I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Six months ago, the Republicans started doubting their president, and the relationship went from one of "wow, everything's going our way" to one of "do I really want to go there?"
Now, they're stuck in a bad relationship, that it's really hard to get out of - but a lot of Republican seats in Congress are in play now, that looked locked solid six months ago, and that were givens when that Mission Impossible banner went up...
Frist? No, he won't do it. I'm thinking there must be somebody somewhere in an un-safe house seat who wants to cut the strings that tie her or him to the Bush debacle. NO idea who, though.
We need a wormhole to an alternative universe gateway.
There, Senatory James Inhofe has something to say.
"I'd like to take a few moments to express what I think many others up here are thinking. I for one am outraged that some are outraged about the outrage. All these 'Republi-carrion Do-Badders' ignore the fact that many of these neo-cons would still be selling our intelligence secrets to the Iranians if it wasn't for the actions of the CIA and the State Department."
Lugar?
reflecting our your observation that GOP has transformed to "party of Bush"
doesn't that bode well for Kerry to have significant coattails if he in fact wins the election?
They need a delegation of grownups to tell Bush it's over and they're looking for another candidate. In the olden days, it might have happened -- Barry Goldwater would have done it.
But I agree with atrios that the Repubs have become a personal cult for Bush and so they're stuck with him.
Frankly, the fact that so many members of their base have formed a "cult of personality" like mantra to the Rush Limbaugh's of the world makes many modern Republicans bizarrely like the Stalinists and Maoists they always claimed to despise.
Forming one for "Our Feckless Chimperor" was but a lateral move for these dolts.
For the most part, the GOP has sold itself to the devil. Once done, its hard to come back from the dark side. However, it seems that this administration is on the brink of self-implosion. There has to be a number of GOPers who understand this, and will be ready to bail. Self-preservation is, after all, a more natural reflex than self-sacrifice.
Look up Prick with Ears in the dictionary and Jeff Sessions is lookin back at you ol buddy.
Bush was back-slapping Sessions coming out of his meeting with Congress the other day. Maybe he was sending a message ...
You biased liberals are going straight to hell. We, the true Americans, will prevail, at home and at war overseas. You will not weaken our resolve. You don't understand -- they are TRYING TO KILL US. We aer not a suicide cult, you obviously are. We MUST support our president or our way of life will end with a mushroom cloud of terror.
No. It is the Republican Party who put bush, Cheney, Rumsffeld and the Neocons in the White House. It is the Republican Party leadership who is so drunk with power that their only concern is to stay in power. They have no concern for America. They engineered this catastrophe, and are responsible, ultimately, for it.
They knew full well they were putting an incompetent puppet in the White House in order that they were able to carry out their agenda to benefit the richest among us.
I don't expect one of them, not one of them, to break ranks. They have already shown me what they are. And it ain't pretty.
Truth of it is, they showed me what they were 1980-1988.
United States of BOO!!
Ron Paul, the GOP Congressman from Texas (and onetime libertarian presidential candidate), has given Bush hell since the beginning, but doesn't seem to appear very big on the radar screens. I'm surprised he keeps getting reelected from a Texas district while dissing God's President.
Bob Barr is also given to fighting the establishment on police state issues like USA Patriot.
Guys like them might peel off enough other votes to at least form a "GOP Liberty Caucus" or something, hold press conferences, and embarass the majority; not to mention be a swing vote on stuff like extending USA Patriot, etc.
RightWing Traitor:
Your fear-mongering is tiresome. It has become crystal clear over the past few weeks (Bush's green light to Sharon in West Bank, Abu-Ghraib torture pictures, disintegrating security in Iraq, the Chalabi flip-flop just to name a few examples) that this administration has not kept us safe but rather has made the world much more dangerous for Americans.
The world Bush and Co. think they can create--eliminating terrorism by killing thousands of innocent Iraqis?--is a neo-con fantasy. They are propelling us faster and faster toward the mushroom cloud.
Just remember folks that when the rats start jumping off the ship, let's recall who built the ship to begin with. I say give them no quarter!
I don't even want to HEAR any of them start whining about how off-course their party is now. Let them all go down with the ship when it starts crashing against the rocks. FUCK THEM ALL. McCain, Lindsay Graham - screw all of you Republicans, trying to save your sorry butts now that you realize the ship is wrecked. You deserve it for what you've done to this country.
I'm way beyond distinguishing between the good nazis and the bad nazis.
What is rich? The Repub party is of the rich. Far too many believe that they are rich. If you are wealthy, then you can go without working for a year , without concern.
