We need to continue our effort here because . . . long term, the investment that we’re making today will be a small price if we’re able to stop al Qaeda here, if we’re able to stabilize the Middle East, it’s not only going to be a small price for the near future, but think about the future for our kids and their kids.
Predictably, Democrats like John Kerry and Howard Dean came up with the weak response of being "outraged" and demanding apologies. Other Democrats haven't responded at all. Among liberal bloggers, Greg Sergent of TPM does better than the politicians but still comes up short.
Boehner, like the White House and most Republicans, is willing to sink an untold number of American lives into the pursuit of the fantasy of a stable Middle East and into the illusion that civilization as we know it will come to an end if we don't defeat the ever omnipotent Al Qaeda.
Like Glenn Greenwald of Salon, Sargent gives the Republicans and the right too much credit for believing the delusions they promote concerning a stable Middle East, a free Iraq, the Muslim threat, or the omnipotence of al-Qaeda. Everyday conservatives may believe these things, but people like Boehner, Karl Rove, and Rush Limbaugh don't believe them any more than Nancy Pelosi or Cindy Sheehan believe them. What Boehner and the Republicans really can't stomach is the idea of caving in to the left on the war and they think that it's worthwhile to sacrifice "untold number[s] of American lives" as long as they have a hope of winning the presidency again in 2009. For the Republicans, carrying on with the pointless war is a "small price to pay" in the hope of avoiding defeat at the hands of their domestic enemies.
Apologies are really not enough.
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14 comments:
I'll remind you that the dems are willing to sacrifice untold lives for victory in 08 elections as well. The repubs are pursuing a conflict that they ultimately believe (correctly or not) is a just cause, the dems continue funding a conflict that they do not believe in but makes for a great issue to drum up votes. Tell me, which of those two motives is more reprehensible?
The mere idea that Professor Caric knows better about what Rep. Boehner and Republicans believe than they do is laughable. What should he apologize for?
Well, for being a republican for starters.
I am glad you made the distinction between GOP leaders and everyday Americans who are registered Republicans and with whom one can have honest disagreements.
Republican leaders don't really believe anything that they say about this war anymore with the exception of people with integrity like John Warner and Chuck Hagel.
I have many Republican friends and a few Republican relatives. In all sincerity I feel badly for them. Their party leaders lie on a regular basis and being loyal upright people themselves, my Republican friends assume the same kind of integrity on the part of Republican office-holders and party leaders. So they believe these people and are led, to quote Dante's Inferno from The Divine Comedy, into "dark woods for the straight road was lost."
Like the protangonist in The Divine Comedy, the people I know who are Republicans are good people. Heroic really in their defense of their party and their President. Not unlike Dante in the story of which I speak. In the book, Dante's character is is the hero, who loses his way in the "dark woods" and journeys to nine regions arranged around the wall of a huge funnel in nine concentric circles representing Hell. The journey is difficult and full of revelations, disappointment and questions, and at end of the journey Dante is lead to the bottom of Hell.
There but for the grace of God goes a nation with leaders like George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and David Boehner.
If we follow the Dante metaphor to its conclusion there is reason to hope. For at the bottom of hell, Lucifer (analagous to the Republican leadership in this case), is seen in all his ugliness and they are drawn towards Heaven. They emerge to the surface, rising above the ugliness of sin and journey towards their goal as they catch sight of the stars shining in the heavens. (Analagous to my hope that good hard-working Americans will rise above the petty insignificant divisions the Republican leadership inflicts upon them. Also analogous to those good folks rejecting that corroded leadership and turning completly away from the hypocrisy and lies of those who lead the 21st Century Conservative movement.)
Let us hope the Dante analogy holds.
Cutnpaste, avoid the purple pills.
Shitforbrains, read a book.
Found another Halloween quote applicaple to the brave and brilliant Mr.."ef's" heroes at the top of the GOP Mafia. It could apply to any one of them (again, I stress, this would not apply to average citizens who have duped into the Republican party by the Psycopaths and sociopaths who control it):
"I prayed that he would burn in hell but in my heart I knew that hell would not have him."- Dr. Sam Loomis (Halloween)
Did you enjoy that Shitforbrains?
Mayo unhinged... the story at 11.
ef - He has the temerity to accuse us of harboring hatred for The Other.
As I stated earlier, listening to Caric, and toddmayo, lecture anyone on what the Republicans think or believe is beyond laughable.
"jd", why do you and shitforbrains (ef), ALWAYS go for these stupid ad-hominem attacks instead of simply expressing your opinions?
Ha!
shitforbrains ... stupid ad-hominem
The textual equivalent of stepping on a yard rake.
mayo - ad hom? Project much. I just read one on the most tenuous stretches with your Dante analogy, and you repeatedly ad hom and just make shit up about Republicans and their positions, and then you have the temerity to accuse us of harboring hatred. Doctor, heal thyself.
And once again, the hate oozes. What is wrong with you? It's a metaphor for God's sake!! Are you unfamiliar with Dante, with metaphors, or both??
"ef".
I returned to you, the disrespect I recieved from you. You people wish to refer to me as cutnpaste, I find that insulting, especially given that you are all total strangers to me.
I guess it's easy to engage in ad-hominem attacks from the safety of a computer as I've demonstrated to you "ef" AKA shitforbrains, three times at least. You still don't get the idea. STOP IT. It's cheap!
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