November 1, 2006

Argh

You both have to realize that this midterm election will drive me nuts. At this point, after torture and habeas, I have no clue how anyone supports Republicans any longer. As I have argued, voting for Republicans in this election only--is a vote for torture and against accountability.

But my post this morning is spurred by what the Republican party has become. Bush, Cheney, Frist, etc., have all been out on the stumps saying that if you elect Democrats, the terrorists win--implying ever so subtly that Democrats like and support the terrorists. Or just that we are weak and spineless and in the words of Bill Frist, will "surrender to the terrorists." Perhaps the greatest straw man argument I have ever heard.

I get so tired of it. No matter how Bush undermines our safety and security with his bluster, he never has to answer to that, and then can attack liberals? Why is it always fair game for conservatives to question our loyalty? They have done so since the Civil War, for sure, but certainly since the Cold war began. Liberals are always the ones who have to start every critical statement of government policy with: "I am a good American and love my country."

In the 80s and 90s, conservatives embraced militia groups who hoped to overthrow our government. How many of them were ever asked to defend such action?

_____

I am not the only one, of course.
The Washington Monthly: "FORMER REPUBLICANS....Former Republican John Cole on why he's a former Republican:

"I am not really having any fun attacking my old friends — but I don’t know how else to respond when people call decent men like Jim Webb a pervert for no other reason than to win an election. I don’t know how to deal with people who think savaging a man with Parkinson’s for electoral gain is appropriate election-year discourse. I don’t know how to react to people who think that calling anyone who disagrees with them on Iraq a “terrorist-enabler” than to swing back. I don’t know how to react to people who think that media reports of party hacks in the administration overruling scientists on issues like global warming, endangered species, intelligent design, prescription drugs, etc., are signs of ... liberal media bias."

That about sums it up. The modern Republican Party — definitely not the party of Dwight Eisenhower or even Ronald Reagan — had full control of the government for a mere four years before they overreached so far that the American public became disgusted by them. It took Democrats 50 years to do that. So, you know, congratulations on that. Apparently pandering to the most extreme elements of the Christian right and selling their soul to K Street turned out to be less popular than they thought. Imagine that."

5 comments:

Wasp Jerky said...

One reason, maybe the biggest reason, that argument doesn't make sense is that there is a huge crop of Democrats running for Congress this year who served in Iraq. So Democrats who fought a war in Iraq started by people who didn't fight in Vietnam can't be trusted?

JMG said...

We're terrorist enablers and bad Christians too, since we all know that Jesus loves the U.S. more than any other country.

I'm just sick of it all.

Anonymous said...

Streak,

I think it's a shame that the Democrats have asked John Kerry to cancel his remaining campaign spots to help the Democrats win the election.

I thought he was doing a fine job. :)

Les

Streak said...

Ah yes, John Kerry misspoke, though his joke was clearly aimed at a President too dumb to get that he has been called dumb.

Why is it that when a Democrat misspeaks (or is perceived to misspeak) it is proof that we can't lead or are anti-military or anti-american, but when Bush misspeaks it is called "Tuesday?"

Black Sheep said...

Bush stated this on Rush today : "anybody who's in a position to serve this country, ought to understand the consequences of words. And our troops deserve the full support -- they -- of people in government."

He should know, I mean when Kerry said, "bring them on" in the summer of 03, he was totally out of line. Oh wait . . .