The Hypocrisy of the GOP
It's really remarkable how sanctimonious the right-wing can sound about some moral or value...when it's a Democrat "violating" this credo, but shrug it off when a Republican does this and then some. The classic example, of course, is the feigned furor over Clinton lying about sex with a fat intern...and then not really caring about whether Bush and Cheney outright lied about pre-war intelligence. That takes some serious stones to do and still feel good about yourself.
Yesterday, on the Chris Matthews show, the biggest tool of them all, Tom DeLay smiled creepily when Matthews asked him how he could call Bill Clinton "slimy" while being on record saying anyone who criticized President Bush was not showing the proper respect to the office. He weaseled out as only a bugman can, saying that while in the Oval Office, he showed plenty of respect to Clinton, but...and then something. Of course, the people he accused of being rude to Bush weren't doing that in the Oval Office, they were merely exercising free speech on just about every other venue possible.
And then, this, from Newt Gingrich, in response to the utterly boring Hilary/Obama 1984 ad:
Oh it's clever....It's the Entertainment Tonight version of governing a great country. And its very dangerous, because we have no habits anymore of serious dialog, we have no habits of serious citizenship. Everything is reduced to gossip, attack, whose consultant is cleverer, and it's really very destructive.
This from the king of attack politics.
As usual, Kevin Drum from the Washington Monthly says it better than I could:
Hold on a second while I pick my jaw off the ground. There. Got it.
Is he serious? Newt "Language: A Key Mechanism of Control" Gingrich is now complaining about partisan attacks? Newt "Contract With America" Gingrich is complaining about consultant-driven politics? Newt "Let's Impeach Bill Clinton Over a Blowjob" Gingrich is complaining about the inability of our political system to solve real problems?
Newt Gingrich practically invented the modern attack-dog style of American politics. He is its patron saint and its most talented practitioner. But now that Democrats have won back control of Congress and seem likely to win back the presidency as well, he's seen the light. The Gingrichification of politics has to stop.
Wow. Just wow. But I will say this: Newt Gingrich might well be the only person on the planet with the chutzpah to pull this off. In its own way, it's impressive. But then, so was Joe McCarthy. In his own way.
Well said. And yes, this was not just worth saying, but also posted as a way to get the story about the guy drinking kids urine pushed a bit farther down the page.