6/25/08 The G in GOP Stands for Ghoul By Mary Lyon
I've heard of rooting for the bad guys, but this is ridiculous. John McCain's elite adviser Charlie Black opined to Fortune magazine that if there were another terrorist strike against our country in time for the general election, it "certainly would be a big advantage" for McCain's campaign. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25357745 /
Wow. Nice. Which American city would you like to see take it in the shorts this time, Mr. Black? How many thousands of us are expendable for the sake of your candidate's success? Let's see, New York City has already been there. Same thing for Arlington, Virginia, home of the Pentagon. And don't forget New Orleans. No, that wasn't terrorism, per se, but it was still a disaster that needed - but did not get - government foresight and planning wisdom from seasoned, credible public service professionals as well as swift and effective response.
Is this the newest round of "October Surprise" paranoia? Or is it paranoia? A terrorist strike on American soil would be a major campaign boost for John McCain? Does it sound at all as though someone regards such a tragedy as a good thing? Really nice.
It does beg the question - how far will the Republicans go to make sure "their" White House stays theirs? Never mind economics, taxes, spending cuts, or earmarks. America's Biggest Entitlement Program is nothing that would cross the desks of the Congressional Budget Office or the Social Security Administration. America's Biggest Entitlement Program is the Republican Party's conviction that it alone has some sort of divine right to occupy the Presidency. Would the GOP in its sleaziest connivings wish a terrorist strike on the country - if that's what it took to ensure another Republican takes the Oath of Office next January? Would the party of Bush/Cheney/McCain really stoop that low - as to articulate a backhanded wish for mayhem and murder because it might scratch America's fear itch in their favor at the polls?
Suspicious minds have already been having a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Super Bowl Halftime extravaganza with this. But wilder speculation aside, the very fact that it's being brought up just shows how sordid this whole campaign business has become. It used to be "the unthinkable" referred to a nuclear holocaust from an enemy superpower. Now it's global terrorism. And as Charlie Black's jaded statement indicates, it's obviously anything but "unthinkable."
I don't think it can, or should, be dismissed as mere idle chit-chat from a campaign insider impressing an attentive or flattering magazine writer. It shows what kind of cold, manipulative, political calculation is at work at Black's level within the McCain Machine and threatens to carry over into a McCain administration. I can't help but think this is a guy who is so Machiavellian, so at ease contemplating the subject of a terrorist strike helping the McCain campaign, so comfortable kicking this one around (even if only in his own mind) that he let one slip. Charlie Black tipped his hand. He gave away the mindset - basically the same chilling, dreadful policy-making mentality under whose influence we've already suffered for almost eight years.
So what if main financial hubs are sidelined for most of a week? So what if hundreds, maybe thousands of people are killed? So what if magnificent manifestations of art and architecture become reduced to so much dusty and toxic debris? Hey, as long as our guy wins?
You?d think if John McCain really wanted to be the "maverick" that avoided standard GOP low-blow operating procedure, he'd want to make sure the political party he now leads would stay as far away from even the appearance of this much crassness as possible. For heaven's sakes, he's actually seen serious wreckage and human misery up close. He knows something about paying a heavy price in the thick of the grossest extremes of international discord. He's certainly tried to make an issue of "the right kind of change" - in an attempted hijacking of the change theme that's long been Barack Obama's signature. McCain could do exactly that by asking Charlie Black to resign for trying to stir up the same old fear monsters again.
McCain could chart a new course for his party, and begin to rehabilitate the Republican brand from its low approval ratings and voter identifiability. He might actually become the Hope Candidate, AND the Change Agent. But I don't expect him to look beyond one dimension in the presidential arms race. Gotta show we're tough. Gotta show we're tougher than 'them" - whoever "they" are this year.
Ironically, McCain is running campaign commercials asserting his hatred of war. One would think if he really did hate war, and knew why from personal experience, he'd rule war out as an option in a McCain presidency, rather than matter-of-factly stating he's sorry but "there will be more wars." There will? Is someone already planning on it, looking for it, perhaps even counting on it? Republicans have been tweaking our fears and toying with our vulnerabilities for years now. They wear 9/11 the way a beauty pageant contestant wears her state's banner. They're into fearsome things. They're the war party. They've had a "war president" for several years now and evidently see no reason why that status should change. And they keep coming back to their number-one default position: Political Ghouls - literally scaring up votes.
It's not enough to claim to be distancing oneself from a colleague who may have spoken too candidly about favored party scare tactics. McCain should set a bold example by taking a giant step away from the Fear Thing that's just another cheap, soul-less, exploitive Republican shortcut to winning another election. The G in GOP is supposed to stand for Grand, not Ghoul. Unfortunately, Charlie Black has reminded us that the fear demons won't be buried but, rather, resurrected - and, yet again, shoved down our throats.
