Rapture-driven election

Charles Cutter's fatalistic take on the most important issue of this election: evil. Snippet:

....The most critical issue in this election is not terrorism, but the quality that engenders terrorist acts - evil itself. Whether Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush, there will always be evil people in the world. The question becomes - how do the rest of us deal with them? Before the rabid Bush supporters and super patriots start sending outraged e-mail - "How could any American compare bin Laden and our president!" - let’s state our criteria for evil. Osama bin Laden is blamed as the instigator behind the September 11 attacks, killing more than 3,000 civilians. George W. Bush is the instigator behind the Iraq war, which has killed more than 10,000 civilians through American hands; and thousands more have died through the chaos we’ve produced. The 9/11 attacks were unprovoked and unproductive. The al-Queda extremists would no doubt dispute the "unprovoked" assertion, but the World Trade Center was hardly a military target, nor were the hijacked airline passengers military personnel. As far as obtaining a desired end - as grandiose as the downfall of America, or the more mundane desire of heightening America’s respect for Islamic lands and peoples - let’s just say the results have not been impressive. The Iraq war, too, was unprovoked and unproductive. Mr. Bush and his stable of neocon advisers would no doubt dispute the "unprovoked" assertion, but the bottom line is Iraq neither attacked America nor showed any apparent capability for doing so. The U.N. inspections, although low in drama, appeared to be working fine. As far as obtaining a desired end - as grandiose as a military triumph leading to increased American security, or the more mundane desire of a safe and stable Iraq - let’s just say the results have not been impressive. Bush & Co. were salivating over this war and did everything in their power to make it happen. If al-Queda’s action - murdering civilians on 9/11 - was evil, then waging an unnecessary war (an "illegal" war, according to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan) was also evil. In a recent speech, journalist Bill Moyers pointed out that "a close election in November could turn on several million…citizens who believe in the Rapture Index," a group of apocalyptic Christians. "One estimate puts these people at about 15 percent of the electorate. Most are likely to vote Republican; they are part of the core of George W. Bush’s base support." Moyer, referencing British writer George Monbiot, explains the mindset of these people: "[T]he invasion of Iraq…was a warm-up act, predicted in the 9th chapter of the Book of Revelations…A war with Islam in the Middle East is not something to be feared but welcomed; if there’s a conflagration there, they come out winners on the far side of the tribulation, inside the pearly gates…at the right hand of God. With no regret for those left behind." Sounds frighteningly similar to the mindset of the 9/11 attackers, doesn’t it? When Bob Woodward asked George W. Bush how history would judge his invasion of Iraq, the answer was coldly fatalistic: "We don’t know. We’ll all be dead." With four more years of George W. Bush, the extremists on both sides may well get their desired apocalypse....