From The Washington Monthly, a website infinitely more widely read than mine, and actually respected, come words that could have been written by me:
I write a lot about the excesses of Republican rhetoric, in part because I find GOP remarks illustrative of a party gone mad, and in part because of the impact the rhetoric has on the larger political culture/discourse. Most of the time, the temptation is to mock the absurdities.
But once in a while, we find a case like this one, in which a sitting member of the House of Representatives -- not a Fox News personality, not a host of right-wing radio show -- suggests, in print, that the president is a traitor.
Is nothing beyond the pale for Republican officials in 2010? Must there be no difference between GOP lawmakers and unhinged right-wing activists? Are we to believe that we should simply expect and tolerate the casual accusations of treason against American patriots?
It was written in response to this, from a Republican Congressman:
Simply put, President Obama is disadvantaging the United States one step at a time and undermining this country's national defense on purpose. Whether he is catering to the anti-war leftists or truly doing what he thinks is best for our security, the president is leading this nation down a very dangerous path. [emphasis in the original]
What is there to do but sigh, deeply? Just keep writing, I guess, on the off chance that some time some one, or maybe two, will see how fatally such RWS™ are damaging our political process and, therefore, our country. Clearly, there are those that see it, but the question remains, unanswered, for now: which side has the numbers?
The way I see it Sid, is that the whole of republican strategy is to make the country ungovernable, during democratic administrations, in order to create an atmosphere of chaos that they then blame on democrats.
ReplyDeleteWhen they succeed, they can then reclaim power and continue their march to a republican Reich.
Or a "Permanent Republican Majority" as 'Turd Blossom'(Rove) put it.
This has been going on since Nixon, at least. And it is the reason republicans keep expanding the powers of the presidency; apparently it never occurred to them that they were giving those expanded powers to the democratic president they now accuse of a power grab.
Or perhaps it did occur to them and they economically use a supposed democratic power grab to stir up the idiots we see on this page.
If it is madness, it is also method!
I'm sure Obama and the democratic leadership understand this, Johnson and Clinton struggled to overcome it , but it is far easier to create chaos than is is to create and maintain order.
That is the progressive dilemma: how to build, in an atmosphere of hateful obstructionism.
EugeneInSanDiego
Like the Democrats didnt'/dont engage in excessive rhetoric...
ReplyDeleteand WHEN are they gonna try Bush/Chaney for wah crimes?...oh yeah, the Wahs still goin on...
well you could charge them for holding innocent A-rabs prisoner at Git-Mo..oh yeah, there still holding innocent A-rabs prisoner at Git-Mo...whats it been? 570 days the President's(Peace be upon Him)been in Office, oh wait, thats how many Servicemen/women have been killed in Iraq/Afghanistan/Fort Hood...he's only been president 447 days 21 hrs and 10 minutes, but who's counting???
Frank
I think you're exactly right, Eugene.
ReplyDelete