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"Decision Points"?? Maybe "Bystander to Disasters" would be a better title... (White House photo).

You don’t have to follow many elections before realizing that it’s standard campaign practice to tie your opponent to a bogeyman of some sort.  As Bill Ayers or Jeremiah Wright could tell you, the tactic doesn’t always work, but it’s always tempting to strategists to give it a try.

But not since Osama bin Laden released a video just before the 2004 presidential election has a bogeyman stepped forward to help the cause as enthusiastically as this:

With the 2010 election season underway, Republicans are reportedly concerned about how the impending release of former President George W. Bush’s memoir, Decision Points, may affect the party’s success at the polls come November.

While the widely-anticipated book from Bush isn’t set to be released until November 9 — one week after votes are cast across the country — details from the text have already begun to leak out.

That’s right, and as the release date approaches, you’ll have Dubya making public appearances to pimp the book, probable excerpts in a magazine or two, and TV networks promoting interviews with the former Shrub-in-Chief.

The Huffington Post article linked above quotes ex-Bushite speechwriter Matt Latimer at the Daily Beast:

Some Republicans, particularly those most closely tied to the Bush regime, actually argue the book could help the party by reminding some voters of what they liked about Bush.

Um… yeah, right.

More likely, the ghostwritten Bush tome will be a useful backdrop to the ads Democrats are already creating that link current GOP candidates to the fallen Bush-Cheney regime.

Although I guess it would be easier to thank the guy if the Democrats were more deserving of the help.

Photo by seier+seier

As spotted by The Agonist and Alternet, the Anti-Defamation League manages to denounce, appease, and embrace anti-Muslim bigotry, all in one two-faced statement:

We regard freedom of religion as a cornerstone of the American democracy, and that freedom must include the right of all Americans – Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faiths – to build community centers and houses of worship.

We categorically reject appeals to bigotry on the basis of religion, and condemn those whose opposition to this proposed Islamic Center is a manifestation of such bigotry.

The controversy which has emerged regarding the building of an Islamic Center at this location is counterproductive to the healing process. Therefore, under these unique circumstances, we believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found.

Yes, the ADL actually condemned the anti-Islamic opposition to the Not-Actually-Visible-From-Ground-Zero Community Center With A Mosque Inside… and then recommended giving in to it.  But wait, it gets better:

In recommending that a different location be found for the Islamic Center, we are mindful that some legitimate questions have been raised about who is providing the funding to build it, and what connections, if any, its leaders might have with groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values. These questions deserve a response, and we hope those backing the project will be transparent and forthcoming….

….The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong.  But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right.  In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain  unnecessarily and that is not right.

Amazing.  It’s like the ADL is pro- and anti-defamation at the same time.  It denounces the right-wing bigots while using birtheresque we’re-just-saying-there-are-questions-that-need-to-be-answered weasel words to echo their talking points.