If not, then you are an idiot supporting the Republican party
Remember, Iraq is the fault of
1. The CIA
2. The Department of State
3. Colin Powell
4. Hillary Clinton
5. Democrats everywhere
6. France
7. Spain
8. The Liberal Media
9. John McCain
And last but certainly not least
10. those Iraqis
And don't mention Al Qaeda, we're saving them for Afghanistan.
No, you have it wrong. The Democrats are the party of limoscene elitist liberals, who control the media and is why you get nopthing but bad news. Hollywood and the gays want goodness to fail so evil can rule. I will not let it happen, traitors.
smarty jones: However, it seems that this administration is on the brink of self-implosion.
semper ubi: Just remember folks that when the rats start jumping off the ship, let's recall who built the ship to begin with. I say give them no quarter!
I agree. The Plame grand jury is trying to subpoena Pumkinhead, the prisoner abuse scandal is going to bring down Rummy and Wolfy, and Michael Moore's movie is going to show the clip of Chimpy clowning for the camera in the live feed before his Iraq war speech.
They're going down, baby!
This is going to start getting fun.
Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy Oh boy is this going to be fun!
Hey, they're getting their money's worth, and how.
There is bound to be some sticker-shock in the people who bought the Hummer with their knees bent and their mouths wide open.
It says right in the manual: Each R shall have, around hir neck, a bloody crow.
It doesn't say they will like it. And there is a simple answer for what to do with these morally defrocked Rs:
KILL THEM ALL.
_
What I found chilling was Yglesias' statement that a narrow Kerry victory might produce a Weimar-like Republic in America (i.e. an ineffective, doomed, dead-on-arrival government). We all know what happened later in the thirties when 'good Germans' didn't take their initial offering of democracy seriously.
Atrios,
I don't understand your position.
You are assuming that the spineless republican will actually stick to their guns once Kerry in office? Aren't you giving them too much credit? ALL the usual political trickery will be applicable to them. Remember they only have thin margin so we don't need to aqueeze too many of them to pass a law.
Intimidate those sobs. They'll bend. If they think Bush is bad, they haven't seen anything yet.
for eg. at least several of those republicans can be charged with some sort of crime. When kerry is in office he is in charge of the DOJ
the wingnut who calls himself Leftwing Traitors: Hollywood and the gays want goodness to fail so evil can rule. I will not let it happen, traitors.
Oooooooooh, you're personally not going to let it happen? What are you going to do, stage an armed standoff like you're buddy David Koresh?
Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Then General "Jesus Freak" Boykin will burn down your compound.
They are lower than rats: as the ship sinks, they will cling to it-- and drown in the sea of their own self-righteousness.
...the wingnut who calls himself Leftwing Traitor...
I think it's called "satire"... 
Iknow I sound like a broken record but if some of the so called Republican Moderates were defeated in November it would shake things up entirely. The Republicans depend on a small number of these old fashioned conservatives, and that is what they are, to rule. They make it possible for the far right agenda to be enacted, for the right to rule both the Senate and the House (to a lesser extent). They seldom oppose the worst of their party's excesses, certainly not anywhere near as often as Jeffords did.
Defeat the phony moderates on the basis of their support for Bush's program. Hang Bush II around their necks like a millstone. Imagine Judy Woodruff, Cokie Roberts and Chris Matthews sputtering out an explaination of that one.
What I found chilling was Yglesias' statement that a narrow Kerry victory might produce a Weimar-like Republic in America
That's why I think it's important to make sure EVERY republican is completely discredited once the wheels start coming off this administration, moderates and conservatives alike. If the moderate repubs think they can be rehabilitated by acting all 'shocked and surprised' by what's happened, it only sets the country up for four more years of the divisive, counterproductive crap we saw in the Clinton years. Would Germany have recovered from WWII if people said "Well, the problem isn't the Nazi Party per se, it's just some poor leadership at the top." No, the entire apparatus had to go.
(And before you all jump on me for using the Nazis as an example, I'm not saying that we've reached the level of degeneracy yet that the Nazis reached, I'm just trying to draw an analogy.)
For you younger people, a broken record is something like hip-hop turn table sampling only unintended. We didn't like it at all.
Yup, EPT, the modern analogy would be a scratched CD. Have you ever heard what it's like when one of them breaks? Annoyance-inducing in the extreme.
I have been harping on the "cult of personality" meme for a couple of years now...the adoring "news" pieces, the wire service photos with the halos, the fawning over the religious faith....it reeks of Kim Jong Il.
all the toadies and yes men in the govt and the congress are going to have to pay the piper. and he is wrapping up his performance.
What you said, EPT! (Better than I did)
Riesz Fischer,
really, Moore has footage of Bush yucking it up before his war speech?
If true, this should be devastating.
(And before you all jump on me for using the Nazis as an example, I'm not saying that we've reached the level of degeneracy yet that the Nazis reached, I'm just trying to draw an analogy.)
