Republican Self-Hate
Crooks & Liars links to Bobo Brooks informing Chris Matthews that Republicans hate Matthews’ man-crush, President Bush.
BROOKS: Bush…you gotta remember though…a lot ofRepublicans hate Bush. I mean, we look..we talk about the Democrats,how they hate Bush, in private…
MATTHEWS: What do you mean, “hate Bush?â€
BROOKS: They think Bush is incompetent and destroying their party.
Having just taped a Sunday show of my own (this one may be good–I’ll actually provide a link, but it’ll air ten days from now), I gotta say, Bobo is right–and Democrats really need to start hammering on it.
The two Republicans on the show with me were pushing against Democratic health care proposals, saying, "well you don’t want our health care to run like Katrina or Iraq…" To which I said, "Okay, we’ll make sure Bush isn’t in charge of our health care program. We’re in agreement." This got them nodding enthusiastically, until I continued, "But if we can only aspire to be as competent as the French, we should have working health care." Which shut them up. (Of course, I’m sure it wasn’t really as cool as I remember, so assume I’m just self-promoting here.)
At the same time, these republicans were no more willing to speak enthusiastically about any of their Presidential candidates. I kept hammering them about how Obama is running third, among Republicans, in Iowa.
Perhaps most surprising of all,Obama actually finished third as the preferred general electioncandidate of registered Republicans, at 6.7 percent, behind Romney(21.8 percent), and Giuliani (10 percent), but ahead of Thompson (5.2percent) and McCain (1.8 percent).
And how the leading Republican candidates fail either 2004’s standard of flipfloppery or Republican standards of the last 12 years on social conservatism. Which again brought some embarrassed admissions that there wasn’t much exciting in the Republican field. We’re about a week and a half late piling on top of this self-hate–though the DNC has a new website out to join in the fun. But this should be the main point of every Democrat out there–the Republicans, as a party, have failed so badly even Republicans hate them.
Republicans are just barely containing their disgust for the leaders of their party. At this point, we’d do really well to unleash that sentiment.
Let the truth set them free! Crikey, I know I am a broken record, but this is exactly what is wrong with the position of our congressional leaders, and so many others, that there can be no impeachment investigation of anyone because of backlash and that there would be no GOP support. Start playing the hand right, and the smartest thing that Republicans could do to alleviate their own self loathing and save their political future would be to sign on. But you have to start the bandwagon rolling if you want them to jump on. Instead, even the Democrats are being led by timid, unimaginative and self serving people. There is an absolute wave of sentiment in society of both, all, stripes for abrupt change and castigation of the wrongs that have occurred.
As the sign said,
â€Some people call it Bush-bashing, in Oregon we call it thinking!â€
This is a critical message we should be focused upon. Republicans are stuck with an albatross the size of Texas. Add Iraq, Civil Liberties, Health Care and the Economy, and it is a flock of albatrosses.
Instead, if you stepped into DKos over the past week, you got the Progressive-DLC fracas in spades.
Fox has been pumping Ford and DLC.
WSJ concern piece today by Right-wing editorialist on the split serves only the GOP.
And Sunday on Meet The Press, Kos v. Ford. And Markos and Ford are both firing Salvos.
The Kos masses are hanging Ford in effigy, plotting primary challenges to every Blue Dog, Photoshopping them on their knees in front of Bush, or otherwise advocating the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
Getting angry about FISA and other failure is expected, but I think the Right and the MSM are pumping this into Armageddon. Neither Markos nor Ford appear to realize they are being played against one another and cool their jets.
Ford can’t shut up about the Dinosauric DLC and has positioned it against the Left, and many vocal Kossack’s (apparently including Markos) can’t see Tomorrow because of Yesterday and Today, and Blame the DLC.
Anyone else here see a problem on the horizon?
I am so sorry about the triple post.
My browser was freezing.
Hadn’t had this problem before, but won’t make the mistake again.
Sorry.
drational
Not a big deal, Typepad seems to have that problem.
But I don’t actually have a problem with Markos going after Ford. None. Markos is very articulate when he explains how centrist the so-called â€left†in teh Democratic party is. If Ford wants to go on TV and be a prop so Markos can move the entire debate in this country to the left (and perhaps shame some of the Blue Dogs in the process), more power to him.
Check out this article on the DOJ USA scandal…
http://www.bluejersey.com/show…..aryId=5365
Apparently USA Christy (NJ) lied about what he knew, when he knew it, and his behavior shows that he started doing Bush’s political dirty work which preserved his job.
