Iran did not foreclose on any homes in America today
Iran did not push Social Security to the brink of insolvency today
Iran did not leave 40 million Americans without healthcare insurance today
Iran did not create a failed public education system in America, or gerrymander tax laws to make the rich richer and undermine America’s middle class, or dupe us into squandering our precious soldiers and national treasure on misguided military adventures in Iraq, or put our economy into a tailspin, etc, etc.
And yet, listening to the ceaseless, mindless mantras of the Republican establishment, and its candidate for President, one would get the impression that the defining issue of this election, and of our country’s future, is Iran. In truth, it is – as always with the GOP – about fear mongering, about creating a bogeyman that only gun-toting, muscle-bound Republicans can defeat (sic). Sorry, Mr. McCain, we have been too long down that road, and the wreckage is plain for all to see. Our own house is falling down around us. We need a President who understands this, and has the intellectual foundation and moral authority to lead us forward – not in fear (the GOP’s one-trick pony) but in the confidence that we can rebuild an America that has been very nearly destroyed by 7 years of ignorance and incompetence. We are not afraid of Iran. We can dissuade, disarm – or defeat if necessary – any enemy in the world if we focus on creating an educated, engaged citizenry, equitable distribution of economic opportunities and benefits, and recovery of the moral authority that America once enjoyed. The GOP platform is virtually silent on those issues which are of paramount importance to voters throughout the country in 2008. Thus, an historic rout of the GOP is in the cards for November. Perhaps a new GOP will emerge from the ashes. Perhaps.
I would wager you that the GOP is not on the verge of an historic rout in 2008. I am not guaranteeing they will win, but things are too polarized right now for anything like you suggest.