www.AndrewSullivan.com – Daily Dish

What I think the Republicans have realized is that the war on terror is far more popular and winning an issue for Bush if it is stripped of its actual events, and setbacks and triumphs and difficulties. That’s why the convention rhetoric approached propaganda – focusing not on what has happened, but on the virtues of a strong war-leader. The dynamics of both wars – of instant military success, followed by damaging and difficult follow-through – were deliberately obscured. This is good politics; but it strikes me as risky war-management. People need leaders who level with them about failures and difficulties in wartime – not gauzy North Korean-style biopics about the invincibility of the Great Leader. But then this war, vital as it is, has been exploited by the Bushies for political purposes since it began.