This Week's Bad Republican

Republican Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham resigned in disgrace this week, admitting to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

I’m disgusted but not surprised. Influence peddling has increased by a factor of ten in the Bush II era, and Republicans lead the way. It was only a matter of time before someone like Cunningham lost his footing at the trough.

But equally distressing was a lack of outrage from the media or the public. News like this shouldn’t be the exclusive domain of late-night TV punchlines, and yet it seemed completely overshadowed by the Terrell Owens firing and Jessica Simpson breakup. Perhaps the public has become desensitized to the endless procession of horror stories coming from the Republican party. Nobody wants to believe that the party in control of our country made such a grotesque and unforgivable mess of so many things.

But alas, the growing list of significant screw-ups is so lengthy, it seems easier to explain particle physics than to justify why so many of these idiots haven’t been thrown out of office. No wonder their operatives need to smear detractors--they can’t defend their decisions, policies or actions.

As has happened so many times since the dawn of recorded history, the people who took control with so much fanfare and talk of virtue have become corrupted and their policies shredded. With luck, they will be voted out in 2006 and again in 2008. But like a slowly sinking ship, it is easy to imagine that the worst is yet to come. How many more legislative decisions will be made favoring corporate lobbyists at the expense of the environment, the middle class, consumers, etc.? How many more policies will ignore science and expert testimony while favoring special interests or religious superstition? How many more unqualified cronies will be given critical government jobs? How many more military leaders will have their opinions discounted by civilians who never served and whose policies have consistently failed?

Patriotism requires honesty, even if honesty sheds a light on things we would rather not believe about ourselves or our so-called leaders. And the honest truth is, the party leading our nation has failed in a consistent, substantial and shameful way. But don’t take my word for it. Just keep your eyes open. I’m sure there’s more to come.

Con Men

You know things are getting really desperate for conservatives when they make a conspiracy-stink about an “X” that flashed across Dick Cheney’s face on CNN recently.

A: “It looks like another torture incident is coming to light.”
B: “So? The CNN liberals flashed an X across Cheney’s face!”
A: “And the Government is reneging on its promises to New Orleans.”
B: “So? The CNN liberals flashed an X across Cheney’s face!”
A: “And the oil industry flat-out lied to congress.”
B: “So? The CNN liberals flashed an X across Cheney’s face!”
A: “And the housing bubble is beginning to burst.”
B: “So? The CNN liberals…"

The cons screwed things up so badly that they unwittingly turned the word liberal back into something good and admirable--they just don't realize it yet.

Meanwhile, Vice has been supercharging his past outrage into a new rant against those who dare suggest prewar intelligence was manipulated. He's now extra super duper appalled at those unfair suggestions, which are completely baseless, outrageous, irresponsible, despicable, unwarranted, unfounded, unladylike, uncouth and downright dirty rotten pool, darnit.

Ever notice that on a playground, when a kid does something wrong and is confronted, he always attacks the accuser, not the accusation? So now Big Dick, the playground bully, is trying to outrage his way back to credibility. Watch the tactic fizzle along with the ratings of his boss.

I’m not going to say that Dick Cheney is a liar, but it’s quite clear that he has intentionally said things to create false and misleading impressions.

“But no--they really are in the last throes of the insurgency!” Right.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, or in the case of the Bush Administration, Turkey Day.

The Course of Failure

Congresswoman "Mean Jean" Schmidt’s coward smear against war hero John Murtha was yet another ugly spasm of frustration by a Republican incapable of defending the failed policies of the President. She finished her rant by urging us to “stay the course”.

Stay the course...

of inept planning.
of abusing prisoners.
of shifting rationales.
of inadequate troop levels.
of tragically poor decisions.
of deception, spin and rhetoric.
of breaking our promises to Afghanistan.
of too few resources devoted to finding Osama.

No thanks.

Congressman Murtha (who suggested a systematic redeployment--quite different from an immediate withdrawal, which many have mistakenly attributed) understands what most people who have been to Iraq and talked to the troops understand:

OPEN-ENDED OCCUPATION EMBOLDENS THE ENEMY.

When we are gone, the jihad squad will have no legitimate reason to continue to kill, and will have no basis for continued recruitment. They may support a civil war along with disaffected Sunnis, but unless we want to stay and police Iraq for the next fifty years, we will not be able to prevent civil war forever.

By beginning a slow, steady withdrawal, we give moderate Iraqis the ultimate incentive to take control of their country. Otherwise, we will have created a military-welfare state, full of people who resent our presence yet increasingly rely on our costly (partial) protection.

A Privacy Amendment

Despite the Constitution's uber-purpose to "...secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity," some members of the Supreme Court believe that the Constitution does not guarantee citizens the right to privacy. Their narrow, literalist view is radical and way outside the mainstream, appearing to go against everything our nation stands for. What more important and fundamental liberty exists than the right to personal privacy? And yet President Bush has nominated another narrow radical to the Supremes, Justice Alito.