But we are pretty freakin close.
If true, this should be devastating.
Wow, smarty, you really are an optimist! (But then again, I guess you would be.)
After all the crap that Bush has sailed right through unscathed, what makes you think THIS would be the tipping point?
Not that I don't wish you were right...
Good. Let them circle the wagons and bunch up real good.
Then we call in Puff the Magic Dragon and light 'em up.
The fears of a 2006 right-wing counterattack - remember 1994? - are valid concerns but there's going to be a lot of chaos between here and there.
The good news for Bush remains, as always, that the Vichy Democrats can still screw this up. Read your Walter Karp.
Whatever the outcome in November, there is not going to be a decisive political result because of the huge number of "safe seats" in Congress.
But we still get to take a few licks at targets of opportunity.
this is giving us an opportunity. if kerry wins by a narrow margin, the scumbags will drag their feet throughout his term, whining about who lost iraq and soft on terrorism and inventing phony scandals while sweeping the real ones under the rug. but this dissension in the ranks gives us a chance to crack them like eggs. there are republicans out there who are absolutely appalled with the whores and extremists who have taken over their party, and may be willing to make common cause to save the us.
Snarky, I'm trying so hard to be "measured" in my speech... (and it ain't easy)
need a term the sheeple get.
GOERGE W IS THE GOLDEN CALF THE ISRAELITES WORSHIPPED IN THE DESERT.
who are you with? moses or george?
It takes a machine to know a machine, and people, the GOP is a machine. It's a bunch of wires and cogs and wheel bearings and gears. The problem with machines is that if you do not treat them properly they can break at the most innoportune times.
And when the GOP machine breaks, they will not be able to go over to Wal-Mart to get replacement parts.
Todays' wisdom for Machine Central.
The Golden Calf of the religious zealots.
The Golden Calf of Wall Street.
The Golden Calf of the Defense Industry.
The Golden Calf of the Pharmaceutical Industry.
The Golden Calf of the off-shore corporate elite.
George W. is that sucking sound you hear.
Was it Bob Herbert who first said, credibility gulch?
Yes, indeed, they were cheering on the Hill this week.
How about a cheer (based upon the ND fight song)?
GEORGE W. BUSH VICTORY MARCH
Rally Sons of the Party
Sing His Glory on bended knee
Raise the Red and Blue and Cheer with voices true--
Rah Rah for George W. Bush (U Rah Rah)
Keep reporters in a hush
Keep GOP coffers lush
We'll never forget Him and cheer Him 'til election
Loyal to George W. Bush--
Cheer! Cheer for George W. Bush
Wake up the echoes, get out the push
Send the volley cheer on high
Shake down the thunder from the sky
What tho' the odds be great or small
George W. Bush will win over all
While his loyal minions are marching onward to Victory
I think a lot of Repubs have stuck their whole sense of self into Being a Republican and Loving George W. Bush. When it becomes clear that Bush and the Powers That Be in the GOP can be evenly divided between incompetent nincompoops and evil motherfuckers, we'll see some of the more hardwired Repubs go into full psychotic breakdowns and some simply commit suicide. Not many, sure. But I think some of 'em are gonna be fairly prominent, and they'll get a shitload of publicity.
(/Scooter rubs his hands together gleefully)
semper ubi,
I don't know if it would be a tipping point. If the footage is powerful, I think it could easily make the Mission Accomplished and Bring it On fiascos seem, well, quanit. Actually, it would be a trifecta of ignominy.
At the time, I thought that Bush's Bring it On was a huge turnning point. While not really registering in the media, I think the public really saw that kind of sentiment as revealing a person that belies truth in advertising.
Clowning around before telling the nation that you are thaking the nation to war - and the result being countless thousands of people being killed - will exact a heavy toll of caught on film.
WWDT. Does he post from Nuremberg?
we'll see some of the more hardwired Repubs go into full psychotic breakdowns and some simply commit suicide
As I pointed out in my Machine Central post above, the GOP is a hardwired machine. Thus, when it breaks down it will be worse than the breakdown of the machine in The Prisoner episode called The General.
Jesus, sorry for the typos. I had a late night, as they say. Maybe I am Left Wing Traitor!
Warning. He's got a Georgus Holy card on his homepage too. Not for those with weak constitutions. Or maybe only for those who favor a weak constitution.
sorry for the typos. I had a late night, as they say. Maybe I am Left Wing Traitor!
No, it just means you are not a machine.
We need an ad showing Laura Bush sitting with an IRANIAN SPY during the State of the Union address, and we need to run it everywhere, even in nonswing states. Blow up the perception that the GOP is the party of real patriots, and what do they have left? Bush's sterling record? Frankly, I think Bush is very close to being unelectable, and Democratic congressional candidates need to run against him.
