There is no better example of the paradox of the right wing negation of reason or reality than what is exemplified by Arkansas Republican Party chairman, Dennis Milligan.
“At the end of the day, I believe fully the president is doing the right thing, and I think all we need is some attacks on American soil like we had on [Sept. 11, 2001],” Milligan said to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, “and the naysayers will come around very quickly to appreciate not only the commitment for President Bush, but the sacrifice that has been made by men and women to protect this country.”
Milligan, who was elected as the new chair of the Arkansas Republican Party just two weeks ago, also told the newspaper that he is “150 percent” behind Bush in the war in Iraq.
Not only is this another example of how the fraudulent connection is between Iraq and 9/11 (ie. what has been embraced by the Republicans as a mainstream argument), but the logic here is truly mind boggling. According to Milligan, the best demonstration of the effectiveness of Bush’s anti-terrorism measures will be the moment it fails.
Indeed this is hardly a new line of thinking. During the 2004 presidential elections, a key message from the Republican party warned that electing a Democratic leader would guarantee a terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11, while simultaneously maintaining that such an attack was inevitable anyway. The strategy here is clear. The Republicans want the public to believe that the best way to prevent further terrorist attacks is to keep them in office, but should one occur, only the Republicans can be trusted to prevent a further one from happening.
Even Orwell couldn’t have made this up, but at least for the 2004 elections, the strategy worked.
It’s little wonder then, why the GOP is so afraid of Ron Paul’s reality based arguments, for it demolishes the cornerstone of the Republican Party.