Dems Exploit Bhutto's Death

Everybody knows It's a Wonderful Life. George Bailey, one man, learned how significant he was in the lives of so many people. The lives he touched were dramatically altered because he was there.

Now think of Benazir Bhutto. Think of how many lives she touched. Think of the millions and millions of lives that changed because of her assassination on Thursday.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Rioting and protests spread across Pakistan on Thursday night after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, the charismatic yet divisive former prime minister considered by Western leaders and her many supporters to have been the best hope for bringing stability and full democracy back to Pakistan.

Her death plunged the troubled country into even deeper turmoil, raising questions about the possible postponement of parliamentary elections set for Jan. 8 and the future of embattled President Pervez Musharraf, a U.S. ally in the war on terror who already is deeply unpopular among Pakistanis.

Immediately after Bhutto was killed in the army garrison town of Rawalpindi—shot as she waved from her vehicle just before a suicide blast killed at least 20 people at a campaign rally—supporters began blaming Musharraf for her death and screaming slogans against him.

The death of Bhutto, a regal, dominating figure who had studied at Harvard, won fame as the first female leader of a Muslim nation and came from a family long associated with power and tragedy, also was a potentially huge setback for U.S. policy in a country the Bush administration depends on in its global war on terror.

Bhutto, 54, who twice served as prime minister, had returned from exile in October, largely with the backing of U.S. officials, who promoted a power-sharing deal between her and Musharraf. They believed her anti-militant stance and popularity would bolster stability in the world's only known nuclear-armed Islamic nation.

The significance of Bhutto's death is enormous.

Of course, the loss of this leader is a tragedy. She had the potential to make such a difference in nurturing democracy in the Muslim world.

But the murder of this accomplished, heroic woman matters far beyond that region.

It matters to us.

Read President Bush's statement, extending condolences regarding the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, and condemning violence.

Pakistan is a powder keg. It's a nuclear disaster waiting to happen; but politics can't wait.

Russ Feingold issued a statement:

“The assassination of Benazir Bhutto is terrible news for those who support a stabilized democracy in Pakistan, both in that country and around the world. Bhutto was a brave leader who was beloved by millions in Pakistan. The questions surrounding her assassination should have direct bearing on both the future of democracy in Pakistan and the relationship we will have with a country that is so critical in the fight against global terrorism.”

In spite of this relatively uncontroversial statement, Brian Maloney notes that Feingold took the low road in other comments he made yesterday.

He writes:

Descending instantly into political partisanship at a particularly sensitive moment, US Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) used today's savage attack on Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto to blame President Bush and Iraq.

Given the emotional state of affairs in East Asia after an ambush that killed both a revered leader and dozens of others, isn't this a particularly reckless approach? By providing verbal ammunition for our enemies abroad, isn't Feingold pouring gasoline on an already- raging wildfire overseas?

In an interview on today's Ed Schultz Show, Feingold wasted no time taking the low road, folding his unfortunate words into what otherwise sounds like a calm and reasoned reaction.

It's one heck of a sneaky debate trick, especially how Feingold uses "in recent years" to refer to Bush, while cloaking the point slightly around the 2008 presidential race. But a close listen makes it clear he's going after Bush and Iraq.

After this many years as a senator, these kinds of rhetorical tricks are old hat to someone like Feingold.

From today's show:

FEINGOLD: The focus on Iraq has been a real disservice to focusing on this part of the world where a great, frankly somebody who had great leadership and following, has been killed.

Maloney points out that Feingold's official statement doesn't include the criticism he spewed on a lib talk show.

Feingold is such an embarrassment. How crass and opportunistic to seize on Bhutto's death to score political points! In other words, it's typical Feingold.

I guess Wisconsinites can be thankful for Chris Dodd.

Maloney says:

Making the earlier words of fellow Democrat Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) sound tame by comparison, Chris Dodd took a spin on the Unhinged Expressway this afternoon, laying blame for Benazir Bhutto's death squarely on the shoulders of President Bush.

During an interview with libtalker Ed Schultz that occurred two hours after Feingold's, Dodd didn't use the slightest bit of discretion in his uber- partisan attack on Bush:

DODD: It reflects once again the misdirection in my view of the (Bush) Administration on focusing on Iraq and Iran. I've been saying for months that Pakistan and Afghanistan deserve more attention.

It's still the epicenter of international terrorism, of where Osama bin Laden is, here. And yet the administration continues to focus its efforts, its resources, its time and effort on Iraq and Iran.

These Dems have no shame.

In addition to Feingold and Dodd putting their disgusting spin on Bhutto's assassination, we have her death being exploited by the presidential wannabes. (Yes, I know Dodd is technically a candidate but no sane person can consider him to even be a dark horse.)

The Dem candidates were falling all over themselves to use Bhutto's death to their advantage.

DES MOINES, Dec. 27 -- News of Benazir Bhutto's assassination came just hours before Sen. Barack Obama delivered what his campaign had billed as the "closing argument" in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, forcing his campaign to scramble to incorporate the Pakistani opposition leader into his message of change.

For his chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Bhutto's death helped underscore the line she has been driving home for months -- about who is best suited to lead the nation at a time of international peril. In her comments Thursday, Clinton described Bhutto in terms Obama (D-Ill.) could not: as a fellow mother, a pioneering woman following in a man's footsteps, and a longtime peer on the world stage.

The differing reactions of Clinton and Obama to the assassination crystallized the debate between the two just a week before Iowans will decide the first contest in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

While aides said Clinton was anxious not to appear to be politicizing Bhutto's death, they nonetheless saw it as a potential turning point in the race with Obama and former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.).

"I have known Benazir Bhutto for more than 12 years; she's someone whom I was honored to visit as first lady when she was prime minister," Clinton said at a campaign event in a firehouse in western Iowa. "Certainly on a personal level, for those of us who knew her, who were impressed by her commitment, her dedication, her willingness to pick up the mantle of her father, who was also assassinated, it is a terrible, terrible tragedy," she said.

Three hours after news of Bhutto's slaying broke, Obama delivered a withering rebuke of Clinton's experience, depicting her lengthy political resume as a hindrance to solving big problems, including crises abroad. In an especially charged moment, senior Obama adviser David Axelrod would later tie the killing to the Iraq war -- and Clinton's vote to approve it, which he argued diverted U.S resources from fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan, both al-Qaeda hotbeds.

"You can't at once argue that you're the master of a broken system in Washington and offer yourself as the person to change it," Obama said. "You can't fall in line behind the conventional thinking on issues as profound as war and offer yourself as the leader who is best prepared to chart a new and better course for America."

His remarks came as part of the unveiling of a new stump speech meant to reinforce his change agenda to Iowa voters before the Jan. 3 caucuses. But at every stop Thursday, he started with a few words about the Bhutto assassination. "She was a respected and resilient advocate for the democratic aspirations of the Pakistani people," Obama said. "We join with them in mourning her loss, and stand with them in their quest for democracy and against the terrorists who threaten the common security of the world."

..."I've been saying for some time that we've got a very big problem" in Pakistan, Obama said. "We were distracted from focusing on them."

It's sickening that Clinton and Obama are viewing Bhutto's death through the prism of U.S. presidential politics instead of as a crisis in terms of hope for stability in Pakistan and the region.

The Republican candidates engaged in some posturing of their own.

While I think it's completely legitimate for the candidates to address Bhutto's assassination, I don't like her death being exploited as part of America's presidential political games.