The crux of what I wish to say to all Republicans in this late, great nation of ours can be summed up in five words:
You. Lose. Told. You. So!
I know I shouldn’t be bitter, but forgive me. Being called an America-hating, cut-and-run, tax-and-spend, namby-pamby, troop-despising, terrorist-loving liberal for the past six years will do that to anybody. You have squandered what little sympathy or respect I may ever have had for you in a river of blood, shrapnel, dead bodies and budget deficits.
So please, I ask you to choke on the defeat you have suffered this week with all due humility, and think about how this man, this arrogant, corrupt, incompetent administration and your (YOUR!) Congress has brought your party and MY country to its present state.
It’s no good blaming the liberal media, the liberals’ political establishment, or liberal latte-sipping effeminate metrosexuals for our plight – you’ve controlled Congress for more than a decade and the presidency for more than half this one. The entire Federal government! I’m sure you’ll try to find somebody else to blame for your woes, but maybe you should think about the damage you’ve done for a change -- instead of you neo-cons' typical paranoid victimology.
Save that stuff for the presidential race and Rush Limbaugh – unless you’ve got Parkinson’s disease, in which case we will all know you are faking it.
I’ve never voted for a Republican, but even after the 2000 election, in my wildest nightmares I never suspected your party of being capable of what it has done to our country’s reputation in the world – and to the world, for that matter. To say nothing about the other issues facing us – which include health care costs, social security, the runaway budget deficit, governmental corruption, global warming, pollution, nuclear proliferation, terrorism and a growing worldwide backlash against the good ol’ US of A, etc, etc, etc.
I won’t repeat what I said three-and-a-half years ago, but will reiterate that I predicted what is happening now, in Iraq and elsewhere. Unfortunately, this fact brings me very little pleasure.
Yes. We are a country, one of many in the world. We don’t control it, though you may think it’s our divine right. And thanks to the man you have voted for twice, we have lost almost as much influence in the world in the past five years as we gained in the previous fifty. And all the while you derided any disagreement, any voice of dissent, any hint that you might be mistaken, as anti-American, freedom-hating and pro-terrorist. We hate freedom. And we want nothing more than to cut and run and leave Iraq in a much worse place than when we invaded.
I’m sorry, but you neo-conservatives have done so much better living up to these lofty goals than any liberal could ever conceive. I mean it takes not just casual incompetence or benign neglect but active arrogance and willful corruption to achieve these things. Ask Halliburton. Ask the guys who have to guard empty trucks against suicide bombers. Ask Iraqis. The only people blind to the situation are yourselves. Congratulations – you have exceeded my wildest imaginings of the depths to which an American government can sink.
You say you want victory. What is victory? Total cessation of insurgent activities? A mild reduction? Ten thousand more dead people? A hundred-thousand? You never defined victory in the first place except as a buzzword for political gain, and now that it’s unattainable you are scrambling to redefine it.
The fact is that, for “victory”, you will have to kill millions of people, level every Iraqi city and eradicate entire culture – but you will never admit it, because it would affect your re-election chances. It must be nice to know that 130,000 troops are over there defending your party while you fetishize, romanticize and exploit for political power the blood and lives they have sacrificed, in the name of an unwinnable war that your own party started. Give yourselves a big, fat American pat on the back.
It must make your lying and political pandering, piffle and puffery of “freedom”, “democracy”, and “liberty” that much easier. Perhaps you even believe these things are actually being brought about in Iraq, though your government’s actions have instead brought freedom, democracy, and liberty’s opposites: anarchy, mob rule, chaos, and indiscriminate violence. It must be nice to be so paranoid and divorced from reality.
Oh, I know what you will say – the liberal media isn’t reporting the good things happening in Iraq, it’s due to their lies and omnipresent manipulation that people voted this way. I only hope you continue to think this way, as it will ensure that your party remains out of power for the foreseeable future. Sensible people disagree. Repeat that to yourselves when you find yourselves falling into that little mental trap. It will save you some anguish.
I’ll also admit that I’m not confident about the Democrats making things right. I have plenty of bad things to say about them, believe it or not. But it’s inconceivable that a Democrat-controlled government could be worse than the den of thieves, liars, idiots and arrogant ignoramuses we have now. They make Nixon look like a saint. Your party has lost my vote for the rest of my life, unless they put a gun to my head – which I wouldn’t put past them. They are THAT bad. Witness the crowd of Republican party operatives that crashed the entirely legal vote recount in late 2000 in order to stop it. They succeeded. Hitler would smile in approval.
I hope you will think about the things I’ve said, but based upon the past 12 years, I’m not optimistic. Many of you, such as George Will (also an opponent of the Iraq war!) are already saying that your party lost this election because you weren’t conservative enough. I hope you continue to believe this for my own selfish reasons, because it will ensure that your party continues to lose more elections.
I happen to love America but am ashamed and frightened of what this government has done. If we didn’t get rid of W this year, at least we gave him a “thumpin’”. He can’t do much more damage than he’s already done. Unfortunately, that is a very cold comfort. I wish I could take more pleasure at the Republicans’ loss on Tuesday, but I will settle for a small measure of relief, as well as a bit of juvenile gloating...
