Stay the Course & Cut 'N Run - DOA

This is one of my favorite pieces from MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Personally, there's nothing sweeter than the Bush White House getting caught in a lie (Tony Snow in this case), and it's not hard to find cases of it these days. (Or the old political stand-by, the half-truth that Clinton made so famous.)

President Bush has been preaching "Stay the Course in Iraq" to the American people for well over two years now. Funny what the potential of your party getting its ass kicked in an upcoming election can do to your point of view. Iraq is getting bloodier and bloodier, and more and more Americans are dying (over 100 in October now), and for what? To try to impose Democracy on a Middle Eastern country that simply does not want us there? Nearly 70% of Iraqis in a recent poll want us OUT, yet this administration arrogantly plows ahead, unwilling and/or unable to admit its terrible mistake.

Funny how the president just smirks that arrogant smirk of his and says, with a straight face, "We've never been stay the course." How fucking stupid does he think the American public is? Evidently, pretty stupid.

And, Sean Insannity jumps right on the bandwagon, parroting the White House line on official state TV, Fox News.

I'm sure the phrase sounded good to Republicans when they started using it for Iraq, just like Cut and Run. I'm so sick of these slick PR gimmicks that Republicans dream up, but I've got to give them credit - they seem to be better at the PR game than Democrats.

Probably my favorite non-war related GOP PR euphemism is the Death Tax. Sorry, folks, but I'm not for millionaires inheriting wealth and paying no taxes. The rich need to pay their fair share, too. If Democrats were smart, they would call the Death Tax the "Paris Hilton Lifetime Laziness Tax" or something like that. Look at it this way - if I hit the lottery, I pay wicked taxes. Why? It's unearned income! On the other hand, if I ever inherit $25 million (yea, that's happenin'!), that's also unearned, and should be taxed. I'm no economist, but that's my take. The deficit shouldn't skyrocket so Republicans can line the beds of their rich benefactors. It's such a no-brainer ~ I'm not going to collect my Social Security check when I turn 70 (hell, it will be 80 by the time I retire if I live that long), so country club kids can collect fat trusts from Mommy and Daddy? Hmmm, that's really a tough one!

Anyway, getting back to the issue at hand - Cut & Run is another one I get a kick out of. This one sooo smacks of Vietnam it isn't even funny at all. No one wants to look like a pussy, so all legislators in Washington puff their chests out and say, "I'm not for cutting and running." Hey assholes, I wonder how many of you have sons and daughters in the line of fire? I'm sure there are a few, but probably damn few. This is the same kind of reasoning that gave us Vietnam, and 58,000+ dead Americans - because no one had the courage to say, "This isn't working - we gave it our best shot, but it's time to bring 'em home." (Cue tape of Richard Nixon, campaigning in '68 that he had a secret plan to end the war, and he did! A five-year plan - the cease-fire was signed in January of '73.)

So what if pulling out costs someone an election - sometimes doing the right thing is a helluva lot more important than winning an election. And besides, to be rankly materialistic for a second - all ex-presidents become millionaires these days, and Bush will be no exception, nor will his successors.

So, the real question is, how many dead Americans will it take before someone who really can make a difference will say, "Enough is enough." I'm not holding my breath and I seriously doubt it'll happen anytime soon.

Regardless of what happens a week from Tuesday, you can bet your ass that Bush will indeed change policy in Iraq after November 7. This course simply cannot continue.

We need to send a message to these morons in Washington, and we need to do it in eight days. This is bigger than party politics now - it's about American lives.

The whole "Support the Troops" silliness really makes me full hot, too. Any Republican who says that we shouldn't question military actions while troops are in the field has no idea what this country is founded upon and doesn't deserve to hold public office, period. "Support the Troops" is another way of saying, "Keep your mouth shut." Ain't happenin', capt'n.

For those of you with short memories, I have many, many recollections of Republicans asking lots of very public questions during the War in Kosovo, calling Clinton incompetent, a liar and worse. (Tom DeLay, Trent Lott, Dennis Hastert, Rick Santorum, Orin Hatch, I could go on and on.) A few quick questions about that war - 1. Was the intelligence cooked? 2. Did Clinton try to cook the intelligence? 3. Did we succeed? 4. Oh, and how many troops did we lose again?

Ain't history a bitch?

Wake me in November

I know, I know, I've been video crazy on here lately, but the weather on Planet Frist has alternated from outright stupidity to hilarity. Take a look at these three videos when you are having a bad day and need a good laugh - it's about 10-12 minutes of pure joy and entertainment. The one above is a recent clip from CNN where Frist basically blames the network for the GOP's low ratings. Where do I start with that one? Hey Bill, not every cable news outlet is going to be state-run TV like Fox News.



His recent screw ups have been classic, from his Terri Schiavo fiasco (above) to his laughable idea of sending every voter $100 to ease their burden on rising gas prices. That's not even three tanks, Bill.

I've got a better idea, you moron - how about raising MPG standards, which have languished for 20 years, or moving us away from our dependence on foreign oil? With his two disasterous mis-steps, I have a better chance at being president than Frist does, and that's a good thing - I want him to be the Republican leader in the Senate for many years to come, because he's such a screw up, it's nothing but good news for the opposition. By the way, more on the oil debate in a post by the end of the week (hopefully!).



This one's a bit older, but it could be my favorite. The GOP's horrible phrase du jour is Cut and Run. This one goes into the GOP Hall of Lame, along with Shock and Awe, Wanted Dead or Alive, and Axis of Evil. It's gaining no traction, and the American people are beginning to realize the costly and needless suffering that this war is bringing not only to the American people, but to everyone in the Middle East.

The best part about Frist's and the GOP's use of Cut and Run is this - it's Vietnam all over again, but in reverse. In the 1960s, Kennedy (to a small degree), LBJ and later Richard Nixon didn't want to Cut and Run; that is, to be the first president to go in history to lose a war. Well, we did lose, because stupid theories that never materialized told politicians we should remain and not abandon South Vietnam (an "ally" with a phoney regime whose people only wanted us there because they didn't want to fight, and they wanted our money. Sound familiar?) When some Congressional leaders proposed that we pull out of the country, they were portrayed as pussies, wimps, unpatriotic Americans who didn't want to fight, regardless of the waste and drain on America both in money and blood.

Now, you tell me - am I writing about Iraq or Vietnam? I don't like to overuse Vietnam as a metaphor, but there are a lot of similarities, and thankfully, the number of American lives lost isn't one of them, so far. Anyway, unlike Vietnam, this is largely a Republican war, not a Democratic one, so we'll see in November just how angry the electorate is. I hope it's half as pissed as I am.

Wake up, America, and go to sleep, Senator Frist. Wait, you've already been asleep for a while. Time for the Democrats to take over, and they'd better not screw it up, because they truly are our last hope, because Ralph Nader is a political has-been and Ross Perot is a never was.