Blog For Arizona

Michael: Having Their Cake and Shitting In It, Too

Bush claimed that the occupation of Iraq isn't the cause of rising rates of terrorism world-wide. He claims radicals were spreading their ideology before the invasion and will continue to "exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse." Sure, but they won't have such kick-ass recruiting pitches then, either.

As I see it, Bush is trying to have it both ways; claiming that Iraq is a sort of terrorist pest strip, attracting would-be terrorists so that we can kill them there rather than having them knocking at our borders, yet also claiming that the occupation doesn't encourage terrorism. It's one or the other, Bush. You don't get to take positions that are mutually exclusive.

Or maybe that is what being a Republican is about these days, logical inconsistency.

It certainly seems that Congressional Republicans have taken to logical inconsistency in a big way. They are seeking to cut revenues by 70 billion (mainly to the benefit of the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans, in the form of killing off the Dynasty Tax) even as they scramble to cut Medicare/Medicaid, student loans, foster care and food stamp benefits for the poorest and most desperate Americans by 35 billion (in the Senate) to 50 billion (in the House) in order to still fail to come anywhere near balancing the budget, which has basically become a checkbook full of blank, pre-signed checks for whatever cause might stall Bush's political free-fall and stuff pork into the maws of GOP districts and donors.

The largest non-defense discretionary budget increases in history have been under this Executive, and still the only thing that draws the threat of a veto is a defense authorization bill containing an anti-torture provision. All the anti-enviroment, anti-consumer, anti-justice, anti-civil rights, industry-written, pork-laden, waste that has been passed by this GOP Congress, and the only thing Bush cares to veto is spending for the bullets and armor our troops need because it also says we shouldn't torture people. With 140K American troops in harms way, targets painted on their backs, stuck in the middle of an incipient civil war, you might think their CiC would want them to have rock-solid coverage under the Geneva Convention, but that would be logically consistent - and this Executive just doesn't do logical consistency (they leave it to the reality-based community).

As the GOP becomes increasing piratical, cutting middle class and low-income benefits in order to blatantly decrease revenues from wealthy and corporate America (or just ignoring the gaping deficits altogether), they are handing a pre-made theme to Democrats in 2006 and beyond. It is ironically the same theme that the GOP rode to power - smaller government. Only now, people have gotten a glimpse of that philosophy in practice which the bumper sticker leaves out - smaller government and more taxes for those who need government help, bigger government and less taxes for those who can afford to finance political campaigns.

Unfortunately, this piratical attitude isn't confined to the GOP. It abides in the apparatchiki suckling at the teats of the Democratic Party, too. The DLC's New Democrats have much the same views on the role of government as the GOP; not as a servant of the average citizen, but as hand-maiden to industry and wealth. They may be less blatant about their whoring, but they are on their backs none-the-less. Think hard about that before you decide what Democratic candidates to back. You might just be replacing a tick with a leech.

posted by Michael Bryan @ 10/25/2005 10:08:00 PM