Letters to the Editor
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The worst of it-- and we can't let them get away with it--
is that Conservatives don't just want to dissociate from Bush. Now, they are saying: "Here, he isn't really one of us, after all. So, you guys take him, since he's really more like you all."
Yeah, right! Now Conservatives want to blame Liberals for their changeling president. As if we had secretly substituted one of us for him... as if there hasn't been a solid core of us complaining about him, and criticizing him all along.
In fact, some of us Liberals were never, ever factored into any of those high approval ratings. Remember when Conservatives used to talk about Bush Derangement Syndrome? Apparently, that was only because they still wanted to claim him. Now, it's all about how "liberal" GWB really is. [Sheesh!] Give me a break!
For every "Immigration" story, we can give you half a dozen like the Social "Security" story...
Thanks, Glenn!
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Patrick Buchanan
OK - I get your point Greenwald but let's not forget that there have been some conservatives who don't have the same history of propping up the President when he was popular, only to kick him now when he's down.
Patrick Buchanan, for example, has been consistent in his opposition to Bush's spending, his torturing and his foreign wars.
Ok, from time to time he's wavered, but I just wanted to point out that there are a few exceptions to the rule you laid out in your post.
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It's about the story, not the truth
Although it's misleading to compare Bush to Reagan, it's not inaccurate. Both raised taxes and increased the size of government, both established policies that benefited the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. Both had foreign policies that ultimately resulted in major problems. Reagan had a wonderful opportunity to reach out to the former states of the USSR, but instead chose to let them work their own way through their newly found Democratic freedoms, and it was often disastrous. He also messed up in Beirut. Now, Bush's legacy is being lied about in the same way, even though the result will be different. It's about the story - what story is best for the party. It's not about the truth
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Praktik
OK - I get your point Greenwald but let's not forget that there have been some conservatives who don't have the same history of propping up the President when he was popular, only to kick him now when he's down.
I'm well aware of that. I have made this point many times, and have tried to focus on those conservatives as much as possible. After all, I have written and continue to write for Buchanan's American Conservative, included in my book substantial praise for conservatives Bush critics such as Bruce Fein, Bob Barr and even George Will, etc., and even in this post, I very clearly said:
What is most glaringly apparent from this entire spectacle is that outside of a handful of honest conservatives too small to merit much discussion (the ones who objected to Bush early on as a radical rather than a "conservative" and were viciously attacked as heretics, non-conservatives, even liberals), the right-wing "conservative movement"
That's been the problem. Their ranks never really grew in a meaningful way.
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I don't think it will work this time
The Republican presidential contenders are going to begin to devour each other, i.e. McCain vs. Romney.
Forget the media. They will be of no help.
Yes, Republicans are slowly starting to shift the Iraq war to the Democrats and of course the media will aid and abet.
Many democrats in Congress are less than zero.
But I firmly believe (hope) that a majority of the American people understand what Bush and the Republicans have wrought since 2001 on this country. Conservatism and the Republican party are dying.
Barring any extreme election-fraud attempts, all of this posturing and revisionism is only fodder for the dwindling Republican base.
A democrat will win the White House and Democrats will increase their power in Congress. Of course this doesn't guarantee any true progressive/liberal policies will come to bear.
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And yet they'll get away with it
There is something pathological about the monochromatic world movement conservatives seem to need. Jon Stewart's line about how the the Republican mind is composed, not of gray matter, but black and white matter, is too true to be funny. And so I think we can now expect Bush's numbers to fall even further as the past is re-written. In six months it will be hard to find anyone who ever voted for him.
But this transparently absurd revision will likely succeed, for the reasons you have been hammering on for some time -- the sycophancy of the beltway media. it does not matter that "we have always been at war with Eurasia" claims are as easily debunked as you have shown. And unlike in Orwell's dystopia, erasing history will not be necessary. The newspapers of record will dutifully transcribe. The pundit class will not acknowledge the sleight. So-called liberals like Richard Cohen will provide them cover, as Jonah Goldberg gratefully notes. And fact-checking will remain as foreign as Fellini.
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I hope your wrong....
Specifically when you say outside of a handful of honest conservatives too small to merit much discussion
As someone who's first priority is to see America stop pretending that it owns the world and can kill people with impunity just based on their being situated in a geologically inconvenient spot, I'm quite happy to watch as movement Conservatives throw Bush under the bus. Of course trying to relabel him as "liberal" because he doesn't hate brown people sufficiently is just as dishonest as you depict it so I won't argue that point.
What I would like to point out though, is that there are a lot of well meaning decent people who nevertheless self-identify as Conservatives and they're in dire need of some leadership at this point. What I sincerely hope is that tiny subset of Conservatives that you describe as "too small to merit much discussion" can actually grow to the point where they actually help frame the debate within Republican circles to include discussion of what's in our actual national interest as opposed to simple reflexive hatred of anyone "outside".
PS(If anyone cares to argue with me, I hope they will at first try to figure out what I just said...I'm not so sure myself!)