I doubt very many Republicans will jump off the Bush ship, because, well, they were dumb enough to sign up for his cruise to hell. But for those who wonder what McCain's up to, well, he's going to be the just about the only Republican still standing when this shakes out and he is the future of his party. Because after November, the Bush dynasty will go the way of the Stuarts or the Borbons. Without the nasty beheadings.
Clowning around before telling the nation that you are thaking the nation to war - and the result being countless thousands of people being killed - will exact a heavy toll of caught on film.
Bush the Machine was designed for frat party support in the 1970's. It was not intended to be a Presidentital Machine, but the GOP Machine has been malfunctioning since 1968, and is nearing a complete breakdown.
We need an ad showing Laura Bush sitting with an IRANIAN SPY during the State of the Union address,
Laura the Stepford Machine did sit with the Chalabi Iranian Spy Machine at the SOTU.
However, voters have not yet recognized that these are not people, they are machines who must stick to preprogrammed routines.
Heather Wilson and Lindsay Graham, are edging off the reservation - I guess because they are getting earfuls from their military allies.
EPT,
Check the links on the side to see my true feelings.
Tokyokie,
exactly, this is the type of commercial that the 514's can run. Chalabi as invited guest to the SOTU, Bush clowning around before the cameras before shock and awe.
We need to rip the cult of Bush into shreds and then stuff them down the throats of the bastards in the GOP and media.
McCain is making this so much fun to watch. Did you see him bitching last night on Larry King about not getting the complete Taguba report? I keep waiting for him to completely blow a gasket.
EPT,
Check the links on the side to see my true feelings.
WWDT
I'm pulling your leg. Sorry if I offended.
"Without the nasty beheadings."
Aw, why'd you have to go and spoil a perfectly good fantasy for me?
Of course, D.C. DOES have lots of lampposts...
Over the past 4 years the GOP has transformed itself from the party of "anti-Clinton" to the party of George W. Bush.
And they all should pay the price this November for welding their cart to his wagon. I can't emphasize enough how important it is that we connect the Congressional races to this disaster of an administration for the "dittohead" complicity he has received from this Republican majority.
These people placed their loyalty to GOP corporation over and above their loyalty to the American people and for that they deserve (apologies to Howard Dean) a first class ticket to back to the rock that Newt Gingrich found them under. Fuck that, let them fly coach!
Anyone seen this yet? Poppy's buddies bail his boy out one more time?
From the Washingtonian.com "Capital Comment"
A Hat Trick for Baker?
K Street insiders are betting that Donald Rumsfeld will leave the Bush Cabinet by midsummer. His replacement? Not Paul Wolfowitz, as some Pentagon watchers think, but that old reliable James Baker.
With support for the Iraq war slipping, the appointment of a high-profile international figure like Baker would help quiet critics who claim the Bush White House, in Washington Post columnist Robert Kagan’s words, “has no clue about what to do in Iraq tomorrow, much less a month from now.”
For Baker, taking over the top job at Defense would complete an unprecedented hat trick—holding the three most powerful Cabinet positions. The 74-year-old Texan served as Ronald Reagan’s Treasury secretary and George H.W. Bush’s Secretary of State.
What might pitch a few Republicans out of the tiny tent is the suckage of cash that has become the boy king's campaign.
A lot of that money that the king was supposed to raise for the party and its candidates is needed to defend the monarchy.
When they end up fighting over money, some folk will speak up a little.
The Bush Orcs and
Uruk-hai instinctively know Bush is hurting their chances for re-election. Only when polls show it is a dead-cert Bush is hurting them will they consider getting off of the Bush/Cheney Greed Gravy Train.
Now I am as liberal as they come, but I think should there be such a cross over, even by Sessions, it should be something to be embraced by our party & neither derided nor & exploited for political gain. The Repubs will have daggers enough for that brave soul & better they look cruel & heartless for exacting revenge than the dems kicking the 'poor Ole GOP while its down' (Rovian spin).
I would also like to point out Senator John Warner of Virginia, who refused to play ball with DeLay & Hastert & it would seem that he would be the more likely candidate for that position than Sessions.
Someone shut Kimmitt the fuck up!
Now he is saying "Bad People Have Parties Too."
He says he is convinced that the group was engaging in "criminal" or "terrorist" activity.
What a depraved asshole.
smarty jones:
Riesz Fischer,
really, Moore has footage of Bush yucking it up before his war speech?
If true, this should be devastating.
Yes, it's true. You can find the link right here on Eschaton, just search for "Moore". Here's the money graph:
minutes before he makes his own prime-time TV address to take the nation to war in Iraq. He is sitting at his desk in the Oval Office. A makeup woman is doing his face. And Bush is having a high old time. He darts his eyes about and grins, as if he were playing a peek-a-boo game with someone just off-camera. He could be a teenager goofing with his buds to relieve the passing tedium of a haircut.