Which opens the opportunity for some bold member of Congress to become a hero and put an end to all this Radical Right nonsense. The time has come for the nation to consider, and likely pass, a Constitutional Amendment explicitly ensuring citizens the right to privacy. Imagine the hoops a radical would need to jump through to try to justify voting against such a thing. In most cases, it would be a guarantee against re-election.

So to give some visionary, courageous and soon-to-be historic member of Congress a hand, I've put together a draft of such an amendment. Here it is...

Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
“The Privacy Amendment”

Section 1.
The right of citizens of the United States to personal privacy shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of activities including personal reproductive decisions, private sexual conduct by or among consenting adults, and personal medical decisions.

Section 2.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Something like this could actually happen. Please tell your friends and elected representatives.

Rome Redux

The first season of Rome will be ending soon on HBO, but you still have a chance to see one of the best series in television history. Once again, HBO redefines the possibilities of television, creating a series with the production value of film but a depth and scope far beyond. Rome blends historical figures and events with fictional minor characters and plotlines, all set against a beautifully rendered ancient cityscape, the cost and complexity of which transcends any series or mini-series of the past. The attention paid to the detail of the period is also extraordinary, giving viewers a unique sense of the daily life of antiquity. In addition, none of the mostly-British actors are recognizable, yet all are absolutely superb and perfectly cast. Beyond the nuts and bolts, Rome’s writers have done a magnificent job of illuminating the political and social themes of the era--tyranny versus democracy, for example--rendering them in fascinating and compelling terms.

Speaking of Rome, our President continues to moan about pre-war intelligence, claiming that the Senate saw the same intelligence he saw. But as any grade school student knows, the Executive Branch has access to the deliberative process that both shapes intelligence and draws conclusions, while the Legislative Branch does not.

So yet again, the President sounds like a whiny child trying to convince people that he didn’t steal a cookie from the cookie jar even though his face is smeared with chocolate. The remaining crumbs of his credibility get even smaller.

Meanwhile, we have no specific nor comprehensive strategy for withdrawal from Iraq. Our seniors are going to stay away from the new Medicaid Drug Plan because it is a botched loser. Our healthcare system is a pathetic disgrace. Our deficit and trade imbalance continue to bloat beyond comprehension. Our military prisons continue to violate basic human rights. Our environment continues to be ravaged by grotesque and disastrous giveaways like Mountaintop Mining. Our science-based agencies like the FDA continue to make decisions based on politics, not on expert testimony or evidence.

Thank you, Emperor Bush. You will likely go down in history as an inept, small-minded, out-of-touch President with disastrous policies and bad judgment. And the Senators who backed you will either be thrown out by the citizenry or will turn on you.

If you’ve been watching Rome, this should sound familiar.

Spirituality, Yes. Robertson, No

Moderate Americans took back control of the Dover, Pennsylvania, school board from religious fanatics this week, demonstrating that the anti-science crowd, while vocal, is a small minority. But to demonstrate just how delusional, archaic and dangerous religious fanatics are, American Mullah Pat Robertson couldn’t resist commenting on the school board defeat, warning Dover residents that their town may face retaliation from God in the form of a natural disaster. And if that happens, they shouldn’t look to God for help.

His comments reveal, yet again, the ugly, superstitious and mean-spirited core of fundamentalism, where vengeance trumps mercy, where God is still imagined in childish terms: a bearded man on a cloud, hurling thunderbolts. This is the exact form of juvenile lunacy that informs Islamic radicalism, fueling suicide bombers to martyr themselves to gain seventy virgins in paradise. How long will it be before someone like Robertson decides that Jesus wants his followers to begin killing heretics? Lest we forget, it has happened many times in the past.

Spirituality is a generally positive force in human life, characterized by a reverence for the natural world and an appreciation of the mystery of existence, tolerating a diversity of views and opinions. It often assumes a higher power, animating spirit or creative consciousness, but doesn’t rely on absolutes, acknowledging that our capacity to comprehend the creation is limited and inadequate. Furthermore, spirituality is not threatened by science, seeing it as yet another window into the majesty of creation. Religious fundamentalism, by contrast, is divisive, arrogant, intolerant and judgmental, relying on a rigid set of ancient superstitions that become increasingly difficult, if not impossible, to defend in the modern world.

This week, the residents of Dover rejected superstition. Amen.

Radical Right Rejected

Yes, it’s a referendum on the Republicans.

Voters are sick of the Bush crew, and many Republican candidates paid the price today. It’s not difficult to understand why.