NYAH NYAH NYAH!!!!!!
6 comments:
Well said Matt.
Dad
I knew you would agree, Dad. Thanks!
I gather from your post that you are glad the Republicans lost. Would that be a correct summary?
While I know part of your gloating is in jest, I do think that the hyperpartisanism you convey (and that is endemic in Washington)is the real problem in American politics. I know, I know: the crows are just coming home to roost for the Republicans, as the bitter partisanism they nurtured while in power is now slapping them silly on the rebound.
But the Dems are just as much to blame for the stench in the air. When you consider that for the last 14 years (going on 16), the White House has been occupied by two of the most polarizing Presidents in history, that within a 12-year period Congress has flip-flopped twice, that we've seen the end of the Cold War segue into the emergence of the War on Terror, and then throw in a presidential impeachment to boot . . . I think the Democrats are right that the American people are ready for a change.
But not for an inversion of the previous status quo. Rather, people hunger for some civility, some cooperation, some semblance of reaching across the aisle. Perhaps a humbled President, a rebuked Republican revolution, and a subdued (hopefully?) Democratic majority can alter the poisoned governmental atmosphere in our nation's capitol. But probably not.
America is much less divided than the campaign vitriol would suggest: but for 3,000 votes in Montana, the Senate would still be in Republican hands.
I'm looking forward to the next President being McCain or Obama or Romney: all charismatic leaders who have proven a willingness to stretch beyond their party's base, to govern from the middle, to acknowledge and accomodate the opposition without sacrificing their own beliefs.
Finally, about Dubya. He's (obviously) not perfect, but he ain't dumb. I always gather that the left's imbecilic caricaturization of President Bush is mostly sour grapes about the 2000 election. During his time, most people considered Reagan an idiot, as well; but he will be remembered as one of America's greatest presidents. But who else would have been brave enough to shout out to Gorby--on site--at the Berlin Wall, "Mr. Gorbechav, tear down this wall!"
Sometimes, the country needs a man at its helm who has the courage of his convictions, a fervent belief in the rightness of his nation's cause, and the cajones to call evil "evil", and then face it down out of sheer will. Other times, it needs a man whose moral compass can shift to accomodate whatever the people currently seem to want, a la Clinton.
But give Dubya's legacy 10 more years of historical perspective; Americans will reflect upon his presidency in a much different light at that time.
Very, very well said Mark.
Dad
Mark,
You make some good points -- I have just a couple of things... well, eight to be exact! Sorry.
1) As I said in my post, I have plenty of bad things to say about the Dems. Maybe I'll write about them when they've screwed things up as bad as the Republicans, but for now I'm just breathing easy.
2) To me, arrogant incuriousness and demogoguery is synonymous and symptomatic of being dumb. All these words fit W. No, he's not a retard, but smart? Um, no. Hell no!
3) Cannot agree that Dems are equally to blame for partisanship, for all their faults. W's administration has spent 6 years now dismissing any dissent as treason and steamrolling all opposition. One of my big beefs with the Dems is that it took them this long to get some cojones and stand up to this intellectual midget.
4) Clinton polarizing? You can blame Republicans for that, too. He was actually quite moderate and not nearly the liberal pinky-biter that Rush etc. made him out to be. Not a huge fan of Clinton myself, but next to W he was a fantastic president. I can hardly believe I'm writing that!
5) The Republican fetishizing of Reagan's sainthood is always good for a chuckle. He was a figurehead who gave great speeches, but an empty head. He barely knew what was going on in his second term -- heck it took Nancy to get him to fire the dictatorial chief of staff who was really running things. And his budget deficits were even worse than W's. You give him all the credit for the USSR's collapse -- I would say most of the credit should go to the USSR itself, which was inefficient, repressive, decaying and widely despised by 1991.
6) Yeah, it would be nice to have with some integrity in the White House for a change. I can only hope he won't be Republican. Dean may have a reputation for being a lefty, but he's also responsible for all these Dem centrists getting elected. He'd get my vote in a second.
7) In my view, encouraging terrorists all over the world and invading a country without regard to the consequences or lives lost is not only evil, it is stupid, stupid, stupid. The evil is greater now than before. This is a positive development? To say nothing of the lies they continually spew. LIES!
8) Mark my words. History's verdict will be even harsher on Bush in 10 years than it is now. If you don't believe that, I have some real estate in a free, stable, prosperous and united country in the heart of the Middle East that I would love to sell you.
Congrats to the Dems for riding an angry wave of American voters to victory. Like I said on the other post, I think that this transition will ultimately be healthy for American democracy.
Now let's see if the Democrats can put their money where there mouth is and get some stinkin' results. At least their "majority" in the Senate is so small that either gridlock or cooperation will have to take place.
One observation that is not uniquely mine: A lot of democrats these days are just so angry and Dean is the chief. I personally don't agree with most of his politics, but it is his angry, combatitive, dismissing-political-opponents-as-dispicable-liars attitude that bugs me enough to really make me hope he will never be president. I think the role of an angry, unelected (to public office anyway) pundit suits him well.
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