Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) resigned as Senate majority leader in December 2002 after praising segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), suggesting that if Thurmond had been elected president on the Dixiecrat ticket in 1948, "we wouldn't have had all these problems over the years." Lott-who opposed the Voting Right Act and voted against creating Martin Luther King Day-recently asked, "Why do Sunnis kill Shiites? How do they tell the difference? They all look the same to me."
The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal touched mostly Republicans, with one White House official charged with obstructing a federal investigation.
And there's George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, and John Ashcroft/Ambrose Gonzales, whose six year reign is pepper-shot with lies and violations of even the most basic codes of ethics. They are the cabal that had nodded off prior to the al-Qaeda attack upon the United States, and then lied to the people prior to launching an invasion of Iraq, which had no ties to the 9/11 plot, no ties to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups, and no weapons of mass destruction.
The Administration has also diverted, according to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, about $700 million from the war in Afghanistan and the search for Osama bin Laden to prepare for the invasion of Iraq. They awarded a no-bid $7 billion contract to Halliburton, which is now accused of war profiteering, diversion of funds, and numerous other questionable, illegal, or immoral practices. Billions of other taxpayer-funded dollars went to other companies that are major contributors to Republican candidates. On domestic issues, the Bush–Cheney Administration has violated the environment, and disregarded health care and the working class, while holding the pursuit of obscene profits to be their personal god. They have encouraged the use of torture to gain information from even the remotest of suspects, and have refused to give suspects a fair trial. They have created fake news releases, bribed journalists, released secret information about a CIA agent in retaliation for her husband speaking out against Bush's war in Iraq, illegally hacked into confidential Democrat strategy files, illegally spied upon both American citizens and the United Nations, invaded innumerable Constitutionally-protected personal rights of privacy, suppressed freedom of expression, and instilled fear as justification for its actions. Perhaps they should no longer be called "neocons," but Vegomatic Republicans since they believe they have a divine right to slice, dice, and chop the Bill of Rights.
Sanctimoniously proclaiming themselves piously religious and patriotic, they have forsaken both the Bible and the Constitution. George W. Bush, when asked if he had consulted his father prior to the invasion of Iraq, devoutly declared that he had spoken to his "higher father." His actions prove that he has abandoned both his heavenly father and this nation's forefathers. So much for honoring thy father.
The salacious "family values" Republicans have become the party of right-wing righteous indignation. But the closest any of them will come to righteousness is their fervent prayers for something tumultuous to happen so the media and the public forget these latest elephant-sized transgressions.
Walter Brasch is an award-winning journalist and university professor. His current books are America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights, and 'Unacceptable': The Federal response to Hurricane Katrina, both available at amazon.com, borders.com and most major on-line bookstores.
The Republican hypocrites will not get their prayers answered anytime in the near future! No matter how hard they try to cover up this latest festering pile of shit, there isn't enough litter left in their mendacity filled cat box to get the job done effectively. Even now, the flies are buzzing for joy, and the maggots are eating their gluttonous meal.
Nothing short of nuclear bombs blasting New York City or Los Angeles into the oceans will deflect attention from this scandal. Americans love the lurid nature of sex scandals too much to let that happen. Even the spin alchemists are just about out of straws to grasp. There is no wiping away the stench of this scandal.
So let them pray until their clenched hands bleed. It's not going to save their hides this time. At long last, they have bitten off a whole lot more than their sanctimonious mouths can chew.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 863 comments)
on Saturday, October 7, 2006 at 5:06:27 PM
