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… you’re in for a bumpy ride.
Looking in the rearview mirror, I’m sure the potholes in the road you’ve traveled seem so self-evident, you probably can’t imagine how you managed to not avoid them.
But you hit every one of them and, as a result, the wheels have come off the bus and the damage is irreparable.
Somehow convincing yourselves that the neocons were just one of the gang, you placed your collective fate into the hands of the ultimate puppet, an empty-headed mouthpiece for an agenda that any sane group would have scrutinized before wholeheartedly supporting.
We on the other side of the aisle were far more astute in our assessment, and have been proven right in our warnings that this was a tiger that you would never have by the tail. This was – as we saw from the beginning, and as you now see only in retrospect – a tiger whose tail would instead, once latched-onto by your party, drag everything you have traditionally espoused as your political principles through the mud.
The result has been disastrous – for our country, for our citizens, for our troops, for our economy. Even your own constituents don’t dispute that anymore, and the fact that the Republicans are losing the formerly faithful at an alarming rate is the proof thereof.
We, as a nation, have lost so much. But you, our once worthy opponents, have lost something far more devastating: you have lost all credibility. Our injuries as a country are painful, and will require a long period of rehab and recuperation. Your injuries, however, are fatal.
There is no need to wonder why more young voters are registering as Democrats than Republicans, nor is there any wonder as to why voters identifying themselves as Democrats now far outweigh those calling themselves Republicans.
Fiscal responsibility, promoting a strong economy, smaller government and lowered taxes used to be the principles that drew voters to the GOP.
But touting adherence to such principles is a hard sell for a party that has allowed the national debt to rise to unprecedented levels, that has condoned wiretapping and other intrusion into the private lives of the citizenry; a party that has now created a tax burden that must be paid by the next generation and generations to come – a tax burden that, thanks to your efforts, only the wealthiest individuals and corporations have been excused from contributing to.
The saddest part of this whole sorry tale is the indisputable fact that such pitfalls could have been not only easily avoided, but avoided to the advantage of the GOP. Imagine the PR impact of the Republicans now, in the lead-up to a presidential election, being able to say, “Bush wanted more money for Iraq, but we the fiscally-responsible Republicans said no.” “Bush wanted sanction of torture, but we the party of Christian ideals said no.” “Bush wanted to spy on American citizens, but we the upholders of privacy said no.”
It could have been so easy, but you chose to follow the path you knew, or ought to have known, would be the road to ruin. And now you will pay the price.
As I said, buckle up; not only are you now experiencing the bumpiest ride you’ll ever know, it’s going to get worse – a lot worse.
Once the BushCo regime leaves office in January 2009, people will talk, as they inevitably do after-the-fact. The nightly talk shows will welcome former BushCo insiders who have a new memoir to sell, replete with what-the-public-will-be-shocked-to-find-out-now anecdotes.
People like Cunningham and Stevens will sing the age-old Canary Song for the Feds and the tabloids, implicating the others who were equally guilty of corruption but got away.
Johnny-come-lately patriots will tell the tales they dared not mention at a time when such disclosures meant the loss of a promotion, a much sought-after political advancement, an entire career.
And then there are the returned troops – who, as soldiers traditionally do, may maintain their silence on wartime experiences – but will nonetheless speak volumes as they become more visible in every community, every workplace, every neighborhood from rural Alabama, to farming counties in Kansas, to metropolitan centers like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago.
Their stories will spread rapidly, not only through their obvious presence in society, but by word-of-mouth; the lack of life-saving equipment as they went into combat, the red-tape nightmare of getting physical rehab, psychological counseling, disability pensions, decent hospital care. And there goes the last of the GOP bumperstickers: “We Support The Troops.”
As if the road you have so unwisely chosen is not rocky enough, my Republican friends, it is that last pothole – as incredibly obvious as it was – that will be your ultimate undoing.
You can silence the mainstream media with threats of pulling lucrative wartime contracts. You can nay-say the politicians on the other side with mindless rhetoric and out-and-out lies. You can fool some of the people, some of the time. But you can’t excuse the maltreatment of those you sent so willingly into combat, all the while knowing they were fighting a lost cause; all the while knowing that once States-side, they would be treated as an expendable embarrassment, an all-too-obvious living reminder of your negligence, your thoughtlessness, your hypocrisy .
You can’t change the fact that the spin cycle has run its course, and the stench of the dirty laundry – which is only beginning to be hung on the line – is about to fill the nostrils of an entire nation.
You can’t sit back in slack-jawed astonishment saying, “We didn’t know.” You can’t look at the photographs of dead and wounded Iraqis and say, ”We had no idea.”
You KNEW. You KNEW from the launch of Shock & Awe. You KNEW long before the first photographs from Abu Ghraib ever hit the airwaves. You KNEW when your constituents with sons and daughters in combat pleaded with you to ensure they had body-amour, safe vehicles, clean water to bathe in - water that, despite its filth and contamination - was bought and paid for by unwitting taxpayers. You KNEW when you saw the no-bid contracts awarded to administration cronies who supplied that contaminated water at ridiculous prices, no questions asked, that there would be a price to pay - but as long as it wasn't your sons and daughters paying that price, it was of no consequence.
YOU KNEW. And because you have spent these past years denying the obvious, your credibility is no more.
What a God-damned shame. You used to be a contender. You used to be someone worthy of debating. You used to represent opposing, but equally valid, views. You used to be another perspective on the country we all held in such high esteem.
Now you are just a bunch of easily-led nobodies, bereft of principles, bereft of morals – strapping yourselves into seatbelts that will never save you from the fatal journey you have embarked upon, ill-informed and unaware of the death you yourselves have chosen for your party and everything it once stood for.
GOP – RIP. It was almost nice knowing you, at least as you used to be. Now you are no more - and that bodes well for everyone concerned.
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