Dude, I'm telling you, Bush is toast!
I have no doubt that even as we speak the Rove machine is contacting every movie theater in the country, offering bribes and/or threats against showing the Moore movie. I don't see how they can let this thing be seen. It is absolutely going to destroy the Cult of Bush.
but I think should there be such a cross over, even by Sessions, it should be something to be embraced by our party
Let's take a look at all their voting records for the past 3 years, shall we? Then tell me if they're worth embracing.
Sharkbabe, I'm hoping for direct-to-video.
Does anybody else think General Alexander (Military Intelligence) is, well, kinda a dim bulb, slender reed, intellectual lightweight for that sort of thing?
Clowning around before telling the nation that you are thaking the nation to war - and the result being countless thousands of people being killed - will exact a heavy toll of caught on film.
Someone posted a link yesterday. A German magazine has the clip and did a great satire on it. Scroll down about half way and you can watch it.
http://tinyurl.com/2wq7w
I like it:
Bush/Cheney '04: CLAP LOUDER!
Lying weasels and warwhores!
Presented last fall with a detailed catalog of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, the American military responded on Dec. 24 with a confidential letter asserting that many Iraqi prisoners were not entitled to the full protections of the Geneva Conventions. NYT
Fucking lemmings, lemmings with goddamned blinders on.
The most cogent and telling anti-war criticism comes from the right not the left
Iraq One Year Later by Rep. Ron Paul
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?art...?
articleid=2173
Don't Start a War With Iran by Rep. Ron Paul
http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?art...?
articleid=2579
Whose War? A neoconservative clique seeks to ensnare our country in a series of wars that are not in America’s interest. by Patrick J. Buchanan
http://www.amconmag.com/03_24_03...4_03/
cover.html
Is Iraq a Captive Nation? by Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.antiwar.com/roberts/?...?
articleid=2601
The best the left (at least the main stream left) could do pre war, was to say the war would be ok if only our government had better sanction from that socialist debating society with teeth, known as the UN.
And Sessions, a lemming with Yoda ears.
That weasel Bush wouldn't even answer questions from his own fucking party yesterday!! What a fucking craven little piece of shit.
400+ billion for the department of offense in 05 why is it we are the street cops of the world
Fine with me they can clap all they want standing on the deck of the Titanic with Commander Codpiece
Someone posted a link yesterday. A German magazine has the clip and did a great satire on it. Scroll down about half way and you can watch it.
http://tinyurl.com/2wq7w
OMG.. that is outrageous!!! Why haven't I seen that before?
Here he is, minutes before giving the 'speech' and he is acting like that?!?!?!
I have no doubt that even as we speak the Rove machine is contacting every movie theater in the country, offering bribes and/or threats against showing the Moore movie. I don't see how they can let this thing be seen. It is absolutely going to destroy the Cult of Bush.
Indeed, you have used the key term here: machine. Rove is a special machine called Rove the Robot. Bush is a smaller version called Bush the Puppet.
All of these machines require oil and energy, and their only quest is to secure more energy for their dominance of people.
I slipped over to FReeperville to see how they are taking the Chalabi fiasco and found this heartwarming post from FReeper arasina who devotes her homepage to pics of her hero Chimpy McFlightsuit and posts highlighting fellow FReepers' apostasy.
Your comment about the Bremer move to the Dims is the first I had read of the rumors and I have to admit this is absolutely devastating news to me. Either of you, or anyone for that matter, have any reasons I should continue to even care about this election or support President Bush? This feels like the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
Looks like Chimpy's going down.
I for one remember the "good old days" when people had differences on policy (remember policy??), but could discuss those differences in civil tones. They actually worked to persuade people by the force of their carefully articulated arguments. (Yes, I guess I'm that old.)
Today we have a Senate majority leader who goes out on the stump to actively campaign against the re-election of the Senate minority leader. Today we have the notorious talking points of the Rethug machine.
I think the moment the talking points cue cards became de rigeur was the first clear-cut sign of the endangerment of the Republic. After all, if someone provides cue cards for you (and you accept them), you know longer have to even make an attempt to think.
I'm also very happy to see McCain pissed as hell and swinging like a champ again. For a moment I had thought he had permanently given up his immortal soul completely when I first learned he was heading the Bushco campaign in AZ. But you know what? Living here in AZ I have yet to see any evidence of him doing any lifting whatsoever to help the Chimperor this fall. Better that McCain run the AZ re-elect campaign in this state in an extraordinarily lackluster way, than to have an actual cheerleader in that role.
