Republican Stupidity

That apparently is the message the GOP (or at least GOP party loyalists) is going to run on this election cycle. Make sure you watch the entire commercial to fully appreciate how deep the mighty Republican party and their spinmeistersr have fallen.

Unfortunately, the commercial is only a minute long, so there was not time to explain how snooping through your private lives, torturing Afghani cab drivers, ignoring the Geneva conventions, over-stretching the military then lowering standards to make up the recruiting shortfalls, smearing menstrual blood on Gitmo prisoners, or ‘staying the course’ in Iraq makes you, me, or anyone else safer.

I have my doubts about certain Democrats- I have ‘learned’ over years to instinctively not trust them. But that is all it really is, anymore- old instincts. Right now, I KNOW I can’t trust the GOP on anything, let alone security, no matter what their bullshit spin machine tosses at me.

So go ahead, Red State. Cheer this simplistic bullshit, and keep trying to peddle the notion that we are all gonna die if Rick Santorum doesn’t get re-elected (btw- did you know that Albright was up for election in a few weeks- it was news to me).

Because a lot of us simply aren’t buying it anymore.

Be Scared, or How to define a Bush Dead-EnderPost + Comments (66)

I read this, by Donald Gregg, fierce conservative and former advisor to George H.W. Bush:

Why won’t the Bush administration talk bilaterally and substantively with NK, as the Brits (and eventually the US) did with Libya? Because the Bush administration sees diplomacy as something to be engaged in with another country as a reward for that country’s good behavior. They seem not to see diplomacy as a tool to be used with antagonistic countries or parties, that might bring about an improvement in the behaviour of such entities, and a resolution to the issues that trouble us. Thus we do not talk to Iran, Syria, Hizballah or North Korea. We only talk to our friends — a huge mistake.

And I think of this:

“President Bush will be in Rochester, N.Y., for an upcoming event and has called on WIPP for help,” said the memo to New York-area members [of Women Impacting Public Policy], from one of the group’s leaders. “He would like to visit with local workers about their views on Social Security.”

The memo went on to solicit several types of people “who he would like to visit with” — including a young worker who “knows that [Social Security] could run out before they retire,” a young couple with children who like “the idea of leaving something behind to the family” and a single parent who believes Bush’s proposal for individual investment accounts “would provide more retirement options and security” than the current system.

The people solicited appeared to represent various arguments that Bush has been making for why Social Security should be overhauled. The memo requested an immediate response, because “we will need to get names to the White House.”

Somehow despite Social Security privatization polling worse than smallpox, the president never found a single audience member who disagreed with him. In fact the president never appears anywhere that an ordinary citizen might criticize him. Magical.

And this:

Mr. Howards, 54, said at a news conference here that he was taking his 8-year-old son to a piano lesson on June 16 at the Beaver Creek Resort about two hours west of Denver when he saw Mr. Cheney at an outdoor mall. Mr. Howards said he approached within two feet of Mr. Cheney and said in a calm voice, “I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible,” or as the lawsuit itself describes the encounter, “words to that effect.”

Mr. Howards said he then went on his way. About 10 minutes later, he said, he was walking back through the area when Agent Reichle handcuffed him and said he would be charged with assaulting the vice president. Local police officers, acting on information from the Secret Service, according to the suit, ultimately filed misdemeanor harassment charges that could have resulted in up to a year in jail.

It just seems that we are dealing with very small people who cannot handle the emotional trauma of ordinary disagreement. You are either a fawning supporter or a practical enabler of terrorists. With us or against us. Sad.

Emotional InfantsPost + Comments (125)

Tim may understand the political calculus involved below, but it disgusts me:

Unlike Atrios I don’t have much a problem with the political calculus here. Admitting that Howard Dean and the rest of the crazy defeatocrats were one hundred percent right is a pretty stupid thing to do immediately before an election. The headlines would pretty much cut the Republican campaign narrative off at the knees, which sucks when you consider that they have literally nothing else to run on.

I am assuming that while understanding it, however, he is in no way condoning it, because I find dishonestly hiding your real thoughts about Iraq to preseve electoral chances for the party that has NO INTENTION of following through on your recommendations to be beyond cowardice. Assuming the reports are true about these two Senators, their behavior is sickening.

If you think our policy in Iraq is flawed, you should speak out. Not remain silent and enable the behavior which you have diagnosed as wrong. Of course, in the week after the Foley revelations, this is not surprising or unexpected coming from the GOP.

CowardicePost + Comments (25)

So it appears Speaker Hastert has decided to do his best Gloria Gaynor impression:

J. Dennis Hastert, who was installed as House speaker eight years ago through backroom maneuvering in a moment of crisis for his party, has no distinct power base in Congress, not much of a national reputation and, in an age of television politics, little polish in front of the camera.

But Mr. Hastert has survived and survived to become the longest-serving Republican speaker. And on Thursday, standing outside his district office in Batavia, Ill., he made it clear that he did not intend to become a casualty of the Mark Foley scandal, saying he expected to win re-election to his seat and run for speaker again when the new Congress convenes in January.

Mr. Hastert made his statement soon after the leaders of the House ethics committee promised a vigorous investigation into the handling of the Foley case, approved dozens of subpoenas and said they expected to finish their work in weeks.

And what of that Ethics committee:

The House ethics committee launched a wide-ranging investigation into Congress’s handling of information about a Florida lawmaker and teenage pages yesterday, as Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) vowed to keep his job, saying, “I haven’t done anything wrong.”

The ethics panel approved nearly four dozen subpoenas for documents and testimony from House members, officers and aides. Its leaders said they plan to complete the inquiry in a matter of weeks, but not necessarily before the Nov. 7 congressional elections.

Sounds like the right thing to do. But then I see Rep. Jack Kingston (R-FL) and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) on MSBNC’s Hardball (here is the transcript and the gory details), and who they really want to subpoena are Rahm Emmanuel and Nancy Pelosi, so that they can clear their names. Because, you see, in the corrupt party, up is down, down is up, and it is the Democrats who need to clear their names. I don’t thnk I am being too jaded to think that the only reason they agreed to allow the Ethics committee to expedite their investigation into the Foley affair was to attempt to pin this Republican scandal on the Democrats.

This spring, Dick Cheney made it fashionable for high-profile Republicans to shoot (excuse me, the term is “pepper”) people and face no consequences. In an odd twist, House Republicans have decided to follow his lead- only this time, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight is content to aim their rifles at their own heads.

*** Update ***

What did the media and the Democrats know, and when did they know it, LSD (GOP?) edition:

Earlier this week, Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH) sent a letter to the clerk of the House requesting a probe into rumors that a drunk Mark Foley was turned away from the House page dormitory.

That part got a lot of attention, and for good reason. But Pryce repeated a second allegation in her letter, something she also heard during a GOP conference call on Oct. 2, that didn’t get much play: Jeff Trandahl, onetime House clerk at the time of much of Foley’s newly-revealed transgressions, had been warned about Foley by the director of the page program.

“[A]nother claim was brought forth that the director of the Republican pages brought specific concerns about then-Congressman Foley’s behavior to the attention of the then-Clerk of the House,” Pryce wrote.

Our attempts to reach Trandahl were unsuccessful, although we learned he has hired a lawyer to represent him. An assistant in his office was unable to tell us his lawyer’s name.

You can read the letter for yourself here. We checked in with Pryce’s office this afternoon; so far they’ve heard no response.

I can’t believe I supported these jackasses.

The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot StraightPost + Comments (68)