Sometimes, you do have to wonder whether the Bush administration is going to allow a transition in 2009.
As has already discussed on this site, heavyweight conservatives like Newt Gingrich, Thomas Sowell, and Harvey Mansfield have been musing lately about the benefits of military coups and one-man rule. The question of now allowing a Democrat to take office has not yet emerged, but right-wing intellectuals are starting to question the appropriateness of American democracy at this point in time.
Dick Cheney sounded like he was exploring the same kind of territory in a Fox interview today. Sounding like he had been rehearsing this for a while, Cheney stressed that "we didn’t get elected to be popular. We didn’t get elected just to worry about the fate of the Republican Party." It's not the Bush administration that has been tested and has failed, it's the American people who are being tested.
In this light, the Iraq is a "fundamental test of the character of the American people." What's most important here isn't that Cheney is telling 2/3rd's of the American public to fuck ourselves in the same way that he told Pat Leahy to "fuck yourself" or that he's telling the Republican Party to fuck themselves (which must have been reassuring to all those Republican moderates worrying about re-election).
Instead, what's most important are the implications of the American people failing this "fundamental test" of our character.
The test is coming up in 2008. The Republican candidate is going to be a war supporter and there's a very good chance that he will lose to a Democratic candidate who has pledged some sort of withdrawal. Is the Bush administration then going to find a way to find the American public "accountable" for our "poor choices?" Who knows at this point, but the thought gives the election a little added interest.
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5 comments:
Dick is right. We are being tested and we have failed. Instead of taking these war criminals to task for the Iraq bullshit, we just move like sheep across the ever darkening pature. Oil companies have record profits, all business is shipped out of the USA and the gap between rich and poor is at a record high gap not seen since the fuedal system.
The French revolution and the guillotine is looking rather merciful at this point.
I have some sympathy with that thought, but think that a corner of sorts has been turned with the failure of the Bush administration.
I rather think Tim has struck the correct chord. The American Constitutional Republic and America's standing in the world are at stake. Our generation of leaders (of both parties) are being challenged and tested: consitutional safeguards and the American experience are not automatic and self perpetuating; they require courage and intelligence of men and women to sustain them.
Why did you change the name of the title?
That's because I wasn't comfortable with the "fuck" in the subject line. I generally use little profanity in real life and didn't feel comfortable using it so prominently online.
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