For the life of me I cannot understand why McCain simly deck the motherfucker on that stage in 2000 instead of endorsing him. That is what I would have been tempted to do.
oops. Why Mc. simply didn't deck him.
Generic Dem now leads generic Rethug by a margin of 10, it is a tough time for the rethugs.
.....
.
.....
Stop the imperial land-grab! Afghanistan and Iraq are all about oil!! Saddam Hussein is no worse than Paul Bremer! We were not, in fact, met with whitmans samplers and floral arrangements but with guns and angry people!!!! Israel is the cause of all wrongdoing in the mideast!! "Terrorism" is no worse than carpet-bombing!!!! The UN is always right! Save Mumia!
I keep waiting for this straw that breaks the Bush GOP back. Dispite the barrage of lies and incompetence exsposed to the light of day. W still is hanging onto about 48% approvial.
I have a idea why.
A while ago I checked the web page for PBS's "The Jesus Factor" about W's religious converstion. I states 42% of Americans consider themselves evangelical chistians.
Being raised as one I never forgot this bit of dogma. No matter what kind of messy shit you get into Jesus never revokes your membership card to the club. In other words W could get caught screwing a goat and the christian right would have a tissy fit and then in time forgive him, pretty Quick in the case of a fabricated war.
I'm not saying this is always the case (aka Jimmy Carter), but it's something to consider.
I think Bush GOP Broken Back numbers at best would be about 38% approval. Then again thats enough to send him back to Crawford. But probibly not enough to send him to Levenworth.
Sadly, I just can't see it happening.
Sadly? Sadly? Shit, they wouldn't be sad if we were going down in flames. They would be dancing on our graves.
If given the opportunity, I won't be sad, I'll honor them with a dirty-shoed moonwalk.
Sorry. Not had my coffee yet (late rising in the West). I of course meant "you no longer" (not "you know longer"). Jeesh.
this straw that breaks the Bush GOP back...
...will be when Kerry shows his leadership potential.
There are a fair number of Republicans not named McCain who are a) patriots and b) have safe seats. In the Senate, try Chafee, Collins, Domenici, DeWine, Lugar, Hagel, Smith, Voinovich. Maybe Campbell and Grassley. And judging by their reaction to Abu Ghraib, you might want to add Graham and Warner. In the House, I can't name as many names, but certainly Jim Leach (if his seat is safe) and Peter King.
Most of this guys can get re-elected even if Dear Leader is ChImpeached (TM). I think that the problem is more subtle. You dance with them that brung you. Leaving your party is hard, even if you can keep your seat.
Here is what "responsible republicans", if they exist, could do.
Force Bush, Cheney and the top three Defense officials Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Feith to resign under threat of impeachment. Cheney needs to resign first so Bush can name McCain as his replacement. McCain would easily win approval in the Senate. Then Bush would resign along with his disgraced Defense Dept officials. McCain would then be able to run as an incumbent and would probably have a good chance of winning.
As much as I want to see the Democrats win in November I very much fear the damage that Bush will do between now and January 20. I don't think the world can stand 8 more months of W the disaster.
If Kerry doesn't get his act together soon McCain would win easily.
In fact impeachment of Bush could be the disaster scenario for Kerry.
I have written to Sen. Warner thanking him for continuing to press forward with the torture investigations. Though he is frustrating to watch, because he seems to obstruct the process -- in actuality without his interest there would be no hearings at all. I think we should write or call or email him to express our views and to ask for his help in convincing other non-psycho members of his party to vote for an independent commission with subpoena power. The only reason we got the Watergate hearings is we had a dem senate and congress. We need any republicans we can find with a brain and a semblance of honor to step forward and do the right thing. He is powerful, as the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has to continue - You can write to him at http://warner.senate.gov. Thanks. (sorry, I posted this in the wrong thread earlier!)
2004 has been the worst year I can remember for governmental messes, and that includes 1973. This has been infinitely worse than Watergate. When I think of the Rethuglicans now in general as a political force, it is with awe and wonder that they so effectively captured the nation in a mere 10 years, controlling our government....
But George W. Bush has this habit of running companies into the ground within 3 years. I guess everybody thought he'd grown out of that. Heh.
I TOLD YOU SO. My mantra.
There are no responsible Republicans in positions of power in Washington. The power structure of the party is very much like a cult (proof positive of this is that the leadership, from Bush on down, repeatedly intones things that are manifestly untrue and never, ever, confess when caught in lies. This is typical true believer behavior, characterized most clearly by doomsday cults that predict the end of the world on August the 10th and then keep moving the goalposts and denying their prior predections).
The only way to deal with evil like this (and there is no other way to describe national leaders whose only goal is self-perpetuation and wealth while running the country off a cliff) is to defeat it. If Bush and enough of the truly whackjob Republican Congressional leadership get tossed in the street, the rest of the party might realize that ruthless psychopatholgy isn't in their best personal interest.
