Monday, October 02, 2006

Fracture

I'm glad I'm not the only one who is getting really pissed off about the GOP leadership's recent activities in the Foley mess.

I'm sorry, did I say "activities"? I mean to say "aiding and abetting a pedophile in committing statutory rape".

I don't really care where the news, e=mails, or messages came from or the age. What I do care about is that the behavior was known, and ignored, by the same Speaker of the House who has been an absolutely horrible leader. The same guy who wanted to tell New Orleans to go f*** itself last year.

Lovely guy. It wasn't enough to be a jackass. He had to aid and abet his colleague in the solicitation and possible sexual abuse of minors.

Of course, his counterpart in the Senate also had a great weekend. Started it off by banning online gaming and kept going today with suggesting the Taliban be included in running Afghanistan.

Because that worked out soooooooooo well before.....


Tell me again about the values of Republican leadership and why the hell they should keep Congress? Really, what's the point?

Yes, gas prices are dropping, and yes, economic indicators are getting better. But with leadership selling out their base again and again, eventually there is a point where you say, Enough.

I've had enough. Since I can't vote against Hastert, I can vote against my local representative in GA-11. Besides, given the sponsorship of HR 4411, this isn't too far a leap at this point.

It's time to split my ticket between Congress and other races - I'll still vote for this one and this one, but no straight ticket anymore. I'm tired of being taken for granted and getting kicked in the teeth, from Katrina to Miers to the border to online gaming to dhimmitude.

6 comments:

TSL said...

Yep, as I noted also in the comments of my site, if this is the way it's going to be I may as well just sit this upcoming election out. The GOP seems to be doing its best to prove that it no longer stands for anything I (or any true libertarian or conservative) stand for.

Maybe we should all get together and form Bull Moose 2.0...

Jeff Briscoe said...

Good post. Now don't go changing your mind again tomorrow with a post tomorrow about being afraid of power given to Nancy Pelosi or Charlie Rangel! Yes, the Dems will have some bad moments too. I expct that. But it's now 6 of one, 1/2 dozen of the other. And at least if the GOP loses they will be sent the message that accountability matters. And maybe we'll have a very different party in time for the 2008 election.

APOSEC72 said...

Fair enough. I don't think I'm going to vacillate too much more. There would have to be a lot undone that won't happen in the next five weeks.

We all have our limits. I'll hold my nose voting for a Democrat for Congress, but it needs to be done. You don't reward people drunk on power with more power, and you don't reward people who betray principles by sending them back to do more damage.

Anonymous said...

Not that I am pleased with the current state of affairs, but this fantasy that people have that we'll elect Democrats now only to have the Republicans magically reform in two years to take full charge and lead us down the golden path after we've "sent them a message" is just that, a fantasy.

I'm not going to punish Jeff Stein and Michael Steele because the outgoing majority leader said something that, when put into context, isn't exactly all that stupid, or because the Speaker of the House didn't pre-emptively remove someone from office when all he knew was that the guy might be acting somewhat inappropriately.

But feel free to take that knife to your own nose. And in 2010 when it's still Speaker Pelosi and it's still Majority Leader Reid, and President Clinton has appointed two new brand-spanking new ACLU lawyers to the Supreme Court, our taxes are higher, our military torn to shreds, and universal health care at our door step while the borders have been completely eradicated, at least you all can sleep warm at night knowing you threw a principled temper tantrum. Good for you.

Jeff Briscoe said...

Because we know that under 6 years of Bush and a GOP Congress that Roe has been overturned, our borders have been rigidly enforced, Osama Bin Laden has been brought to justice, the military is stronger than ever, scandal is non-existent in the White House or the Congress, and our health care and energy policies are strong and robust. Oh wait! That was all just a dream of mine circa December 2000. Scratch all that. Maybe the Democrats could do no worse afterall.

Accountability matters. Not the letter after a person's name. The GOP (unlike the out-of-power Dems) has a record we can judge and I give it a D-. Not good enough to get my vote.

APOSEC72 said...

Paul: You're right in saying that someone like Steele, perhaps, shouldn't be punished. The Senate is a different beast, as we're stuck for six years and can't recover from that loss nearly as quickly.

In my neck of the woods, though, considering how my representative has acted with many issues, I think such a vote is quite deserved to shove Gingrey out - and I saw that even as he allegedly goes to my church! (Never have seen him.)

Would that be the case for every GOP Incumbent? No. But there's no reason to march in lockstep and just vote straight (R) because the bogeyman might get you. Like I said, everyone has a limit, and the failures since Nov. 2004 are too numerous to ignore.

Besides, think about it - with the left as crazy as it is, do you really think that, if they got power, they would not royally screw it up just as they have every time before, allowing for such a reversal in 2008?

Tax cuts won't be reversed and probably not a lot of other things either in the next two years - that would require veto-proof majorities. I know Bush hasn't really used the veto pen that much but do you think he would let such reversals happen?

The only place where we would lose would be with confirming judges. But considering Bush's and the Senate's painfully slow process on that, frankly, we're not losing much because our fearless leaders were so damn slow in getting this done after their apparently false claims in the 2004 campaign. Nice action.

I don't think the Democrats will emerge with much of a majority under even more egregious circumstances - no more than 10 seats, probably less.

I don't think they can pass anything too far leftward because they could be easily voted out of the house in two years.

I will gladly take two years of gridlock if it means delivering a serious butt-whooping against Democrats in 2008.

I think no significant measures would be passed.

And I think that would be good.