Is it me? Is it the onset of summer? Or is the political narrative in this country getting really uninteresting? I was amused to see thereisnospoon’s diary expressing exasperation with the rhetoric of the right. I, too, feel like we have thoroughly vanqished the right on nearly every field of battle. It’s almost like we have nothing left to prove. We kicked their ass right up and down the line. The whole political environment calls to mind a Cryptical Envelopment wherein the conservative movement has been judged, found guilty, and awaits execution.
The other day they waited, the sky was dark and faded,
Solemnly they stated, “He has to die, you know he has to die.”
All the children learnin’, from books that they were burnin’,
Every leaf was turnin’, to watch him die, you know he had to die.The summer sun looked down on him,
His mother could but frown on him,
And all the other sound on him,
He had to die, you know he had to die.
At this point I feel like Larry Holmes during the famous Tex Cobb fight. Holmes was beating Tex Cobb so badly that he kept turning to the referee and asking him why he wouldn’t stop the fight. Cobb took the worst beating in boxing history and, in response, they reduced championship fights down from fifteen to twelve rounds. It was so bad that Howard Cosell quit doing boxing matches. Of course, Tex Cobb was a funny guy and he responded:
“Hell, I’d take another beating for 15 rounds if it would get him off of Monday Night Football.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know what more we have to prove. Bushism is an abject failure, their foreign policy is a disaster, their domestic policy is a disaster, their economic policy is a disaster, the lies have almost all been exposed. Why won’t someone throw in the towel? Let’s impeach these bastards already.
Yet, I know we still have a lot of work to do. The referee, the judges, and the writers are not exactly worthy of our trust. We are going to need a knockout.
Great story, Booman.
But WTF does it take to get that knock-out?
These guys are so punch drunk, yet the media keeps up the smoke and mirrors game instead of calling a TKO.
I dunno. But I need something to energize me. I feel like I’m flogging a dead horse now.
A Bj in the oval office…it seems to be the only think conservatives hate. Because, they seem to love a war monger..who lies..and people die.
Everyone is exhausted…wonder sometimes if that is the game they are playing. You know, wear everyone out until people give up…?
I suspect that with the real estate markets teetering on the brink of a steep and rapid decline, some old-fashioned “it’s the economy stupid” outrage and distemper should be seizing hold of the public psyche sometime between now and September.
Even the threat of Gay marriage and activist judges won’t be able to divert the somnambulent ignorati from that, and the idea the the Bushco extremists cannot govern will resonate ever more widely.
It’s too bad there isn’t a functional Democratic platform and strategy to take advantage of this pending downturn in GOP fortunes.
even a new terrorist attack will help Bush politically at this point.
ALthough maybe the one thing they could do (and I know it sounds ridiculous, but consider how much of what is going on now would have sounded ridiculous five years ago) is “postpone” the election due to some sort of crisis/attack.
Myself and several of my friends had exactly that thought about BushCo declaring a National emergency and calling off elections pretty much in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
I don’t know if a new terrorist attack of some size here in the US would help or hurt the Bush regime now. I imagine the neocons by and large believe such an attack would help advance their agenda and keep them in power, but, the neocons are, after all delusional to the extreme and completely insane to boot so I don’t think their beliefs have merit.
It will be interesting to see how the arrests of these purported terror suspects in Canada is played by the press and the government here in the US. How it’s played out may provide clues to what the Bushwhackers are thinking.
what happens next, after the Conservatives topple over?
In a way this will be the harder question. Obviously a lot of the “left” and even “center-left” visible on Kos and elsewhere is unified by being against the current regime. And that’s appropriate. But once the source of the unity – – awareness of the terror that is Buch Inc — is gone, so will a large degree of the unity.
Maybe it’s too premature to be talking about future disagreement, possibly giving ammo to the rightist dead-enders. But one principle that all center and lefters should be able to agree upon and proudly proclaim throughout the public sphere is some kind of national health insurance. We’re pretty much the richest country in the world — if everyone else can do it, so can we!
