Two Kinds of Chess

There are two kinds of chess in the world. There is the western game of chess, in which the pieces move about the board. And there is Chinese chess, in which you put your pieces, or stones, on the board never to move them again.

I say this in connection with the continuing political argument over 9/11 and the war on terror. Democrats are all over the board, yelling at one moment that Bush is to blame, at another that Clinton is not to blame, that Iraq has nothing to do with the war on terror, that the whole thing is “Bush’s War.”

You’ll note that the Republicans have not been rushing around saying this one day and that the other. Instead President Bush is playing it the Chinese way, putting markers on the board and never moving them.

The flap over ABC’s “The Path to 9/11” shows all this with disturbing clarity. The Democrats run a week-long spin extravaganza, with the Clintons soberly asking for the truth, aged historians talking about “disingenuous” disregard for the truth, and Democratic officeholders issuing naked threats about broadcast licenses.

In the end, everyone watched the Sunday Night Football game instead of “The Path to 9/11.”

Media critic L. Brent Bozell III reports on all the Clinton shenanigans. He closes with a quote from a Kosite:

As one blogger at the Daily Kos pleaded about the ABC film: "So who is the greater threat to democracy? Terrorists or media consolidation?" Nothing, but nothing will bring this crowd to reality.

This would be funny if it weren’t so tragic. Because we have to ask ourselves: Where did this dunderhead learn this crazy conspiracy stuff? And the answer probably is: in college.

Meanwhile President Bush continues fighting “his” war on terror, in behalf of all of us whether we get it or not.