Why Now?

Almost no one wanted to come out and say that the Bush White House was pushing a showdown with Saddam for crass, political, hey-there's-a-midterm-election- coming-up reasons. It sounded so, well, unpatriotic. Would the administration really screw around with war and peace to save the GOP's electoral bacon?

Now – perhaps because the front pages are filled with Iraq talk instead of the presumably Democratic-friendly chatter about Social Security, prescription drugs and corporate scandals – the previously unspeakable is being spoken.

No one is seriously suggesting that Bush wants to go to war with Iraq as a distraction. But as a Washington Post story put it yesterday: Why now? If Saddam Hussein is pursuing weapons of mass destruction and is a threat to the civilized world, why didn't the president make these demands six months ago – or wait until six months from now? What was the trigger that demanded immediate action?
-Howard Kurtz, The Washington Post

I like Kurtz's column. Some people are starting to ask. Maybe this will all backfire on Bush. Probably not, but I can hope.