OMG.. that is outrageous!!! Why haven't I seen that before?
It's been around for a while. It was an accidental pre-feed broadcast by lots of world news networks (including the BBC) waiting for the live broadcast. Afterwards, the White House made sure that they never got access to the live feeds again.
solar---
I'm glad you said "evil." I thought it might be going overboard a bit.
And how ironic is it that they truly fit the definition of evil while believing they are somehow chosen to DEFEAT the very thing they are?
FUBAR indeed.
Or as my husband would say, a Guatemalan goat fuck.
Tom:
You're close ... but McCain got an "F" on his "Works and Plays Well With Other Republicans" report card (ref. recent Hastert comment) ... no matter how bad it gets, that just won't fly.
Rudy Giuliani, otoh, is tailor-made for the spot, and the RNC convention is (drumroll) in NYC, where he became beatified after the assault on the WTC. He's completely disconnected from the Bush blunders, but can keep the McCain-haters in the GOP happy going forward. And, unless Kerry can ably shift gears from an "I'm Not Bush" campaign to a "John Kerry Should Be President Because ..." approach, the DNC could be toast in November, with only the Senate in question.
Bush is falling apart far too quickly for my taste. It'd be better if it was late August.
And yes, I do think that if the GOPpers in the House -- generally where you'll find the dumbest legislators on both sides, though there are some exceptions -- latch themselves to Bush, there could be the kind of electoral swing that hasn't been seen in the US for decades.
And a good thing too.
From Chapter 3: Leninists of the Right
By his own words, Paul Weyrich revealed that he wasn't really a conservative at all in the older sense of the term. "We are no longer working to preserve the status quo. We are radicals, working to overturn the current power structure of the country," he declared. Weyrich described his views as "Maoist. I believe you have to control the countryside, and the capital will eventually fall." He advocated no-holds-barred tactics. "I am struck by the fact that we have lots of people who want to be nicer than God. If you read scripture, Jesus was not some sort of milquetoast person with supreme charity. He cut people in two." One booklet on political tactics included a section saying that for the right reasons lying was to be regarded as a permissible "mental seservation." (Moon , too, taught that lying is necessary, even under oath, when one is doing "God's work.")
Blinded by the Right by David Brock
OT, but it looks like we've given back Karbala, too...
Which is good I think.
Fallujah, Najaf, Karbala. When will we give back Baghdad, too?
Any chance somebody at one of the statehouses, like Ahhnold (looking at a Senate run?) calls Bush out?
Georgie W. Bush == Albatross.
The GOPranos have draped this stinky bird around their own necks. They can choose to abandon him now, or sink with him.
Since most congressional Republicans value loyalty to the party over loyalty to the country, I'm betting that most of them will hang on until the very end.
With all due respect, I believe a Guatamalan goat would turn up its nose at the prospect of fucking these guys. Even Washingtonienne would only do it for money.
Wystler - did you see any of the broadcasts from Giuiliani's testimony before the 9/11 Commission? I simply am gobsmacked at the numbers of people who still have it in their heads that Giuiliani can somehow save Bush or the Repugs. Giuiliani was heckled by 9/11 family members to within an inch of his life. Giuiliani has marriage problems in his past in a big way - not popular with the Religious right - and most of the country is not at all enchanted with the ex mayor of New York. Not to mention that a whole hell of a lot of New Yorkers have no use for him. It's like this stupid McCain for VP idea. McCain is not going to be part of a Kerry administration and if Bush wants Giuiliani, I think it would be great. Giuiliani is not going to help anyone.
Any chance somebody at one of the statehouses, like Ahhnold (looking at a Senate run?) calls Bush out?
You must be joking. Conan is as bad a stupid fucking GOP cock sucking fascist as the rest of them. His administration was put together by Darrell Issa Loves Bush, and is crawling with Bush operatives.
Get a fucking clue, Conan is a Trojan Horse.
I wonder if some of the impetus for all Republicans to rally around Bush is not due to a sense that there is great peril in having Kerry take on the reins of power, because he will be able to expose the true depth of the incompetence and corruption of the Bush administration.
Consider that the Bush administration has been able to pursue its current "policies" with the comfort derived from knowing that the Senate, the House, and of course the Executive branch are in friendly, very forgiving hands. Essentially, zero oversight has taken place. National security can be invoked whenever and whereever a truth embarrassing to Bush might be exposed, and dispensed with whenever a fact might embarrass the other side. Republicans in the Executive branch and in Congress likely felt little concern about this possibility of being caught in this behavior when Bush was still a tremendously popular President. There can be little doubt they were therefore more than willing to wink at the actions of the Bush WH, no matter how outrageous.