As the black sheep in my ultraconservative family (half-full of lawyers,) I can say with near certainty that Conservatives are BOILING with steadily mounting rage over BushCo’s reluctance to Change Course with their Failed Policies – but they are TOO PROUD to admit in public that Bush and Cheney are Losers.
Our Friends on the Right would see what we see – a vast criminal enterprise composed of people who look just like them – if they would ony put down their Pride.
I am not concerned with moving the Party Left. It by necessity must be to reflect the country. I just hate that we are going to get stuck with a Left v. Center meme that may detract from the overall goal of defeating Republicans. I don’t trust Ford to acknowledge the ascendancy of the Left, and after JetBlue, I wonder whether Kos will let Ford and the DLC lose graciously. Basically, I don’t see this particular matchup as headed for reconciliation, and I don’t want this conflict to escalate toward a Progressive 3rd party or Leibermanization of the Blue Dogs. Can’t we purge them after 2008?
drational
You’re confusing the actual PEOPLE in this country and the DEBATE. I’m suggesting that Markos, if he succeeds, will move the DEBATE where the PEOPLE already are. So if he succeeds, then we’re going to have a much easier time passing legislation that most people in this country support.
Not to mention make it a lot harder to drag us into war with Iran.
Go get ’em Marcy!
drational — I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Bush has dug the GOP so deep in a hole that Democrats are likely to win big again next year, *if* they stick to progressive principles. Taking on the DLC is important to that success because they will both continue to try to convince candidates to be more â€centrist†(which will undermine their chances for success) and claim credit for the victory no matter what candidates run and whether they follow the DLC’s advice. If the DLC would just sit by quietly, I could agree to do the same, but they’re the ones starting this fight, and if we wait until after ’08 to take them on, it’ll be much harder to dislodge them.
I second what Marcy and Redshift are saying.
Only one nitpick: Stop calling ’em Blue Dogs. They are instead Blue Weasels. Totally different species.
Doggies are our best friends. Weasels only hang with other weasels.
Marcy makes a very good point. Force the GOPers to defend the indefensible (Bush/Cheney) or run from them. Stop being cowed by Mr. 30% when 70% of the country agrees (mostly) with us.
Then go on offense with a program to rebuild our infrastructure and safety net, including prudent regulation. GOOD government works; it is only incompetent (GOP) gov’t that doesn’t.
It began right after the election in ’04, the promotion of Hillary Clinton for ‘08. Karl, the Wurlitzer, and the Money began pushing out the idea of Hillary Clinton in ’08. Have you ever seen some of your crazy Right friends when Hillary Clinton’s name is mentioned? Talk about Pavlov’s dogs! That reaction will keep the Repubs in the game in ’08. The reason the Money is promoting Hillary is because she can be beat. They have invested a lot of band-width to drive up her negatives. It takes very little to trigger the negative response. Repubs would have a chance in ’08 against Hillary Clinton. Even in light of how poorly they have governed under Bush.
The promotion picked up steam after election ’06. But, for the same reason, Barack Obama has been promoted. His negatives can be triggered very easily. This is due mainly to latent racism in many people. I have been following politics for three decades. I find very little from Barack Obama as far as accomplishments. Surely, there is little to warrant his current high stature. This makes me believe he is being promoted because he could lose.
I do not begrudge either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama the nomination. Both are much better Americans then the Chimp.
However, I believe the only chance Repubs have on ’08 is for Hillary Clinton or Obama to be the Democratic nominee. The worst thing that could happen for the Repubs, would be for Al Gore or John Edwards to be the nominee. Either would be like Clinton in ’92. The Repub base would stay home in droves. It would be a landslide victory for the Democrats.
I bring this up because you say the Obama is #3 on the Repub side. It is exactly correct, Karl, the Wurlitzer, and the Moneyed interests need Hillary Clinton or BarackObama to be the nominee. It is there only chance for ’08, after what the Chimp has done.
Forcing them to defend the indefensible should be the foundation for impeachment. That is what they were trying to do to Bill Clinton and the people saw right through it. They lost some seats in the 98 elections but they were able to paralyze Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 to the extent that it was close enough that their cheating in Florida was revealed. All it will take is to lay out the clear evidence of the criminality of the bush* administration and it will be easy to establish that impeachment of bush* is not some political payback for what they did to Bill Clinton but a legitimate exercise of Congress’s duty to protect the Constitution.
