Saturday, October 28, 2006

Rove's Halloween Shocker or Power=>Corruption

A story on Harry Reid and land holding irregularities by John Solomon seems to be saying that Democrats are just a corrupted as the Republicans. DailyKos says Solomon does the Republicans' dirty work and this is just an attempt to dirty Democrats as a message to voters that Democrats are no cleaner than Republicans.

Also, in the Oct 12 news cycle, "Ten lawmakers, led by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said in a letter they wanted the House Government Reform Committee to investigate" Sandy Berger's squirreling away classified documents in his pants.

Is this Rove's initial shot of his October strategy for keeping the majority in both houses of Congress for a least two more years? Drag the Democrats into the muck the Republicans have been wallowing in for the past couple of months.

Certainly the Harold Ford attack ad in Tennessee has Karl Rove written all over it. I would bet the Corker camp had prior knowledge the ad was coming and had their higher moral ground strategy all set. The race card gets played but Corker didn't play it. Corker condemns it. It’s taken down, but it’s still out there. I was sure this was a Rovian strategy, and then I saw this at CBS declaring Scott Howell as Rove's protégé. I'll have to add his name to my tickler list; I'll want to keep an eye on him. Just as Atwater begat Rove, so too, maybe Rove has begotten Howell. Will "Harold, call me ;-)" join Willie Horton in the attack ad hall of fame? We will have to wait until November 7 and for the collective judgment of the spin doctors and pundits.

I've been anxiously awaiting Rove's big move this fall to see if he really deserves the title of the most Machiavellian of politicos since Niccolo himself. If he pulls it off, "Rovian" should join the lexicon of political terms for the most effective dirty tricks that are not realized until it's too late.

What the Republicans don't realize – and they are noted for their short sightedness and selection of the wrong intelligence – is that Congress can't stand anymore tarnishing. It's as if the Republicans are in a sinking boat and the only strategy they can come up with is to drill more holes in the boat.

Although trashing Democrats using the that magic word liberal seems a tried and true strategy for the Republicans that has worked oh so well for them before, they need to wake up and smell some really way-bad coffee. Are they saying that all congressmen are as corrupted as they are and that Congress is nothing more than greedy men and women legislating for their own and their friends' interest? Even if Rove is successful in convincing voters that Democrats are just a corrupt as Republicans, what has he won in the end? A government that no one likes or trusts.

Maybe this is the turning point in which voters realize there are lots worse politician in this world than those tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberals. A huge swath of red state Americans may not particularly care for whom the bleeding-hearts bleed, but at least they have a heart that can bleed. They do care.

The likes of Rove have painted and preached that those inside the beltway don't care about average Americans and are looking after their own interest. That they have found the enemy and he is us is too subtle a difference for those self-same average Americans. The Republicans have exploited a natural tendency to distrust politicians and now those chickens have come home to roost – only this time it’s the movie "The Birds".

For those of us who love politics the way others love sports, scandals such as the Foley diddling with the pages and Abramoff's ideology meets greed and greed wins taints us all. Rather than proving that all politicians are crooked, recent events proves that all – no matter what their moral claim – are susceptible to the the power=>corruption segue.

Well the clock is certainly ticking loudly now with less than two weeks to go before the fate of the next two year befalls not only the Bushies but the rest of the country as well. The Republicans need something really big to pull this one off. I've heard rumors that Saddam may be convicted just before the election. And there is always the story of Osama being taken out of the freezer to thaw.

Monday, October 09, 2006

If Only Clinton Had Suggested Iraq

North Korea fires off a low powered nuke so low it was hardly detectable and China loses face. I’ve been listening to the news today and that’s what I’m supposed to take away from this. All the major talking heads are condemning what was inevitable – given the current level of diplomacy.

The Bushies cut and run from anything the Clintons did without first checking its merit. However, it was not the last time the Bushies put ideology before reality. Less see…keep an eye on Islamic terrorist and if you deal with the North Koreans, it’ll slow down their development of an atomic bomb. What else did Clinton warn Bush about that was dropped like contaminated spinach and will come back to haute us all?

Why Oh Why didn’t Clinton suggest to Bush that he invade Iraq, overthrow Saddam, and then try and set up a democracy in land of lethal sectarian differences. Saddam’s Iraq would still be standing if Clinton had just suggested it to Bush because we know they would have nothing to do with anything Clinton touched.

Remember THE SANCTIONS WORKED – no WMD’s or mobile bio-labs where ever found. Bush’s invasion proved that without a shadow of a doubt. I’m still PO’ed that ElBaradei didn’t use my suggestion for his Peace Prize speech. You don’t get the kind of proof Bush provided very often, and it don’t look like he’s going to get much of anything good out of it for all his efforts, so a little “thank you” would’ve been nice.

Saddam would still be taking big with all his bluster and show, but now we know it was all a bluff and not a real threat. Of course, the Shiites and the Kurds would still be oppressed, but it seems someone is going to be oppressed and abused no matter what we do.

And now, just as I’m trying to understand the age-old hatred between the Sunnis and Shiites and how that affects policy, I’ve going to have to learn the ancient relationship between the Chinese and Koreans, and how one can make the other lose face.

China has no face and Bush has no voice with North Korea.

Why doesn’t China just remove Kim and put someone they could manage in his place? It’s worked so well for the U.S. in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Russia in Afghanistan, the French in Vietnam, the British in India – and oh by the way in China.

China needs to get bogged down in a small foreign war if it really wants to claim its place among the super powers. You’re not one of us until you get into a situation where you can’t really use your super powers, you can’t win conventionally, and you can’t lose politically. You’re about to take off economically, this is the perfect time to ruin it all for generations to come.

Given Bush’s track record in foreign policy, things can be make worse. Let’s see them try to run foreign policy while answering questions from all the investigations and testimonies they will be required after the Republicans lose one of the houses in Congress come this November and the Democratic chairmen take control of committees.

That is unless Karl Rove proves he truly deserves the title of the modern Machiavelli. I’m waiting and watching, Karl.