The mouth of Sauron was on television tonight with a short prepared speech to exhort Americans to support military action against Iraq. While our rubber stamp congress has almost completely fallen in behind the president to ‘speak with one voice’ he has continued to suffer from a lack of public support for his administration’s takeover attempt, so this message tonight on television, a speech in front of a friendly crowd Republicans in Ohio did nothing to provide additional evidence supporting the Bush line that Iraq is a threat to the United States. In fact during the entire speech I was struck by how Bush simply attempted to sway the emotions of the audience rather to prevent any argument supported by reason or evidence. He persisted in referring to Saddam Hussein simply as Saddam. I cannot imagine another world leader with a beef against another using their first name. Can you imagine Hussein using the same language: “George is a threat to the Iraqi people. George is a threat to the world.” It is puzzling. I can only guess that he wishes to reduce the image of Hussein to that of some swarthy, mideast Stalin. Maybe the repeated use of the Iraqi dictator’s first name is some attempt to imply some linguistic connection of Saddam to Sodom. I can’t imagine why else. In short, this speech to me shows two things: that the Bush administration is desperate to secure the support of the American public, and that the Bush administration is further desperate to win what could be a potential black eye for American foreign policy.