A Perfect Pair of Pundits Pummels Pretzledent

Real conservatives kick GOoPer ass. Reading their columns isn't painful, they actually make sense and they're willing to call a spade a spade. But I guess sanity does that for a person. A tacit distinction between "conservative" and "republican" has already worked its way into the zeitgeist, probably because true conservatives recognize the damage being wrought under their mantle and are rightfully horrified.

We are truly living in strange times: liberals and conservatives are in agreement as never before, at least when it comes to this (mal)administration. If you didn't know that Paul Craig Roberts was a card-carrying conservative, you might mistake his latest column for something straight out of liberal academia. Truly; it warms the heart.

The Bush administration wants the power to detain indefinitely anyone it declares to be an enemy combatant or a terrorist without presenting the detainee in court with charges. In England the power to arrest people and to hold them indefinitely without charges was taken away from kings centuries ago. Bush apparently thinks he is the reincarnation of an absolute monarch.

...On Thursday November 10, the Republican controlled US Senate voted 49 to 42 to overturn the US Supreme Court's 2004 ruling that permits Guantánamo detainees to challenge their detentions. How dare the US Supreme Court defend the US Constitution and the civil liberties of Americans when we have terrorists to fight, argued the Republican senators. What are civil liberties, the Republicans asked rhetorically, but legal tricks that allow criminals and terrorists to escape.

The really fun thing about this curious right-left syzygy is that not only are they arriving at the same conclusions, but both camps seem to share a common perspective on the way there.

...Nothing more effectively undercuts the image that Bush paints of America as the land of freedom, liberty and democracy than the Republican Party's destruction of habeas corpus.

Habeas corpus is essential to political opposition and the rise and maintenance of democracy. Without habeas corpus, a government can simply detain its opponents. Nothing is more conducive to one party rule than the suspension of habeas corpus.

It is heartbreaking to watch the Republican Party overthrow the very foundation of democracy in the name of democracy. The name of Lindsey O. Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina, the sponsor of this evil legislation, will go down in infamy in the book of tyrants.

Yes; a prominent conservative used the 't' word to characterize American policy. Speaking of policy, Roberts also brings up the other 't' word - torture. They do go hand in hand, afterall.

What a hypocritical spectacle the Bush administration and the Republican Party have made of America. They boast of "freedom and democracy" while they destroy habeas corpus and practice torture.

Americans must recognize the Bush administration and the Republican Party for what they are. They are tyrants. They are bringing evil to the world and tyranny to America.

We need this man in the Senate yesterday. If people like him comprised the (R) caucus, I wouldn't mind them in the majority so much. The question remains, though: would people have the good sense to elect them?

What has become of the American people that they permit the despicable practices of tyrants to be practiced in their name? The Bush administration is in violation of the US Constitution, the rule of law, the Geneva Convention, the Nuremberg Standard, and basic humanity. It is a gang of criminals. The Republican Party is so terrified of losing power that it supports a tyrannical administration that has brought shame not just to the Republican name but to all Americans.

If this article by Joan Ryan is any indication, I do believe there's hope! She and her father live in opposite corners of the political divide, but they too agree on shrubya. She has been chronicling his progressive disenchantment and her latest installment is simply a must-read. As gratifying as it is to read former government officials castigating shrubCo, it's more encouraging to see it from everyday Americans.

In the summer of 2004, to my great surprise, he was so disillusioned with how Bush had run up the federal debt and mismanaged the Iraq war that he said he would not be voting Republican for the first time in his life.

Three months later, I wrote a follow-up. He had decided to vote for Bush after all.

...I caught up with him by phone the other day as he was heading out to Mass. I asked what he was thinking about Bush now, a year after his re-election.

He regrets changing his mind about voting for him, he said.

"The guy's stupid," he said. "Such a disappointment. The worst administration I've ever seen. He just sounds confused. He doesn't sound like he knows what the hell he's doing."

No; in fact, he sounds drunk. The chimperor has no clothes and it's becoming more and more apparent everyday. He also wouldn't know "compassionate" or "conservative" from a hole in the ground, as demonstrated by his increasingly unpopular agenda. NB: Record deficits don't play well in Peoria.

"I don't think people, myself included, were clear on how good (Bill) Clinton was with the money,'' he said. "Why wouldn't the Republicans keep going with that? Instead we got tax cuts and the war in Iraq. Who's going to pay for all that? It's just irresponsible. I never thought (Bush) was the brightest guy in the world, but to go from a $300 billion surplus to a $500 billion deficit, or whatever it is, that's just stupid.''

Neither, apparently, does criminal incompetence:

Hurricane Katrina sealed the deal for my father. As someone who has weathered many hurricanes in Florida, he watched the president's response to the devastation with increasing horror and bafflement.

"This guy's slow, and he's dimwitted,'' he said. "He said, 'I'm going to let Louisiana take care of itself.'

...It seems like with Bush lately, whatever he touches turns to crap. And now we're saddled with this guy for three more years. The only thing you can do is to get the Republicans out of Congress next year.''

..."He said that in retrospect he should have thought about last year's election in a different way. He said he should have considered that a vote for John Kerry, whom he strongly disliked, was a vote not for an individual but for a Democratic administration. We needed a Democratic administration, he said, to keep in check a Republican Congress.

...I never thought I'd say this, but I wouldn't vote for any Republican, even from Florida," he said. "We got to get the Republicans out and the Democrats in. We got to make sure they control Congress so Bush can't do whatever the hell he wants.

From your lips to God's ears! rAmen



wing tip to wolcott & dailykos