Letters to the Editor
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Bush and Rumsfeld and Gingrich
Bush handled the Rumsfeld situation just like he's handled everything else over the last five + years: "I'm the decider, and I'll tell everyone else as little as possible. I don't have to show my math." How anyone can separate this one episode from the rest of his actions is quite puzzling to me. Every decision and action he makes has the fingerprints of political expediency. Bush is so out of touch that he couldn't recognize that replacing Rumsfeld before the election would have been viewed as a good thing to most voters. Actually, we'll never really know for sure how big a difference it would have made. But given hindsight, I'm sure Bush would have pulled the trigger a few months ago if he hadn't been so afraid of the political consequences. This episode is the most obvious example that Bush's highest priority is the political ramifications of his actions. And all these Republicans like Gingrich who are complaining about the timing now are really pathetic. If Bush should have done it sooner, why weren't y'all publicly telling him to do so back then? We get to do that in a democracy, you know....
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exactly backwards?
If Gingrich thinks "the timing was exactly backwards", does that mean he would have wanted Bush to announce pre-election that Rumsfeld was leaving, and then after the election, to reverse himself and say Rumsfeld would stay?
Chilling.
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Change "Secretary of Defense" back to "Secretary of War"
Excuse me for recycling one of my own ideas, but it strikes me immodestly as a GREAT thought.
In an earlier item posted here I suggested something which makes TONS of sense:
The next Congress should legislate a return to the old name for the position now known as "Secretary of Defense" -- it should go back to being "Secretary of War".
Language is powerful, obviously -- and a healthy dose of realism about that job would be refreshing! It might even serve as a way to rein in some of the war-like impulses of people like Cheney and his cabal of neo-cons.
The idea of having a "Secretary of Peace" has also been floated for many years, but would serve as nothing more than a punching bag for right-wing blowhards who would say, "We already have that; he's the U.N. Secretary-General".
How about it? Any "Secretary of War" might be a little less inclined to START a war, don't you think?
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Candidates to Repulse the Religious Right
It can be argued that the Republicans lost because they alienated their religious right base either because the religious right a)is angry that the Republicans did not deliver on their promises or b) joined many other Americans in disgust at the hypocrisy of Republicans who preach religion and morality while wallowing in sin and corruption. So what is the best response? Nominate candidates such as Gingrich and Giuliano who flaunt their adulterous affairs? But don't stop there - how about Ted Haggard for VP? Some former congressional wife/mistress beaters are available to appeal to the female voter. Or perhaps a nice corrupt lobbyist to balance the ticket combining religion and capitalism at their worse. As a Democrat, I say: Republicans go for it. Flaunt your dark side.
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If Lieberman becomes a Democratic candidate again...
I'll never support the Democratic party again. I'll cast worthless protest votes for the Green and Libertarian parties and for Frank Zappa before I support a party who would give any more responsibility to Lieberman than dog-catcher. If I wanted a war-monger as a national leader, I'd just vote for Bush-Cheney or whatever the next incarnation of them will be...
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Bush is an idiot
That, I think, is the essence of Newt's remarks. Further, his contention that the GOP would have picked up seats, if only Rummy had been put out to pasture sooner, is nonsense. Please, GOP, nominate Newt for president. The Democrats could run a ham sandwich and win in a walk.
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So why is it again
That Liberman won and convincingly? You DO know he got substantial votes from even the antiwar contingent, don't you? So let's not go all crazy and devote the next two years to self imploding just to make Joe look bad. It didn't work for the Dems this time around and it won't work in two years.
And in a related note - just who the hell is Newt anyway? Is he a pundit, a gadfly? an ex congressional ideological 'history' professor? What the hell is he doing and why does anyone care? He seems to be the self appointed Minister of Political Theory as if that means anything. Which is doesn't.
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Spin Resembles Backpedalling
At least Gingrich was honest. Bush, leadership, and inane radioheads suggest that Dems, even though they only won slightly suggesting that most races were close (not really and certainly not across the board), only won what they did because they ran conservative candidates. First, that's not how they were portrayed during the campaign. Second, most weren't conservative. Webb, promptly corrected the conservative characterization of himself. Now they are clearly conservative, by the neocon standards of this administration and much of the Republican leadership, but let's not try to pretend that they are in fact Republicans at a short-lived masquerade ball. They are Dems and most ran on a highly successful progressive campaign and won convincingly (just ask Santorum about the margin of defeat he experienced!).
Limbaugh is now backpedaling to say that he was wrong for carrying the water for 'unnamed leaders' that didn't deserve it. That even though, he was troubled and disagreed with them, he still pushed them and their agenda to great personal angst. He regrets it, but did it just because he thought the stakes were so high. Unpack that any way you like and you get someone who cares more about schilling and less about integrity. Now this has never been lost on me, but much like the neocon self-destruct, it's nice to hear him do it to himself.
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Rummy's Resignation: It's Not About Politics or Job Performance
My two cents on Rumsfeld's departure bets that it has nothing to do with politics per se or his performance but far more to do with the GOP's coming inability to shield the administration from oversight. My guess is that you see a lot of worried faces on the right side of the aisle because there's a potential day of reckoning looming on their horizons. Expect to see more rats jumping ship before the new Congress gets its investigatory act together. Yes, it's in a political venue and yes, their performance by ethical standards has been dismal, but everything has been going exactly according to plan for the war profiteers and now the gig is up. Bush'll be left up there like a deer in headlights wishing he could claim he's got Alzheimers. And Cheney, no wonder he's silent, his pre-9/11 Energy Task Force should be one of the first items looked into to see what plans were possibly laid for Afghanistan and Iraq. I can already hear the words echoing from the halls of the Capital ... "I don't recall."