Letters to the Editor
had_enough
Published Letters: 816 Editor's Choice: 48
-
authoritarians
[Read the article: Selfish lame ducks]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I realize the comment was largely rhetorical...but you ask why the GOP members in Congress would "fall on their swords" for a pair of self-serving lame-ducks.
I think the answer is fairly simple: the GOP is now a party of authoritarians. You follow the all-powerful leader over a cliff, if necessary. This isn't just a political deal. It's a form of emotional servitude. Regardless of who Dear Leader is, or will be, you follow him to the death, and think as little as possible. And Don't Question Dear Leader. Ever.
Of course, I'm sure many GOP members are hearing from powerful constituents daily, and I suspect the messages are getting increasingly confused, and confusing. I wouldn't be surprised if GOP congress-sheep continue sounding ever more deranged as Bush's term in office winds down. The cognitive dissonance must be getting pretty godawful for some of them.
Love your work, Digby, btw...
-
politics and reality
[Read the article: Sister, can you spare $2 million?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't doubt that there are millions of people in this country who genuinely believe that a woman has no right to choose what to do with her body, and they'll clearly go to any lengths to validate that belief.
BUT. The abortion fight has always had larger political implications, and the very last thing any politician wants is to outlaw abortion.
So, this way the politicians get to have their cake and eat it too. Without provoking a backlash that puts them all into retirement.
What'll happen is that the states that prefer to be ruled by fascists will make abortions impossible, and women will have to go to states where the procedure is legal. Those who can afford it. I can see whole new NGO's starting up. A kind of underground railroad for women who want to terminate their pregnancies.
That's how it will go. California, Oregon, and New York, and a few other states, will allow abortions, and women will have to go there to get one.
Abortion will never be outlawed on the Federal level. Too dangerous...unless, of course, the GOP has over-reached itself on the Supreme Court, and the court decided to outlaw the practice nationwide. The GOP would be destroyed if that happened, I suspect. I just don't see that happening though. Roberts and Alito in particular are clearly political animals. They know the score. I doubt they'd vote to outlaw abortion.
It's a sad situation...but the truth is, progressives asked for this back when Roe was decided. Did we all think the nut-job right was just going to sit still? The abortion debate has probably been a major factor pushing the GOP toward fascism, and is an equally large factor in the success of Bush and Cheney. Without it, and Gay Marriage, those guys probably never would have been put in power.
Progressives really should start thinking twice before we start legislating for the whole country. Some of those fights don't work out too well for our side, in the end.
-
predicted
[Read the article: Whose war is it, anyway?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is probably the most baffling part of the entire Iraq mess: anyone of average intelligence with a basic grasp of the history of that region, could have told the Bush Administration that what they were about to do was incredibly stupid. And would result in disaster.
How in HELL is it that MSM keeps letting Bush and Cheney and all the rest off the hook when clear, detailed predictions of the mess that would follow our invasion were easily available for anyone to read? Colin Powell's own State Department prepared a report detailing every last thing that's occuring right now. As did numerous other journalists and academics and diplomats who understood just how Saddam kept Iraq quiescent.
I'll never understand how Bush and Cheney avoid responsibility for this. The own it. The entire thing, every bit. They were warned and warned and warned, and they ignored every warning.
The bigger question is why. Why in hell were they so stupid? Because stupidity is the only word for it.
Either they went into this thing utterly deluded, or they went into it knowing that it would be a complete mess and wanted it that way. Forget the oil story. We didn't go in there "for the oil." That's a totally insufficient motivation.
And if we *did* go in there for the oil, then all the other issues still apply. We handled everything about as badly as it could be handled. Why? Why? Does anyone in the White House really have one brain usable brain-cell? Because, on the evidence, no-one does.
Unless, of course, this war was solely about domestic political power, and enriching your cronies. On that basis? The whole thing is a smashing success and the current disaster there is just an inconvenient annoyance.
That may well be as accurate an assessment as any. If so, there is no circle of Hell low enough for these guys.
I'd give a lot to know just what's REALLY going through Cheney's head right now. And Bush's. I doubt we'll ever find out. Now, or ever. They'll lie, even in their memoirs. Maybe especially in their memoirs. To cover up the truth. Whatever it is.