Beyond that are more “divisive” issues like above- poverty living-minimum wage, democratic control of corporations and the economy more generally, etc.
In any event, once the conservative ideology gives way, the public discussion will move left, where the rational people with good moral-political (pro democracy) values are, and the hard and exciting work will be to be part of the development of good, democratically-approved policies and government. (And, notably, for that we will need to be both idealists and pragmatists.)
I remember that Holmes/Cobb fight well.
On that note, I guess you could say that at this point Bush is blocking punches with his face.
that will put the vile ReThug machine on the canvas. Excellent post I must say. Reminds me of something I did along the lines of ‘Why we must move ahead.’
And I also have some ideas about the future. Main one is that every Democrat who voted for the Iraq War or the Bankruptcy Bill needs to be sent packing. Period.
There is no way we can build a progressive movement int the Party with spineless corporate cowards such as those.
They have to go.
Add those 16 who voted for Part D to the list of those who should be sent packing.
And, while I am on the that subject here is the link to the roll call.
The wind in the willows played Tea for Two
The sky was yellow and the sun was blue
Strangers stopped strangers
just to shake their hand
Everybody’s playing
in the Heart of Gold Band
Heart of Gold Band
–Hunter/Garcia, “Scarlet Begonias”
Arminius, you idiot, you should have used this one–
The bottles stand as empty
as they were filled before
Time there was and plenty
but from that cup no more
Though I could not caution all I yet may warn a few:
Don’t lend your hand to raise no flag
atop no ship of fools
Ship of fools
on a cruel sea
Ship of fools
sail away from me
It was later than I thought
when I first believed you
now I cannot share your laughter
Ship of Fools
No I cannot share your laughter
Ship of Fools
–Hunter/Garcia, “Ship of Fools”
Arminius, when I was younger I preferred the Doors over the Dead:
The human race was dyin’ out
No one left to scream and shout
People walking on the moon
Smog will get you pretty soon
Everyone was hanging out
Hanging up and hanging down
Hanging in and holding fast
Hope our little world will last
Yeah, along came Mr. Goodtrips
Looking for a new a ship
Come on, people better climb on board
Come on, baby, now we’re going home
Ship of fools, ship of fools
The human race was dyin’ out
No one left to scream and shout
People walking on the moon
Smog will get you pretty soon
Ship of fools, ship of fools
Ship of fools, ship of fools
Ship of fools, ship of fools
It is not enough to defeat them in argument. They need to be held accountable in a way that sends a message to politicians of every stripe, current and future.
Right now, this nation harbors war criminals. These people started a war based on information they knew to be either false or dubious. They used a terrible event to roughshod over the constitution and to then ramrod legislation through that benefits only a few members of this society. They abused the vote of their constitutents to not only divide this nation, but to hoodwink and pander to that constituency. Even at this late stage, they will not stop. They bubble forth about flag burning and gay marriage, but they really want an end to the estate tax — a tax that affects 1% of this nation. Because to them, the 1% they fight IS this nation.
I know the big scare emanating from the mouths of pundits on the right: if the Democrats take control of the Senate and/or House we will see endless investigations and impeachment. They are right. That’s what these people deserve.
If you and I break the law, we are held accountable. If this is truly a society of the people and for the people, we must hold these people accountable for their duplicitious, craven insensitivity to the dignity of life in Iraq and for the harm they have inflicted on the good name and honor this country once held. These people care about nothing but their bank accounts.
There are many Democrats currently serving who also need to be held accountable.
You can tire all you want, but if we as a nation let these people slide with what they have done — then we are all a bunch of hypocrites and let anarchy rule.
I get that way too at times. These people have become such a parody of themselves it’s hard to even make fun of them anymore. They’re like the joke evryone has heard a thousand times.
Not until they are beaten at the ballot box.
Then we beat them some more.