Foiling a war, failing a peace

A note of triumph pervades the Republican Party this week after a party convention had been conducted successfully as advertised.Now George W. Bush looks set to win another presidential term, this time by election, as a “peace president” following a stint as a war president. 

THE Republican Party convention itself was planned as meticulously as any al-Qaeda operation. The initial stages were set by party moderates as the human face of conservatism, followed by neo-conservative attack dogs savaging the enemy, topped off by a wizened, paternal Bush that would take these elements to a harmonious union.