On the Internment of American Prisoners: I

I can recall Bush the father pacing up and down the halls of the White House wondering what to make of the imminent end of the Soviet Union, his advisors fretting at his side. The Red Menace had decided to close up shop and not a shot would be fired. No missile ever landed on U.S. soil during the whole of the Cold War, from 1945 to 1991, a period of forty-six years. Unfortunately, the Republicans barely had time to celebrate, since the "read my lips" kid took it on the chin in the next presidential election, and for eight years, a Democrat would occupy the White House. In spite of the rather dismaying behavior of his first months in office, (a health plan the poor strategy of which is best summarized in the fact that it was delegated to the First Lady and an equally mystifying lapse of political strategy in the Gays in the Military campaign), before long Clinton found his real groove...and that was basically to become a Republican in Democrat's clothing. To the right wing, however, this made Clinton even more despicable. He had co-opted chunks of their economic platform, but in the holy wars the U.S. right likes to fight, viz., the jihad against secular humanism and remnants of commie thought wherever they may exist, he was clearly the enemy. Thus, the neo-conservative celebration had to wait eight long years for its mayhem to begin. Its agenda is a long one. It could not allow yet another Democrat to occupy the White House, particularly one so embedded with Clinton. Now, the Democrats had done their best to sabotage the prospect of having another president in the White House by nominating Al Gore and then saddling him with a Jewish vice-presidential candidate, (the plan being, ironically, to carry Florida--at the expense of losing every Southern state including the Gore's own), but U.S. voters found the prospect of an ex-alcoholic, born again Yalie President so astounding that the majority of them voted for Gore anyway. A few hanging chads later, the man who really wanted to be baseball commissioner was doing his presidential strut. The Supreme Court of the Land had chosen The Greater Good.