When first running for President, Bush II vowed to return integrity to the White House, and stated that he would pursue “not just what the lawyers allow but what the public deserves.” Apparently, Karl Rove was exempted, which didn’t escape the notice of the electorate.

And despite a 90 to 9 Senate vote passing a bill re-banning torture, Bush and Cheney are planning a first-ever veto. Their much-touted principles don’t seem to extend to all human beings, only Americans. Or at least, Americans who don’t write critical op-ed pieces.

The Radical Right is completely out of touch. Even conservative Joe Scarborough, known for an occasional lucid moment, spewed a non-stop stream of red-faced bile and garbage on the Bill Maher show this week. He wanted us to believe that holding a prisoner’s head under water wasn’t torture, that our military prison problems were simply a breakdown in discipline, and that Senators who spent time in POW camps knew less about torture than the never-served Bush team. Out of touch, and just plain wrong. (And by the way, Joe--saying “Ronald Reagan did the same thing” doesn’t automatically win you an argument.)

Is it any wonder the Radical Right are on their way out? It can’t happen soon enough. America deserves competence and common sense, and while the Dems may or may not deliver, the GOP has been an utter five-year failure.

Advice on Alito and Bush

The Democrats Should:

Grill Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito about his constitutional philosophy, but not filibuster him. If they don’t like his answers, quietly vote against him. They gain nothing by a filibuster, and lose what little credibility they have left. Indeed, between John Roberts and Samuel Alito, it seems likely that at least one will ultimately hold that a woman has a constitutional right to control her own body. When it comes to Roe v. Wade, neither man is a slam dunk. And that is the best non-radicals can hope for in the era of Bush II.

The Republicans Should:

Stop blindly defending-at-all-costs the Bush administration. The more Republicans try to paint a smiley face on the pile of wreckage formerly known as the White House, the more ridiculous, irrational and out-of-touch they appear. Their best hope for continued dominion of the house and senate is to distance themselves from the long line of bad decisions, policy failures, misjudgments, cronyism, deceptions and outright lies streaming from the Executive Branch. The public finally understands the inept-yet-savage nature of the malignant Bush crew. Do the Republicans in Congress?

Elephant Tears

When Bill Frist described the Democrat's call for a closed Senate session to discuss prewar intelligence a "slap in the face," he failed to understand that the past five years have been one long slap in the face of Democrats by Republicans, including foot-dragging on Senate oversight.

When Frist claimed that "Our leadership is going to move ahead with the nation's business" instead of looking into intelligence failures, he shattered any semblance of credulity. For five years, he and his party were responsible for a grotesque, pork-bloated deficit fiasco. They were responsible for denuding our environmental protections. They were responsible for coddling big business at the expense of common citizens and creating an impression that our government is for sale. They were responsible for the hysterical politicization of issues like Terri Schiavo and gay marriage. They were responsible for our deteriorating prestige in the world. They were responsible for holding nobody in their own party accountable for broad policies leading to human rights abuses in a variety of American prisons across the world. They were responsible for ignoring or failing to investigate the gross misjudgements, errors and falsifications that led us into a costly and regrettable war. This has been their business, and Frist has been at the helm.

The Democrats may have seemed desperate, even shrill, but the lies and propaganda that have characterized the Radical Right playbook have been slowly unraveling. Fantasy-based windbags like Republican strategist Jack Burkman whined that the Libby case will be thrown out, and that nobody is more maligned than Karl Rove, but the public sees through his malarkey. Libby is going down, and Rove is now widely accepted as the dirtiest political operative in a generation.

The Republican robots also love to claim that the Democrats have no agenda, have nothing to offer, have no ideas. Sounds serious, but more malarkey. Universal healthcare, a demand-based energy policy, a commitment to the environment, fiscal responsibility. Yes, the Dems have an agenda, but they have had little success getting it to the center of discourse because the Republicans control that, too. The Republicans, it seems, even had the evil New York Times in their pocket, planting stories through Judith Miller that they later referenced to prove their points, a deceptive and dishonest circularity.

And while the Dems have been unable to force their diverse ranks to spew a narrow, focused party line as well as the GOP, the GOP have been unable to defend their policies on the merits and have thus become a party of name-calling and personal attack, which continued today, led by Frist.

So the Republicans can continue to whine like they did before they held all three branches of Government, but the public isn't buying it. And the Dems, beaten down and bullied by the phony patriot Radical Right, are finally beginning to fight back. I suspect they have been waiting, watching Bush continue to screw up almost everything he touches. With his ratings hitting rock bottom, they probably felt the time was right to attack, placing the Republicans squarely where they belong--defending their five-year record of failure.

Depite the wailing coming from Burkman, Crowley, Hannity, Coulter and other talking-point readers, next year's mid term election will likely be a grim day for the Radical Right and its failed agenda, and a good day for rest of us.