The Tragedies have become the new Children, in that there seemingly cannot be a thought that isn’t first run through the 11 September scale of justice before being thought of on its actual merits.

The Associated Press reports on the Bush fundraising photo as such: “The White House fended off criticism Tuesday that Republicans exploited the terrorist attacks by using a White House photo of President Bush in action on Sept. 11 to attract fresh donations for GOP congressional candidates.” What are we talking about here? A picture of President Bush on the phone with Vice President Cheney following the Tragedies, along with pictures from last year’s inauguration and this year’s State of the Union address, sold as a set for $150 as a Republican fundraiser.

Jerrold Nadler (Democrat, New York) is upset about the whole thing, and that cannot be a pretty sight. Said the Fat Man: “That the Republican Party sees no problem with this profit-from-pain scheme says a lot about the moral state of the party.” Uh-huh. Terry McAuliffe goes a step further: “[E]ven the most cynical partisan operative would have cowered at the notion of exploiting the Sept. 11 tragedy.” (Never trust a man with a woman’s name, I say; John Wayne understood this … his old first name was Marion.) The torches are lit … let them horrible overacting toward the end of political gain begin.

Wait a minute … does this mean there are such things as questionable fundraising activities? No! Curse the Bush administration for tainting this otherwise spotless, hallowed institution! Why, the man shouldn’t ever get another vote cast for him! Get the point? Get this: if, in the last decade’s continuous string of questionable White House fundraising activities, this is the irregularity upon which we deem the practice corrupt, then we have missed the point of corruption, and we are trying much too hard to pin something on President Bush in a pivotal election year. Next week no one will care about this, an appropriate response, as the very debate is disingenuous. It’s not like President Bush has transferred military intelligence to the Red Chinese, you know, and we are talking about a White House photo.

Democrats seem to be asking, In selling this picture, aren’t Republicans lending further suffering to the bereaved? You mean like blaming the Oklahoma City bombing on conservative radio talk show hosts as soon as a non-Arab was arrested, before the last body had even cooled? No, this is nothing like that, if for no other reason because the photo set highlights President Bush’s singular accomplishments; other than winning the office and delivering a spectacular (if often off base) State of the Union speech, what else has he done besides treat Al Queda and the Taliban as they deserved to be treated? What would the Left rather see, him signing that abortion of a farm bill? “Pardoning” that turkey last Thanksgiving? Without the Tragedies he’s an average President at best (and probably average besides), his speaking to Vice President Cheney is the least offensive picture I can imagine from that terrible time.

Another reasonable question: Why – oh! why – are we continuing to base every public debate and decision on how it relates (either in fantasy or reality) to the collapse of the World Trade Center towers? Nary a bad idea has been hatched since the Tragedies that hasn’t been advanced or challenged on the basis of the Tragedies themselves, from federalizing airport security, to tariffs of foreign lumber and steel, to that completely ridiculous five color warning system, on and on and on and on, ad infinitum.

Come to think of it, the Tragedies have become the new Children, in that there seemingly cannot be a thought that isn’t first run through the 11 September scale of justice before being thought of on its actual merits, as it once was with the Children. Remember the previous administration’s almost Rasputin-like insistence on saving social security / Medicare, advancing into socialized medicine, increasing the minimum wage, balancing the budget (and oh so much more) in the name of the Children, and those yet unborn (those not aborted, anyway). Back then I would say, Well, the young don’t pay taxes because they’re leaches; I need my money, to hell with the Children. What are you supposed to say in the face of 2,800 dead human beings, whose memory we admittedly treasure?

You say: Look, 2,800 people dying how and why they did represents one of the most sincere and horrible injustices humanity has ever managed, which we would be doomed in ever forgetting. Their deaths, however, are not what the whole nation should concern themselves with; that job belongs to those who loved them. Our job is to recognize those frailties that lead up to that day, to admit our complacency was foolish, and see that it never happens again. Our lives have found normality, as logic commands, and this fussing and fighting over a single fundraising photograph is nothing more than an election year pissing contest the Left cannot win, so much so they are remiss in trying.