The Mark Of Inevitability
Geez, isn't Quin Hillyer EVER happy?
Hey, I hear you, Quinster. And I agree, a Republican president signing the equivalent of surrender papers to the Black Klan is stomach-turning, gut-wrenching, and nut-shrivelling.
But I have to ask - where have you been for the past five and a half years? Karl Rove's top priority has been to make electoral inroads into the Democrats' minority constituencies.
Not that we shouldn't be attempting that, we should, though by standing for our principles and selling them to blacks and hispanics, with whom the GOP platform does, in fact, have a great deal of overlap (provided the RINOs can be stopped from stripping out the social policy planks). And it's not that the "brains behind the Texan" and the rest of the GOP braintrust haven't made efforts along those lines.
But those lines take time, and patience is not often a trait associated with tactical, nuts & bolts, meat & potatoes politics. And the fact is that there has not been enough time for the aforementioned inroads in minority constituencies to dramatically manifest themselves.
Since short attention spans ARE a trait associated with political tacticians, we shouldn't be surprised to see even a supposed "genius" like Karl the Great succumbing to the irresistable urge to take shortcuts. Like the President insanely pushing de facto illegal immigrant amnesty; like the President's nauseating penance, after over five years of rightfully ignoring them, before the NAACP; and like the President signing the twenty-five year extension of "certain counterproductive portions of the Voting Rights Act" while a grinning Al "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house" Sharpton looked on.
It's not as though this incarnation of the Bushies has been colorblind, anyway. They've stoutly defended affirmative action, after all, including lobbying the SCOTUS not to declare it unconstitutional, as it most definitely is.
This reflects two realities, in my view:
1) George W. Bush is not, and has never been, much of a domestic policy conservative, a fact of which he made no secret back in 2000; we just wanted to win so badly after eight years of Sick Willie, and Dubya was our best shot at victory. Can't very well claim to be surprised when he goes wobbly in multiple places now.
2) He's a lame duck, and lame duck administrations sooner or later start running out of gas. Either by losing fights with Congress, or by throwing in the towel before such defeats can even take place. Which would seem to make Bush's fatigue even more pronounced since he's doing so with a Congress controlled by his own party.
I share your angst, Quin. The only word of good cheer I can offer you is that if you think it's bad now, just wait and see what happens if the Democrats retake either or both ends of Congress in November. You won't be able to get your lunch down before it starts coming back up.
Does the sight of the President and Karl Rove kissing Al Sharpton's ass change your outlook on keeping the GOP in charge on Capitol Hill? If not, I don't know what else can.
Yesterday, the Washington Times boosted the case of those of us who have complained about aspects of the extension of certain counterproductive portions of the Voting Rights Act by noting that President Bush himself opposed those provisions while governor. Today the Times runs a photo that makes me sick: Karl Rove shaking the hand of and laughing with the (not very) Rev-rund Al Sharpton at the South Lawn ceremony at which Bush signed the extension. It's bad enough to pander to political correctness by passing and signing a bill that is quite arguably unconstitutional and certainly unfair and bureaucratically unwieldy. It is even worse to pander to today's ridiculous double-standards by including Sharpton, of all people, among the guests invited to the ceremony....
Why is this man at the White House, why is Karl Rove laughing with him, and why is he even welcome ANYWHERE in polite company?!?!?!?
Hey, I hear you, Quinster. And I agree, a Republican president signing the equivalent of surrender papers to the Black Klan is stomach-turning, gut-wrenching, and nut-shrivelling.
But I have to ask - where have you been for the past five and a half years? Karl Rove's top priority has been to make electoral inroads into the Democrats' minority constituencies.
Not that we shouldn't be attempting that, we should, though by standing for our principles and selling them to blacks and hispanics, with whom the GOP platform does, in fact, have a great deal of overlap (provided the RINOs can be stopped from stripping out the social policy planks). And it's not that the "brains behind the Texan" and the rest of the GOP braintrust haven't made efforts along those lines.
But those lines take time, and patience is not often a trait associated with tactical, nuts & bolts, meat & potatoes politics. And the fact is that there has not been enough time for the aforementioned inroads in minority constituencies to dramatically manifest themselves.
Since short attention spans ARE a trait associated with political tacticians, we shouldn't be surprised to see even a supposed "genius" like Karl the Great succumbing to the irresistable urge to take shortcuts. Like the President insanely pushing de facto illegal immigrant amnesty; like the President's nauseating penance, after over five years of rightfully ignoring them, before the NAACP; and like the President signing the twenty-five year extension of "certain counterproductive portions of the Voting Rights Act" while a grinning Al "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house" Sharpton looked on.
It's not as though this incarnation of the Bushies has been colorblind, anyway. They've stoutly defended affirmative action, after all, including lobbying the SCOTUS not to declare it unconstitutional, as it most definitely is.
This reflects two realities, in my view:
1) George W. Bush is not, and has never been, much of a domestic policy conservative, a fact of which he made no secret back in 2000; we just wanted to win so badly after eight years of Sick Willie, and Dubya was our best shot at victory. Can't very well claim to be surprised when he goes wobbly in multiple places now.
2) He's a lame duck, and lame duck administrations sooner or later start running out of gas. Either by losing fights with Congress, or by throwing in the towel before such defeats can even take place. Which would seem to make Bush's fatigue even more pronounced since he's doing so with a Congress controlled by his own party.
I share your angst, Quin. The only word of good cheer I can offer you is that if you think it's bad now, just wait and see what happens if the Democrats retake either or both ends of Congress in November. You won't be able to get your lunch down before it starts coming back up.
Does the sight of the President and Karl Rove kissing Al Sharpton's ass change your outlook on keeping the GOP in charge on Capitol Hill? If not, I don't know what else can.
posted by JASmius at 10:55 PM
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