In 2004, the New York Times, perhaps the chief house organ of Democrat politics, ran 32 consecutive front page stories on the incident at Abu Ghraib, establishing during that election year that this was a very, very bad thing. (The more recent “Obama Ghraib” incident in Afghanistan? Not so much, of course.) But that hasn’t stopped the Democrats from apparently wanting to, as Bryan Preston writes at the Tatler, “run the highest ranking officer who was connected to Abu Ghraib, whom the Army found to be derelict in his duties”, for the US Senate:
Retired Gen. Ricardo Sanchez looks set to join the campaign for the Texas Senate seat being vacated by KBH, as a “progressive on social issues, fiscally conservative” Democrat. The fact that he’s running as a Democrat alone weakens his candidacy, in a state where Democrats haven’t won anything statewide in a very long time. But Sanchez in particular may turn out to be among the most problematic candidates the Democrats can field. They’re hailing him today, but not too long ago Sanchez was linked with the worst scandal to come out of the US-led war in Iraq: Abu Ghraib. Sanchez was found to be derelict in his oversight duties, a dereliction that led to one of the most significant public relations defeats for the US in the entire war. He left the military in some disgrace.
The Democrats seriously want to run the highest ranking officer who was connected to Abu Ghraib, whom the Army found to be derelict in his duties, for Senate? Apparently, they do.
Strike a pose, there’s nothing to it.
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Update: Glenn Reynolds adds, “Various readers expect to see Andrew Sullivan, Josh Marshall, etc. flacking for this guy. Well, stay tuned.”
Update: Ed Morrissey quips, “Maybe Democrats realize that winning a Senate race in Texas with Barack Obama on the ticket would be akin to attempting to get Texans to forget the Alamo, and they’d rather not run a realistic candidate in that slot who might succeed better in an off year.”
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