The Fog of Egress

Scooter Libby and Karl Rove must be jumping for joy. Each and every blog-fount has it completely wrong. These guys are getting, what Hollywood soldiers called, the million dollar wound ticket and a free exit home. How can that be, one might say (admit it, you just said it)? Because, regardless of how guilty, how feckless, how inveighed they become - they KNOW that there is a get out of jail card, one of those Lenny Briscoe signed business cards. Present it to the traffic cop and you're not even late for latte. It's GUARANTEED, a lock, an "I gotta horse right here, by the name of Paul Revere, can't lose" feud that will be delivered from the Oval office the femto-second that there is any real danger that the shark jaws of justice just might clamp on. Don't think so? Ask Caspar Weinberger. Ask Elliott Abrams, Duane Clarridge, and Alan Fiers. Ask Clair George and Robert McFarlane. Ask Nixon. That's the way Republicans do it. The LAW, like TAXES, is for little people.

This is small time. This is minor stuff. This is hardly even detention hall. Scooter&Karl get out. This Ship of State, of governing, this prayed for instantiation of complete and total GOP stewardship is seriously listing, sinking, adrift and in irons. Scooter&Karl get a first class lifeboat and an exit with honor. They don't even have to take the oh-so-bravely delivered Fifth of Oliver North. They're just free. Every Conservative must know this ship is-a-done-for. They've given up. They're just tired of telling people to ignore the man behind the curtain. They're on to the next Dorothy, the next HMO-Tin man that just wants a heart.

You know what? Every Conservative knew this was doomed from the start. Don't start that litany of excuses, I know what they are:

Excuses, To Be Used with Every GOP Meltdown
1. They weren't really conservative, Look at how they spent!
2. We didn't vote for them, We're Libertarians!
   
3. Screw politicians, They're all the same.
   

It's the same every time, huh? Conservatives think that the GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility, but they're wrong. What was the size of government growth under Reagan? Under G.41? Under Clinton? Under W? How was the economy? What about right now? Does an erinaceous stagflation sound like a bad remake of Groundhog Day?

You, each and every one of you knew you were voting for a party that would rather RULE than GOVERN, knew you were voting for failed policies, failed philosophies, and a mirage of visions. Visions, give me a break? You think that's too hard a critique? Really? Let's think about visions: A Democrat envisions a Man on the Moon in less than a decade. A Republican envisions a superconducting/supercolliding hole in the ground. A Democrat pushes that vision and gets it achieved. A Republican uses his power as Commander-in-Chief to order the first men on the moon be picked up by the carrier Hornet - not the John F. Kennedy - because the shadow that relief throws is too stark to hide within.

Libertarian. Give me a break. If you're a Libertarian, then you are closer to a Democrat. Take this test: Which party brought out NoChildLeftBehind (the Federal Gov't knows better than your local school board)? Which party sued Oregon (what do the states know about right to die, that's reserved for the Federal Gov't. Did ya misread that clause about rights not delineated are reserved by the States)? Which party brought you Patriot 1 and Patriot 2? Which party wants a State Religion? Which party counsels that Supreme Court Nominees DON'T have to answer questions because, "it might come up". Geez, what kind of deception is that? You know what kind it is - its the party of wingnuts telling you there is nothing to see here, move along. Calling yourself Libertarian? Thats just because you've been cowed into believing LIBERAL and DEMOCRAT are bad words.

All politicians the same? Really? What is the same about Santorum and Wellstone? Waxman and Delay? Healthcare and don'tcare? Tax policy and tax theft?

The GOP is a party of No Ideas. It doesn't even pretend to have ideas. Each and every action is about enriching the rich, gilding another Midas' throne, protecting the few against the many. Did any of the FEW go to Iraq? Yea, lets talk about that war image. Would a leader have sent men to combat, a war of his choosing, at his time and place, lacking armour? lacking bullet proof vests? lacking the men &women to do the job? A Democrat would NOT.

It's a sad state for the GOP, when they look back on Elliot Richardson as model of Conservative behaviour, where Nixon's speech writer is the party repository of elder wisdom, where on that Saturday Night Massacre, a future justice nominee hides in the good Nazi defense. We are living in an unbalanced African kleptocracy, taken to its most efficient ends; the kind of efficiency that only an unrestrained death embrace of capitalism and government can achieve.

For the we, for the rest of us, I'm reminded: What's that last line in Romeo and Juliet? Oh yea, "We are punishED" Three syllables, last one emphasized, pun-ish-ED.