Letters to the Editor
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The beginning of the end
The alliance of moneyed interests and the Christian right has always been built on lies and misdirection, and it is a great pleasure to see it finally coming down. From the page scandals to the gay schism in GOP leadership to the disillusion of Christian conservatives -- and that's just the past two weeks -- one hopes that the American public will wise up to the political shell game that the Rethugs have been pulling for years.
Word on the blogs is that another GOP page scandal is coming down the pike tomorrow. We'll see.
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A wonderful story, Worthy of O. Henry
It reads like the most improbable of tales, full of highs and lows, nefarious villains, twists of fate, sad ironies, and tragic flaws -- and good old comeupance. Best of all will be the happy ending (please, please, please)!!
I'd like to have it recorded by some great speaker, mayber James Earl Jones, so I could listen to it every night before bedtime. It would be so comforting and sweet, that I'm sure my dreams would take flight.
Thanks, Sidney.
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More than enough scandal to go around
Dear US,
I am becoming increasingly concerned that your newspapers may not have enough space to fully report on all the scandals presently coming from the Republican administration. I'm very envious.
It's supremely gratifying to see the self-righteous finally getting their come-uppance, and we were wondering if you wouldn't mind sending a few scandals over to London so we can unseat our own "Messiah". Thanks in anticipation.
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Don't count your chickens...
but as an atheist, I want to say:
Let us pray.
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As Christians battle Sodomites under the crashing Republican "big tent," several high-wire acts have fallen to earth.
i don't think I've ever laughed so hard at a piece of political writing
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From Denial to Glasnost
Let's pray that 50 years of Republican rule hasn't hollowed out the long suffering American people so badly that they crave yet more of the same, although it's difficult to see where The Party could go from here if not into a methadone-like state of semi-denial under McCain/Gorbachov.
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I really would like to gloat.
I'd like to swim in the inviting ocean of Schadenfreude. But no.
The damage done to our country by this mutant version of the GOP is profound and probably beyond repair. I have a sick feeling that future histories will read, "On December 12, 2000, the decline and fall of the United States of America began."
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Homophobic Headline
Come on! " Queer and loathing on Capitol Hill"? Much as I enjoy political discomfiture, I don't think I'm being overly sensitive when I say that the headline is a homophobic cheap shot.
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A Corner On the Market
I used to think that Republicans were characterized by their 'limitations', to use the politically correct term. Witness Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, and of course George W. Bush.
No longer. It is hypocrisy, as described by Sidney Blumenthal today. All those 'values' voters should be outraged, and embarrassed by their gullibility.
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Why has no one
demanded that Ney resign? How the frig can a Congressman who has pleaded guilty to bribery not be forced to resign? He pleaded GUILTY for Christ's sake. Has "guilty" been transformed into a word meaning "OK, don't worry, it's nothing... if your GOP" ? Why hasn't the ethics committee demanded his resognation? The national press? Tony Snow Job? The Police/FBI? What constitutes law abiding any more? Jesus. If I pleaded guilty to bribery, I'd be arraigned and cuffed and would have to figure out how to raise bail money. This is nauseating. Nauseating I tell you. Nauseating.
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Dr. Strangelove to the Rescue: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the GOP
The purge of the Gay Republican Cabal being promoted by conservatives seems to be prefigured by the scene in “Dr. Strangelove” where Keenan Wynn (Col. Bat Guano) suspects that Sterling Hayden had discovered “a mutiny of perverts” led by Peter Sellers (Group Captain Lionel Mandrake):
“I think you're some kind of deviated prevert. I think General Ripper found out about your preversion, and that you were organizing some kind of mutiny of preverts.”
To the mineshafts!
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Now for the Real News..
650,000 Iraqis and nearly 3000 US troops slaughtered..
Taliban resurgent in Afghanistan..
Massive job lay-offs US..
Record number of home repossessions..
Economic imbalances threaten economy..
The rich keep getting richer while workers keep working harder..
Country lurches toward presidential dictatorship..
Now for the real news: Gays on capital hill!
Of course, the massive level of political corruption on capital hill, of which no doubt only the tip of the iceberg has been revealed, is certainly newsworthy. And the sex scandals do indeed reveal the moral hypocrisy, in addition to the criminal activity, of the right wing religious moralists.
But it seems that sex still sells far beyond its relative importance - especially in silly season.
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Continuing comparisons
I would like to continue with Mr. Blumenthal’s Republican historical comparisons.
Condi Rice has morphed into Henry Kissinger. Both are from academia, both were national security advisors, and both became Secretary of State. Both are unsympathetic to the charge of American forces causing severe “collateral” damage. Kissinger grew up during a time of strong Jewish prejudice and Condi during a time of strong Afro-American prejudice.
George Bush has been taken over by Richard Nixon’s specter. Both used the cloak of national security to perform illegal domestic search and seizures. Both had enemies’ lists. Both were involved for years in a war they could not win, but a war that was perpetuated by them. Both were plagued by election law violations. Both were haunted by preceding, charismatic Democrat presidents, Kennedy and Clinton. Both were exposed by Bob Woodward.
Colin Powell and Alexander Haig. Both were four star generals, both were national security advisors, both became Secretary of State, both have left office without the honor they seeked.
Dick Cheney and Mr. Burns, owner of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Both are holed-up control freaks with a disdain for any morality but their own. (Side-note: in the “Who Shot Mr. Burns/Cheney” episode, Homer is wearing a Haig ’88 presidential election sweatshirt.)
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This counts as an article?
Tell us something new next time; or at least try doing a little analysis as opposed to just a recitation of well known facts. This is pretty pathetic, really ...
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Bumpersticker seen on Bush's Limo:
If you're going to ride my ass, at least pull my hair
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dems v. repubs
Every Republican I know, when confronted with the myriad of scandals that have besieged their party for now years, makes some lofty, historical comparison to the Democratic Party's bloat into corruption from too much power, followed by its dissolution into iniquity, and finally, its loss of regime in '94. I guess their point is a simple and ancient one: power corrupts.
Of course, what the Republican Party, the media, et. al. don't acknowledge in this comparison is that there were always voices within the Democratic Party calling for a purging of corruption and for condemnation of venal and venial behavior.
When Clinton was caught and tried with his pants literally down, there was a cacophony of voices within the party asking for Clinton to accept responsibility for his bad behavior and even worse judgment. As much as Lieberman seems like a shill to the Republicans now, his was a strong, ethical voice in opposition to Clinton's sleazy actions. Should Clinton have been impeached for having an affair in the White House with a young (but of age) intern? No, but while I may be in the minority of historical revisionists in my own party, I believe it was appropriate for Clinton's peers to acknowledge publicly that while he could screw around on his own time, those eight years we won for him using our collective blood, sweat, tears, and moolah belonged to us, not his prurient appetites.
Fast-forward 8 years, where not only has sex rocked the Northwest-and-east quadrants of DC, but money, drugs, and the foul stench of corrupted decision-making that has left over 3000 Americans and countless Iraqis dead, an economy staggering like a boxer in the 9th round, and a legacy to the next generations of apathy, cynicism, and relativism. And where is the strong voice from the Republican party condemning behavior that would get a non-politician serious time in a State penitentiary? NO WHERE. And that's why this time is not another loop in the cycle of politics in Washington, DC: that's why these guys really are just bad guys.