Canadian Neocon David Frum, the man who wrote the Bush "Axis Of Evil" speech and his other major speeches representing the Cheney-Wolfowitz-Perle "Axis Of Neocons" during the first Bush term, has come out with a how-to book for neocon hawks, co-written by Richard Perle, "An End To Evil: How To Win The War On Terror." Even the editors at Amazon aren't particularly pleased with the book: "It's a broad-ranging political opinion book--one might even use the words "screed" or "manifesto." Perhaps because it tries to cover so much ground, the individually compelling arguments don't hold together as coherently as one might hope."

Frum participated as part of a non-caballeros trio on Bill Maher recently, the other members of the panel being General Wesley Clark and one of the Dixie Chicks. Frum was neither compelling nor coherent, and often turned to the side with his hand over his mouth, seemingly embarrassed to be seen on TV laughing at Maher's funny, off-color jokes. In a mellow voice with little affect, he politely but strongly voiced his talking points on the subjects that came up, with little meaningful response to what the others were actually saying and little attempt to explain what he meant by his cant statements. (transcript) On the subject of the ease with which the world's terrorists can buy assault weapons at U.S. gun shows, Frum responded, "If you are opposed to guns, just be opposed to guns. Don't try to piggyback it onto a terrorist issue which it's got nothing to do with." To which Maher responded, "Why won't you guys ever give an inch? But why don't you ever give an inch? I was -- I thought -- magnanimous, and I said, after the Iraqi elections, 'You know what? This idea of freedom and democracy working in the Middle East, yeah, it might be.' You can't just give that one point that everybody sacrificed for 9/11 but the gun owners? You couldn't stand up for the -- because, let's be honest, bad guys plus guns, there is a little logic there, a little. They did 9/11 with box-cutters. [applause]"

These days David Frum works as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank on the right, and writes a column for the conservative National Post, a Canadian newspaper. Meanwhile, the battle between Bush and the Canadian government heats up over differences foreign (Iraq and missile defense), domestic (global warming, gays, pot, and church/state divisions), and border/trade (passports, mad cows, prescription drugs, and lumber). During Bush's most recent visit to Canada, Canadian PM Martin asked for a lowering of protectionist tarrifs against Canadian lumber, but, stung by Martin's unwillingness to open Canadian air space to U.S. missile tests, Bush refused. Last month, with the WTO's backing, Canada announced a 15% surtax on certain U.S. imports, including swine and cigarettes. This month, Frum posted an op-ed piece in the NYT, "Woe Canada," calling for an end to Canada's century of liberal governments over 80% of the time. He brands the present government as continuing in a pattern of corruption and immaturity: "The discrediting and defeat of Canada's Liberal government would constitute a grand event in Canadian history." At that point, one would assume, the new Neocon government would do away with what Frum says Americans see in Canada: "a North American democracy with socialized medicine, same-sex marriage, empty prisons, strict gun laws and no troops in Iraq."

Clearly, the Bush propaganda war to turn Canada into his image has begun.

--Jerry Politex, Bush Watch, 04.20.05