October 9, 2004

The answer is not in the stars

By Ronald Wieck
'I know it's controversial to say it, but don't think for one second that if George Bush gets re—elected and we have some other conflict in some other theater of the world, we're going to have to reinstitute the draft.' Read the sentence again, this time very slowly. There are no typos. All right, it's perfectly clear: the speaker is offering assurance that George Bush will not contemplate a draft even if America is faced with a new conflict. Except, the speaker is the ineffable Terry McAuliffe, who is conjuring up the specter of conscription to frighten students at Washington University in St.Louis and, by extension, voters everywhere else. Confused? Well, so is Terry, but that natural state for him has never provoked discomforting second thoughts, or, manifestly, thoughts of any kind. In the wake of the Duelfer report, McAuliffe has reiterated his charge that George Bush lied to the American people about Iraq's weapons programs, adding a new wrinkle: the President needs to...(Read Full Article)