Friday, February 16, 2007

GOP in Death Spiral

This has been a bad week for the GOP. Scooter Libby and the White House were trapped in their web of falsehoods about Plame-gate, and the bald-faced lies we heard months ago from press secretary Ari Fleisher were exposed. We are told that ten billion taxpayer dollars were thrown down the drain by the "Coalition" Provisional Authority during the last few weeks of their disastrous tenure in Iraq. The House of Representatives passed a no-confidence vote regarding Bush's escalation in Iraq, but Bush continued to bullshit America about a victory strategy that nobody can believe. For them, the weekend can't come too soon.

Remember when President Bush said he would fire anyone who leaked the name of a covert operative? Carl Rove is still working, but we know he leaked. And all this goes back to a scenario where the Bush administration was caught trying to sell the world a lie about Niger uranium. So they lied to cover up an "outing" that was designed to cast doubt on a previous lie that they told... This whole sordid scenario needs to be laid out crisply to the American people, so they understand just what kind of people were, and are, running our country.

It appears the CPA thought they could buy peace in Iraq by putting money in every hand that reached out for some. Cash money! Greenbacks! Planeloads of it! Of course there was no accountability, and most of the "work" that was done was useless. My question is: how much of this cash ended up in the hands of the insurgency? I would like to see a list of every person or company who got money handed to them, with a sidebar showing where each of them is now and what they are doing. This story is going to have long legs.

This "non-binding resolution" about the surge is purely political, but politics do count. In 21 months there will be another election, and the surge will be history. Will those GOP congressmen and senators want their quotes in support of the surge played over and over again by democrat opponents? Not likely. Frankly, I believe letting Bush play out his hand is the right strategy for democrats. More American soldiers and Iraqis will die, but the failure of this policy will be a major driver in the democratic party's takeover of the presidency and their achievement of much larger majorities in both houses. (It's not that I think the dems are so great - it's just that the GOP is dangerous in too many ways to count.)

What really irks me is the constant republican refrain about "supporting the troops". They want people to believe that the troops are just stuck there and we can't do anything but help them stay alive. Well, the troops are not just stuck there - they are there simply because George Bush says "Stay!". The debate must always be about the "Decider" and his decisions. Give him the funds to do his thing for awhile, and soon the pressure of his ongoing failures will bring a conclusion to this unfortunate episode of neo-colonialism.

So, the week is over and the GOP will be pouring the scotch a little heavy tonight. It was a tough week, and next week don't look so good either!

2 comments:

Ron Davison said...

I hope that the GOP has a total melt down. Why? Because I'd like for the GOP to once again be a viable option. I'm rooting for the Democrats now, but I don't really want them to be a monopoly. Bring back the small government GOP that is not dominated by theocons, neocons, and wingnuts and we'll then have a way to steer left and right as opposed to a choice between moving forward and jamming the car into reverse at 60 mph.

Anonymous said...

Imagine how different things could be if that money was spent wisely. If Iraq had a working power grid and sewer system, if the pipelines were pumping oil and the factories were humming, then there likely wouldn't be an insurgency. Bush would be sitting atop record high poll numbers, and the Republicans would be stronger than ever.

I would think that nobody is madder at Bush than the Republicans.