Listening to right-wingers complain that George W. Bush isn't a "real conservative," I am reminded of the forlorn holdouts for communism that could still be found in the late 1970s. By then, the sordid and corrupt nature of the Soviet Union had been fully exposed, but these true believers continued to insist that "real" communism had yet to be tried, and that if people would only stop and listen to Gus Hall, then the promised land would be there for all to see.
Nowadays, if you want to hear tired old hymns being sung to a dead god, check out any gathering of conservatives and listen to them whine. Today's distress call comes from Paul Mulshine, resident winger at the Star-Ledger, who went to last week's Conservative Political Action Conference and found nothing more inspiring to write about than the empty quacking of Phyllis Schlafly and the prospect of George Allen running for president. The Republicans have spent the better part of a decade with their collective foot on the Democratic Party's collective neck, and yet Mulshine and Schlafly sound worried and exhausted. They have had everything they ever wanted, and yet everything has gone wrong.
The reliable old jingo war chants have mired us in a contemptible military adventure in Iraq that has already ended terribly, regardless of how many more lives we waste on it; our ideals have been deeply stained and our image is now linked with torture and clandestine brutality. The John Wayne wannabes have swaggered us into deep quicksand; the hypocritical cant about spreading democracy with bombs and lies has been rewarded with electoral victories for Islamist terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank, and an Iraqi parliament openly allied with Iran. When he took office, George W. Bush faced a world in which Islamists controlled a single country; five years later, they control an entire region. Bush claims the right to monitor, arrest and imprison anyone he wants, yet the mastermind behind 9/11 hasn't lost a single night's sleep. This "war on terror" threatens everyone except terrorists.
The situation is even bleaker at home. Polls show that the voters can't wait for this administration to vacate the premises. The notion that conservatism stands for fiscal restraint is a hollow joke. The GOP has used its control of Congress and the White House to pitch us into a sinkhole of debt. Crony capitalists and Republican campaign contributors have been throwing themselves a party and leaving the taxpayers to pick up the tab. The basic, bedrock functions of government — national security, infrastructure maintenance, disaster relief — have been handled so incompetently that we are no safer from terrorist attacks today than we were five years ago. With the next hurricane season only a few months away, odds are good that another American city will join New Orleans on the list of Republican successes. But hey, what else can we expect? As the conservatives love to tell us: Government doesn't work!
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Is Bush indeed "the mastermind behind 9/11"? Guess you don't want to establish any credibility.
2 - David M. Brown
Where's the part where you make an argument?
3 - Dave Nalle
There are so many pure factual errors in this that I don't even know where to begin to respond to it. Perhaps just the most fundamental point of departure from reality.
The fundamental mistake is assuming that the people you describe as 'conservative' who you identify with the GOP are in fact conservative at all. They aren't by any real definition, nor are they particularly in tune with the traditional values of the Republican party. Phyllis Schlafly? Come again? She's as aggressive a social reformer as you can imagine. Nothing at all conservative about trying to change the country over to some weird reactionary model of society. Bill O'Reilly? A raving progressive with weird religious views thrown in. He's virtually indistinguishable from someone like Lieberman. And where on earth did you get the idea that a moderate like George W. Bush was a conservative? He pays lip service to some conservative ideas, but hardly makes a serious effort to implement any of them.
But what's most laughable here is that you think that if the GOP were to collapse and the democrats took over things would actually get better. Trust me, there's no corruption like Democrat corruption. If you think corporate influence and pandering to special interests is bad now, watch it explode if the Democrats get a position of power. And at least the Republicans corporate friends are relatively neutral about the wellbeing of individual Americans. When it's the AARP the NEA and the unions setting the agenda then we're going to be well, truly and permanently fucked.
Dave
4 - Bliffle
You're right, Steven. Whatever name your critics choose to apply to these degenerates, and what ever futilities the corpse of the democrat party attempts, our current miserable circumstance and future prospects remain the same: we're fucked. And we did it to ourselves, without even any effective external political or military incursions.
The US is on the downward arc of all civilizations. And we chose to do it. We embraced this end with enthusiasm. Just look at the way that (formerly) free US citizens make alibis for the rulers to violate citizens right to be secure in their persons, to wiretap and jail without recourse.
5 - Bing
With people like Steven and Bliffle and their ilk posting regularly this site has become almost unbearable.
If i wanted to read bullshit leftwing propaganda I'd go to News Hounds or Moveon.org's website.
6 - Dave Nalle
Bing, Bliffle's not entirely unreasonable. He makes some sensible comments so long as you don't touch on the subject of his irrational hatred of Bush and the GOP.
Dave
7 - Nancy
Actually, Bliffle speaks a lot of very unpalatable truths. The worst part is, the Dems are so spineless they're an alternative almost as bad if not worse. We're skrewed.
8 - Bliffle
"...so long as you don't touch on the subject of his irrational hatred of Bush and the GOP...."
Your ad hominem arrow is poorly aimed and misses the target. Actually, I liked GWB and voted for him in 2000, imagining that, as promised, he'd keep a balanced budget, reduce cronyism and avoid entangling foreign alliances (remember his criticism of 'nation building', etc.?). You know, trad conservative values. Well, imagine my chagrin when he embarks on diametrically opposed policies! I worried when he instituted aberrant economic policies, but still supported the Iraq invasion ("surely they have some solid evidence of WMD that they can't disclose for operational reasons") tho I worried about abandoning the pursuit of OBL and the weak case GWB made for the invasion. But then it became apparent that it was all a fiction. And that 'bad intel' was just a cowardly cop-out.
I don't hate GWB. Worse: I distrust him.
9 - Nancy
Dave, you've got us confused: I'm the one with the unreasonable hatred of BushCo. But that's OK, Bliffle & I do look alike.
10 - Scott
"Bill O'Reilly? A raving progressive with weird religious views thrown in. He's virtually indistinguishable from someone like Lieberman. And where on earth did you get the idea that a moderate like George W. Bush was a conservative? He pays lip service to some conservative ideas, but hardly makes a serious effort to implement any of them"
Aw shit, Dave. Here you go again. You're on hyperbole alert.
11 - Dave Nalle
Well sheesh, who doesn't distrust GWB, Bliffle. He's a politician.
Dave