Is all those horrible politicians.
House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in Iraq is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months.
Do you get that? The war is risking the future of the party.
It is supposed to be the line of the current Congressional majority – inspired by the kinds of people who like to pepper their political discussions with four-letter vulgarities because they think it demonstrates their pasionate “authenticity” – that their elevation to the majority status last November was due to voter unease about the direction the war on terror was taking.
To have the minority party start to believe this as well is self-serving nonsense and an attempt to purge from the record their wasted months and years in the majority. It whitewashes a leadership record that included turning a blind eye to ephebofiliac congressmen writing dirty emails to teenaged pages. It disregards public discontent over felonious congressmen and lobbyists who seemed to view the public trust as a piggy bank to plunder. I elides entirely over a paltry record of legislative achievement whose guiding philosophy of government seemed to be nothing more than smugly satisfied self-perpetuation, as witnessed by a policy of dramatic tax cuts followed by promises to spend just a little less those really big spenders across the aisle would have done. It ignores the fact that by using the war as a political weapon with which to bludgeon their opposition in 2004, it all but guaranteed that the weapon would be turned against them in 2006.
They could have taken their squandering of majority status as an opportunity to reflect in the wilderness, to develop a new and coherent philosophy of government to present to the people as a real choice, but no: Much easier to blame Bush.
We’ve already got a “party first/country second, ends-justifies-the-means/win-at-any-cost, entrenched government in every nook and cranny, nanny-state socialism, higher taxes to support greatly higher spending, grievance group entitlement and national defeat” party.
Why on earth would we want two?
To quote every detailer from my time as a plebe at the Naval Academy, they are trying to leave the president, “Face down in a rice patty.”
“…Much easier to blame Bush…”
Seems that the Republicans are starting to get infected with the disease that I thought would remain unique to the moonbats among us – the dreaded BDS or Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Pity.
It is truly sad when the politicians worry about their party more than they worry about the troops in the field or the people they protect.
I knew an old man who recited a poem with many verses, that went on and on with a refrain of “Some Republican stole half my hog.” In the final verse, mother asks, “How do you know it was a Republican who stole half your hog?” To which the singer replied, “Because if it was a democrat, the whole thinged be gone.”
These are congressmen from close districts. Every outfit has weak-sisters.
Dadgummit man, I had to go through three reference searches before I found a definition to ephebofiliac! Not even M-W listed it. I was forced to settle for Urban Dictionary.
I’m reminded of the PROFILES IN COURAGE film series we used to watch in grade school. Yeah, with 16mm film projectors, that sure dates me.
The constant theme was one man making a lonely, personal decision not for self or party but for the good of the country. Doing their duty as they understood it. Threatened, ostracised by colleagues, then later forgotten by the nation they served. You had to wait almost a century to find out who the hidden heroes were.
In public life, no good deed goes unpunished. None. That’s the deal. Live with it.
The only question worth asking any politician is : “How much punishment are you willing to take?’
Lex,
Your prose could almost incite one to..well you know, but there isn’t enough rope to be had inside the beltway.
Just wondering – during an election year, every senator, congressman, mayor, councilmember and dogcatcher in the Republic schedules town hall meetings, and the like, where “real people” get to ask them questions. Where are these post-election opportunities for many of us to ask Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?
And I read some specualtion somewhere that the House Republican Moderates waited for Cheney to be out of town and unavailable to attend when they scheduled their “remarkably blunt White House meeting” with the president.
They’re just GD politicians running scared for their jobs is all..predictable. Steamed me when I saw it, too.
For the party….. Hell if’ne we don’t win this war there will be one party- Islam-Sharia! Won’t happen overnight but it will happen.
b2
Hope you’re wrong, badbob, hope you’re wrong. You know, lex, one of the reasons I love to read your blog is your beautiful prose style and extraordinary vocabulary. after a lifetime in the writing and editing business and a houseful of, among other things, about 35 dictionaries [some specialized of course], I would have thought no one could stump me on vocabulary. But you just did. Ephebophiliac? Wow. Just wow. Looked it up in quite a few dictionaries and in the Encyclopedia Britannica which defines it as implied in your post — dirty old guys with not enough to do chasing pubescent boys. Same old stuff as the Greeks did, only they did it with more style and less of a Puritan conscience.
