J. Scott Brockmeyer [12/16/2004]

To the editor:It took me a while to figure out how President Bush garners so much enthusiasm but I think I have an answer, or at least a good rationalization. The Cold War was driven by the terror of Mutually Assured Destruction. Launch one nuclear weapon and we'll blow up the world, see. Today's hot wars are similarly driven, but instead of stockpiles of nuclear and conventional weapons, we're stockpiling religious fundamentalists and all manner of Bible-thumping leaders (and, as always, the opportunists). Because terror, in the end, wins. Terrified of the religious nuts in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan? We'll just elect nuts who are nutty enough to send poor, marginally employable men and women, including the luckless National Guard, off to do battle with the nuts. Airplane bombs and car bombs and biological warfare, oh my. Well, guess what. Our whackos are whackier than yours, so there. President Bush isn't afraid of you. Besides, he's got more guns, too. Perhaps Mutually Assured Destruction, but certainly your destruction. And about those stockpiles of nuclear weapons...In a world overrun with Daffy Ducks and Elmer Fudds and Mister Crabs, we need Bugs Bunny and SpongeBob to come to our rescue. Too bad the bullets and bombs and greed are real, not just on screen.