Vanden Drivel

Katrina vanden Heuvel writes for The Nation:

Mon Jun 30, 11:12 AM ET

The Nation — The essential and not surprising reality of 2008: The Republicans are desperate for a national security threat to rally their base. How else to explain McCain’s uber-adviser/ lobbyist/ Charlie Black’s “slip” about how a terrorist attack will help his candidate’s failing fortunes.

Now we have Sy Hersh, the reporter who has done more, singlehandedly, to expose the Administration’s drive to war–with Iran–than any congressional committee.

First of all, Charlie Black did not “slip” anything. He is quoted in a Fortune Magazine article as responding to a question from his interviewers if a terror attack would be advantageous to McCain and his response was a candid, “Certainly, it would be a big advantage to him.” It is disingenuous to pose this as a “slip”. It was an honest response to a dumb question. What Katrina vanden Drivel fails to manetion is John McCain’s response on the topic, quoted in none other than HuffPo.

What really inserts the drivel here is not the twisted truth, but the idea that Republicans need to create a security risk to secure the base. The Republican base is firmly aware of the security risk to the United States by Iran and North Korea. There is an historical basis for the concern about Iran that dates back to Jimmy Carter, if not before. There is an historical basis for concern about North Korea that dates back to 1953, where we still only have a truce - with no formal peace agreement - ending the hostilities of the Korean war. The DPRK is still firmly entrenched in the belief that they are at war with the US - most Americans don’t understand this, but the Republican base does.