Mr. Agnew, meet Mr. Cheney.
June 26, 2007
For the last six years, we’ve seen old-line Republicans continually upping the rhetorical ante against the incompetence, the dishonesty, and the misanthropy of an administration that will go down in history as one of our nation’s worst. Whether it was over Iraq, or Social Security, or far-right judges, or habeas corpus, or torture, there has been no shortage of Republicans willing to go on Meet The Press and dissociate themselves from the excesses of George Bush, without actually doing anything to stop the train wreck.
Arlen Specter and Chuck Hagel and John McCain, and the rest of the respectable GOP, were always there with a quote. But when it came time to vote, they were nowhere to be found. Who knows if they meant what they were saying: they were either laying down covering fire for the administration, or they lacked the courage of their convictions.
But there’s a limit to that game, and I think it’s been reached. You can only up the ante so far, and I have never seen anything like this piece in the Washington Post today. The defenestration of Richard “Dick” Cheney by the GOP establishment:
The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office. [...]
I remember Barry Goldwater sitting in my parents’ living room in 1973, in the last days of Watergate, debating whether to lead a group of senior Republicans to the White House to tell President Nixon he had to go. His hesitation was that he felt loyalty to the president and the party. But in the end he felt a greater loyalty to his country, and he went to the White House.
Today, another group of party elders, led by Sen. John Warner of Virginia, could well do the same. They could act out of concern for our country’s plummeting reputation throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East.
Nothing will come of this, of course, and neither should we let the Republican Party escape blame by distancing themselves at the last minute from a disaster that they aided, abetted, and planned right along with Bush and Cheney. But nevertheless, the 26% presidency is coming to a humiliating and well-deserved end.
July 6th, 2007 at 7:05 am
Should the 19% Congress be next?
July 6th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Should the 19% do nothing Democrat Congress be next?
July 6th, 2007 at 7:06 am
Should the 19% do nothing Democrat Congress be next?
July 6th, 2007 at 7:59 am
Nouns don’t modify nouns: it’s Democratic Congress, not “Democrat Congress”.
And, as you know, the reason so many good bills have passed the House and stalled in the Senate is Republican obstructionism. Not that there’s anything wrong with that — of course the GOP should avail themselves of the options they have, and being out of power, the option they have is to block things and whine.
But come 2009, if we win the presidency and pick up a few more Senate seats, the situation is going to look a lot different, and I’m guessing that many of those GOP senators will be wishing they hadn’t picked a fight about “the nuclear option”.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:50 am
I don’t know about that but we’ll see. The Surge is begining to Work and I don’t think the Democrats can politically stand us Being sucsessful in Iraq Since they have Tied themselves to us giving up and getting out of Dodge.
I also don’t think the Majority of Americans will vote for Hillary the presumptive Democrat Canidate since is a full fledged Socalist and borderline Comunist. It is definatly goin to be an interesting year.
P.S. I am not calling names just making an observation on economic Statements