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Republicans
are already making excuses for an election they haven’t lost yet, testing out
phrases like “Democrats are winning only by running as conservatives“, showing
persistent and chronic stereotyping, still blaming others for what is their own lack
of responsibility. It’s the self-righteous indignation of Lynne Cheney unleashing her fury
at CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, who questioned the fictional sex scenes she wrote in her
novels rather than accept her (false and exaggerated) depiction of Jim Webb’s
non fiction of the chaos of war in SE Asia. There are numerous other examples
of these moral midgets claiming a hypocritical mantle of superiority but hers
this week fits the mold. It’s this we can
do no wrong attitude that has chilled those voters who tolerated
the GOP’s superiority complex through 2004. Many independent voters were
willing to give the benefit of the doubt to pompous behavior as long as they
felt that the Bush43 administration was earnestly working to solve the problems
of terrorism and economic stability at home. But a façade can only be
maintained for so long, despite The Architect’s machinations. For many the tipping point was undoubtedly Katrina, not the lies and distortions of the Iraq invasion.
Better able to identify with Americans suddenly uprooted and devastated by a
natural disaster, than they could the misfortune of Iraqi civilians caught in
the crossfire or soldiers stretched beyond their traditional abilities in urban
guerrilla warfare, they finally saw the administration’s cavalier, half hearted
response as indicative of incompetence and insincerity else where, particularly
about the truth in Iraq. The revelations about NSA warrantless
spying came before the public could forget about Katrina, and the
voices on the fringe that had been warning about the administration’s
aggressive expansion of Executive powers suddenly seemed less radical or
unpatriotic. By this time, the economic consequences of the Bush Leave No Corporation Behind economic plan
had unfolded, wages and jobs were endangered, health care was slippery at best
and even sportsmen were questioning environmental policy. From gay rights to
stem cell research, the diehard unilaterialism of the Bush administration spoke
of its indifference to the real issues, civic and economic, that the majority
of taxpayers faced. Before the scandals pulled the curtain away from their hypocrisy,
through the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Americans challenging the corrupted
status quo were gaining momentum. But above all, the addiction to ‘stay the course’ finally boomeranged,
becoming a simple slogan for Damn Reality! Full Speed Ahead! We Americans love our national
mythology, but this unrepentant arrogance and incompetence does not square with
revolutionary, pioneer or cowboy heroics. It’s time to clean house, and
virtually all the national polls predict there will be a voter rebellion. After
that, we need to reexamine are our priorities, what are the necessities, what
is realistic, and how to get from here to there without compromising the very
nature of our Constitutional republic. It matters how we get there. Former GOP Texas Rep. Dick Army Where We Went Wrong: “Somewhere on the road to a permanent
majority, the Republican revolution of 1994 went off track.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/27/AR2006102701482.html Columnist Joe Conason The Bright Side of Repudiation: http://www.observer.com/20061106/20061106_Joe_Conason_politics_joeconason.asp Veteran
war correspondent Joe Galloway, now retired and writing as a syndicated
columnist, writes in Ruining America that if Pres. Bush’s speech on Iraq last week was
“an October Surprise” it didn’t work: “the White House that says nothing is too good for our
troops has turned its back on a plea by Army leaders for a $25 billion increase
in its 2008 budget so it can carry out the missions the administration has
assigned to it. The White House Office of Management and Budget rejected Army
chief Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker's extraordinary plea by for the additional funds
to pay for repairing and replacing thousands of worn out and blown up tanks,
Bradley fighting vehicles and Humvees. Instead of the $25 billion that
Schoomaker says the Army needs just to keep doing what it's been doing with
spit, adhesive tape and baling wire for the last five years, the Pentagon says
the Army can have $7 billion. Meantime, VP Cheney confirmed that some of the senior al-Qaeda terrorists
in our custody have been subjected to "water-boarding," a torture
that brings the victim within a hair of drowning and suffocation. Cheney
declared that it was a "no-brainer." My thoughts exactly: Only people
with no brains opt to torture a captive in violation of domestic and
international law. This unseemly circus and its clowns in Congress can't go away fast
enough and with enough dishonor and disgrace to suit the circumstances. Their
place in America's history is secure: They will go down as the worst
administration and the worst Congress we've ever had. Period. They deserve to lose both the House and
the Senate on Nov. 7, and the White House in 2008. They bullied their way into a war that they thought would
be a slam-dunk and then so bungled things that the only superpower left in the
world has been humbled and hobbled in a world that they've made more dangerous
for us. Thanks, guys. You've done a heckuva job. We won't forget it.” Military.com Oct. 26 http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,117849,00.html |
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