Marianne Matthews
I am so angry I am sputtering. Went to Dent’s site, to send him an email, however, he’s only accepting emails from his constituents. (I’m not from his district.) Perhaps I should tell WaPo?
HOW DARE HE? PA has sent more Nat’l Guardsmen, for more months, than any other state in the union, and here he is, destroying their morale and acting like the self-serving idiot……….
OOOOOH!!! I’d better quit and behave. Or write WaPo. thanks for the info, Lex. d
Well, now I am really sick. Wrote a comment on the article…and skimmed first and last page (32?) of comments. Don’t usually have time for that, thank God. What a bunch of uneducated, hate-mongering, illiterate idiots most of the commenters are! And the psuedo-educated sicken me worse!
sigh.
I want to be a hermit………d
I guess giving them the benefit of the doubt that they might be genuinely concerned for the future of the nation and the direction its President is leading it down is too much to allow for is it?
Somebody had to say it. I’m suprised that enough Repugs screwed up the courage to do it-given the normal value the Republican party places on discipline within the party ranks.
I will take the minority opinion here and say that this is democracy in action. They’ve advised in good faith. The president will ignore their advice in good faith.
Situation normal.
“Repugs” is it, Skip? Are the cards finally on the table?
Anyway, you might call it a sudden revelation of conscience, but tying their tepidity to the party’s electoral chances doesn’t do much for me. They’re already the minority in both houses, so this is all about job security. Casca’s probably got it about right – tight districts, power-before-principle.
Easy to understand, but hard to applaud.
No cards on the table, that you did not already know were in the hand. I have voted for both parties in my time. However the current crop of Republicans is not representative of what the Republican party could be. Neither is the Democratic Party either.
Nonetheless I think its unfair to the delegation that went up to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave to simply dimiss them as disloyal hacks. Look who went, these were a group of people who have carried the Presidents water for a good while. And they will keep carrying his water. The President has whatever strength he has in Congress because of their efforts. Is it so much to ask him for a little consideration of the problems they face? Lets not forget, that if the war in Iraq is excluded from the equation, there is not that much of a record of legislative accomplishment for them to run on.
I think that people underestimate the level of anger that is out there about Iraq-and with the Iraqis. Its out there and its growing. Watch how much it will grow if they take 2 months off.
Would that this amount of friction had occurred in 2002. It might have saved the country a lot of trouble.
Even George Washington had to contend with a weak vascillating legislature, that wouldn’t send him the sustainment required to conduct a war.
I’m not angry about Iraq, or Iraqis. I’m proud that we have men, like the song says, “who more than self their country love.” Anyone who doesn’t understand the necessity of our work there, which Lex has eloquently explained, isn’t one of them.
That reminds me of a story about the time the Lousiana legislature was debating a bill requiring ethical behavior by its members.
Somebody stood up to speak against it, and his argument went something like,
“I’m as much in favor of good, clean, honest government as the next man, but what I wanna know, is how are all of y’all going to take the politics out of something that is as full of politics, as politics is.”
His wise counsel was heeded, and the measure was defeated. snork
Casca,
The people you talk about are Americans. How many Iraqis can you talk about with the same virtues? Your argument says that anyone who does not understand the necessity of oour being there is somehow not a brave person. Iraqi or American are you talking about? If it’s American, perahps it woould be wise to ask him if the Iraqis are doing all they can, Because to date, responses from Americans say they are not.
DK in #12 above: “…Well, now I am really sick. Wrote a comment on the article?
DK in #12 above: “…Well, now I am really sick. Wrote a comment on the article…and skimmed first and last page (32?) of comments…”…”…I want to be a hermit.”
You are a BRAVE soul, very brave, to go into the deep dark trenches of comments there. I presume you didn’t fortify yourself, hence your need to become a hermit.
Take a hot shower, drink some single malt, and take a deep breath. It will pass…
Re: Casca at #4– I don’t what the other 13 districts are like, but two of the attendees were from Illinois– Mark Kirk, whose north suburban Chicago district includes Great Lakes NTC, and Ray LaHood, who won this past election 67% to 33%. Kirk, too, has the perspective of being a reservist intel officer in the USN (don’t know if he still drills). Don’t they owe it to their constituents to tell the president what they think?
