As expected, the uber-right are ratcheting up the anti-diplomacy rhetoric, the warmongering and the fear factor. More moderate and sane conservatives, while not pushing for war, are carefully not mentioning that the test is a huge blot on Bush's copybook, pretty much proving his policies on non-proliferation are a failed mess.
Many conservatives are happy, as I expected, to use the issue as a distraction from Foleygate, Iraq and other Republican woes.
Progressives, meanwhile, are pointing out, as Michael himself does, that:
In terms of U.S. politics, the North Korean nuclear test shows just why new leadership is needed in Washington. Bush has gotten it all wrong, and the world today is a much more dangerous place than it was when he took office precisely because of his disastrous policies. It isn't just jihadist terrorism, after all. The threats to U.S. national security are truly global and multi-faceted. They were never to be found in Iraq. They were to be found, and are still to be found, in the activities of both jihadist terrorists and rogue states like Iran and North Korea. Bush, it seems to me, has never understood those threats. Even jihadist terrorism, given the stupidity of his misadventure in Iraq and the increase in the terrorist threat that that has caused. And now a dangerous state has conducted a nuclear test. Even if it was small, even if it was a dud, the test highlights the overall failure of the Bush Administration and its Republican allies to guide America through these turbulent times. The damage has been done, but it is not too late for change.
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