Would the good, upstanding, moral, religious, pro-America Bush Administration sink so low as to use an “October Surprise” to swing the election for McCain?
[I do hope you detected the note of irony in that sentence.]
At this point, the electoral vote is so solidly in Obama’s favor, that it would take one heck of a surprise to swing the election the other way. One wonders what would constitute such a surprise.
The only major issue in which McCain (amazingly) leads Obama is foreign policy and its adjunct, the Iraq war. Now, it might be the case that the Bushies don’t like McCain very much anyway, and may not be willing to give him this nudge. But, assuming the Neocons in the Administration still itch for McCain–a man who never saw a war he didn’t like–what nefarious deed might they be thinking of that would help him win the election based on his alleged “foreign policy expertise”?
Before you leap to the conclusion that I am engaging in nutty conspiracy theories, ask yourself if the US government has ever used trumped up foreign crises to help push the political advantage one way or the other.
To ask the question is to answer it. From the Battleship Maine to the Gulf of Tonkin to Saddam’s famed WMD’s, our glorious rulers have always been more than happy to gin up foreign policy crises if it serves their interests.
The recent cross-border raid from Iraq into Syria by our troops might have been conducted with the thought that, if Syria actually took action to defend its territory, this would be a nice little crisis at a very convenient time. Fortunately, it appears the Syrians aren’t biting the bait.
How about a manufactured, cross-border raid into Iran? That would be easy enough to gin up, and might even provoke a response. Maybe it could be coupled with the oft-mentioned Israeli proposal to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities if we don’t do the deed ourselves.
Since Iran is Shi’ite, and Iraq is also majority Shi’ite, such an atrocity would cause a real crap storm for our troops in Iraq. It would be a dire emergency, and thousands of our boys (not to mention millions in the greater Middle East) would be put at risk.
The question is–are our politicians, who posture as upstanding moralists–capable of this sort of thing? I’m hoping they’re not. Not that I trust their moral judgment–that doesn’t even enter into the picture. Since politicians are by nature shrewd, conniving, heartless, calculating creatures, it’s unlikely they would take such a bold a reckless step. Undoubtedly, they would calculate in their devil’s arithmetic that the chances they would be found out would outweigh the momentary advantage of getting their boy in office.
Or so to God I hope.
