Hyman's Sails Are Limp

Hyman talks about the upcoming “summer doldrums,” but he’s already dead in the water. Devoting an episode of “The Point” to telling us what we will be wondering about in the future, Hyman proceeds to wonder about these topics right now. (No one accused Hyman of making much sense).

His content-free musings consist of unsupported ad hominem attacks on Michael Jackson (admittedly an easy target), “Runaway Bride” Jennifer Wilbanks, Howard Dean, Natalee Holloway’s parents, and George Soros (whom Hyman describes in an adjectival frenzy as “the leading investor of the extreme fringe element of the far left wing” [italics added]; note to self: send Hyman a copy of Strunk & White’s Elements of Style).

But Hyman’s vacuousness does not force us to follow suit. Instead, we offer some meatier topics to ponder:

How long will it be before George Bush claims the London bombings are proof of the need to fight the war on terror . . . in Iraq?

How soon will right wing talking heads (including Hyman) begin trying to use the tragedy in London to bolster the sagging popularity of Bush foreign policy?

How often will Bush mention 9/11 in his next public speech about Iraq, despite the fact that Iraq had nothing to do with it?

When will we find those darn WMDs, anyway?

Will the mainstream press allow the Bush administration and its handmaidens among the punditocracy get away with suggesting the war in Iraq is making us safer from terrorist attacks when the CIA itself states that Iraq has become the premier training ground for terrorists since the U.S. invasion?

Why didn’t Bush actually establish democracy in Afghanistan rather than letting it slide back into chaos as he pursued a policy of preemptive war in Iraq?

How much good would have been done if one tenth of the money we’ve poured into the occupation of Iraq had been invested in a complete retooling of our intelligence program so that it could better monitor, infiltrate, and stop al-Qaeda?

If invading Iraq was supposed to make us safer, why are there more terrorist attacks now?

When will George Bush’s daughters volunteer for military service?

Would more than 50 Londoners, 1700 U.S. soldiers, and 20,000 Iraqis be dead today if the Bush administration had focused on al-Qaeda rather than pursuing an unpopular, ill-planned, and unethical preemptive war?

And that’s The Counterpoint.