the GOP's endangered imcompetent list has to be Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

And though his latest remarks are little more than the usual BushCorp™ "with us or against us" formulation, his rhetoric clearly reflects his increasing desperation:

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday the world faces "a new type of fascism" and warned against repeating the pre-World War II mistake of appeasement.

Rumsfeld alluded to critics of the Bush administration's war policies in terms associated with the failure to stop Nazism in the 1930s, "a time when a certain amount of cynicism and moral confusion set in among the Western democracies."

-snip-

"I recount this history because once again we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism," he said.

"Can we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can be appeased?" he asked.

"Can we truly afford to return to the destructive view that America _ not the enemy _ is the real source of the world's troubles?"

Ah yes, appeasement, fascism. Two hot button words designed to put those who oppose BushCorp™'s disastrous policies on the defensive.

And quibble's about the admin's inaccurate use of the historical term fascist aside (Bushies seem to think it's a synonym meaning "bad people": imagine that, Bushies ignoring history!), the appeasement accusation is as insulting as it is plain old wrong.

Last time I checked no-one was suggesting sending Osama bin Laden a fruit basket in the hopes he would then just go away (though we could perhaps try setting him up on a date with Whitney Houston, hey it's worth a shot). Such an assertion is simply a typical BushCorp™ strawman misrepresentation.

What Bush's opponents really argue is that Bush's continued black and white, "stay the (wrong) course" policies, and especially Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq adventure, have left the US in a weaker position to fight terrorism.

And Rumsfeld knows this.

He also knows that if Democrats win either the house or the senate he (as will many BushCorp™ lackeys) will spending 2007 and 2008 on Capitol Hill in front of congressional committees trying to explain just what the f**k went wrong.