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Mary Lyon is a veteran broadcaster ad five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations including KRTH-FM/AM, KLOS-FM, KFWB-AM, and KTLA-TV, and occasional media analyst for ABC Radio News. She began her career as a liberal activist with the Student Coalition for Humphrey/Muskie in 1968, and helped spearhead a regional campaign, "The Power 18," to win the right to vote for 18-year-olds. She remains an advocate for liberal causes, responsibility and accountability in media, environmental education and support of the arts for children, and green living. In addition to OpEdNews, Mary writes for Democrats.us, World News Trust, and WeDemocrats.org's "We! The People" webzine. Mary is also a parenting expert, having written and illustrated the book "The Frazzled Working Woman's Practical Guide to Motherhood."
Good article... New Orleans was terrorism though...
There were warnings... read: actual governmental reports... of dangerous and imminent storms hitting New Orleans due to global warming conditions and the cost in lives and property would be devastating. Washington was alerted that the levees would not hold. Washington took the logical course and defunded the Army Corps of Engineers and work on the levees had to be scaled back to basically, band-aids. That and the slow response to the emergency, packing the survivors in unsafe FEMA trailors, how can you say this isn't terrorism?
I've been thinking and saying for some time now that the Republicans look like ghouls. I used to call Rudy -Ghoulliani. These guys are taking on the look of what they deal in wholesale... death and destruction. They all look like sarcofigi. McCain looks more macabre every time I see him. Is it in my mind, or is he morphing into the Crypt Keeper?
by
bucketslogg (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 73 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 5:14:13 PM
It always brings a smile to my face when I read infantile name-calling articles that vainly try to make a mountain out of a mole hill. I want to respond with some of the same: smug, elitist, out-of-touch, devisive, ignorant, foolish, baby-killers, etc. but refrain from it out of respect for my mother who taught me that more can be gained with good manners and a reasonable tone of voice than with shrill, out-of-control name calling.
I am one of those you are labeling a ghoul. Our family was on welfare for a good portion of my childhood. I paid my own way through college with jobs, scholarships, and loans. Served honorably in the Marines during the 60s. Married a beautiful woman whose family was much like mine when she was growing up. Together we raised 3 great children who attended the best universities in this country and are hardworking productive adults now. We both worked hard throughout our adult lives working 10-11 hours a day. We saved our money. We served our community ceaselessly and selflessly in many ways. We retired and now clean toilets in a camp ground in the mountains of Colorado at minimum wage even though we are millionaires. We still donate money and time to others. We like the simple life and helping others. We respect the environment. We oppose taking hard earned resources from one person and giving them to another by force of law. We oppose taking a human life whether it is in a jail cell for a horrific crime or in a womb. We hate war, but know that it is sometimes necessary. We know that others will kill you and us if we give them a chance no matter how much we talk to them. We will vote for people who will never give them that chance. I am a Republican and have been for 40 years. I respect you and your positions. Why can't you find it in your heart to respect mine. I am not a ghoul. Most Republicans aren't and most resent your insults. Insulting someone cuts off discussion and solving problems together. We don't need that in this country. We have a lot of problems that need for us to work together on.
Sure, what Black said was dumb. He knows it and McCain knows it and we know it. Apologies accepted. Big deal. All politicians say dumb stuff. Everyday. If you do not know this, what can I say?
by
Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 311 comments)
on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 10:10:24 PM
Hi, Jayhawk! I don't think Mary was aiming at you with her remarks. And I am sure that she would have a great deal of respect for your views, your beliefs and your principals. I know I do.
But I don't think she means YOU in particular. I do think she is using a metaphor for those who specifically authorize unnecessary, wanton death and destruction. This is something quite different from name-calling.
I think you might agree that many of our elected officials, to whom you have entrusted your well being and your hard-earned money, have not done well by you. They misrepresent you, don't follow your wishes, act for their own financial well-being and oftentimes do what is expedient rather than what is in the best interests of the country (The House and the recent FISA bill?). Both Democrats and Republicans act foolishly, hire hookers, betray our trust, mis-allocate our (your) money and authorize wars and funding for wars that they and their children never fight or lose lives in. Despite their claims and denials, they all accept donations from lobbyists (big ones...have you seen what the telecoms put up to get the FISA bill shut down? Scarey), take long "business trips" on your dollars and live lives that have nothing to do with the rest of us. Over time, there has arisen a large, upper class of priviledged patricians which has become the nation's capitol.
Mary just makes the point that many in our government prefer the spoils of war (Halliburton) to the agony of loss, simply because it suits them and they don't get their hands dirty.
When McCain and Black and Bolton and who knows who else, blusters and clamors for more war, they are writing checks YOUR body can't cash. And national debt and war debt and credit card debt all amount to the same thing: nobody ever figures that they will be around long enough to pay it off, knowing all the while that they didn't die in the process of spending someone else's money, although someone else may have. That is a little ghoulish.
by
Ivan Hentschel (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 252 comments)
on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 12:09:19 PM
6 comments
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