No skippy, my argument says that anyone who doesn’t understand the necessity of our being there is either a fool, or a liar maneuvering for political advantage on his own country’s six.
I once rescued a largish dog from the hangman. She’d spent the previous six months in a very small cage, that only allowed her to stand and turn around. The experience left her timid. At the slightest scare, she’d lose control of her bladder. Eventually this passed, and she became a great dog. I have hopes for the Iraqis too, because their fight is our fight, and losing/surrender is not an option.
jpr, I caught LaHood on Washington Journal this morning. He explained it away as a benign event, that wouldn’t have become public without Chris Matthews calling through the list of members seen leaving the White House until he found a blabbermouth. Another example of the media creating a story.
I don’t think the honorable members told Dubyah anything that he didn’t know, and on the upside, there are at least thirty D’s who will flop the other way when the chips are down.
…..I’m thinking that what this country is sorely in need of is one more box on every ballot in every election. The box? “None-of-the-above”. And then, salt for the wounds, any winner has to receive 50% plus 1 to actually be a winner. No 50%? A “re-election with a slate of new guys. Keep this up until either the “over achievers” quit running or the electorate throws in the towel.
I’m quite happy to have you around, Casca – Skippy-san and I have been talking past each other on this issue for quite some time now.
It’s all tied up somehow with the time he spent at the Citadel, I think. Not quite sure how…
I had a proper liberal arts military education-one which encourage independent thought and analysis, as opposed to those who simply attended a vocational training school that just happened to be on the banks of the Severn.
Fat Jack and Liberal Larry would be proud of me.
(Western Civilizaion and Constitutional law professors-a right of passage at the fortress of learning. Ask SJS-he’s probably got more than a couple mental scars from both of them….)
Stupid Stupid Stupid…
Apparently, loyalty is a one way virtue within the Republican party and if one does not sing the hymn of “War without end-amen!”-the only correct response is to immediately abandon one’s fellow Republicans. It does not matter how much work these sam…
Thanks Lex, I’ll fly your wing anyday.
The Citidel? That explains everything! Although, I’ve known about as many good shits as useless clods from that insane asylum. God Bless, 1stLt Chuck Schnorf USMC, ‘81 I think. Chuck was killed at the beginning of this struggle in the 1983 bombing of the barracks in Beirut.
You know, there was a time in my life when I would have found a way to take exception to the whole “stupid stupid” thing as a form of persuasion.
Now I just consider the source.
I’m all about personal growth.
I’m late to this discussion, and may have missed some ‘nuance’ on my scan through. However, one comment caught my eye … about discipline. As if the good little R’s were not supposed to talk out of school or be in trouble with the administration.
Completely NOT the point, in my view. My disgust is not that there is concern among the wilting R’s, that doesn’t surprise me. What worries me is that they are dumb enough to try to use it to gain altitude – when all it does it let them appear weak and stupid in public. If you want to call that discipline, fine. I just call it silly. They are the ones who will lose my vote, not that I have a tiny rat’s you-know-what chance of getting a good conservative elected from the north-left coast ennywho.
Just sayin.
I’m all about personal growth too.
Which is why I am on the personal journey I am on-not a path for every one to be sure-but one that is necessary for me. You know Frost’s quote.
It has made all the difference. Fortunately I was given great foundations for the journey at THE CITADEL.
Skippy,
You really have evolved! From being a “Lord of Discipline” to:
http://www.toontracker.com/totaltv/underdog.htm
“There’s no need to fear, Underdog is here!”
I’ll bet you sound like Wally Cox, too!
b2
Sorry Lex- I tried that link trick but I need to RTFQT your instructions. I only went to a state university. Next time.
At the end of the day he still went home with Sweet Polly Purebred didn’t he?
I truly hope you two hook up and put that other bad scene behind you…
b2
Sometimes I feel like I’m mind-reading the thoughts of a schizophrenic.
Then I realize, no: It’s just me.
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