People will recognize this.
Think about this. They spent almost $100 million and all they could come up with on Bill Clinton was a blow job. You can spend $0.50 for a newspaper and find better evidence against bush*.
Forcing them to defend the indefensible should be the foundation for impeachment. That is what they were trying to do to Bill Clinton and the people saw right through it. They lost some seats in the 98 elections but they were able to paralyze Al Gore’s campaign in 2000 to the extent that it was close enough that their cheating in Florida was revealed. All it will take is to lay out the clear evidence of the criminality of the bush* administration and it will be easy to establish that impeachment of bush* is not some political payback for what they did to Bill Clinton but a legitimate exercise of Congress’s duty to protect the Constitution.
People will recognize this.
Think about this. They spent almost $100 million and all they could come up with on Bill Clinton was a blow job. You can spend $0.50 for a newspaper and find better evidence against bush*.
â€Start playing the hand right, and the smartest thing that Republicans could do to alleviate their own self loathing and save their political future would be to sign on.â€
Bullsye imvho.
Dear Mitt, How would you have handled Katrina differently? If you has been President, what policy and strategy would you have pursued in the GWOT, and Iraq in particular?
Today I wished I had taken EW up on the $700 million wager. My real estate tax bill just came due and everytime I pay it, I think of the $700 million annual budget item Mitt removed for local aid to cities and towns.
60% of the budget in my city pays for public schools. I don’t mind paying for public education, even though I don’t have children. I do mind paying double while Mitt winnebagos around IOWA with his family and claims he balanced the budget without raising taxes.
EW, your enthusiasm about how the taping went is invigorating. I look forward to seeing it.
I’ve heard Markos make the argument the Democratic party is more centrist than left. He makes it well and it’s important that it be made repeadedly.
Thanks for your comments on my points, all. 70% of the country agrees with us on many issues, but other important progressive issues are a harder sell. The MSM, the Right, and (for strategic reasons the DLC) are salivating for a â€Howard Dean Momentâ€. I am hopeful that Markos will offer a mature and reasoned argument for Left ascendancy on MTP. It must be inclusive, IMHO. MTP viewers are not inclined to consider the Dem middle Blue Weasels, tho they may be. I am not sure 2008 can be won by Dems if the Dem Center is purged or threatened with purging by power brokers on the Left. No one here is arguing that (I think), but it certainly is being argued across the Blogosphere. Leiberman was one issue. 41 Reps and 16 Senators is another. We can wield our power carefully or recklessly, and I hope it is the former.
Led by Democrats since the start of this year, Congress now has a â€confidence†rating of 14 percent, the lowest since Gallup started asking the question in 1973 and five points lower than Republicans scored last year.
A war people hate, Gitmo, Bush’s police-state executive orders of July 17–the Democrats have signed the White House dance card on all of them. And guess what? Just as their poll numbers are going down, Bush’s are going up, by five points in Gallup from early July. People are beginning to think the surge is working, courtesy of the New York Times. So are we better or worse off since the Democrats won back Congress?
Alexander Cockburn at The Nation….enjoy it kids!
It’s odd, for weeks I have been monitoring a financial trader site called Ticker Forum. http://www.tickerforum.org/cgi-ticker/akcs-www
I find it fascinating and valuable to get a sense of the core Repub constituency, the money grubbers. They are largely ’bears’ in market parlance and Bush is widely despised but Hitlery, as they call her, terrifies them.
What I find striking is how much in common they have with us. They detest the lying MSM because its financial misinformation is a major contributing factor to a looming market meltdown due to all the fraud attending sub prime derivatives.
Most are convinced we are on the edge of something like the Great Depression.
drational
My point is, if people have to disown Bush, they’re going to be much less likely to vote for the FISA crap the next time.
emptywheel
I apologize for the off-topic insertion.
Bush is of course the albatross for the GOP and Dem conceders and that should be the meme.
Never take anything that Brooks says at face value. A few weeks ago he was one of the anointed conservative columnists allowed in to bask in the presence of the Dear Leader and he did, marvelling at the Great One’s serenity and belief in the rightness and goodness of the Cause.
All this â€Republicans hate Bush†is just so much smoke and mirrors, a way of distancing Republicans from the disasters of the Bush Administration for ’08, even as, like Brooks, they continue to embrace them.