Yet what would in fact happen if a Kerry administration took over? Immediately, Democratic appointees would have full access to the facts that the Bush administration has covered up (including, I'd guess, such things as who met with Cheney about energy issues, etc.) Kerry or his appointees could then expose those facts.
Not only would this exposure forever disgrace the Bush administration, it would discredit Republican constituencies complicit in this corruption, and expose how the Republicans in Congress steadfastly refused to perform their Constitutional duty of oversight.
In short, I've got to guess that Republicans in Congress see in the end of the Bush administration intimations of their own political deaths. This would explain the panic and desperation in their eyes whenever they entertain Bush's demise.
Tena:
did you see any of the broadcasts from Giuiliani's testimony before the 9/11 Commission?
no, i'll admit i did not ... neither did most voters
Giuiliani was heckled by 9/11 family members to within an inch of his life.
but he doesn't need electoral votes from NY or NJ ...
Giuiliani has marriage problems in his past in a big way - not popular with the Religious right -
i guess reagan's marriage problems and gingrich's marriage problems stopped them too ... what? no?
and most of the country is not at all enchanted with the ex mayor of New York.
polling report has nothing on rudy more recent than September 2002, but it was all roses then ... i'd bet that most of the country has no opinion or a positive opinion on rudy now (but you're in pretty deep with Holden as it is, if memory serves)
Not to mention that a whole hell of a lot of New Yorkers have no use for him.
Again, NY is going to remain blue, but that doesn't mean rudy wouldn't run well in OH, PA, MO, FL, et al.
It's like this stupid McCain for VP idea.
Agreed. While Kerry would be elected, the House and Senate would likely remain in Republican control for the rest of my lifetime, and Kerry would lose in 2008.
... if Bush wants Giuiliani, I think it would be great. Giuiliani is not going to help anyone.
Nope ... again, I'd consider a bet, should the circumstance arise, but since I'd be working the other (Kerry) side, I wouldn't want to deal with the conflict of interest ... Giuliani would near certainly kick Kerry's "I'm Not Bush" backside all the way back to Massachussetts, because the primary question of the campaign would not be on Bunnypants' competence
Wystler - I just totally disagree with you about Giuiliani. He is not that popular, and his marriage problems are much much more public and worse overall than were Reagan's or Gingrich's (and Gingrich wasn't running for president.) Giuiliani would be slaughtered - running his mistress in and out of his house while his wife was still there? No way is that not going to cause problems. And the 9/11 families would make their objections very public, coast to coast.
And last but not least, Giuiliani is way way too New Yawk for almost the entire country except the East coast. He is not that popular anywhere else. He can't do one thing to help the Repugs. Not one thing.
tena:
did you follow the polling report link?
giuliani's biggest edge is that he's not bush, but he's conservative ... there's a margin of voters lining up in the "I can't vote for Bush" line who would have no problem voting for Rudy ... breaks my heart, but true ... or do you really believe Kerry'd whip Rudy in Texas? (if so, you shouldn't be a political consultant like Dubya shouldn't be in the oil biz)
I doubt that Kerry would beat any Repug in Texas right now, but I can tell you that Texas Repugs would have to hold their noses to vote for Giuiliani, as would Repugs in Colorado, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, etc. etc. etc. New York is not that popular a concept in a lot of the country, 9/11 nothwithstanding.
And your polling data is, as you said, not current. Bush was polling about 60% or so at that time, too.
Sorry, Wystler, but I just don't see it. Giuiliani benefited from the same post-9/11 popularity bubble that made Bush suddenly popular (he wasn't prior - he was going downhill fast after the Japanese fishing boat fiasco and the Chinese spy plane screw-up). That bubble burst some time back.
Tena:
Bush's drop in the polls is his own doing (with some BIG HELP from Howard Dean, who got the ball rolling) ... there's a disconnect between Bush's numbers and the GOP's numbers, and Kerry's running a strictly anti-Bush campaign ...
I don't think Bush's falling apart has come too early. It will take consistently bad news over a long period to pry people away from the Bush image that they fell for.
I'm not worried in the slightest about the Giuliani or McCain scenarios, because there's no chance in hell that Bush won't be the GOP nominee. He subverted the party to his own ends, and now, like Hooker, he'll lead it to its Chancelorsville.
Only if people believe there is an iceberg is there an iceberg. Stay strong, people! Don't let the water around your ankles make you betray the Glorious Leaders in the 'Battle of Iraq'!
Iran finally defeats Hussein, with the help of a Bush, destroying that Bush in the process, and torching his father's 'legacy.' It's Biblical.
Bush Lied...Impeach NOW!
Traitors don't deserve elections.
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