So That's It? Trash the Country and Just Leave When You're Done?
So. This is it. We have one of the most corrupt presidential regimes in the history of the country and like frat boys after the party, they trash the place then just leave? Is this how it is now? We are all moving on? Forgetting that our Speaker of the House in concert with our Congress blew off an illegal war where thousands died, is forgetting about the outing of a CIA agent, the gutting of environmental protections, the blackballing of long-time dedicated government employees, the firing of judges for political purposes, the wiretapping of our phones, reading our mail, lying, lying then lying some more, allowing corporations to write policy, working in secret, abolishing Habeus Corpus, Posse Commitatus, advocating and practicing torture, bankrupting our treasury then asking US to pay for it over and over? C'mon. You're kidding me. Throw in a vice president who blew somebody's face off with a shotgun.
Did I miss anything? Yea. Actually. I did. A lot.
But, hey, it's been 8 years. Relax. It's almost over.
This is how it works now? We're all supposed to "move on", get over it, rage about change?
No permanent damage done right? Right? We'll just glide back to how it was? And how was it?
Let bygones be bygones?
No accountability of any kind? And we think this will not affect future regimes? This kind of phenomenal level of disrespect if not contempt for our country? How come I got stopped recently for running a stop sign? I mean...if I can't run a lousy stop sign after all the stuff they have done? I mean, a stop sign? I tried to reason with them. Look at what our government has done in our name. I did not get a ticket. I drive on incredulous.
And here is the final travesty: that indeed, they will walk away from this free as birds.
Never held accountable.
Never punished.
In the end, no matter what happens, this will comprise the darkest time in America's history and America will wear the scars forever and Nancy, these are not the kind botox will ever get rid of...but oh- do you care?
This is the position that Democratic Party leaders want us to be in. Bush and his crony criminals get off free of charge, apparently.
They will be back, the next time a Republican is elected President. Just like the Nixon co-conspirators and the Iran-contra co-conspirators were dredged up by Bush and Cheney.
November 14, 2008 11:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Congress approved an illegal war. Just like they have approved every illegal war since the end of World War II.
This is not a left or right issue. Clinton bombed plenty of people during the 1990s, starved the Iraqis to death and through inaction allowed millions to die in Rwanda and East Timor, the latter being something we most certainly could have prevented. JFK and Johnson killed a million Vietnamese civilians.
I will agree that we have some serious accountability problems over the last four decades, on the left and right, but it is hardly our darkest hour or our deepest regret. I remember a little thing called the Civil War that was pretty traumatic.
Hyperbole will not enable the democrats to effectively lead us out of the wilderness, which is why the leader of the party, Barack Obama, doesn't employ it. As a constitutional lawyer & US senator, he understands that everything the executive branch did in response to 9-11 was authorized, in fact demanded, by Congress at the request of the American people.
The time to hold Bush accountable was in 2004 and only 60% decided to vote. We need to take responsibility for our own piece of this equation as well and ensure it never happens again by never going back to sleep. That is also the way to co-opt the efforts of the half of the country who self-identify as "conservative" of some sort.
We need to maintain momentum toward a new America, not spend all of our time looking in the rearview mirror at things we can't change.
November 15, 2008 8:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well if you want to look only forward, then you should probably explain how it will be that we won't come back here in 2012 or 2016 to write of all the people Obama wrongly bombed. How will it be "a new America" when it comes to foreign policy, if we have this 40+ year history of (bad) "things we can't change"?
It seems to me we don't have any regrets. Which might be one reason why "they" hate "us".
November 15, 2008 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Things we have not changed, not things we couldn't change. We could have decided at anytime along that spectrum to turn out and vote. We can go to Washington to protest and write our congress people about important bills.
Progressives and liberals didn't vote. They stayed home and wrote bad poetry or picketed the G-8 Summit. I am not in the habit of blaming other people for my mistakes, in this case not holding my elected leaders accountable for their actions at the ballot box. A certain sect of republicans, the Rapture Right and Reagan Right, consistently showed up and voted. Our foreign and domestic policy reflects that propensity to make it to the polls.
If "progressives" of whatever stripe (Yes, there are conservative progressives called "moderates") want to see a change in our politics we need to turn up and vote. Every time without fail. Starting with the 2010 primary elections. At only an 11 percent average turnout, voters can really start making changes where it counts - before the incumbent who screwed everything up gets to the general.
November 16, 2008 8:04 AM | Reply | Permalink
Shhh! Quiet! You're interrupting my TV show!
November 15, 2008 8:55 AM | Reply | Permalink